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The other evening I was watching the BBC Programme on Climate Change, anchored by veteran broadcaster Sir David Attenborough.

Listening to him made me wonder, why is he such successful and authoritative presenter and what can we learn from his style?

Well for me there are two key factors.
Firstly he is authentic - He looks and sounds like he is speaking from the heart. Technically he breaks a few of the “rules” of good presenting yet he gets away with it because his words, his vocal delivery and his non verbal signals (body language), all send the same signals. In other words he is an extremely congruent presenter. If you aren’t feeling passionate about your material it will show through, no matter how good a presentation you have prepared. You’ll need to work on convincing yourself of the importance of your message first before you try to convince your audience.

Secondly he has authority - He looks and sounds like he knows what he is talking about plus, he has an established track record. Now thinking deeper, I started to wonder, how much does he really know about climate change and the complex science behind it? Probably relatively little compared to the experts who wrote his script but how important is that really compared to the fact that he is perceived as an “expert.”

Now Sir David doesn’t have to work hard these days to establish & maintain this status, but he did in the beginning. All good speakers need to establish their credibility at the beginning of their presentation if they want to play the “authority card” to help them present. How good are you at doing this?

Have a great week and remember to post your thoughts/comments on any of my articles.
Gavin

Yes is now officially 2007 and all the excuses are over! It’s time to put those resolutions into practice. I assume that you are reading this blog at least partially because you want to change something in your life. Either you want to be a more confident presenter and public speaker or you want to sharpen up your selling and influencing skills - or perhaps both!

Well the good news is that you can! The bad news is that you will have to change!
There is an old saying that goes “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got!” Or to put it more positively, “If you want different results in your life you have to start doing something different!”

The $64000 question i hear you ask is What? Well that’s where this blog comes in. I will regulalry post practical proven tips that, if you put them into practice, will transform your life.

So here is the first sales tip for 2007:
Develop and Attitude of Boundless Curiousity!
Jep! That’s it. Think about it.

Imagine that every time you were speaking to a potential customer you got really curious and just had to know exactly what they wanted, why they wanted it, how they knew they wanted it? What would happen if they didn’t find a solution to their problem? What would happen when they did find a solution? How much that solution was worth to them? etc.etc.

If you knew all of that information BEFORE you started to talk about your product or service just imagine how much better placed you would be.

Keep watching for more tips and tricks throughout 2007!