This is a blog called What NOT to do! Don’t even think about going into a presentation with a lack of belief in your message! The idea is to help you present and persuade without making all the common mistakes!
It’s pretty common to feel a bit like an imposter when presenting your ideas in a meeting, training room or conference situation.
Unfortunately, going into your meeting with the feeling that you don’t belong, or you’re not quite ready is only going to harm your credibility and the credibility of your message and organisation.
What should you do instead?
Projecting confidence allows you to speak more clearly because when you are calm and present, you can manage your thoughts better and say what you really mean to say.
Having confidence also helps you to speak slowly so you are understood and answer audience questions like a true expert.
If you are not confident at a cellular level that your audience needs your product or service, then it’s not a great idea to present it just yet. Learn more about your client. Understand their major challenges and when you know that your product or service definitely resolves their challenges, be sure to tell them straight away and with enthusiasm.
If you don’t think that your idea is brilliant, then don’t put it forward just yet. Wait until you have refined the idea into a brilliant problem fix. This will give you the confidence you need to wow them with your belief in yourself and your ideas.
How can you get more confident about your presenting ability?
1. Re-read all the positive feedback people have already given you about your ideas, or your products and services. I have a file of all the cards, letters and emails that clients have sent me over the last 2 decades. When I need a confidence boost, it’s lovely to pull out those gifts and re-read them. They remind me of the positive impact I’ve made in people’s lives.
2. Then, make a big list of everything your stakeholders receive when they agree to your idea, buy your product or hire you. When you know the benefits you provide, it gives you courage to talk about this with others.
3. Make sure you practice until you know that you can’t get it wrong. That’s what professional speakers do. Never underestimate the value of good rehearsal.
Believe in yourself. You can do it!
Happy Presenting & Persuading!
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©2024 MICHELLE BOWDEN is an authority on persuasive presenting in business. She’s run her Persuasive Presentation Skills Masterclass over 1000 times for more than 13,000 people over the past 25 years and her name is a synonym for ‘presentation skills’ in Australia.
Michelle is a multi-million-dollar pitch coach to her client list that reads like a who’s who of international business: banking and finance, IT, pharmaceutical, retail, telecommunications plus many more. Michelle is the creator of the Persuasion Smart Profile®, a world-first psychological assessment tool that reports on your persuasive strengths and weaknesses at work, the best-selling internationally published author of How to Present: the ultimate guide to presenting live and online (Wiley) and How to Persuade: the skills you need to get what you want (Wiley).