Your Presentation is in Your Head

My friend told me that when she was growing up she would pass a dilapidated house on the road. As they drove by she would envision a white picket fence among other embellishments. She saw the house refurbished in her mind. Her family would make fun of her. When they passed the next fixer upper on the road they'd say "What do you see now?" This was before the house improvement shows and even before Martha Stewart was on the scene. My friend could see a beautiful presentation when nobody else could.

When you give a presentation, do you see yourself as that dilapidated house or do you see the beautiful finished product? Do you see yourself with limitations or do you see yourself as you can be?

People fear public speaking because they have limited vision.

They see an image of themselves as ineffective and the audience as the adversary that keeps them stuck. It's time to change the picture! Public speaking is a skill anyone can learn. I've coached C-level executives and I've coached 7th graders to succeed. Not everybody is a visionary like my friend. But everybody can benefit from a champion. Whether it's a coach, a friend, a support group, an internal advocate, reach out and borrow someone's positive vision of you. The secret to a knockout presentation is the vision in your head!

To learn how to Speak Confidently and Effectively check out my LinkedIn learning course. It ranked on the Top 20 Most Popular courses for 2 years.

To learn techniques to overcome fear of speaking, read chapter 3 of Knockout Presentations.

To work with me contact DiResta Communications, Inc.

What To Do If You're Zoom Bombed

Imagine you’re in a Zoom meeting. The speaker is scintillating. Then all of a sudden you hear another voice. You don’t know where it’s coming from. Then an unknown person appears in the gallery. His behavior is obscene. The meeting stops. Everyone is silently wondering what to do. This actually happened in a class I attended. How do you get rid of this disgusting intruder?

Fortunately, we had a couple of back office experts on the call and they were able to remove him from the room. What if this scenario happened to you? Would you know what to do?

Here are a few tips for preventing invaders from Zoom bombing your meeting.

Know who is coming. Make sure the team cross checks the people against the participant list.

Don’t let them rename themselves. By shutting off this feature, they can’t hijack someone else’s name and appear to be that person. Be wary of someone who calls himself “User” or an impersonal moniker.

Shut off their cameras and audio before allowing participants to leave the waiting room and enter the meeting. You’ll see if there are duplicate names or names you don’t recognize. This will allow you to remove them before there is any trouble.

Turn off Share Screen so they can’t override your display.

Tell people to arrive early. Close the room after the first 10 minutes so strangers can’t crash the meeting. If you know there will be latecomers, look at the names in the waiting room. If you don’t recognize a name, send a direct message. Ask them to send you an email describing themselves.

Make sure you have a co-host so they can troubleshoot if a stranger gets into the room. You need more than one pair of eyes and hands to catch a Zoom Bomber so share the controls.

Click the REMOVE button once you identify the culprit. Be aware that Zoom automatically reports someone when they are removed by the host. To avoid the wrong person being reported, you can shut off this feature and then manually hit the REPORT button.

In the two years since I’ve attended this same class, we’ve been Zoom Bombed twice. Most of the time the security works and you’ll have effective meetings and presentations. On the rare occasion that you do have an intruder, you’ll know what to do to stop the Zoom Bombing and save the day. The SETTINGS feature is your best friend.

To learn how to Speak Confidently and Effectively check out my LinkedIn learning course. It ranked #5 on the Top 20 Most Popular courses.

To learn techniques to overcome fear of speaking, read chapter 3 of Knockout Presentations.

To work with me contact DiResta Communications, Inc.

Tagged: presentation, public speaking, virtual presentatio

The One Speaking Mistake TV Presenters Make That Radio Presenters Don't

My mouth was watering. I was listening to a major network television broadcast. They were interviewing a restaurant owner and he was describing a delicious recipe. They talked about his menu, his background, and of course they all sampled the tasty dish. So far so good. They captured and kept my attention. Wouldn’t you want to go to a restaurant with such good food? There was only one problem. They ended the interview without mentioning the chef’s name, the name of the restaurant or the location. How frustrating! A lost opportunity for the restaurant and for me. It’s happened too many times to be a coincidence. If you don’t catch the opening line at the very beginning of the interview you won’t know who they’re talking about.

I can tell you this rarely happens on radio interviews. As a podcast and radio Interviewer, the host is trained to promote the guest. They’ll often mention the name of my book in the introduction. They’ll end by mentioning the book again, asking where people can buy it and how they can find the website.

A good presentation has a beginning, a middle, and an end. When coaching my clients I often find that the weakest part is often the end. Many public speakers leave off the conclusion. They’ll end with their last point or they’ll say “That’s it.” And the presentation ends with a thud, like a lead balloon. The purpose of the conclusion is to complete the presentation and tie it all together.

A good conclusion recaps the main points. Consider that some people may miss the beginning points. A good public speaker will be sure that the audience leaves remembering the main message. And the really skilled speaker will tell the audience the next step. It could be an upsell or food for thought (no pun intended). But they’ll tell the listeners how to continue to connect with the speaker and learn more.

So take a public speaking lesson from the radio interviewers. End with the key points and tell them who, what and where. And that’s a wrap.

3 Mistakes That Derail Your Elevator Speech

If you’re a networker you’re going to give an elevator speech. The name comes from the idea that if you got into an elevator and your ideal decision maker was there, you would have about 30 seconds to introduce yourself before arriving at the next floor. Too often business owners show up without preparing for a networking meeting. If you’ve ever scratched your head with confusion after hearing an introduction, that presenter was unprepared.  Three common elevator pitch mistakes are:

1.       Too long

2.       Not clear

3.       All about them

Nobody wants to listen to a person drone on for three minutes when there’s a roomful of people. Save that for one-on-one meetings and get to the point. Prepare a 15-second, 30-second- and one minute version. Then take your cue from the facilitator. Even more effective, is to have a one sentence elevator pitch. Some one-liners include: I help speakers book more business. I help companies sell more in less time. I work with people who want to start a business and grow a business.

If your message is unclear, you will not attract prospects. People won’t refer you and you won’t be memorable. Brevity enhances clarity. Don’t mention everything you do. Keep the message high level. Start with one stand alone sentence. Then add more details. Test it with people you don’t know and then ask them to explain what you do. You may be surprised by the feedback. An elevator speech is a presentation. As a public speaker, be clear, be brief and be listener-centered.

To learn how to Speak Confidently and Effectively check out my LinkedIn learning course. It ranked #5 on the Top 20 Most Popular courses.

To learn techniques to overcome fear of speaking, read chapter 3 of Knockout Presentations.

To work with me contact DiResta Communications, Inc.

#publicspeaking #elevatorspeech