This article is about a method you could use to ensure a more successful outcome than you would normally expect:

• Think about what it is that you want to achieve.
• Write down, in detail, the outcome you want to bring about.
• Sit down and really relax  - take a few deep slow breaths in through your mouth and out through your nose.
• As you relax comfortably, create, in your mind, a picture of the task ending in success. It is really important that you emphasise the success of the event you are about to undertake
• Make the picture big enough for you to see the detail in it.
• Make sure that the picture has really bright colours, good focus and lots of movement in it like a movie.
• Add, if you have not already done so, lots of happy, satisfied and successful sounds with lots of volume.
• Then create, in the picture, a really intense feeling of how good it is to know you have succeeded.
• Turn up the brightness, make it vivid with colour and maximise the feeling.
• NOW step into the picture and be there soaking it all up inside you.........enjoy!
• Say 'Success' to yourself and associate all you are experiencing with that word.
• Now you can open your eyes and bring back that experience whenever you want by saying the word 'Success' to yourself.

OK now say 'Success' to yourself and note how you think about the task now! What is the difference? Good - isn't it?

Know yourself- Understand others

 

• Keep your visuals simple (remember that they are AIDS to help you say things, not replacements for the spoken word).
• Keep each slide to a few bullet points - this will help you avoid overload and 'death by powerpoint'.
• Powerpoint allows you to do some very fancy 'reveals', dissolving in, spinning in etc. etc. I would suggest that you avoid these - they look great when you design your talk but then take ages when it comes to delivery. The best tool to use of this nature, in my experience, is to set up each bullet point on a slide to appear on a click of your mouse button. Even this is not necessary on every slide.
• Keep your slide numbers to a minimum.
• An occasional blank slide is useful to allow you to talk, set up the next topic or create some audience interaction without causing distraction. Sometimes you will want to move away from one slide without revealing a new slide - leaving the old slide up and tlking about a different subject can be quite distracting to the audience.
• Use colour in your slides, it makes them more memorable and more interesing.
• Keep the font size big enough for the size of the room - you may need to make chanes at the venue if you are unable to check it out first.

• First bit of advice here is, when presenting, look at your audience. Please avoid talking to the screen whilst reading the slide. This is a common mistake presenters make leading to lack of involvement from their audience. The way to overcome this problem is, either know your presentation so well that you know exactly what is coming next, or print off your slides and have the printout in front of you so you can glance down occasionally.
• Pointers - if you can, use a forefinger to point at relevant parts of the slide - this is simple and effective when you want to highlight a point. You can use an extendable pointer - avoid waving it about like a flag as this can be somewhat distracting. Lazer pointers are OK but please be very careful to use them very very sparingly - one brief flash is all that is necessary. Some presenters will shine the red dot on the screen and go round and round and round a point on the slide in a way which is extremely annoying and distracting. If you want to play with the light - do so at home, particularly if you've got cats - they'll chase it for ever - just don't do it in your presentation!
• If needed, set up your projector so it is 'square on' to the screen and the picture as big as possible. If your slides are on a slant your audience could find it very distracting.
• Make sure the focus is as clear as possible

Flipcharts & whiteboards

• Not much to say here except keep it legible and use colour
• With flipcharts take a supply of Blutack but be careful you don't destroy the decor with it
• With whiteboards make sure you use wipeable markers - venues don't like permanent markers!