Best foot forward
A walking person was far more likely to meet challenges with creative responses than a rival who was sitting.
A walking person was far more likely to meet challenges with creative responses than a rival who was sitting.
There’s always one delegate at the beginning of every storytelling workshop who confesses: “I’m no good at telling stories.” They’re showing their ANTs to us – Automatic Negative Thinking.
Sometimes the market you’re in goes through a bad spell. We’d like to tell you a true story about our early days. After a couple of years in business we realised we needed to go international as UK training budgets were shrinking.
The two things which our delegates tell us are the most important parts of our workshops are videoing and feedback. We have filmed delegates for many years and it forms a key part of our feedback because the delegates can see themselves as their audience will see them! People learn more from this “seeing” than anything else.
If you don’t grab your audience’s attention in the first 30 seconds you may as well sit down. That might sound harsh but it’s a good starting point for all presenters. So if you read no further, remember the golden rule of presenting: “Begin with the end in mind”.
Giving a presentation is a performance which you need to prepare for and which you need to prepare your audience for. They need to be made ready and eager to hear your message. To do this you always need an impactful opening which resonates with their thinking.
We’ve taught over 6,000 delegates in 27 countries to sell themselves and sell their ideas to influential audiences, whether in a conference room or on a conference stage. So here are our top tips to help you become one of those presenters who makes a memorable impact.
It doesn’t cost you anything to be nice to someone but it can cost you your reputation and business if you’re not.