What do professional athletes and entertainers do before they perform? That’s right, they warm up.Watch any athletic contest on TV, and you’ll get a glimpse of the players getting ready for the competition. You’ll see them stretching, jumping up and down, and even saying things to themselves or their teammates. What they’re really doing is
Is it too much to ask you to feel great for every presentation? What if you didn’t get enough sleep the night before? Or you have a headache? Or your cat was sick? Or…fill in the blank with whatever circumstances tend to get in the way of you being at the top of your game.
Right now, point to the person who determines how you feel. I hope you’re not pointing to your spouse, your boss, or anyone other than yourself, because—of course!—it’s you. You determine how you feel. But here’s the rub: Is there someone in your life who’s an expert at ticking you off? If you’re like most
If you could pick just one emotion to have at your core as a presenter, what would it be? I’ve asked this question of thousands of people, and the most common answers are confidence and passion. While I agree that these are critical, I believe there’s another emotion that, when combined with confidence and passion,
Have you ever had to do a task and felt motivated and inspired to do whatever it took to succeed—as if you were on a mission to accomplish it? If so, capture that feeling and bring it into every presentation, and you’ll be unstoppable. Back in my mid-twenties, I was booked to do a presentation
If you’ve ever been caught off guard and asked to “say a few words,” you know how tough impromptu presentations can be. They pose a real challenge because being unprepared tends to get the adrenaline going: if you freak out even a little bit, your fight- or-flight response kicks in, your brain shuts down, and
You’ve heard of an “elevator pitch,” a presentation that’s over in a flash and designed for maximum impact, a super-streamlined message delivered with crystal clarity. As a master persuader, it’s something you want to have at the ready. Imagine you found yourself riding in an elevator with the most influential decision- maker you could ever meet, and you have sixty seconds to spark interest
