5 Presentation Secrets That Will Change Your Life

Written by Debbie Bailey


Continued from page 1

Secret #4 - NEVER Apologize, Confess, Or Make Excuses! Presenters sayrepparttar darndest things…"I'm sorry but I have a cold today so my voice may sound a little funny" (apology)OR "I just found out about this presentation yesterday, so I didn't have as much time to prepare as I would have liked" (excuse) OR EVEN "I'm so nervous…" (confession). It is always surprising how often and how easily presenters use these NEGATIVE phrases.

Up until now, that is.

If you want to WOW your audience, you have to adopt and live byrepparttar 107985 motto: NO APOLOGIES, NO EXCUSES, NO CONFESSIONS.

When you APOLOGIZE, MAKE AN EXCUSE, or CONFESS at any time during your presentation, you are in essence saying torepparttar 107986 audience, "Don't expect a lot from me today because I'll disappoint you." Instead of APOLOGIZING--"I'm sorry I didn't bring in a sample, but I couldn't arrange it on such short notice," try framing it inrepparttar 107987 positive, "I am working on getting you a sample and I can deliver it next week." Instead of making EXCUSES, put your energy into deliveringrepparttar 107988 best possible presentation and then stand behind your performance--"I didrepparttar 107989 best job I could givenrepparttar 107990 circumstances." And limit your CONFESSIONS--especially thoserepparttar 107991 audience has no business knowing such as "I'm so nervous"--to church!

Secret #5 - Get Your Audience Involved In Your Presentation! People are notoriously BAD listeners. In fact,repparttar 107992 attention span ofrepparttar 107993 average American is just nine seconds. That means every nine seconds each member of your audience takes a little mental vacation fromrepparttar 107994 taxing work of listening to your presentation.

With so much fading in and out, it makes sense thatrepparttar 107995 audience remembers only about 20% of what they hear. Stated conversely,repparttar 107996 audience will FORGET nearly everything you say (80% of it anyway). Retention improves when you add a visual element to your presentation, but it still is rather dismal at 50% (don't celebrate yet, they are still forgetting half of your presentation!). And that's just immediate recall. I'm sorry to say that it gets worse as time elapses.

So how do you getrepparttar 107997 audience to remember MORE of your presentation for longer periods of time? To raise your audience's remembering quotient, you have to engage them in your presentation, getting them to actively participate in it. Your goal is to transformrepparttar 107998 audience from passive listeners to active participants.

The six best ways I've found to engagerepparttar 107999 audience in your presentation is to: 1. Askrepparttar 108000 audience a question 2. Take a poll 3. Involverepparttar 108001 audience in a demonstration 4. Giverepparttar 108002 audience a test 5. Giverepparttar 108003 audience a listening assignment 6. Employ a gimmick

When an audience participates in a presentation, they are fully engaged inrepparttar 108004 presentation. This means that every part of them is involved inrepparttar 108005 presentation-their hearts, minds, and bodies. The voice inside their head that thinks of all kinds of extraneous, random thoughts, is for once, silent while they focus solely on your presentation. This concentrated focus enables them to remember so much more!

For much more about these and other Presentation Secrets, check outrepparttar 108006 book "15 Presentation Secrets: How to WOW Evenrepparttar 108007 Toughest Audience," by Debbie Bailey available at trainer2go.com/ebooks.html.

Debbie Bailey is author of the book "15 Presentation Secrets - How to WOW Even the Toughest Audience." She is well known for her presentation skills classes.

Debbie possesses a Masters Degree in Professional Communications and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communication.


Here's The REAL Reason Bush Won: The Dark Night Of The Leadership Soul

Written by Brent Filson


Continued from page 1

That heartfelt speech to winrepparttar hearts of key segments of voters was what George Bush was lacking inrepparttar 107984 campaign, especially throughoutrepparttar 107985 debates in which he was beaten badly by John Kerry.

After those debates, George Bush facedrepparttar 107986 dark night of his leadership soul. It happens to many leaders when they realize that in order to succeed they have to abandon what worked before for them and jump off a cliff and make their wings onrepparttar 107987 way down.

FDR faced it when he got polio and responded by seeking to continue in political life with wisdom and persistence and compassion. Winston Churchill faced it at Dunkirk. Harry Truman faced it in 1948 when it looked as if he would be defeated by Tom Dewey, and he made his now famous whistle stop campaigning that enabled him to come from behind and win. Ronald Reagan faced it when he decided that he would run for president at 68 years old.

George Bush faced it afterrepparttar 107988 debates. He could have remained inrepparttar 107989 presidential bubble and given his canned speeches in front of canned audiences. But instead, he decided to go out there and be himself and lay it all onrepparttar 107990 line. Duringrepparttar 107991 last weeks ofrepparttar 107992 campaign, he pretty much dispensed withrepparttar 107993 canned and just stood up there and spoke fromrepparttar 107994 heart to voters inrepparttar 107995 battleground states. Forrepparttar 107996 first time inrepparttar 107997 campaign, he was out ofrepparttar 107998 bubble giving leadership talks. And it made allrepparttar 107999 difference inrepparttar 108000 world.

Leaders take note. When you facerepparttar 108001 dark night of your leadership soul and must take new action to get new results, break out of whatever bubble you might be in and start giving leadership talks.

The author of 23 books, Brent Filson's recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. Sign up for his free leadership ezine and get a free guide, "49 Ways To Turn Action Into Results," at www.actionleadership.com


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