One thing professionals have in common is their deep focus on their substantive knowledge and resulting work product. Unfortunately, your substantive knowledge and work product will only get you so far. I’m often asked to teach professionals how to be better presenters and public speakers.

Presentation skills are not just about your posture, voice tone and content. In this blog, I’ll discuss what makes for an effective presentation. Delivering a powerful and effective presentation is way more than you think…and your substantive knowledge and work product alone is not good enough anymore.

THE PROBLEM

As a professional, you are trained in school to be good at your substantive work. Odds are, your personality suits you to be a do good-er: creating content alone; reviewing contracts at your desk; drafting pleadings; developing, modifying and testing systems and processes, etc.

All of these things require you to tap into your left, linear brain and access what you learned in school. None of these things require you to really access your right, creative brain and interact or share WHO you are with the world. None of these things require you to inspire, lead or be memorable.

Yet you want to be promoted, recognized by your peers, heard and valued as a leader and legacy builder. But the old way of being good at what you do isn’t working anymore. So what do you do next?

REFRAME YOUR WORK

Your work product and skills are part of your career. That’s obvious. What you think is your “presentation” and public speaking skills and tools are not so obvious.

Anytime you speak in a meeting, to your peers, on a big stage or elsewhere the one true thing is that YOU show up. We are all paying attention to YOU firstly, not your content.

In order to allow your natural inner presenter and public speaker to shine, your presentation skills evolve from your ability to:

Know who you are – Not being a great presenter is a symptom of having low self-confidence. Having low self-confidence is about being unsure of who you are. Being unsure of who you are is solved by tapping into your inner wisdom and knowing of:

• What are your natural strengths and talents? The answer here boosts your ability to authentically build your natural strengths and talents that come easily to you into your presentations to the world.

• What is your real story? Where you came from is crucial to your successful ability to convey your message to your audience, whether you’re selling them your services or meeting with a client to deliver on your engagement. Unraveling and writing your real story (the good, the bad and the ugly) will allow you to find those patterns that hold you back, that keep you from shining in front of others. It also allows you to weave in who you are into every interaction with your audience, leaving them feeling closer to you and inspired by your leadership, formal or otherwise.

• How do others perceive you now? Why? What of this perception do you want to control and change as you step out into the world either to formally speak publicly or to present in front of your senior leadership team, management or clients?

• Your values. The term “values” is thrown around a lot. Values are the one true path for you to own your greatness. Once you know your values, everything else seems to fall into place. From this place, you will find the strength and power to present and speak to your audience. Your audience gets you, respects and admires you and engages with you at an entirely different, more effective level.

• Your energy. You have a certain amount of energy each day. With this energy, you take care of others and yourself and are able to perform your work. What energizes you and what drains you? Once you clearly identify the distinction between the two you are clearer on who you are and how you can bring your best self to your audience.

Communicate effectively – Once you have a good grip on who you are, in order to convey your message effectively to your audience with ease and grace you must master your best method of communication. Everyone has a different style and aptitude for communicating. Unearthing yours not only leaves you comfortable and able to influence and inspire others, it allows for easy conveyance of data and facts to your audience.

NEXT STEPS

So what’s next?

You need to decide what you want to do to change, grow and become a better presenter, including leaving a legacy others can use long after you’re gone. Not being able to decide what you need is a problem. How often are you faced with a decision, big or small, and you find yourself going back and forth? Lack of decision making is a big symptom of not knowing yourself, including your desires.

Only when you decide to move forward and get support can you combine your substantive knowledge with your presence and inspire, educate and leave a legacy that gets you promoted, hired, retained and noticed anywhere in a good way.

Looking to improve your presentation skills to the world, build a legacy and be an inspirational leader? Let’s talk. Everyone is different, and you deserve a customized and tailored approach. Schedule a Deep Dive Assessment with me and let’s discuss a plan together. Don’t wait to make this decision.