There many potential obstacles to high impact presenting.
All of them can be overcome.
Let’s take a look at 4 of the key obstacles to high impact presenting
1. Mindfulness
Or should I say, the absence of mindfulness.
Most professionals are extremely busy being busy
We are all preoccupied with the everyday pressures of deadlines and targets.
Often the idea of giving a presentation is an interruption and inconvenience.
Crafting a presentation becomes another item on our ‘to do list’
When we can’t put it off any longer we open up the laptop.
We are so busy that we use the same template we always use.
Many of us start with thesame approach, mind-set and even content we normally use.
Leave the laptop alone for now
Go for a long walk.
Sit quietly and breathe deeply or meditate if that works for you.
As you do so ponder mindfully on the following questions:
What’s my objective?
To answer that question you need to be very clear on who your audience are.
How you can help them and why they should listen to you.
What you want them to do when you’ve finished speaking.
What’s my intention?
If your intention is to simply inform or update your audience that’s not good enough.
Intentions are about feelings
How do you want your audience to feel the moment you’ve finished speaking.
It’s feelings that drive behavious and action.
Give considerable and careful thought to how you want them to feel about your message.
2. Habit
We are all creatures of habit, many of which are extremely powerful.
We don’t just have one or two we literally have hundreds, including the way we think, speak and present.
Given the fact that most habits are learned from others it’s easy to see why so many business presentations are the same.
Many people present like everyone else does in the organisation
They know exactly they could do to be better.
They also know it would make them too different, so it’s easier and safer to do what everyone else does.
It doesn’t have to be that way though
It takes mindfulness and courage to stand out from the crowd, challenge the status quo and to be different.
Think about the way you normally prepare for, craft and then deliver your presentations.
Identify the habits that currently help you and those that hinder you.
Make an effort to create new ones.
3. Confidence
In a typical workshop we lead with 6 delegates ,we will often find the following levels of confidence:
– 1 Person who is extremely confident
– 2 People who are extremely nervous
– 3 People who are comfortable
The extremely confident people are often the ones who need the most coaching
Much of that confidence stems from the premise that they have been presenting in different environments for many years.
Many have never been given any form of feedback,
In the abscence of constructive feedback some believe that must already be good. After all, no one has told them other wise.
As you can imagine that’s not helpful
The extremely nervous have already taken a significant leap of courage by agreeing to join the workshop.
At Mindful Presenter we know that low confidence is one of the biggest obstacles to high impact presenting.
We also know how to help people to tune into and turn their confidence on
4. Culture
An organisation’s leadership and culture are also major forces in the way in which professionals present.
Historically the most successful organisations have always been the ones with a highly visible culture of, ‘leadership by example’.
When it comes to communicating, presenting in business is no exception.
A culture of highly effective communicating and powerful presenting starts at the top with the executive and senior management.
Great speakers and presenters aren’t born that way
It’s a learned skill.
These 4 obstacles to high impact presenting can all be challenged and overcome.
If you need help overcoming obstaceles to high impact presenting:
– Book yourself onto a powerful public speaking course.
– Invest in some really good one to one public speaking coaching.
– Get yourself some excellent presentation training
Image: Courtesy of flickr.com
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