Deliver Life-Changing Presentations Every Time.

Some people love to give presentations. Some people hate it. Most people fall somewhere in between these two points on the presentation spectrum.

What outcome do you want from your presentation? A decision? Enthusiasm for a idea? A sale? A way to present bad numbers so they look good?

I've given thousands of presentations — from a small status update for my division, or an 850+ audience at The Hartford Insurance Company, all the way to major sales presentations to McDonald's and Home Depot.

It could be a myriad of things — but all great presentations have a few critical areas where they excel — Purpose, Resonance, Enthusiasm, Experience, Narrative. Let's look at each one and how it impacts your presentation:

Purpose - Why are we here?

I can't tell you how many presentations I've been to where two minutes into the presenter speaking, I'm already lost. They've given me no semblance of what they will be covering and some basic guideposts to gauge where we are in the presentation.

How to fix: One of your first slides should cover a brief summary of what you will be speaking about and what you expect from the presentation. Something as simple as: "Today, I will be covering why we should begin to move all of our executives onto iPads. I'm going to cover the current state, impact, and desired state of our mobile systems." It's that easy.

Resonance - Win your audience.

You are not reading out test scores — you're trying to sway your audience to feel for your position. So empathy and communication play large parts in how you give and relate your presentation to your audience. One definition of resonance is 'a quality of evoking a response'. Your job is to feel for your audience — understand how they are absorbing the information you're presenting.

How to fix: Keep scanning the audience — watch body language — see if they are engaged or distracted or puzzled. If they are checking out — get them involved — ask questions of the audience. Ask for their opinion and get them to raise their hands. Also, move around — engage all parts of your audience — get down to their level. Ask 'WHO' questions — "Who has this problem?" "Who would like to go first?". Ask 'WHY' questions — "Why do you think this is happening?" "Why did he react that way?"

Enthusiasm - Rally the troops.

Here's a little secret: All presentations are 90% Broadway. They're performances. Why? The more your audience is emotionally engaged in your presentation, the more likely they are to like it, take away key information, and tell others about it. If you just stand there and recite slides, they're going to check out, miss key information, and tell everyone you stunk.

How to fix: You are an evangelist of information. Live and breathe your info — get them excited about it too! Smile, raise and lower the tonality of your voice, and move your hands to make points. If you aren't excited about what you're speaking about, who will be?

Experience - Show them your stuff.

You need to know your topic. Many speakers get up and immediately venture down unchartered territory. When one errant question arises, they sudden fall silent or stumble with an answer. You have to know your topic cold.

How to fix: Keep your presentation on point — less is more. Stick to your topic and hammer all points of it — be prepared — anticipate most of the questions that will be asked. If you don't know something — say it: "Wow, that's a good question. I don't know, but I can find out. Let's talk after the presentation." It's that easy.

Narrative - Tell them a story.

Just spilling out facts will not help you with the other four areas. You have to relate stories - people LOVE stories.

How to fix: Tell stories. I usually incorporate at least 1-2 stories during a presentation. Make sure they stay on topic, are interesting or funny, and can be told in less than two minutes. Pick a situation in your career, someone who made a positive impact on you, or an item you found in your research. One caveat — too many stories about you will bore the audience.

P.S. If you’d like more information about how I deliver powerful presentations - Let’s talk. I’ve worked with thousands of business owners and executives and find this is a perfect way to start a coaching relationship — sign up to schedule a live, free coaching session. It's not just the mechanics — it's building confidence and knowing you can knock it out of the park.

How Is Your Self-Esteem? It's Critical.

If one were to ask what single characteristic that makes you attractive to others, it would be self-esteem. Self-esteem, as defined by Nathaniel Branden in "The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem," is the reputation one has with him or herself. The criteria which we unconsciously judge ourselves and which makeup our self-esteem is two fold:

1. The first is self efficacy, which is our perceived ability to deal with the basic requirements of life; i.e., competence.

2. The second is self respect, which is the degree to which we feel deserving of happiness, receiving the rewards of our efforts and how steadfast we are in defending our boundaries.

Branden gives us six basic pillars, which if worked on with sufficient effort will increase one's self-esteem. These are:

1. The practice of living consciously

2. The practice of self acceptance

3. The practice of self responsibility

4. The practice of self assertiveness

5. The practice of living purposefully

6. The practice of personal integrity

While I won't break down each of these in detail, when I work with clients, I preach many of these pillars in one way or another.

Branden explains that even the smallest improvements in any one of these pillars can lead to massive shifts on one's overall self-esteem.

Improvements happen in two steps. The first is asking, what do I want? And the second asks, what must I do? First, the conceptualization, then the execution.

It is with the execution step that one receives the reward of a boost in self-esteem. It isn't necessarily the successful execution of the action step, but an honest, committed attempt.

For example, if you have approach anxiety and you finally work up the courage to ask for a promotion or meet a high-potential contact, the reward received is substantial.

This execution, essentially imprinted your subconscious saying that you are willing to put yourself in harm's way in order to experience what you want, because you believe you are worthy of that experience. This is the basis for courage. This is why blasting through your fears can become an addiction for some people. The boost in dopamine and serotonin is very real, and feels amazing.

I highly recommend giving this book a read. It has been an essential tool in developing my own assertiveness and raising my overall sense of worthiness influencing my past career, my current practice and everything in between.

The Two Most Important Days Of Your Life.

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” — Mark Twain What a powerful quote. But what does it really mean?

And more importantly, what does it really mean TO YOU?

Some people already know — they're sure about their purpose. There are also some people who have a good idea, but they aren't 100% sure about why they're on this earth.

And then there are people who don't know. Why is that?

• They don't want to know. When they get close to learning their true purpose — they step back and shy away.
• They go through life without a purpose. They don't realize the magic of having a purpose and the power it brings.
• They vacillate from one purpose to another. This isn't a bad thing — but in the end it probably causes internal and external confusion of purpose.

So the big question is — How do you figure out your life's purpose? I have some strategies:

• Sit down and think, meditate and reflect.
• Review where you've been, what you've done, and who you've impacted/influenced so far.
• Review what things/people/activities energize you (and what ones enervate you).
• Start to finely focus your lens and cull down your choices to a few.
• Then step back and look at the whole picture.
• Finally, make a clear decision, understand what your purpose is, and move forward.

Years ago, two powerful things happened which helped me fully understand my purpose in life.

First, one of my best friends from college, Dave Taylor, recommended a book to me — Tuesdays With Morrie. I can't tell you how much this book changed my life and outlook on the world. If you haven't read it — READ IT. If you have — READ IT AGAIN.

It allowed me to briefly step off the corporate rat race mentally and better understand what are the really important things in life.

Second, I hired Karen Gregaitis, my Dale Carnegie trainer and coach to help me excel and cope with my erratic corporate leadership role. She recommended I take an assessment call Tru-Values (a tool I use with many of my clients) which allowed me to better understand the value drivers in my life.

To this day, I focus on my four values - Encourage, Energize, Enlighten & Have Fun. Wonder why I coach, write, and speak?

I'm doing what I love. ARE YOU?

P.S. If you would like to learn more about the Tru-Values assessment, let's connect.

Deliver Life-Changing Presentations Every Time.

Some people love to give presentations. Some people hate it. Most people fall somewhere in between these two points on the presentation spectrum.

What do want to most from your presentation? A decision? Enthusiasm for a idea? A sale? A way to present bad numbers so they look good?

It could be a myriad of things — but all great presentations have a few critical areas where they excel — Purpose, Resonance, Enthusiasm, Experience, Narrative. Let's look at each one and how it impacts your presentation:

Purpose

I can't tell you how many presentations I've been to where two minute into the presenter speaking, I'm already lost. They've given me no semblance of what they will be covering and some basic waypoints to gauge where we are in the presentation.

How to fix: One of your first slides should cover a brief summary of what you will be speaking about and what you expect from the presentation. Something as simple as: "Today, I will be covering why we should begin to move all of our executives onto iPads. I'm going to cover the current state, impact, and desired state of our mobile systems." It's that easy.

Resonance

You are not reading out test scores — you're trying to sway your audience to feel for your position. So empathy and communication play large parts in how you give and relate your presentation to your audience. One definition of resonance is 'a quality of evoking a response'. Your job is to feel for your audience — understand how they are absorbing the information you're presenting.

How to fix: Keep scanning the audience — watch body language — see if they are engaged or distracted or puzzled. You'll know. If they are checking out — get them involved — ask questions of the audience. Ask for their opinion and get them to raise their hands. Also, move around — engage all parts of your audience — get down to their level.

Enthusiasm

Here's a little secret: All presentations are 90% Broadway. They're performances. Why? The more your audience is emotionally engaged in your presentation, the more likely they are to like it, take away key information, and tell others about it. If you just stand there and recite slides, they're going to check out, miss key information, and tell everyone you stunk.

How to fix: You are an evangelist of information. Live and breathe your info — get them excited about it too! Smile, raise and lower the tonality of your voice, and move your hands to make points. If you aren't excited about what you're speaking about, who will be?

Experience

You have to know your stuff. Many speakers get up and immediately venture down unchartered territory. When one errant question arises, they sudden fall silent or stumble with an answer. You have to know your topic cold.

How to fix: Keep your presentation on point — less is more. Stick to your topic and hammer all points of it — be prepared — anticipate most of the questions that will be asked. If you don't know something — say it: "Wow, that's a good question. I don't know, but I can find out. Let's talk after the presentation." It's that easy.

Narrative

Just spilling out facts will not help you with the other four areas. You have to relate stories - people LOVE stories.

How to fix: Tell stories. I usually incorporate at least 1-2 stories during a presentation. Make sure they stay on topic, are interesting or funny, and can be told in less than two minutes. Pick a situation in your career, someone who made a positive impact on you, or an item you found in your research.

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P.S. If you’d like more information about how I deliver powerful presentations - Let’s talk. I’ve worked with thousands of executives and find this is a perfect way to start a coaching relationship — call or email me to schedule a complimentary session.