Tran News Digest

The ability to present your thoughts and ideas in a professional and persuasive manner is invaluable. You may have great ideas but if you are unable to present them effectively you’re at a disadvantage.

It has been my experience that the ability to present well enhances your credibility, builds trust and develops followers to you ideas. Whether in business, organizations or among friends and associates, your presentation skills will greatly increase your influence.

Jerry Seinfeld once said, “People fear public speaking more than death, therefore the person at a funeral giving the eulogy would rather be in the coffin.” I have encountered many people who are terrified of standing in front of any group and speaking. Without a doubt this could limit your ability to grow in life and in your pursuits be it business or organizations.

“Great speakers are not born, they’re trained.” Dale Carnegie

Plan
Rehearse
Edit
Psych

The acronym PREP is a good way to develop your success strategy.

Plan:
Who, what, where, when, why and how, answer these questions and you are on your way to a successful presentation.

Know your audience and answer the question in their mind, “What here affects me?” this will focus your message and win over your audience. General Eisenhower once said, ” in preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable.”

Rehearse:
Practice, practice, practice, and when you rehearse you gain confidence and understanding of what you are saying. The muscle and brain memory of delivering your presentation is a key step in this process. Through developing the patterns of how you want to communicate your message.

You become aware of your tone of voice, the sound of the words you choose and what is the appropriate movement of your body.

Edit:
As you rehearse you will eliminate words, change concepts and develop your ideas. Can you say it in fewer words? As you rehearse it often becomes apparent that you need to make changes in sentence structure or the sequence of thoughts. Have a clear beginning, middle and end of your presentation. Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them.

Psych:
After the first three steps you will be thoroughly ready to share your ideas and thoughts. You will be energized and psyched. The process of PREP will give you focus, confidence and the skill to deliver successful presentations with each opportunity.

Nervousness is often caused by several factors. Lack of preparation, you are afraid you’ll be boring or you’re afraid you’ll say what they’ve heard before. Whatever “butterflies” were in your stomach will now be flying in formation. When you are prepared you know what you are saying and how you want to deliver your message. You can now focus on the most important element of your success, THE AUDIENCE!

Successful communicators are natural, prepared and psyched. They make eye contact with key members of the audience and understand that “dead air” is golden… watch the ahs, and ums, stay focused on your message and address the WHAM factor for your audience, “What Here Applies To Me?”

Lastly, never let them see you sweat. Only you know the script and where you want to go and what you want to say. If you forget something or deliver the material out of order, keep moving never let them see you sweat. Don’t apologize or let on that you have made a mistake, no one will ever know unless you tell them.

Be confident, be prepared and you will be a successful communicator.