APPETIZER

APPETIZER!

A presentation is like an appetizer. When we are preparing to make an important presentation we often feel compelled to give the audience the whole story, put in all of the details, make it the best full meal deal for our audience and client. We give them the 7-course dinner.

When we do this we are missing the point. Our audiences for the most part, want an appetizer. In fact an appetizer is all they can digest of new information at one sitting. The rest is wasted on them. Give them a few tasty ideas to nibble on and they will come back later looking for the rest of the courses. They'll want to know more about our services or product or idea.

Pare down the size and complexity of your presentation. Simplify your task. Decide what you want them to take away from the day - what you want them to communicate to others. Find 2-3 compelling points that support that take-away. Depending on the time available, you can add 1-3 sub points for each point. Now add the spices: opening story, sensory details and the main spice - interaction for each point.

STOP! That's enough! They've had a tasty taste. If they want more they will ask you for it.

Bon appetit!

If you would like to learn and practice how to construct a tasty presentation, see New Fall Workshops schedule here.

PREPARE!

Last Thursday I took my 7 year old granddaughter, Sofia, to the Ellensburg Rodeo to see her first "slack", the qualifying rounds for the hopeful cowboys & cowgirls. We sat very close to the area where they prepare for their events - a pen that is full of men and horses. It gave us the opportunity to see just what they do to prepare for their 4-12 seconds of triumph or failure in the arena.

Some prepared by jumping up and down on the soft sand to get the energy into their joints, some talked to their horses, some put baby powder on their hands so the rope would not stick when they sweated in the heat of the adrenalin rush, some were sitting on their horses in a focused meditative pose, some loosened their wrists by swinging their ropes around in tight circles above their heads (we ducked!). All were doing some or all of these. Like actors in the Green Room backstage before a show, they were preparing for performance.

As presenters, we, too, need to make a conscious preparation for our performance. We need to do some focused stretching and breathing exercises, we need to warm up our voices, we need to remember that the focus should be on our audience - not ourselves, and we need to prepare to deliver a bright note of inspiration and engagement. And then, like those cowboys, we will go on - bringing our very best to share with our audiences.

Oh, yes - Sofia and I are ready to go for a ride ourselves!

If you would like to see a few warm-up exercises, click here

If you would like a list of our new Fall Workshops and programs, click here