Tag: Presentations

  • FEAR, Revisited: Manage Your Presentation Nerves!

    AfraidDo your hands sweat at the mere idea of public speaking? Does your stomach flip-flop, your mind go blank?

    Four guidelines from professional speaking coaches will help.

    1. Don’t hate your nerves.
    Remember that your goal is NOT to overcome fear. Your goal is to deliver an effective message. When you invest yourself fully in your message, fear takes a back seat.

    2. Be able to clearly state your presentation‘s purpose.
    Your nerves will undermine you if you’re not able to state the purpose in one short sentence, starting with “The purpose of my presentation is to…”

    In the words of Dianna Booher, an international communications skills expert: “If you can’t write your message in a sentence, you can’t say it in an hour.”

    3. Work That Heart.
    Cardiovascular fitness acts as an “anxiety shield.”  Whatever physical exercise you like, do it, and do it regularly. Your lowered blood pressure, heightened endurance, and increased oxygen flow will protect you against an attack of nerves.

    4. Do it over and over. The best way to feel calm and confident is to practice your presentation multiple times, OUT LOUD, both by yourself and in the “real world.”

    Use these four suggestions as you prepare for your next presentation. The antidote to nervousness is not “out there” somewhere…the keys are already inside of you.

    Want more tips to improve your speaking self? Learn about Guila Muir’s Presentation Skills Workshop.

    Guila Muir is a premiere trainer of trainers, facilitators, and presenters. Since 1994, she has helped thousands of professionals improve their training, facilitation, and presentation skills. Find out how she can help transform you from a boring expert to a great presenter: www.guilamuir.com

  • Five Words to Persuade Your Audience

    Even when you “just” deliver data, you want people to use it, potentially to do things differently or better. Certain words persuade people more effectively than others.

    Since 1961, expert speakers have identified several words as the most persuasive in the English language. My challenge to you: Try integrating  a couple of these into your next presentation. Be attuned to how YOU feel when you use them. Notice how your audience reacts.

    1.You
    Personalize your speech so that your listeners feel you are talking directly to them. (Example: Ask, “What does this mean to you? Here’s what it means…”)

    2.Discover
    What an exciting and enthusiastic feeling from childhood this conjures. Challenge your audience to discover something new.

    3.Easy
    Your audience wants more ease in their busy lives. What can you offer?

    4.New
    Freshness, innovation, change…people respond well to that whiff of freshness.

    5.Proven
    The opposite of ‘new,’ this word ensures us that we are not taking risks. Be sure to back this one with data.

    Remember, every effective presentation persuades the listener. Don’t be afraid to use these words, and let me know how your experiment goes.

  • Perfect Presentations: What Not to Wear

    by Guila Muir
    info@guilamuir.com

    How to dress for credibility, while remaining true to yourself.

    What to wear for a perfect presentation? As you design and polish your speech, developing visual aids and handouts, this question may fall into the background until dangerously close to the presentation. Suddenly, you look up: “Yikes! What am I going to wear?”

    Your appearance impacts your credibility as a speaker. Don’t leave it to chance, and don’t wait until the last minute to decide what to wear. Just think of preparing your appearance as part of your overall speech preparation. Here are my favorite, possibly competing, guidelines:

    • Stay authentic.
    • Dress like your audience- but one step better.

    Stay Authentic: Within reason, your attire must express who you are. If you feel like you’re wearing someone else’s costume, your verbal message may not ring true.

    Dress Like Your Audience, But One Step Better: Appearing similar to, but slightly more dressed up than your listeners conveys respect both for them and for your subject. It enhances your credibility.

    Use these five tips as a guide to dressing for credibility, while remaining true to yourself.

    1.  Wear well-made and well-maintained clothing.

    Granted, no one will be checking your clothing’s seams or labels. But image consultants counsel that your audience can tell if you’re wearing a cheaply made dress or suit. You can probably feel it, too. Whether you choose to look conservative or creative, wear well-made clothing made from high-quality fabric. Avoid linen and other easily-wrinkled material.

    2.  Pay attention to details.

    Even if your audience won’t see your shoes, make sure they are polished and that the heels are secure. Men should have a recent haircut and trimmed facial hair. Search for loose threads or inopportune gaps between buttons.

    3.  Wear your “Confident Clothes.”

    Wear something that makes you feel sprightly and energized. This could mean sticking to the tried-and-true, so long as it’s one step above your audience and expresses your personality. Use a solid color that suits you near your face. (How do you know which colors suit you? Ask one of your color-savvy friends.)

    4.  Make sure it’s comfortable.

    You are NOT allowed to tug at or re-arrange your clothes while presenting. Wear your outfit around the house a few days before your presentation to ensure that you can move comfortably. Then put your outfit aside, including all underwear, jewelry and shoes, and go back to prepping your speech.

    5. Dress to look taller.

    Consider wearing a solid color for both pieces of your outfit. This will help you appear taller and help you tap into the “Intensified You.”

    So—to pull together both my responses to the question “What should I wear?” I leave you with these words: Let your personality shine through even as you “fit in” with each specific audience.

    Read more articles about Presentation Skills. Learn about Guila Muir’s Presentation Skills Workshops.

    Guila Muir is the premiere trainer of trainers, facilitators, and presenters on the West Coast of the United States. Since 1994, she has helped thousands of professionals improve their training, facilitation, and presentation skills. Find out how she can help transform you from a boring expert to a great presenter: www.guilamuir.com

  • 3 Words to Weaken Your Presentation

    I’m here with some good news for most presenters—along with some cautions you’ve probably never thought about.

    The Good News: “Ums” Won’t Kill You

    Speakers, don’t worry so much about using fillers like “um” and “uh. ” These only become problematic when other distracting factors are in play. Your audience will only notice your “ums” if:

    • You haven’t practiced, so you don’t know where you’re going next.
    • You don’t enunciate clearly.
    • You don’t exude enthusiasm about your subject.

    To some degree, a speaker’s occasional “um” gives the listeners’ brains an opportunity to catch up—we can speak faster than we can listen. Michael Erard, bestselling author of UM…Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean sums it all up by saying: “Want people not to notice your ‘um’s’? Be interesting.”

    The Caution: Three Words to Weaken Your Presentation

    Some words we use to strengthen our presentations paradoxically weaken them instead. Which example below sounds more powerful?

    I love you.

    I actually love you.

    I recall watching a woman presenter, extremely confident in most situations, speaking to a hostile and primarily male group. Not only was this group opposed to her message, it had the power to sway mass opinion throughout the organization.

    To my surprise, this usually dynamic speaker came off extremely unconfidently. Her voice, dress, and manner were the same as usual, but I noticed that she used the word “actually” in nearly every other sentence. Unconsciously, she was attempting to ingratiate herself to this powerful audience.

    Research by Erickson, Eind, Johnson and O’Barrr discovered that a few specific words deprive a speaker of power. Surprisingly, we often use these words to underline or “pump up” the importance of our message. By over-reinforcing our message, we seem to be “protesting too much.” Our credibility takes a hit.

    These words are:

    Really, (really) As in: “It’s really, really a good cause.”

    Truly, As in: “It’s truly the best software.”

    And, or course, actually.

    Watch your use of these words, particularly when faced with an audience that challenges you. Strip them out, and your speech will be more powerful, direct, and credible.

    Read more articles about Presentation Skills. Learn about Guila Muir’s Presentation Skills Workshops.

    Guila Muir is the premiere trainer of trainers, facilitators, and presenters on the West Coast of the United States. Since 1994, she has helped thousands of professionals improve their training, facilitation, and presentation skills. Find out how she can help transform you from a boring expert to a great presenter: www.guilamuir.com