Tag: Seminar

  • Focus on the Uncommitted in Your Audience


    Presenters, do you fear waves of animosity coming from your audience? Or have you ever believed your audience to be friendly and accepting, only to receive a terrible shock?

    One of the best “Presenter Tricks” I know is to present as if everyone in your audience is “uncommitted”. Doing so allows you to effectively deal with crosscurrents, hostility, and support–all at the same time.

    This chart identifies the needs of all the segments in your audience. By focusing on the uncommitted, you benefit everyone!

    Audience Segment What Do They Want from the Experience? Dangers of Focusing Only on This Segment? How This Segment Benefits When You Focus on the Uncommitted
    “Friendlies” Satisfaction, affinity. Perhaps a pep-talk. Too easy – you may assume too much. Their knowledge and commitment is deepened.
    “Hostiles” To see you fail. To hear you say something wrong. Increases your own nervousness and defensiveness. You may come off abrasively and unlikable. They experience human respect, openness and reason from you (and are likely to mirror the behavior.)
    “Indifferents” To be left alone and unchanged. To the exclusion of the rest of the audience, you may tie yourself up into knots trying get a response. They may get the message, while not being hammered by you.
    “Uncommitteds” To experience a reasoned, well-thought-out, good-natured exposure to the issues. NONE! They get the best of YOU: affinity and reason.You won’t cut corners by assuming support where it might not exist. You construct and present your message thoroughly, persuasively and with confidence.

    By focusing on the Uncommitted, you take great strides towards more resiliency and effectiveness as a presenter. Try doing this the next time you present.

     

  • 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

  • How To Build “Home-Grown” Trainers

    Happy top manager standing by the whiteboard and interacting with business partners at seminar

    Have you ever wished you could reduce your organization’s dependence on outside trainers? How about developing your own workshops? Join the ranks of organizations that have benefited from developing their internal resources, saved money, and improved the relevance and quality of their training!

    What’s Not Working

    Over the last few years, I’ve worked with dozens of agencies to develop their own “home grown” trainers and tailor-made curricula. Why? Agencies tell me it begins with dissatisfaction with current options:

    1. Sending employees out to workshops advertised by national companies. Though some of the information is valuable, the workshops are generic. Typically participating are a hundred people or more, from all industries. One or two from your organization that attend may benefit, but the value to the agency may end there.

    2. Bringing in training experts. Though sometimes necessary and very appropriate, bringing in experts can be expensive. These specialists may provide a “one-size-fits-all” training – after all, they just gave this same presentation in Cleveland a week ago. And what happens if you can’t find an expert in your very specific subject area?

    Exploring Options

    The term “training of trainers” (TOT) can mean different things. To some, it means training people the “ins and outs” of a specific program, the ultimate goal being their ability to teach that program. For example, a local health promotion organization trains elementary school teachers to use its packaged curriculum. They assume that teachers will use their already-established training skills with the product. This type of TOT’s focus is on content.

    A more flexible type of TOT focuses on process. It usually includes how to design a lesson based on adult learning principles, how to integrate a variety of participatory exercises, how to enhance presentation skills, develop learning aids and evaluate the learning. The best TOTs include strategies to ensure learning occurs and to identify and analyze training needs from the outset. Using these new strategies, participants often develop and present a lesson based on their area of expertise that they can use immediately.

    Steps To Develop “Home Grown” Trainers

    Once an organization decides to “grow” its own trainers, there are two major investments: a one-time investment in training and an ongoing investment of time.

    • When possible, garner enthusiastic, visible support from the top.
      When leaders overtly support trainer development, all employees get the message that learning is a valued and important element of work.
    • Select people to become “trainers in training.”
      These can be people with training expertise or just a strong interest, as well as subject matter experts who traditionally have “bored the pants off” people while transmitting information. Clarify expectations, time commitments and potential rewards for participating.
    • Provide an expert Training of Trainers.
    • Provide regular Trainer Development Meetings. These meetings usually take place once a month. Trainers meet to discuss what is working well and to debrief issues and challenges. Often a different trainer will model a “chunk” of curriculum or an activity each month.

    Wouldn’t it be great to use the resources you have right at your fingertips to develop or expand your agency’s training potential? “Home gown” trainers benefit personally from enhancing their skills, the agency benefits from increasing its training ability and other employees benefit from increased training opportunities. “Home-grown” trainers play an important role in creating an organizational culture of learning, innovation and self-reliance.

    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

    © Guila Muir.

  • How a Hook Can Save Your Presentation

    by Guila Muir
    info@guilamuir.com

    I have discovered that my clients all love a good hook, and are always looking for new ones. Let’s review what a Hook is and isn’t. Then I’ll provide two dynamic Hooks for you to use in your next presentation or training session.

    What a Hook ISN’T:

    Fluff. Never make the mistake of thinking that a hook is unimportant and can be left out. It is an essential part of the learning experience.
    Lengthy. A hook is typically not a full-blown exercise, energizer or icebreaker.
    A pre-test. Don’t use a hook to identify the “smartest guys in the room.”
    A way to fill those nervous first moments of a training session when you feel least confident. A hook has a definite role. Don’t waste the precious first moments of a training session with comments about the weather or unrelated issues.

    What a Hook IS:

    • A way to immediately engage your listeners.
    • Relatively short. Although there is no actual rule about length, the hook should serve its purpose concisely.
    • Connected to the session’s topic or purpose. Although anything can serve as a hook, it should have a relationship to your session’s purpose. Don’t lob out a meaningless joke just to get laughs.
    • Connected to who your participants are. You must know your audience’s concerns. The best hooks relate to their past experiences.
    • Emotional, even if only mildly so. Adults become engaged through their emotions. Good hooks incite almost any kind of emotion, including laughter, groans of recognition, anxiety, or excitement.
    • Inclusive. Use a hook that all the participants can relate to. Again, the best hooks elicit the past knowledge, emotions, and/or experiences of most people in your audience.

    Developing a hook takes careful preparation. However, your participants’ immediate interest and involvement is on the line, so a little preparation on your part is worth the effort.

    Two Dynamite Hooks

    You can use literally anything as a hook. Trainers have used visual aids such as short videos or toys from the local Dollar store. They have used riddles, music, anecdotes, yoga stretches, and many more ways to immediately engage their participants.

    The two Hooks I’ve outlined here have proven to work with a bang every time:

    1. Real-life Questions

    These may be the easiest type of hook to create.  As for all hooks, make sure you know enough about your audience to use topics that resonate. Also, as in all hooks, ensure that your questions elicit an emotional response.

    See if you can guess the topics for these Hooks:

    “How many of you get so frustrated with your computer sometimes that you’d like to put your fist right through that screen?”

    “Raise your hands if you’ve ever participated in a nightmare meeting.”

    “Raise your hands if you’ve ever hit your boiling point around kids—even if you don’t have any!”

    Guidelines:

    • Always ask a minimum of two questions. You need this many to get your participants’ brains moving in the direction of your training session.
    • Create your questions so that nearly everyone will respond in the same way (for example, 99% of hands in the room go up or down.)
    • Insist on a physical response (hands up, stand up, thumbs up, etc.)

    Option:
    Start your questions with the following:

    “How many of you would NOT be willing to…(Remember, your goal is to get everyone’s hands up. Asking in the negative may be more provocative and participatory than asking in the positive.)

    2. “Did You Know?”

    (Provocative Fact or Statistic)

    The world is full of provocative statistics you can use to hook your participants. Just keep your eyes out as you read blogs, newspapers and articles. You can usually make the most unrelated statistic relevant to your participants.

    See how one trainer brought together issues as diverse as strawberries and personal choices:

    “Did you know… that Delta Airlines recently saved $210,000 a year simply by removing one strawberry from salads served in First Class? One little strawberry was removed and passengers didn’t even notice it. Big results can be achieved by little changes. Today, we’ll talk about how little changes in your thoughts and attitudes can have big results in your own life.”

    Here are two other examples, used in actual classes:

    1. “Did you know that in one second…

    • A telephone signal can travel 100,000 miles?
    • A hummingbird beats its wings 70 times?
    • And guess what, in one second, eight million of your blood cells die.

    A lot can happen in one second. This session will give you tools to decrease your response time in household emergencies.”

    2. “Did you know that ‘Generation X’rs’ have watched 23,000 hours of television by the time they are 20 years old? They also believe they have a better chance of seeing a UFO in their lifetime than a Social Security check. In this workshop, we’ll see how generational differences in the workplace affect all of us.”

    3. “Before the rule, more than 50 people here were dying in trenches every year. When you get killed in a cave-in, it’s not an easy way to go. You’re literally crushed to death under the weight of the soil. Soil weighs approximately 3,000 pounds per cubic yard. Nobody deserves to go to work and die that way.”

    Guidelines:

    • Turn a provocative fact into a hook simply by prefacing it with the words “did you know?”
    • Make sure your data is correct.
    • Make sure to integrate emotion.
    • Consider combining your fact or statistic with another hook, such as a Real-life question.

    Always use a Hook if you are serious about immediate engagement and interest!

    Learn about Guila Muir’s Presentation Skills Workshops.

    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

  • 5 Ways to Energize Your Presentations

    What’s the difference between presenting and training?

    Presentations are typically delivered one way, from speaker to audience. Great training sessions, on the other hand, are interactive.

    To spruce up your presentations, try injecting these five techniques borrowed from active training:

    5 Ways to Enliven Your Presentations

    1. Preface your presentation by briefly stating a relevant problem. Ask participants to be ready to solve the problem by the session’s end based on what they’ve learned.
    2. Distribute a list of questions for participants to answer as you present. (By directing participants to listen and search for information covered, you actively engage their attention.)
    3. Ask a relevant question and make it clear you expect the participants to think about it; then have them share their responses with one other person. (Optional: then elicit few of those responses.)
    4. Interrupt yourself periodically and challenge participants to give examples of the concepts presented thus far or to answer “spot-quiz” questions.
    5. Provide a “quickie” self-test either before, during or after the session.

    These techniques shift several responsibilities onto the audience, where they belong:

    • the responsibility to learn
    • the responsibility to engage, and
    • the responsibility to remember

    However, your responsibilities as a speaker shift a bit, too. You must move from spraying audience members down with an “information hose” to having more of a dialogue.

    Be sure to let your audience know what you expect of them before introducing each technique. And don’t let them slide back down into passivity—keep them awake and involved!

    Learn about Guila Muir’s Presentation Skills Workshops.

  • Are You a Super-Trainer?

    Assess Yourself and See!

    What attributes do all super trainers share, no matter how different their styles?

    Rate yourself from 1 (I’m not so great at this) to 3 (I do this every time!) on the guidelines below. Then read the strategies, which will transform YOU into a Super Trainer.

    Three Essen­tial Attrib­utes of Super Train­ers

    1.  Content Knowledge

    Of course, this comes first. If you don’t know your subject, you shouldn’t be training it. However, you DON’T have to know every last detail before you’re ready to train.
    My self-rating on Content Knowledge:

    1                                                        2                                                       3

    low                                                                                                                        high

    2.  Willingness To Have Fun

    This one’s a potential danger zone. Some trainers have so much fun themselves that they remain oblivious to the participants’ needs, insights, and potential contributions.

    Having fun doesn’t mean you are able to toss out jokes. Willingness to have fun means relaxing WHILE you exude dynamism and energy. It means connecting with the participants WHILE you focus on content and time management. It means enjoying the participants WHILE retaining your unique role as trainer.

    My self-rating on Willingness to Have Fun:

    1                                                        2                                                      3

    low                                                                                                                        high

    3.  Use of a Well-Structured Training Design

    Have you ever wondered about the source of the following issues?

    • Bad marks on your training evaluations (excluding comments about cold coffee or overly warm training rooms)
    • Participant hostility, side conversations or passive-aggressiveness
    • Lack of participation
    • People sleeping

    The invisible culprit is often how the session is designed, not the presentation skills of the trainer. Design affects everything related to the training.

    Training design is training architecture. A badly–designed course will sag, fracture, and even crush the best trainer.

    My self-rating on Use of a Well-Structured Training Design:

    1                                                        2                                                      3

    low                                                                                                                        high

    Strategies to Pump Up Your Training Skills

    Even if you rated yourself high on the preceding attributes, these strategies will enhance your training:

    1.  Content Knowledge

    Ensure that you have included only the absolute “MUST-KNOW” material into your training session. When you develop the session, test each part of the training by asking, “is this a ‘must-know’ piece of information, or is it merely ‘nice to know?’ Toss the ‘nice to know’ pieces. Remember-less is more.

    If a participant asks you something you cannot answer, remember that it is OK to say “I don’t know. Let me find out and get back to you,” but only if you really will follow up. Meanwhile, acknowledge that a participant in your group may well have the information you lack. Don’t be afraid to ask. Doing so helps you build community with your participants.

    2. Willingness To Have Fun

    The more prepared you feel with your content and training structure, (attributes #1 and #3,) the more fun you’ll have.

    But you must also examine your beliefs about people. Do you feel they are mainly a drag, or do you find them interesting and quirky? Do you like yourself? Are you accepting or judgmental? Your underlying beliefs about yourself and others either boost or impede your level of relaxation and ability to have fun in the training role.

    It’s worth your time to examine your philosophy of teaching. Do you buy into a “boot camp” mentality? Alternatively, do you feel oversensitive to students’ needs? Heighten your awareness of your philosophy and actions, and then make changes if needed. Fun will follow!

    3. Use of a Well-Structured Training Design

    Here are three guidelines to ensure your training architecture is sound:

    • Never organize your training session using PowerPoint.
    • Carefully and thoughtfully develop learning outcomes. Organize all your content to achieve them.
    • No matter how experienced a trainer you are, take a basic class in course design. It may challenge the way you think about training!

    It’s always good to re-visit the essentials; all Super Trainers do. Integrate these Top Three into your training, and you’ll find yourself among the greats!

    Want more tips to improve your trainings? Learn how Guila Muir’s Instructional Design Workshop can help you to create powerful, effective training sessions.

    See free newsletters full of tips and techniques for improved training: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs071/1101469784148/archive/1101880413533.html

  • Four Gender-Specific Presentation Blunders

    by Guila Muir
    info@guilamuir.com

    Is it true that men tend to make certain types of blunders while presenting, and women others? In my experience, yes. I have worked with hundreds of individuals and single-sex groups, and notice recurring, gender-specific behaviors that sabotage presentations.

    In the interest of advancing further research, I submit these very common blunders, and give you the tools you need to prevent them.

    Most Common Presentation Skills Blunders: MEN

    1.  Guys, you wander aimlessly too much. Move with purpose ONLY. Pacing or shuffling weaken your delivery and your message.

    The best reasons to move are:

    • When you are changing a subject.
    • When you are changing an emotion.
    • When you’ve been in one place for the entire time.

    Stand and deliver, then move.

    2.  Get those thumbs out of your pockets or your waistband. This posture is called “genital framing.” Do you really want to express “check me out, I am a virile male” during a high-stakes financial talk? (Or maybe you do…What do I know?)

    Instead, use your hands and arms in a natural way to emphasize your words. You can even just let your arms hang down at your sides (now that feels weird, doesn’t it?)  Just don’t tuck your hands away…anywhere.

    Most Common Presentation Skills Blunders: WOMEN

    1.  Read the following. Is Mary credible?

    “Hello. My name is Mary Smith? I am the communications director? And I’ve worked here 15 years?”

    I’ll bet your answer is NO.  Mary just sabotaged herself, big-time. Even if she is most credible person in the company, she now has to earn back the credibility she lost through the upward inflection at the end of her sentences.

    Professor Yia Hei Kao of Claremont University is just one of many researchers and linguists who have found that when women end their sentences with an  upward lilt, they project uncertainty, tentativeness, and the desire to please others.

    Women, is THAT how you want to come across? We no longer need permission to speak, so why act as if we do?

    Practice introducing yourself. Listen for the upward swing at the end of the sentences. Enlist someone else to help if you are not sure what you’re hearing. End your sentences with a downward inflection. This “fix” is one of the most important things you can do to increase your credibility as a speaker.

    2. Stand evenly on both feet. Don’t heap your weight onto one hip. This “cheerleader” stance makes you look like you’re posing for a photo shoot. To come across as grounded and powerful, BE grounded from the floor up.

    OK, men and women. I hope these tips help you. Share them with those of the same and the opposite gender. Let’s all work towards a world full of improved presentations!

  • Does Smiling Help or Hurt Presenters?

    by Guila Muir
    info@guilamuir.com

    The actual answer to this question, based upon many studies and years of research, is “it depends.”

    How Smiling Helps

    The act of smiling changes our brain chemistry for the better. An authentic smile can:

    • Boost mood and confidence by increasing serotonin, norepinephrine and endorphins.
    • Lower heart rate, and
    • Reduce anxiety.

    These chemical changes obviously benefit presenters.

    An authentic smile also makes other people feel good. An audience that feels good makes our job as presenters easier. In fact, when people see a smile, the reward centers of their brains turns on, making them happier. Who doesn’t want a happy audience?

    So what could possibly be the down side of smiling?

    How Smiling Hurts

    Among primates, smiling means submission, “I am not a threat.” We humans still read smiling this way. Oversmiling makes you appear less confident and more desirous of approval. (NOT how you want to be perceived as a presenter!)

    Most studies find that in general, women smile more than men. In fact, research involving nearly 110,000 people found that smiling is females’ default option.  Audiences may perceive a constantly smiling female presenter as less competent and knowledgeable than a less-smiling female or a male. But males can oversmile, too.

    To Smile or Not to Smile?

    Here’s how I would answer that question. Before presenting, prepare yourself:

    1. Pump up your enjoyment level. Tell yourself, “I will enjoy this,” or “I feel great,” or “the audience is my friend.” Allow yourself to feel positive.
    2. Feel an authentic smile engendered by positive thoughts. Feeling 100% present, smile as you introduce yourself and take ownership of the presentation space.
    3. Gradually and naturally, let your introductory (and authentic) smile fade as you get further into the material.
    4. Be willing to smile and laugh naturally throughout your presentation. Always smile when welcoming people back from a break.

    The bottom line is, as usual: Be yourself, with an addendum: Watch your smiles!

    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

  • Stand and Deliver!

    Excellent presenterAre you serious about wanting to increase your dynamism, power and energy as a speaker? Then you must stand up when you present.

    Andy Eklund, a presentation skills expert, tells us:

    “The vast majority of people are at least 50% less dynamic when sitting down, because their body movements are halved … and perhaps as much as 75% because everything else is restricted too. It’s more difficult to breath properly, which means it’s harder to project your voice. Hand gestures diminish, if not disappear. Eye contact disappears too because the person tends to read what’s in front of them.”

    I want you to stand when you present because I want you to be powerful. I’m providing my favorite mottos and metaphors to help you remember to stand tall. Note: Please stand up NOW to try them out—you’ll find a favorite to use the next time you present:

    • Imagine that your vertebrae are separated by small pockets of air.
      or
    • Roll your shoulders “into your back pockets.”
      (This opens your chest.)
      or
    • Imagine a string attached to the crown of your head, gently pulling it up while your chin relaxes downwards.
      (Don’t lead with your chin.)
      or
    • Lengthen your neck and all else will follow.
      or
    • Create  “cleavage” in your back, between your shoulder blades.
      (woo-hoo!)
      or
    • Point your chest to the place across the room where the wall meets the ceiling.
      or
    • Simply think “UP.”

    Remember-it’s not about rigidity, it’s about grace, strength and power as a presenter.

    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

  • Present With Purpose


    To ensure a successful presentation every time, presenters should start by developing a clear, concise purpose statement. The purpose statement serves two important roles. It helps keep you focused and on track as you develop the presentation. It also helps your audience focused on your message from the get-go.

    Before you present: Clarifying the purpose helps you avoid a data-dump. You will design your presentation with a focused viewpoint and avoid excess content. Because you are designing more efficiently, you save tons of time and energy.

    As you present: By stating your presentation’s purpose in the first few minutes, you shape your audience’s expectations. You also make an overt commitment to achieving that purpose. This adds to your credibility as a speaker.

    Here are a couple of examples:

    • “The purpose of my presentation is to inform you of the new changes in our contract.”
    • “My purpose today is to introduce the preliminary findings of our report.”
    • “Today I will show you the 5 benefits of our new venture.”

    Why Don’t More Presenters Do This?

    I have three big guesses as to why more presenters don’t develop and use a clear, concise purpose statement.

    1. The lure of PowerPoint. Even though using PowerPoint to organize a presentation almost guarantees a data dump-style presentation, many presenters have grown up thinking this is the only way.

    I have nothing against using PowerPoint as a tool once you have clarified the presentation purpose. In fact, I suggest putting your purpose statement on the very first PowerPoint slide!

    2. The belief that the audience already knows what you are going to say. Your audience may know the fuzzy parameters of your speech. It’s your job to shape their expectations toward what you want to say.

    3. Ignorance. Many presenters simply have never considered the importance of using a presentation purpose statement to guide their process.

    Where to Start

    The best way to develop your purpose statement is to start with this bare-bones template:

    “The purpose of my presentation is to:

     

    (1) verb

    (2) audience (you can say “you” here)

    to

     

    (3) topic.”

    Examples #1 and #2 above follow this template. Example #3 throws in a little “what’s in it for you” statement. All are effective.

    My Challenge to You

    Try it out! Create a purpose statement for your very next presentation. If you already have a presentation that lacks a purpose statement, develop one NOW and use it the next time you present.

    You will find yourself and your audience more focused on the message. Let me know how it goes!