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.

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. [...]

7 Nervous gestures and how to tame them is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

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. [...]

Harnessing the power of self talk to improve your presentation skills is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

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 [...]

Life lessons from the movies is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

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.

Positivity and presentation confidence [...]

Positivity and presentation confidence is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

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 [...]

How do you develop presence? is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

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 [...]

Is your thinking holding you back? is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

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 [...]

How Do You Build Confidence in Nervous Presenters and Speakers is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

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 [...]

Great presenters – Born or Made? is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

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

What makes or breaks a conference presentation? is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

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 [...]

Projecting Authority is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing