Fall is here, and so is the season when we can fall back into bad habits — a little extra pie, an extra glass of wine, and celebrations galore vying for the extra time we need to prepare a winning presentation.
We’ll let you decide what to do in the food and drink department, but as far as presentations go — we’re here to help you stay at the top of your presentation game this fall when a lot of year-end reporting is done and project proposals are being given for the upcoming year.
Revise Your Perspective
When life gets busy and the world goes into party mode, it’s easy to say, “I’ll wing it” especially when it comes to “low-stakes” presentations.
Tip: Revise your perspective and consider every presentation as a valuable opportunity to platform your ideas, your message, and your leadership. Then you’ll be mentally ready to allocate time to practice and to make your practice count.
Rethink Your Commute
If you have participated in one of our training or coaching programs, you are familiar with the “Core, Care, Do” elements that make for an engaging opening. Thinking through these essential pieces well in advance, can truly make the difference between presentation success and failure.
Tip: The next time you are stuck in traffic (or waiting in line somewhere), make the best of otherwise wasted time. Run through the following questions in your mind.
- What is my presentation’s Core message or bottom line?
- Why should my audience Care about my message?
- What do I want my audience to Do as a result of my presentation?
Get Motivated!
Have you ever watched a great presenter who inspired you to be an even better presenter yourself? Then you have at least one thing in common with us. The truth is, great presenters motivate us to be better and inspire us to invest the time it takes to become one.
Tip: If you’re feeling unmotivated to take your next presentation to the next level, grab a cup of pumpkin latte (leave that spiked eggnog to others) and get inspired by these five presenters who have inspired us in the past.
- Admiral McRaven, the Navy SEAL who knows how to accomplish his mission.
- Bryan Stevenson, who made $1 Million without a single PowerPoint slide.
- Chade-Meng Tang, who didn’t let his accent steal the show.
- Amy Cuddy, who gave us a two-minute solution to increase confidence.
- Rita F. Pierson, who models how to build a relationship with our audience.
In less than 500 words, we’ve given you a few powerful tools and a strategy to stand above your competitors this fall. To be sure you are not one of those who might fall back into any bad habits, all you have to do is put these tools and strategies into practice to stay at the top of your presentation game.
Happy presenting this fall!
