Present spontaneously through practice

Have you ever attended a presentation and been awed by how easily the keynote speaker engages you and how comfortable she seems? She speaks without looking at notes or her slides. It’s as if she’s having a conversation with just you and everything she says is off the top of her head. Do you wish you could be that spontaneous?

Would you be surprised to find out that those presenters are not spontaneously presenting? They practice and prepare more than the average presenter. That is why the moved from average to exceptional.

You can present with impact and confidence by using this four step approach.

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what is your ‘morning paper’ about work?

I was wondering about this as I read thru all of my RSS feeds this morning looking for hot news and updates relating to my business, my clients’ business, and the world at large.

Things have been changing in the world of news reporting. No longer are the TV news anchors and reporters our only source of information of news and events around the world. Now we have the internet and social media that provide us with an unlimited variety of perspectives and levels of detail about – everything – and often do it more quickly! I find that I am more informed now that I use twitter, RSS feeds, and a few online news aggregators as my ‘morning paper.’

As I was reviewing my ‘morning paper’ or more accurate, my ‘morning pages’ I began to think about how, as employees, we aggregate our morning news about work – at work.

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stop bugging me: handling disruptions at work

Last week’s challenge was to look at interruptions from both sides: good and bad. But what if you are interrupted – repeatedly – by a coworker and it is disruptive? The short answer: Suspend judgement; Investigate the situation; clarify expectations. Simple. But how you implement these three easy steps is what will make or break the situation.

situation

Meet Bob. He is a motivated business development professional. He is a master at building new relationships and strengthening old ones. Recently he has noticed that Pam, head of production, has been involving him in meetings, calls, and decisions relating to her department. Bob see’s this as a disruption to his work. What can he do?

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how to build rapport: don’t mimic me!

A colleague recently told me that I don’t appreciate how difficult it is for an anywhere worker to build rapport. I know it is important to get feedback, so I refrained from reacting and simply asked him why. He said it’s because it comes naturally to me. I paused. Really? I’m glad it looks natural. What would you say if I told you it has taken me years to develop that natural talent? I’ve read books, attended seminars, observed others with this ‘natural’ talent, and finally tried the various approaches to see what worked for me.

If you want to have that natural ability, all you have to do is practice. Let’s start with the very first meeting you have with a new person. It could be a prospective client, team mate, or potential new friend. What would you do first? My colleague said he uses a technique he learned in a sales training seminar called mimicking. In order to make the other person feel comfortable and ‘connect’ with you on a subconscious level, you mirror or mimick their breathing, body language, tone, pace, and even language (use of slang and so on). He said it works about thirty percent of the time for him when he meets someone in person, but rarely works in virtual meetings. Since most of his work is virtual, he wanted to know my secret.

Building Rapport – Virtually, Authentically

For this to become a natural talent, you need to find not only what works for you, but what appears natural for you. I can share with you my approach, but I can not guarantee it will work for you. Like I said, I collected all types of approaches but only after I tested all of them was I able to select what works (authentically) for me. Here’s my approach to the first meeting with a new person:

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