In this post I’d like to share a simple and powerful model that the confident presenters I modelled use to “get in state” prior to their presentations.

As an NLP Master Practitioner, modelling excellence is a key tool for me. When I was training in the USA, we were given a project to model the most confident presenters in the class. We observed them, interviewed them and came up with the following model which we then tested out and it worked.

Personal Presence Strategy:
The following mental strategy was modelled from an excellent presenter. And is a representation of the process he went through automatically before presenting.

Step 1 – In your mind’s eye, access a space within which you feel completely comfortable and familiar e.g your office, garden, lounge etc.

Step 2 – In you imagination overlay this ‘comfort zone’ over the place you will be presenting and allow yourself to feel comfortable with the presentation space.

Step 3 – Recall a time when you knew you had all the knowledge you needed and were confident of that knowledge. Allow yourself to fully re-experience this state. Allow it to intensify and then expand it outwards until it surrounds you.

Step 4 – Take this state of knowledge and confidence and step into the presentation space where you have previously overlaid your ‘comfort zone’.

Step 5 – Make eye contact with your audience and allow this state of presence to expand and include the whole audience.

Step 6 – As you engage with your audience smile and imagine welcoming them into “your space” for the duration of the presentation.

Posted in Presentation Skills, Public Speaking

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