232: The Mindset For Presentation Success

<p>Our mental approach to our activities determines our success.  We know this in sports and in business, but when it comes to speaking in public, we somehow manage to forget this vital point.  In fact, when it comes to presenting in front of other people we often have a negative mindset about the activity.  We may be reliving humiliations from elementary school or high school, when we had to make a presentation and were teased about it.  Without actually remembering any particular incident, we manage to maintain a dread for speaking in public into adulthood.  This was me by the way.  I avoided public speaking pretty successfully, until I was around 29 years of age.  I was fearful of it and there must have been something in my darkest memory, which was driving that fear.</p> <p> </p> <p>As we get older and advance in our careers, we cannot avoid public speaking and giving presentations, whether we like doing them or not.  We know we have to make a presentation, the date has been set and there is no escape.  How do we approach it?  We get straight into the details, mechanics and logistics, without spending even a moment on our proper mindset for the activity. Given we are putting our personal and professional brand out there for all to see, you would recognise this was a fairly important opportunity to get it right.</p> <p> </p> <p>The mindset game is a critical one, especially if we are nervous about giving presentations.  Confidence is paired with credibility in the presentation game and we have to exude both.  We may be very unsure, nervous, even petrified but we must never show that side to our audience.  Hesitation kills the message delivery and therefore the impact. </p> <p> </p> <p>I saw a speaker recently and I felt he was impressive.  Thinking back about why I felt he was a good speaker, I realized he wasn’t saying anything breakthrough or particularly valuable.  He wasn’t bringing much in the way of new information or insights to his audience.  What he was bringing though, was a tremendous amount of conf