Hi
What would you do if you turned up at a meeting and it was announced that the main speaker couldn't make the trip or, in this case, make the Zoom call? It happened to me last week I did what I tell my clients to do-I put my hand up and stepped in to deliver a 20 minute 4Sight.
Reading time approximately 3 mins.
Self Belief
I did it because I could do it; because I have followed my own advice and used the '4 Ps of Perfect Presentations'. I have prepared. I practised. I performed. The other P is posture but on camera that is more nuanced.
I have prepared and practiced stories for more than twenty years now so it was second nature to deliver it. The difference is in the performance. We all have a story-a presentation-but some will tell it poorly, some will tell it well...you should aim to tell it very well. The ROI on you presentation will depend on the number of people who remember some part of your story and your name.
"Ian (not his real name) told us of his near perfect upbringing-a good family life until he reached the age of 18 and became heavily involved in drugs. Homelessness and degradation followed quickly until his early 20s when some realisation managed to worm itself through the fog and crap inside his psyche. His life was shit. He knew that.
Rather than having a positive affect on his thought process he was driven to suicidal actions. He tried to drown himself at a weir. His head under the water and some drugs in his body he thought it would be enough to end the torture. What happened next changed the course of his-story.
Ian told us that, under the water, his head had a clearing-a change took place and he returned home. Ian joined an allotment (he'd enjoyed gardening and liked to have his hands in the soil) and that began a process which, while it didn't completely end his use of drugs did begin the process.
During this time, Ian, began using a local pub and talking to a bar maid. They were getting on pretty well and so he plucked up the courage to invite her out on her free evening, it was a Tuesday. Tuesday was Ian's night at the allotment. The end of the opportunity, Ian thought, but he told her anyway. Anne (not her real name) told him she loved gardening. They spent Tuesday at the allotment and quite a few Tuesday evenings after that.
They married and worked on the allotment providing food for themselves and people around them. The enterprise expanded to a strip of land on a farm, near by.
That strip of land grew until the farmer decided to take a back seat and handed over the running of the farm to them...Ian and Anne developed the farm into a business attracting children and teenagers with learning difficulties and other psychological problems to visit the farm and interact with the farm animals.
What a story.
And the only reason I'm telling it is because of the thousands of stories I have heard it is amongst those I remember.
If this were you, there would be two questions: What story would you tell? How well can you tell it?
Questions to ask yourself:
Are you comfortable facing a live audience in the first place?
Would you be advising yourself to seek out further support?
Would you be challenging yourself to do more presentations with more support?
What would you talk about if you had the opportunity to take over a presentation with no preparation?
What results would you expect from your presentation?
By asking yourself these questions, you are able to change the current viewpoint and focus. There are no right or wrong answers, only thoughts and observations that you can choose to ignore or act upon. What is it time for you to do now?
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