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Top TipsTo BoostYour Presentation

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byMichele Paradise

www.nlplifetraining.com
http://www.nlplifetraining.com/http://www.nlplifetraining.com/


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With a wealth of experience in looking great and making an impression without saying a single word,Michele Paradise has unique insight into the skills everyone needs to get their message across.

An expert adviser and judge on national TV shows such as The Clothes Show, Model Behaviour! andBritains Next Top Model, she is massively-respected in the media as someone who not only talks the talk,but walks the walk when it comes to giving the right impression.

And rightly so - for many years a top fashion model for some of Europes major designers, she has anunequalled knowledge about posture, about giving out the right vibe when meeting people, about beingrelaxed in front of a crowd of watchful and critical eyes - and about having the exibility to respond todifferent requirements of this fast-paced and intense world.

In the last ten years, she has been coaching others how to get the very best out of themselves, and how topresent yourself to others in the best possible light.

This work has also taken her into coaching people to look and sound great during one of the most importanttimes of their lives - their wedding day. She is well-respected as The Bridal Coach, who really knows howto help the bride nd her inner poise, condence and power.

Her skills have been augmented with her psychological knowledge of the intricacies of controlling nervesin front of an audience, understanding the subtleties of language use to really get an audience to payattention, stagecraft skills which help to direct a persons emotional register during a presentation and talk -

all the way through to the right way to work with a microphone to make sure that you look and sound great.

In the following pages, she will give you 7 top tips to help you sharpen your presentations and to give youthings to think about.

Remember - Michele runs courses that will take you deeper into her skills in this area and also has severalproducts to help you with your presentation skills in production right now.

You can nd out more about her trainings - and our other trainers - at

http://www.nlplifeacademy.com

Introduction
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The whole subject of presentation is much wider than just standing up in front of an audience and givinga presentation. The presentation Im really talking about is the way that you come across in any situation.Its about giving a good rst impression, its about interacting with people on a one-to-one basis, and itsalso about talking in small groups so that in all situations people pay attention to what you say - and wantto come back to you for more.

The message you put across is down to a lot more than the words you say. Your emotional state, the wayyou move, the language you use - along with a whole host of other factors - unconsciously affect the waythat your message is received.

Its these wider aspects of presentation that too many people are unaware of when it comes to giving apresentation.

Once youve mastered them, youre going to take your presentation style, in fact your whole style ofinteractionto a completely different level.

So, without further ado, here are 7 Tips and talking points - things for you to consider, not just for givingpresentations, but in your everyday interactions, too.

TIP 1 - GETTING IN CONTROL OF YOUR EMOTIONAL STATE!

In the course of my career helping people make better presentations, Ive seen a common pattern in thethings people do to make themselves feel uncomfortable about the presentation theyre about to give:

They convince themselves theyre going to have a terrifying time!Yes, thats right! They do it to themselves. They perform certain actions in their minds the net result ofwhich are to make themselves uncomfortable.

It sounds like a very strange idea, but people who are nervous about public speaking, making presentations,or even meeting people for the rst time have a tendency to imagine all the terrible things that might gowrong with that meeting or presentation.

This then sets up a response in the persons emotional state, and once the emotional state is set, theirimagination is given the green light to go on and just make the picture worse - resulting in a negativefeedback loop.

One of the most important things to do in this respect is to stop the negative pictures and the negativeexpectation. Because if you imagine that things are going to go badly, then youve got one extra thing todeal with, as well as giving the talk itself. Think about it: you really want an ally, especially in high-pressuresituations.

Get your inner mind on side, not working against you.

Michele Paradise -7 Top Tips To Boost YourPresentation!


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There are numerous techniques for taking charge of your emotional state.

In fact, one of the best ways to control your emotions is to use a combination of different mental andphysical techniques - but here is one that I nd highly effective for getting in control of that fear. And thefact is, its very, very simple.

Breathing For Calm

One of the things that your body does when it is afraid is speed your heart rate, tense up the muscles inyour trunk, and speed your breathing rate.

People who are afraid very often perform panic breathing - which is a type of breathing from the top ofthe lungs.

In panic breathing, people tend to swing out the rib cage rather than breathe from the diaphragm, themuscle at the base of the lungs.

So, heres the tip:

If you are feeling uneasy or nervous, take some time to slow your breathing down, and breathe from thediaphragm.

So many people in the West actually dont know how to do this on a normal, non-stressful day, so practisingit when you arentstressed is a really good idea anyway.

This style of breathing can seem really alien at rst. But it really is the natural way to breathe. Just takea look at a baby when its asleep, and you will see its little tummy going in and out, not its ribcage heavingup and down... thats something you might see when its under stress and crying... and its denitely not a

behaviour you need to emulate as a grown-up!

HOW TO DO IT

Heres what you do: Pay attention to the area just behind your belly button, and notice that when youbreathe you can take a really deep breath by pushing the muscle that is right down there outwards. Focuson that part of your body when you breathe, and in a relaxed way, prevent your ribcage from swingingupwards and outwards.

It might take you a few moments to master the knack of nding that diaphragm muscle, but when you do,focus on it. Imagine that you are inating a ball right at the bottom of your lungs, or in your stomach everytime you breathe in. Set your imagination running, and your body will follow.

Now go a step further, really take a deep breath from the diaphragm. Inhale it steadily and slowly, and onceits all in, hold it and count slowly to ve.

Then exhale slowly, pushing all the air out, and go again, repeating the cycle three times.

A friend of mine was a nurse in the 1960s, and she told me that this was also a technique used to get peopleover feelings of nausea. It has a calming effect on the body - and on the mind.

Because you have taken your attention away from the things that were going on in your head, your mindhas stopped whirling with terrible thoughts. At the same time, your body is more relaxed and you are thusnot sending negative stressy kinaesthetic signals for your mind to feed on!


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Taking Control

Nows your chance to take control. See yourself being an absolute star on stage or when you meetsomeone, see yourself being calm and collected, and feel how good that feels.

As I say, its just one of many techniques for taking control of your state!

TIP 2 - SET YOUR GOALS CLEARLY

Before you make your presentation, or go to your meeting ask yourself: what are you hoping to achieve?

Be clear to yourself about your objectives - and REMEMBER - one of the most important objectives is tokeep the interest of the people you are with.

One way to do this is to consider the material you are about to deliver, and imagine yourself in the shoesof your audience. Disassociate from any little dramas your may be having about making your presentation,and in a detached way, see yourself up on stage.

Is the way you are delivering the talk interesting? Are you varying pacing? Are you throwing in a smatteringof jokes?

Learn from this, and work out what you can add or take away from the talk.

There are lots of different techniques that you can add to the mix to keep your audience interested.

For example, there are ways of structuring presentations and meetings that will absolutely keep youraudience completely absorbed and wondering whats coming next.

Here are three things you might build into the structure of your talk:

1. You can add hooks to the beginning of a talk that surprise and confuse your audience, maintaining theirsense of curiosity throughout.

2. You can illustrate with stories that really engage the audiences sense of wonder and delight.

3. And you can use audience participation and give them exercises to do.

These are just some of the extras that you can add to your presentation to make it y. There are plentymore - but Im sure these will give you food for thought!

TIP 3 - BE FLEXIBLE

Flexibility is one of those words that seems to clash with the idea of planning a talk and building thatstructure we talked about.

It doesnt. You can planto be exible.

But why do you need to be exible? Cant you just deliver that well-honed, densely-typed script youprepared? Wouldnt it be best to just get it over and done with, and get off the stage?

Well, the answer is emphatically a NO. Its not fair on you, and its not fair on your audience.

While its true that a strict script might work some of the time, the fact is: you dont know when youre writingit what experiences, preconceptions and emotional states your audience will bring into the room on the day.

If you cant work out that your audience is:


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slightly sleepy after a heavy lunch impatient because the previous speaker just didnt pay them the courtesy of engaging them over-excited or distracted by other events

then you arent going to be able to hold their attention as effectively as you might. In each of the cases, yourdelivery and your content is going to need to change to adjust to that emotional state.

Designing exibility into your behaviour is absolutely key to this. One way to do it is to work out severalroutines that will either invigorate or calm down, engross or puzzle - depending on what you need tochange.

Equally important with exibility is KEEPING YOUR EYES AND EARS OPEN.

You dont know to be exible if you dont know whats going on with your audience. Sensory acuity is oneof the most important things you will need as a speaker and / or communicator in any context. You needto learn to look for the tell-tale signs. Is your audience glazed over? Are they looking nervy? distracted?Texting on their mobiles?

Building exible strategies for each of these, and other scenarios, will give you mastery of the room!

TIP 4 - USE ENGAGING LANGUAGE

Its important that you speak to anyone whose attention you want to hold in ways that will grab them. Whichmeans focussing on your language to make yourself heard.

One of the effects of using engaging language with an audience is to brighten up what you are saying withstrong metaphors rather than technical terms.

You can often see people glaze over when theres too much technical detail in a talk, because the speakerhas misjudged how much in-depth knowledge the audience wants.

At such times its necessary to give your audience a verbal tap on the shoulder so they WAKE UPand PAY ATTENTION...

...Much like that previous paragraph! ;-)

Of course you also need to be careful not to weigh down your sentences with mixed metaphors that leavepeople unclear about what youre trying to say.

Classics Ive heard include:

The road to hell is paved with good intentions that might come down on you like a ton of bricks..!

and

Hes so hopping mad he cant see hes for the high jump..!

But colourful use of language put to one side, there is something else you can do with your words to keeppeople listening: make sure you are using language that appeals to all the senses.

If you focus on only using visual-style words in your sentences, then people with a good visual imaginationwill clearly get the picture - but others who are more touchy feely wont grasp what youre putting across -and there may well be murmurs of discontent from those who think mainly in sounds.

There is a whole art to using language that engages all the senses. Once you get on the SCENT of how to

do it, youll be able to PEPPER your sentences with words that give people a FIRM GRASP of your words,and make your message come through LOUD and CLEAR...


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TIP 5 - GET ANCHORING

A very particular way of engaging an audience is through a technique called anchoring.

Essentially, anchoring is a way of associating a particular emotion in your audience with a particular gesturethat you make, with a facial expression you pull, with a prop you use, or with a particular location on yourstage.

You can see anchoring used by comedians who only have to walk on stage to get a laugh. The audiencealready associates that person with laughter, and this makes it easier for the comedian to pull laughs out ofthe crowd. Their face, their movements, maybe even their name is an anchor.

In the same way you can associate particular stories with particular parts of the stage, so that when youstand in those places or give specic gestures, the audience is already primed to respond to you with acertain emotion.

You might for example, take up one part of stage to tell a whole series of positive stories in which peopleget what they want from life. And then you might go back to that part of the stage to talk about the benetsof a product you are promoting. The emotion is already unconsciously primed.

There are many different ways to make spatial anchoring work to your advantage - so being aware ofyour gestures and your postures when moving through different parts of your presentation, as well as your

location on stage, will make for your message getting across with far more power.

TIP 6 - AWARENESS OF MOVEMENT

Besides becoming one with your desired emotional state (which I touched on above), so that you go onstage bubbling with enthusiasm and giving out the right unconscious messages, there are also the simplepracticalities of what you do when you appear on stage.

One of the most distracting things a speaker can do is to continually dget and move on the stage.

It often gives the audience a sense that the speaker is uncomfortable and in some way out of control.

Knowing how to stand, how to hold the microphone and have great posture to speak to your audiencecondently will make a great initial impression before you even open your mouth.

These skills can be learned, and having a critical friend to give useful advice can really move things along.

Oh - yes, I just remembered something else!

A very simple tip to go hand-in-hand with your posture, is to decide which hand you are going to hold your

microphone in.

Using your non-dominant hand may feel alien or uncomfortable... but at the same time, it frees yourdominant hand to gesture and to handle notes and props - without all that kafufe that comes with swapping

from one hand to the other.


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TIP 7 - BE THERE FOR OTHERS

Tying all of these skills together takes us to a single, nal point.

Its this:

Remember: You are getting up there on that stage for your audience and not for yourself.

When you combine together the skills and techniques I have shown you here, along with the skills I canpersonally show you, then you will give them the great experience both they - and you - deserve!

And at the end of the day, thats what youre doing it all for!

To nd out more about Michele Paradises latest productsand courses, go to:

www.nlplifetraining.com

or call 0845 260 7930

to nd out more today!
http://www.nlplifetraining.com/http://www.nlplifetraining.com/

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