This has been my week for discovering new and inspirational videos online. I’ve already shared Garr Reynolds and Rory Sutherland. To make the magical trio perfect I want to add Richard St. John to the mix.
I especially loved his story of how this particular presentation came to be: Confronted by a question from a high school student that he couldn’t answer, Richard didn’t just let the subject drop. Instead he approached people who should know (and you’ll see what I mean when you watch the video) and asked them what they think.
This presentation - a 3-minute romp through a presentation that normally takes 2 hours - gives us the essential ingredients we need to be(come) successful:
As a presentation trainer I am always looking to learn from the experience of my peers; esp. those on the cutting edge of the industry. I first ran into Garr Reynold’s blog, Presentation Zen, back in 2005 and was really inspired by it. In addition to confirming many of my own learnings from a career of presenting ad campaigns throughout Europe, he was also a fantastic source of new ideas and a differing - Asia-influenced - perspective.
Garr’s presentation for authors@google reminds me so much of my own sessions, particularly where the responses from the audience are concerned. It’s a bit long, but - if you are at all interested in improving your own presentation skills - well worth the watch!
Thanks to @TimKeil for bringing this to my attention!
Many of us falsely believe that happiness is the result of achieving some goal or acquiring some thing. Although they may contribute to our overall quality of life, I have found that happiness is more a state-of-mind than any type of achievement or acquisition.
I feel most happy when I stop to notice and appreciate the so-called “little things” in my life, forget to think about myself as I help and support someone else, or simply lose myself as I do something that utilizes my innate talents and resonates with my soul. That feeling of happiness isn’t limited to times when - superficially speaking - things are going well with my life, either. I have become more sensitive to tuning into things that make me truly happy as an antidote for frustration when times are anything but rosy.
“…Advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception, rather than the product itself. Rory Sutherland makes the daring assertion that a change in perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we consider real value — and his conclusion has interesting consequences for how we look at life…”
There are a lot of coaches out there with different backgrounds and a variety of qualifications. Add to them the number of people who have adopted the title “coach” just to ride on the wave of the current coaching trend, and you quickly realize that a simple look at someone’s title or their list of qualifications tells you little about the actual quality and possibilities open to you if you decide to work with them.
So , how do you choose a coach who is right for you or your organization?
All day yesterday I tweeted quotes by James Baldwin. Baldwin - as a writer and an activist - has been a seminal figure in my life, and yesterday - after many years of being relegated to the back of my mind - the wisdom of his words and his special brand of urgency forced their way back to the center of my consciousness. I felt a pressing need to tap back into that wisdom - and shared some of it with my Twitter- and FB-network.
One quote in particular resonated with my fellow coach (and fellow former Pennsylvanian) Ed Batista:
“The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.”
Clients pay you for your big strategic or creative ideas, just as the members of your team or organization follow you because of your vision.
So: How do you cultivate the necessary ‘executive presence‘ to convey the right amount of leadership to sell those ideas and communicate that vision - succinctly, understandably, passionately?
As a presentation trainer, how could I not be aware of the vital rôle our communication skills play in getting our big ideas across in both our business and private lives. We gain buy-in for our strategic and creative ideas via our ability to communicate our thoughts succinctly, and with a healthy dose of winning enthusiasm.
That’s why I love Bob Berkowitz’s list of ten ways to communicate what you want.
It’s never about you; it’s always about them.
Ask yourself: What are their explicit and implicit needs?
Learn to listen “between the lines”.
Build an emotional connection by telling great stories.
Feelings count, and people will remember how you make them feel.
Ask good questions, then shut up long enough to really listen to the answers.
Have the courage to differentiate yourself (your products or services) from the herd.
How you say it is ofttimes more important than what you say.
Be aspirational by tapping into your listeners’ desire for something better.
Tailor your message to their attention spans (in other words: be brief!)
Do you believe that ‘having it all’ also means ‘doing it all’?
If you still think that you have to be a “Superwoman” to have what you want in life, this upcoming 4-part teleseries will open your eyes, and help you lighten your load! Find invaluable information, as well as tools and techniques that will allow you to finally put down your “S”.
As a launch platform for the series Releasing Your Inner Diva, Lillian Ogbogoh (Waking Passions) has invited me to pool experiences and resources to bring you this timely teleseries. “Putting Down Your ‘S’” is a platform to share your experiences, discuss the bottlenecks inhibiting you in your personal and professional life, and receive input on how to more effectively mobilize all the resources available to you in order to achieve your goals in life more efficiently.
If you did not have a chance to tune in live to the interview I gave to Lillian Ogbogoh from Waking Passions on BlogTalkRadio, click here to listen to the recording. Lillian and I talked about:
What leads us - as women - to believe that to ‘have it all‘ we also had to ‘do it all‘?
Is this an issue you are struggling with right now? Consider taking part in our upcoming teleseminar: “Putting Down Your ‘S’”!
Dear Friends,
This evening I will be interviewed by Lillian Ogbogoh from Waking Passions on BlogTalkRadio as part of her upcoming series “Putting Down Your ‘S’“. This series will discuss the ’superwoman’ syndrome that has afflicted so many (not only) professional women as the traditional role of women in society continues to evolve.
