Do you struggle with the thought of presenting? Speaking in public? Standing up in a meeting to demo something or show some charts? Well read on and learn how you can make it easier for yourself.

GROW and present! A simple guideline to help you when you are presenting:

Be on fire!!

G – Grab their interest

The first 20 seconds are vital! If you have already been introduced, or are listed on a programme of events, it’s really not necessary to spend the first 20 seconds repeating your name. So what does work? A simple fact, a reflection, an interesting statistic, or a rhetorical question. This will grab the audience in those vital first seconds as curiosity kicks in. After answering the question yourself, or commenting on the interesting statistic, THEN you can introduce yourself again or reassure them why you are there.

R – Relate the “grab” to the audience (a WIFM, a WIFT and a WIFE)

Always relate to the subject of your initial comments. Before the event, find out the WIFM (What’s in it for me?) Clarify exactly what you want from the presentation / meeting / event. Once you are clear of that, then endeavour to find out the WIFT (What’s in it for them?) Find out what is motivating these people to be here listening to you. Use this information to connect with your audience and build rapport (I am like you, you can like me.) This will convert to a WIFE (What’s in it for everyone) and of course a WIN-WIN.

O – Overview of the Material

It’s a simple rule in Training – tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you have told them! Begin with one simple agenda or intro slide to show your audience what to expect. Then cover the content. Then recap on what you have covered. A great tip if you are nervous, is to put the recap slide AFTER the Questions? Slide. Never finish with a slide reading “Any Questions?” You will be there for the day.

W – Wow them with images and clever animation

That does not mean 20 slides with amazing pictures, or objects zipping across the slides. It means “less is more”. Use images instead of bullets where ever you can (an image can speak a 1000 words). Use custom animation to animate certain objects every couple of slides, if using a slide show.

What also works very effectively is to have an actual sample or “prop” of some kind, particularly if it is something that can be passed around your audience. The key is to remember every individual has a different learning style or representational system. Some are highly visual, some people are predominantly auditory, or perhaps kinaesthetic. It’s good to prepare and present to all types. If you can provide a trigger for the 3 main types – Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic (VAK), then you will appeal to the majority of the audience.

If you can, find an “endorser”, someone who expressed great interest in your talk, or really believes in your ideas being presented at the meeting. A “friend” in the audience is worth 100 outside!

Obviously, there are specific tools we can use to help with nerves, but in most cases if you are passionate about your subject, and have properly prepared and done a practice run (even on the dog) these simple 4 GROW tips will help you get through that presentation with ease.

So what do you do to prepare for an impending presentation?

Are you planning something in the near future? Have you set proper goals for yourself or your business? Are you struggling with your goals? Read on to find out how to be a success in goal setting and maintain momentum.

First things first – Set your goals

Yes we all know that we need to make lists – but I am talking about something different. Goal setting can be an arduous but profound experience. I have a very detailed post on SMART Goal setting if you would like to give it a try. Once your goals have been set, it’s important to maintain momentum and flair!

Don’t be just normal

Aim high and try to stretch above the norm. Imagine yourself as a strong elastic band, a really strong elastic. Imagine stretching that elastic and watch it grow in size – that’s what we do when we learn and grow. There is no limit to our elasticity, because each time we grow, our elastic band regenerates itself to grow more.

If you do not stretch yourself, then what you have set is not a goal. It is just a task like any task we do daily. It is a true goal if it tests and pulls you out of your comfort zone. So get out of your own way and push yourself to stretch that elastic and be above normality. Normality is comforting. Ask yourself how LONG do you wish to stay in your comfort zone???

A good indicator of this is frustration – that question we ask ourselves “there must be more than this?”. If you are asking that question about any aspect of your life or career, then it’s time to move on and up.

Visualise

You want an automatic BMW 5 series??? In Silver with alloys and 6 CD changer??? Start imagining yourself driving that exact car. Imagine yourself struggling with the low profile tyres and that feeling of power behind the wheel. Imagine listening to your favourite music with the great sound system.

Imagine not having to change gear and leaving that left foot relax on the floor as the car changes gear for you. Imagine coming out of the music shop and walking towards that silver BMW (just washed), and realising “Ooh, I OWN that beauty. Feel those feelings. This is also known as “ACT AS IF” scenario – and believe me it works.

Once you can imagine the car, you will begin to see them on the road immediately, not AFTER you buy it like most people, but as if you already own it. Now imagine you are working in your perfect job, or your perfect voluntary area, or running your perfect business. Imagine and really FEEL the feelings that come with that sense of achievement and success. Success is yours – but you have to imagine and really believe it and see it for it to happen.

You cannot achieve what you cannot dream – if you cannot imagine it, you certainly cannot do it. Really believe that you can do it – whether it is to finish a project, begin a project you have been procrastinating about or stuck in the middle of.

Think positive

“I will never get this finished”, “Oh why can’t I have more help with this project”, “We cannot do this”, I don’t have any support” etc etc – you know the type of negativity I am referring to here. TURN it around – “I will finish this”, “I have all the help I need”, “We CAN”, “I have all the support I need”, “I can easily find the resources I require” – whatever it takes to turn that negative thought into a positive outcome.

Feelings become thoughts, and thoughts eventually become our behaviour and actions. So logically, if we think positively, we are resonating positivity and it will become our behaviour. That will supply the power to be successful in all that we do. Most of all think positively about yourself – stop second-guessing yourself.

Believe you can do it, because the reality is you can. Only you have to power to succeed. Be aware of your limitations. If they include knowledge, then endeavour to increase your knowledge by reading further, study or discovery.

Persevere – don’t change the goal

Everyone loves a trier. Once a goal is set, it is important to see it through. Watch out for distractions – the biggest killer of achievement and success. If you find yourself easily distracted, then question your motivation to achieve the goal in the first place. Was it really your goal, or something you think others will expect of you.

If it is not truly yours and does not truly fit in with your belief system and values, your unconscious mind will do everything in its power to prevent it from happening.

If the goal is truly yours and you desperately want it, then persevere – take the knocks and get back up and continue on your road. Do your best to avoid shortcuts, they may not be long-term! If the goal seems too large – break it into smaller pieces, small enough that you can accomplish at least 2 things every day – or 5 things every week.

Whatever works for you. Bitesize pieces might be necessary, as long as they can be accomplished individually, and each one leads you closer to achieving your main goal.

If you make mistakes along the way, really learn from them and acknowledge them for what they are – learning moments. Imagine a small child – are they afraid to climb that tower? Are they afraid to fall down and get up and try again?

How many times do you think a very small child will fall before they master walking? Tap into your inner child, and have fun trying. If you fall or fail, accept it, and use it to learn another or better way.

Are you tired of D&G? Everywhere we turn we hear of the crisis that has happened, the crisis we are in, and not to forget the crisis we are heading into. Well, if you are tired of doom and gloom, read on for an inspiring idea that “viraled” beyond belief in a tiny country that possesses a HUGE business community, aka #SMEcommunity.

June 2011  -  Twitter

It began with a tweet or two, 2 entrepreneurs chatting and supporting each other one evening. Then more tweeps hopped into the conversation. The hashtag#SMEcommunity was created to continue the conversation the following day, and it trended that day. Very quickly the conversation spilled over into counties all over Ireland, which provoked a dedicated twitter account @SMEcommunity_ie. Small businesses around Ireland began to take notice, and within weeks, tweetups and networking events began to spring up all over the country. The ethos of the “conversation” was INFORMAL and SUPPORTIVE. continue reading…

Do you struggle with Productivity? Are you unsure what IT systems you should have in place? Would you like some insight into what may work as an alternative to the traditional systems? This is the post for you!

Productivity, a measure of the efficiency of production, can also be referred to as a measure of output from a production process, per unit of input. It is the ratio of what is produced to what is required to produce it. Usually this ratio is in the form of an average, expressing the total output divided by the total input.

Productivity has become quite a buzzword in recent years, and is often referred to in terms of time management, stress management, employee assessment and self-development. It is clear that we can only be as “productive” as we believe, and it is often mistaken for effectiveness, whereas it is merely a measure of efficiency.

“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” Peter Drucker

This is one of the many reasons that people often fail to be as effective as they intend to.

I have discovered it is more than the WAY we do our daily tasks, be they business or personal based. It has as much to do with HOW we tackle those tasks. With this in mind I began to continue reading…

Netiquette can be described as the convention or standard for communicating online. This will include communication on the Internet (blogging, chat forums etc.) email, or work collaboration. It could also be very applicable for off line networking.

Today, I will focus on Networking and Email Etiquette.

It begins when you go to a networking event and come home with 20 business cards. You have met them, know their name and have conversed with them at the event. Your follow up email should look something like this:

That’s all very well, but if you like to take an apologetic approach for spamming someone, this is a great sample:

Or perhaps you were chatting in the car park outside afterwards, and you thought you’d let them know what a nice car they drive: continue reading…

Do you find you seem to rub people up the wrong way while at networking events? Do you normally get on with people in your social circles? If the answer is “Yes” to both those questions, consider these possibilities:

• You choose your friends, you do not choose who will be present at a networking event
• You are comfortable in small groups, but are petrified when surrounded by strange people
• You are great at organising events for friends and family, but perhaps feel out of control when arriving at an event organised for professional purposes

A part of working life for someone in business is to network. It comes with the territory. Whether we should network or not, and whether that should be online or offline is a debate for another day.

There is a great post here on effective networking, but let’s dig a little deeper and look at how we can communicate better with our fellow networkers and help build a better rapport so they will remember you for the right reasons.

I recently watched an episode of “Come Dine with Me” where Coronation St (English Soap Opera) actors cooked for each other for charity. (Ken Morley, who played a great character Reg Holdsworth was the worst behaved dinner guest I have yet to come across. He deliberately wound people up the wrong way, was equally loveable, but most importantly made for great entertainment.

However, networking is rarely as entertaining, unless you are witness to a character like this: continue reading…

So has your organisation changed much over the past few years?

Regardless of where you are in the world, if you answered NO to the question above, you can stop reading and go and do something more beneficial with your time. Otherwise you will read the rest of the post, get upset and possibly waste yet more time thinking about how wrong I am. Are you still reading? So you may be intrigued… well that’s healthy. Welcome to my world!

For those of you who have been reading my posts previously, will know that I don’t normally discuss sales. But in actual fact the reality is that unless you do not exist, you are selling something. So let’s assume you work in or run a business. Then you are definitely selling. Perhaps you are selling an idea to peers or management, perhaps a service to your most revered client, or perhaps convincing yourself to purchase an iPad2.

If you are not pro-actively selling, you are hoping the sales will come to you. However, hope is not a strategy. There is an element of trusting in the universe to survive, but on the whole we need to be pro-active in gaining customers.

So how do we sell? continue reading…

We all know that Training is an integral part of our personal and professional development. But what about Coaching? Coaching has been perceived as a lot of things, but up to recently, has rarely been synonymous with Training, especially technical-style training.

Some interesting observations have come from research over the years about the ROI (return on investment) of training:

• Organisations seek immediate feedback from staff attending training, which is generally positive. They believe that the long-term effects are also positive and improve on performance
• An increase in skills and knowledge is evident from the result of appropriate training
• Other in-tangible benefits are also realised, such as improved morale, self-esteem, confidence and increased loyalty, commitment and performance

However, many organisations find that the training had little impact on the trainees, and their performance. This could be down to many factors including: continue reading…

Are you planning a break, a holiday, or vacation from your business or work this summer? It’s great to get away from it all, but without advance preparation, you may find that you are not “quite” as away as you intended. Interruptions such as phone calls, IM messages etc, can prove to disrupt what should be a proper break away from work.

While you attend your “Zen silence meditation” for a week, or “Sit on the beach, drink cocktails and read 6 novels” for a fortnight, or go ”trekking the Himalayas” for 6 weeks; here is a great check list to help prepare your communication flow and avoid distractions and interruptions: continue reading…

I labelled this post a little dishonestly, simply because my week is blurring in distinction between “work week” and “weekend”. Through tried and tested measures (which remain elusive), I have discovered my most creative time of the week, is Monday morning. I do not dedicate this time to “work” but doing creative things that I love that indirectly generate income.

I tweet a lot about “Hump Day”, simply because some of my clients are M-F, 9-5 workers, and Hump Day is the middle of the week for them, and many others. In the run up to Wednesday, people are generally getting over the weekend, and getting into the swing of work.

Once Wednesday is over, people look towards the weekend, because they are looking forward to doing the things they enjoy, or things that make a difference socially.

The “work week” is generally doing things that generate an income so they can pay the bills and fund the good things they do at the weekend. Whereas, the “weekend” generally signifies their own personal time.

Now imagine you were doing what you love doing ALL week. So much so, that the definitive line between workweek and weekend become blurred, and becomes simply a “week”. I am already sensing some of the readers here thinking “but then I have nothing to look forward to”. continue reading…