Saturday, May 30, 2009

Live in the moment

One of the most anxiety filled things people dread having to do is speaking in public. This I know for certain, I was one of them. There was a time I’d rather have chewed my arm off to get out of having to give a presentation to a group of people I didn’t know. But sometimes life has other things in store for you.

Over the last few years I’ve had to speak to larger and larger groups, selling Digital North’s services, client updates or extolling the virtues of the unionized construction industry. Well if you have to do something why not do it well, and towards that end I did all the reading I could.

One book in particular stood out, The 7 Principles of Public Speaking, written by Richard Zeoli. The book presents well, being easy to read and straight forward in the concepts you want to learn. The style is conversational with antidotal stories illustrating how others conquered their unique fears and issues. Each section has a lesson plan based on the direction of the chapter and is targeting to different needs, depending on the reader (Executives, Teams, Beginners).

The 7 principles are easy enough; perception, perfection, visualization, discipline, description, inspiration and anticipation. Each of these section builds upon the previous with reader learning tools and techniques to help put together a better presentation.

I had to present this last week to a large group, about 50 people and update them on work we are doing for their organization. Many of the concepts covered in the book rolled past my mind, fear of making a mistake or not having an answer. What I find though is in presentations slowing down and speaking passionately is always the right way to go.

And it doesn’t hurt to know what you talking about either.

It’s a good book, and if you’re working towards having an easier time presenting to large groups definitely worth the read.

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