It’s natural to be a little nervous when you start speaking but your nervous gestures can give the game away to your audience .   Here are  the most common and most distracting ones along with preventative  tips on how to reduce or eliminate them.

1 ) The soft shoe shuffler

Dancing, rocking and pacing as you speak can all be very distracting for your audience. Awareness is the starting point so get some feedback on your stance and movement. If it needs work try the following tips. Start with a strong confident stance with your feet hip width apart, toes pointing slightly out, head up and shoulders back. When you move, move with purpose rather than randomly.

2 ) The pen clicker

Ever been driven mad by the presenter who continuously clicks the top of a ballpoint pen or who “pops” the top of a flipchart marker on and off?
It’s just a little thing but it can be so000 distracting.   Again with this nervous gesture awareness is the first step.  It can be easily prevented by reminding yourself not to hold a pen in your hand.   If you have to write on a flip chart,  consciously practice putting the pen down when you have finished writing.

3 ) The sloucher

Over the years I have come across some pretty bizzare postures from inexperienced speakers.   Some people perch on one leg with their other crossed in front of them and look like they are about to fall over at any moment.  But the worst is the hands in pockets, leaning back on one leg slouching stance.  It immediately makes me think that the presenter doesn’t care about their subject. And if they don’t care, why should I.   Always start your presentation with a confident well balanced, open stance.   Before you speak go through a quick mental checklist.  Feet hip width apart, weight evenly distributed between both feet, feet flat on the floor, soft knees, shoulders back, head up and arms relaxed by your sides.  You don’t have to stay in this posture throughout your presentation but it is a great place to start and to come back to if you need to pause and think.

4 ) The pacer

I always remember an army careers speaker who came to my school when I was about 16.   Throughout his 45 minute presentation he paced back and forwards in front of us as if he was marching up and down the parade ground.   This pacing served no useful purpose and was extremely distracting.     Always aim to make your movement purposeful.  For example use different areas of the floor to “anchor” different parts of your speech or move closer to your audience when you want to ask a particular person a question.

5 ) The coin or key jingler

Usually a male trait, the habit of putting a hand in trouser pocket and playing with keys or loose change is a big no no.  Always check your pockets before speaking and remove any loose change or anything else that might  distract your audience.

6 ) The face toucher

Random touching of your face or playing with your hair is an all to common tell tale that the presenter is nervous of feeling uncomfortable.  It reduces your credibility massively and should be avoided at all costs, especially if speaking to a more senior audience.

7 ) The hand clasper

Many novice presenters struggle to know what to do with their hands. Typically they will either clasp their hands in front of their stomach or grasp them behind their back in the posture made famous by Prince Charles.  Both these options tend to reduce your credibility and also restrict your ability to gesture effectively   Ideally I recommend that, when not gesturing, your arms should hang loosely by your sides.   If this is a step too far for you then an acceptable alternative is to lightly rest your finger tips together but don’t interlace the fingers.

So there you have it.  My list of the 7 most distracting nervous gestures.   Which are you guilty of?
If you don’t know get some feedback. Getting someone to video your presentations can be really useful and this is getting easier and easier as so many mobile phones can now record reasonable quality video.

Have I left any out that drive you mad?     Share your comments and views below.

Gavin Meikle
The Presentation Doctor

Learn how adding one word to your self talk can help you become a better presenter.

Recently, at a networking event, I had the pleasure of speaking to lovely man called Peter Moore who runs a small domestic electricians business along with his son Russell.

We were talking about public speaking and he was telling me how he started out as a nervous and reluctant presenter and that that how, after forcing himself to practice, he now feels much more confident.   He then went on to share a little about his future aspirations as a speaker and I noticed that he used a particularly simple but powerful language pattern in his self talk.

He said that he wanted to be able to improvise and speak more spontaneously but he hadn’t quite got to that stage “yet“.

Our self talk is hugely important and the way we verbalise our goals and dreams plays a big part in whether we will achieve them or not. By using the word “yet” Peter was acknowledging the reality of his current situation and, at the same time, indicating that he would  achieve his goal in the future.   The word “yet”  contained the presupposition that the further improvement in his speaking ability was possible and would happen.

Contrast that with the self talk phrase “I’d love to be a more spontaneous speaker but I can’t do it.” The word “can’t” presupposes a lack of ability and offers no hope of future change. Take the same sentence and add “yet” to the end of it and the meaning is transformed.  Better still, remove the word can’t completely and transform the sentence into” I’d love to be a more spontaneous speaker but I haven’t mastered it yet.”

What are your favourite positive linguistic patterns and how do you harness the power of your self talk?

Gavin Meikle
The Presentation Doctor

The Kings Speech

Every so often I watch a film that proves to be a fantastic source of learning and inspiration as well as entertainment.

Recently I saw the Kings speech and it really moved me.     Afterwards I started to wonder what it was that made it so powerful.

The acting was superb and believable.   The Prince’s frustration with his inability to speak fluently in public was palpable, and this made a wonderful contrast with the closing sequences where he clearly demonstrated to himself and the world that he had mastered his stammer.   The filming was tight and the period references felt accurate and relevant.

For me there were three powerful lessons that came out of this film:

• That even the most intractable things can be changed with a combination of determination and the right support network.
• That a quick fix is rarely the solution and that hard work and effort does pay huge dividends.
• That ones ability to speak clearly and confidently in public can have a huge positive impact on yourself as well as your audience.

Interstingly I then did a search to see what other people had written about this superb film in relation to presenting and I came across this excellent slideshare presentation by Jessedee.  I thought you might like it too:

If you have seen it, I’d love to hear what you took from it, so post a comment below.

Gavin Meikle
The Presentation Doctor

A  recent comment to one of my earlier posts by Stephen Hendren prompted me to review some of the research on positivity and performance.
Thanks to his post, I found a great video interview by Positivity researcher Barbara Fredrickson.  I thought you might like it so I have included it in this post.  Dr Fredrickson’s key message is that there is a proven 3:1 “positivity ratio” needed to generate the positive emotions required to enhance self esteem and personal performance.

When I ask the people who attend my workshops what is the difference that makes the difference between and average speaker and a great speaker they often come up “presence”.
When I go on to ask them to be a bit more specific about what they mean by presence, they tend to struggle.

So what exactly is presence? And more importantly how can anyone develop this quality in themselves? Well I am not sure I know all the answers but I have some ideas to get you thinking.

Presence is the label we give to someone who displays a number of distinct qualities:

Confidence in themselves
Being comfortable in their own skin and in the location
Charisma
A sense of deep connection with thier audience
A relaxed but focused approach
Being fully present I.e. Grounded in the present moment
The ability to flow with whatever is happening

I am sure you could add your own labels.

Presence is undoubtedly very important but is it something that can be learned? I think it can and in the next article I will be exploring some initial thoughts on how to cultivate it. I would also love to hear from you.
What does presence mean to you?
What behaviours create a perception of presence?
What sort of mind set is needed to allow someone to demonstrate presence?

Go on, don’t be shy, your opinions and ideas are valid and other people would love to read them so post your comments below.

Gavin Meikle
The Presentation Doctor.

When I was a sales manager I saw a number of potentially great communicators stall despite fantastic subject matter knowledge and great technique.   It was no surprise to me that sending them on a skills refresher course didn’t solve the problem as I instinctively knew that the problem lay at the level of identity and believe rather than skill or capability.

On numerous occasions I fought with my colleagues in the training department because they said that you couldn’t do anything about those sort of problems and so they would resort to their comfort zone.

Over the years I have studied lots of different methodologies and approaches seeking a simple way to solve this problem both for myself and my clients and I beleive I have finally found the solution.

It’s a process for challenging and transforming the thoughts that are behind our blockages and it comes courtesy of the work of American teacher and author Byron Katie.

Step 1 – Identify and write down the thoughts that are stopping you from getting the results you want:
e.g

• “My boss doesn’t think I’m confident enough to be  promoted”
• “They think I’m too young”
• “He won’t like me”
• “I’ll make a mess of it”

Step 2 – Choose one of the statements you wrote down and  then ask yourself “Is that thought true? – Yes or No?”

Step 3 – If the answer to step 2 is “Yes” then ask yourself “Is it absolutely true?”

• Close your eyes, go inside and wait for the honest answer to come from within you

Step 3 – “How do I react when I think that stressful thought?”

• What do you do?
• What do you think? What images come into your mind?
• How do you feel when you think that thought

Step 4 – Who would you be without that stressful thought?

• Close your eyes and see yourself doing what you want to be able to do, without that stressful thought

Repeat this process for every stressfull thought you wrote down and notice how you feel now.
NB:  I find that this process is a bit like peeling an onion, there are layers beneath layers but the wonderful thing is that the more you do it the easier it gets until you do it automatically.

I have just returned from a camping holiday in Dorset and whilst away I had the delight of lighting and then tending a camp fire every evening.   As I was gazing into the embers one evening it suddenly struck me that there are a number of similarities between lighting a camp fire and developing someone’s presentation or public speaking confidence.

As anyone who has tried to light a fire will know it is not always an easy job.   If the sticks are to thick or too damp, it is difficult to get the fire to take hold.   One has to look for a glowing ember and then feed and nurture it so that it glows brighter and brighter until it eventually bursts into flame.

Bringing out the confidence to speak in front of an audience requires the same approach.  Constructive criticism at too early a stage can have the same effect as putting damp wood on the fire – it puts it out!  Positive reinforcement and praise, on the other hand, fans the embers and causes them to glow brighter.

As a public speaking and presentation skills trainer I have often had to spend time undoing all the “good work” done by others who sought to help by telling their colleagues what they were doing wrong.

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that there is a place for constructive criticism but not in the early stages of the novice speakers career.

Why not tell me what you think

I had a fascinating conversation today over lunch which I thought I’d share with you.   I was speaking to a colleague who does a lot of work as a professional master of ceremonies and facilitator at conference and events  Our conversation covered a range of interesting things including voice projection and accents but we happened to stray onto the topic of what makes a great presenter and from there onto the question of can anyone be taught to present well.

After batting the argument back and forth we agreed that, technically at least, almost anyone could be taught to be a reasonably competent and confident presenter .  However  the time and  effort required may well be, in some cases, disproportionately large and in many cases it may make better sense to let a more confident and natural speaker deliver your messages.  In other words we should play to our natural talents rather than trying to become great at everything.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this controversial topic.   Do you agree or disagree post your comments and lets open up a lively debate.

As part of a recent presentation skills coaching programme for a large client, I have been reviewing videos of some of their top directors presenting at a company conference. Some presenters got it right and got great evaluations and others clearly didn’t and,as an external observer the reasons for the latter were clear

• Lack of connection with the audience
• Lack of clear purpose (as perceived by the audience)
• No obvious audience benefit
• Presenting only lists impersonal statistics, facts and figures with no clear structure, point or flow
• Wooden, unexpressive “professional” performances. If the presenter doesn’t appear to care about the subject why on earth should the audience?
• Boring word dense, image scares bullet point slides. Written text is a poor excuse for a visual aid!
• Lack of audience involvement

So if you have a presentation to give in the next few weeks or months what can you do to ensure that you win the audience attention and motivation stakes?

Preparation:

• Have a clear purpose for your presentation. What are you trying to achieve as a result of this speech and what do you want the audience to do at the end of it?
• Establish the relevance of your content to the audience early on in the presentation. What is in it for them? Why should they listen? And don’t forget to tell them early on in your presentation?
• Design your presentation as a story which has a logical flow and emotional content to support it.
• Keep your visual aids clean and simple. Ban the bullet point and have only one idea per slide. Replace those words with an attention getting or emotive photograph. Read presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds if you need some inspiration.

Delivery:

• Avoid reading a script or auto cue. This will reduce eye contact and therefore connection with your audience. It will also make you sound dull, stilted and boring. Spoken English is different from written English. If you must have a script, record your speech first as you would like to say it and then have the recording transcribed.
• Don’t be afraid to show your emotion, Yes it is a business environment but human beings are hard wired to be driven by emotions. If you don’t evoke an emotional response in your audience they will not be motivated to follow your recommendations.
• Use your full vocal range to engage and enthral the audience – Everything from a roar to a sotto Voce whisper is at your disposal. Don’t be afraid of exaggeration in order to stretch your comfort zone and show your passion , enthusiasm or disappointment. Oh yes and don’t forget the power of a well placed silence too.
• Use your body language to reinforce your messages and project confide3nce and the appropriate degree of gravitas. An open upright posture, large open gestures, plenty of facial expression. Make sure that your body is sending out the same messages as your words and voice otherwise your audience won’t believe you.
• Be willing to experiment and accept that as a result you will make a few mistakes along the way. Perfection isn’t connection and your audience will empathise with you if you show that you too are human.
• Be present and in the moment during your presentation. If you are remembering the past or worrying about the future then your mind is not in the here and now and the audience will notice it.

Good luck!

Gavin Meikle
The Internet Presentation Coach

Whether you a presenting to one person or one thousand, the ability to project authority and credibility is crucial.     The question is how do you do it?   

Authority, or “gravitas” as some people call it, is a desirable yet nebulous characteristic that is closely related to charisma.  We all recognise it but are hard put to identify what it is a person says or does that creates it.

Some people undoubtedly have more natural authority than others but I believe that everyone can learn some simple techniques to “turn it on” at will.

Having studied many different presenters I have identified 5 key cues that project a perception of authority and credibility.

1. Eye contact  – Practice making and holding eye contact for up to 5seconds
2. Maximising personal space through stance – Develop an open upright, relaxed stance
3. Head stillness when speaking – High authority figures keep their head still when they speak (helps with eye contact too)
4. Being comfortable and easy with using pauses of varying lengths.  If silence is golden then pauses are “nuggets of gold” to quote my friend Marian Way
5. Eliminating face and hair touching – These mannersims lower your percieved status so learn to eliminate them.

Don’t take my word for it though, test out this by experimenting with these techniques yourself and observe others who you consider to be high credibility speakers and you will see that they are universal.

NB: Lots of people comment on my posts and thus add value to the whole topic so please join them in sharing your views and examples because it will help all of us.