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Before We Get
Started
The 3
Rules
In
order to present at the top, in order to acquire The Skills, you
must remember three rules that govern everything you do whilst
presenting. They're really quite simple, but sometimes
it’s easy to forget the simple things, and these rules must
remain in the forefront of your consciousness at all times.
Rule
#1: If you're working too hard, you're doing it wrong.
This
is Rule #1 because Mistake #1 that presenters make is trying to
do too many things at one time. Way too many things. And
the more they try to do these many things at once, the harder
their involuntary nervous systems are working to prepare their
bodies for completely different tasks, and competing for scarce
resources in the body to accomplish these different ends.
We'll
get into this to greater length in Lesson 2, but as a quick
example of how this process works, ask yourself if this has ever
happened to you: you're at a meeting or gathering of some sort
with company associates who don’t know each other; the meeting
leader suggests that you each stand up in turn and tell the
group your name, what you do for the company, and perhaps what
you most want to take away from the meeting. You feel
things happening in your body as you sense your turn is coming,
and you start to feel a little uncomfortable. Your turn
finally arrives, you stand up and speak for perhaps a minute or
two, and then sit down. A moment later you suddenly
realize that you can't remember a word of what you just said!
As
we'll see, not only does your brain seem to let you down when
you need it most, but presenters then go on to exacerbate the
problem by engaging in counterproductive behaviors, the leading
one being, as per Rule #1, of trying to do too many things at
once. The only way you can take back control of your
nervous system is to learn to do one thing at a time. We'll save just how you do this for the next lesson, but have
faith that everyone can learn how to "unitask" because
it's so impossibly simple! The problem many people have in
getting to the point where unitasking is second nature is that
it's normally not in our upbringing to believe that the simpler,
easier way could possibly be the better way!
Practice,
Practice, Practice???
Endemic to
many cultures is the concept that "All good things come
from hard work", or "There are no shortcuts to
success". With speaking, this is not necessarily the
case.
Implementing
Rule #1 first requires you accept the fact that working harder
does NOT produce better results in all things. When
speaking, it is essential to understand that in order for you to
produce high quality output, you need to break down the process
into individual steps and then devote all of your attention to
each of those steps one at a time. Again, only when
you come to terms with the concept that if you're working too
hard you're doing it wrong, will you discover the ease with
which you can execute the complete process.
In
Lesson 4 we explore excellent techniques that allow you to go
into the Q&A portion of your presentation with the
confidence that no matter how negative, inaccurate, or
agenda-filled a question might be, you'll always be able to
reframe and address the question so that you and your
organization always appear in a positive light. Many
presenters see the Q&A process as the scariest part of
presenting, because unlike the prepared part of your talk, you
don't necessarily know what's coming during Q&A.
If
you've ever wondered how some people can appear so calm and
collected during an interview or press conference, it's because
they've come to terms with the fact that life need not be
scripted in order to work. In other words, sometimes the
way to be best prepared to deal with the task at hand is to not
try to rehearse or pre-plan, but rather to go with what comes to
you at the moment. But the only way that works is when you
learn this: you can always think clearly in the moment when you
are focused only on the very next moment; and not, as
most speakers do, on the next moment, and the next, and the
next, all at the same time.
If
you've ever been asked to make an impromptu speech at a dinner
or meeting and when you got on your feet you found yourself
unable to think of a thing to say, let us suggest another
possibility. You more likely found yourself with a
half-dozen or so things that you wanted to say, but your
inability to speak came from your not being able to resolve
which one thing would be the best. Instead of
prioritizing one, you were trying to juggle six. And as we
all know by now, if you're working too hard, you're doing it
wrong!
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