COOK UP A TASTY, NOURISHING & MEMORABLE PRESENTATION

As a member of the World Affairs Council, I entertain many international State Department guests for dinner when they are in Seattle. I love to cook and recently I’ve been noticing how creating a successful presentation can be so much like cooking.  When I cook I begin with a desire for something tasty and nourishing.  If I have invited others to share this meal, I consider their dietary preferences, whether allergies or religious/cultural preferences.  

I first look in my refrigerator to see what is there: meat or fish, cheese, butter, tofu, fresh veggies and fruit, fresh ginger, tamari, and begin to get a sense of where this meal is going.  Then I make my big decisions: what is the main theme of this meal?  What are the accompanying flavors that will make this dish special? I look in my cupboards for additional elements: rice, cornmeal, quinoa, kasha, dried or canned beans, pasta, garlic, olive oil, nuts, herbs and spices.  If I wish to try a new combination of these I research in my cookbooks or online.  Out of lemons?  I am lucky and can go right across the street and buy them and any other missing ingredient I might need at my neighborhood grocery store.  Or, I might go up Highway 99 to the great Pakistani grocery store to buy Halal meat for my Muslim guests.  And then I figure my timing and I’m ready to go!

Putting together a presentation can be just like that.  Know who your audience members are and what their preferences are for you want to make your message accessible.  Then gather all the elements you have at hand or can find easily, and see which of these will be your main message to this audience.  Next, assemble those stories, images and kinesthetic ideas that will clarify, enhance, and entertainingly involve your audience.  Plan your timing and you, too, will be ready to go!  

However, just as when cooking, practice makes a huge difference.  If you try a brand new recipe on your guests without trying it out beforehand, you really do not know how it will turn out.  And when you try a brand new presentation on your audience without practicing, you are also in a danger zone.  So, you must practice, practice, practice.  You can try bits of it out on your friends, colleagues and family - like giving them tastes from your cook pot.  In this way you can find out how clear and appetizing your message is and can do the final seasoning.

Bon Appetit!

Come to our workshop on November 22nd to practice cooking a presentation: Speak with Clarity !  See here for details: 

Appreciation 

Here we are once again in the season of Giving & Receiving and of Thanksgiving.  Few of us slow down and stop long enough to pay attention to the meaning beneath these old rituals.  We are too busy with our agendas and goals and bills and shopping and should-dos and ought-tos - sometimes going through the motions of celebrating these holidays without actually taking the time to appreciate the enormous value inherent in them.

We cook and share meals paying careful attention to the gourmet recipes and the correct serving dish while avoiding paying real attention to each other.  All of these holidays are really based in the spirit of appreciation, and yet it seems so difficult sometimes to take the opportunities they provide. To fully celebrate these holidays we need to stop and pay close attention to the deeper gifts we can give each other such as truly listening, hanging out with someone without agenda, making ourselves available to help out a friend or stranger in need.

When we are making a presentation, we are sharing our gifts - of ideas, research, skills, behaviors, attitudes, decisions.  And sometimes we forget that our audiences, too, are sharing their gifts - their attentiveness, their willingness to participate, their creative ideas, their time, their sense of humor, their difficult questions.  They are huge contributors to our presentations. 

Take the time at the end of your presentation to speak from the heart, to reflect back to your audience the great value you have experienced as a result of their participation.  Reach down into your heart and tell them just how you feel.  Appreciate them!

And have a Happy Thanksgiving!   

If you would like to learn to speak from the heart, come to our Speaking from the Heart workshop in Seattle on Friday, December 4th, 1-6.  Small supportive group, lots of practice, video feedback, coaching. Other workshops and ongoing programs are also available.  See details HERE

TRANSPARENCY

That is what we crave when we are communicating with people, isn't it?

Not the propped up, slick, guarded, same old blah, blah, blah.

When we are meeting new people, don't we love it when they are transparent, able to make a real connection with us, truly listening and have the capacity to drop their agenda and hang with us, let us see them?

As presenters, when we are hit with the normal adrenalin rush that comes naturally in anticipation of being up in front of a group, or having intense attention paid to us when we speak in a meeting, it can be challenging to be transparent.  Our brain function shifts and without our full neo-cortex capacity, we are left with our survival response to fight or flee.  In that moment we see our audiences as predators and we begin to act as prey.  If not trained as warriors, we drift toward flight, obfuscating and rushing, flustered and covering our vulnerable selves with puffery.  We are not really present, just a blur, hurtling toward the end of our presentation, filled with dread, shame  and remorse.

We really do not have to suffer this way.  It is possible for us to keep our sense of ourselves and our core message, and our mission for our presentation.  We can be present to our audiences, develop relationships with them during our presentations, inspiring them to action, encouraging them to participate and contribute their good ideas and energies to the conversation.  In order to do this we must first learn to speak from the heart, to breathe, to converse with one person at a time, to allow ourselves to be transparent and openhearted.

Learning to do this is like learning a new move, a dance step or athletic exercise.  It requires guidance and practice.  Begin with the breath - since our brains run on oxygen, we must learn to use the breath to relax and fuel up so we can be smart in the moment.  Controlling our gaze is another key element, so we may "trick" our brains to return our clear-thinking and engaging capacities.  And of course, practice is the third element to master transparency.

If you would like to become transparent as a presenter, come to our Speaking from the Heart. workshop in Seattle on Friday, December 4th, 1-6.  Small supportive group, lots of practice, video feedback, coaching.  Find out about this workshop and others 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

STILLNESS

I was having lunch with Ilmar Reepalu, the Mayor of Malmo, Sweden who is a very interesting man. He was part of a delegation of Swedish mayors touring environmental projects and organizations in Seattle through the World Affairs Council – a national organization that has a great chapter in Seattle. I served as a guide during the two days they were here.

At a meeting that morning Mayor Reepalu had asked several great questions in a slightly surprising manner. I was particularly interested in his style – he managed to garner great answers. He would raise his hand and then when he was called on, he paused at least 5 seconds before he calmly asked his question. 

I noticed that by coming from stillness, he created an expectant vacuum in the room. Everyone was so much more interested in his question than if he had blurted it out right away. In response to his questions, the answers were more thoughtful, it seemed to me.
 

At lunch I told him about my interest in his approach. He said he purposefully waited before speaking – that coming from stillness and speaking in a very calm, still manner drew more attention to his questions. 

In addition he remarked he noticed that sometimes women express a kind of nervousness in gestures and posture when they are speaking that cuts into their power, diffusing their energy and weakening their message. Too many gestures, head constantly moving, eyes darting, pacing with no purpose – these all are like visual static to the audience.
 

Stillness. This is a good lesson for us all. Especially at the beginning of a presentation. Do not hurry. Go to the podium. Put your notes, your water, your props in order. Center yourself. Take a good deep breath. Think about your first line. Look out at the audience. Wait till they are settled and you have their attention. Find one person to begin with. Take another breath. 
  
Come from stillness. Try it!

PS: Check out this amazing presentation - brilliant, passionate speaker Shai Agassi- and see how much more effective you think he could be if he had come from stillness, if he had only moved with purpose to support his points - rather than coming from nervous agitation. What do you think? Post your comments, please!