Introducing the blog and how it can help you become a better presenter

Whatever level of presenter you are now, the ideas and suggestions in this blog can help you to make a impact the next time you get up to speak. However skilled you are at creating and giving speeches, you only need to know that you can get better if you want to. The most relevant questions at this stage are:

1. Do you want to get better?

2. Is getting better at it worth the effort you’ll put in?

If the answer to either of these questions is no then you don’t need this blog. If the answer to both of these questions is “yes” then let’s get started.

My model, “Fit, Focus & Flair” forms the foundation for this book. It is a simple idea to help you look at what you can do, if you want to prepare and give business presentations that do you great credit. Fit, Focus & flair is not presented here as “the truth” but as something that you might find useful. The model is something that I developed to help me do my work with clients, and I found it so useful that we passed it on to our clients and they, in their hundreds, have found it useful too.

I'll explain the model first and show you very clearly what you can do to make sure that all of your presentations are as fit, focused and full of flair as they can be. Then we will go on and show you how you can transform every presentation that you do from this moment on.

Please feel free to comment & leave feedback on anything that's here because Fit, Focus & Flair is a work in progress, and your experiences and thoughts will really help.

How to stand out from the crowd

Now, the best part is that, even if you’re just a little bit better than the average presenter, you’ll stand out. If you can set out a topic that’s relevant to the people there; if you can take an audience through a step-by-step explanation; make a recommendation based on fact, experience or principle and then answer people’s questions, you’ll be remembered for a very long time.

Then, if you’re much better than average, and can do all of the things mentioned above, and be funny, interesting, challenging, memorable and, more than anything else, be brief, you’ll be given endless opportunities to do much more than you could ever have dreamed of.

Why you should be better than the average at presenting

Whenever you get up to speak you will make an impression on every member of your audience, you can’t not make an impression, even though you may not mean to. You’ll always leave some trace or memory of you with them, because while you think your presentation is about the content, the audience thinks that it’s all about you. Over time, the impressions you make when you speak to your bosses, peers and subordinates, will become your reputation.

People infer all kinds of things about you, just from the way you make a presentation. They’ll decide whether you’re good at your job, whether you’re funny, attractive, intelligent and promotable, all from just watching you speak. The truth might emerge after they find out more about you; and often first impressions are wrong, but why not take every opportunity to make great impressions at every opportunity you have.

Think about the last time you saw a really bad presentation. Did it leave a positive impression of the speaker? Of course it didn’t. If you think of every occasion that you’ll make a presentation as an opportunity to impress, you’ll begin to build the kind of reputation that you want, rather than the kind of reputation you get saddled with when you don’t take those occasions seriously.

Presentations in corporate life tend to be set-pieces that get attention. They are the formal occasions at which things tend to get reviewed, decided and done. They tend also to have the right people there. They are great opportunities to build your reputation and a real chance to show the influential and important people in your organisation that you can be trusted to take on more responsibility than you already have.

The standard of presentation in corporate life is generally so low that even if you'r a bit better than the norm you'll stand out like a beacon in the glooom, and there's a lot of gloom around. If you can say something relevant, in a short amount of time, and have people remember the point the day afterwards then you're destined for greatness.  That's why you should bother.