One of most visible forms of communication in workplace is presentation. Yet in process of helping professionals transform themselves into more effective communicators, my greatest obstacle is frequently misconception people have concerning role and nature of presentations in their professional lives. A comment I regularly hear is “I don’t give presentations.”

If you believe this, you need to expand your thinking about what constitutes a “presentation.” What usually comes to mind is an event where you are standing in front of an audience and speaking for ten minutes to an hour. But presentations come in many more varieties than formal situation I’ve just described.

The common thread running through what might at first seem to be rather diverse activities is an effort on part of one person to communicate with others. And regardless of message, you’re always presenting yourself. In fact, you’re presenting yourself every time you:

II bet you've heard phrase, "Failure is not an option." But, let's think about it.

What would happen if no one ever failed - at anything? How would you learn? Learning from past failures, and successes, shows us how we can do it better next time. Without mistakes, we would never appreciate our accomplishments.

There is a lesson to be learned from each mistake. Take that mistake and make it your challenge. Break it into pieces. What was turning point to change it from success into failure?

Take first step and analyze it. Did it work like you wanted? Good. Go to next step. Keep going.

At each step, decide how you can improve process, wording, product - whatever problem is. Then, try again.

Even Wright brothers' first flight failed, but they tried again. What if THEY had given up?

Persevere. Your challenges will lead way to your successes.