executive presentation coach

Can you influence without authority? Yes!

Do you know how to truly influence with integrity? You already do every day. Maybe you didn’t realize it. We do this naturally, but maybe you need to take a closer look at what you already do at home, at work and with your family.

It is happening all around you. Take note and influence with purpose.

Discover 7 Ways to Influence

In addition to being part of speaking communities, we, as presenters belong to professional, social, charitable, faith-based, and other communities. Today Mark and Darren discuss the power of community, examining the ways that communities make us grow…and change. They offer advice on collaborating with your community, growing your community, and even leaving your community. Using Stage Time University, Toastmasters International, and the National Speakers Association as examples, they show benefits and blessings of being in community with like-minded people and reveal how community has helped them to prepare unforgettable presentations.

SNIPPETS:

• Community helps change perspective

• Choose your community

• Use your community

• Serve your community

• Build your community

• Don’t be abused by your community, if you must leave, do so with grace

• Protect your community

• Don’t think NETWORKING; think NETSERVING

• Is your community helping or harming you

• Take inventory of your communities

Thorough research is an invaluable part of preparing unforgettable presentations. There are myriad ways to access information, and so much information from which to glean. Where do I look? How much should I use? How can I verify? Darren and Mark discuss these questions with…and get answer from…researcher/author/speaker Vince Antonucci and comedy writer/TV producer Chris McGuire. Their perspective on effective research will help you to prepare your unforgettable presentation.

SNIPPETS:

• Dig deeper into your subject

• Look for compelling and unique information

• Put in the extra work

• Use AI tools

• Use ‘old-fashioned’ tools; search and read.

• The more you learn, the better your chances of finding critical content

• Ask: “What generates an emotional response?”

• Test research results on small audiences to gauge emotional reactions

• Research for customization; learn from The Barenaked Ladies

• Use the ‘Registration Desk Principle;’ find what bugs everyone

The story is arguably a presenter’s most potent tool. While it’s important to tell stories well, it is equally…if not significantly more important to transport your audience into the story. As Mark and Darren explain today, the key is to have CONGRUENT CHARACTERS, whose emotions are congruent with the emotion that they feel in the story. They share why many presenters fall short in this area and offer solid suggestions for using body language for greater emotional impact.

SNIPPETS:

• Let your audience feel the emotion of the characters

• Don’t elicit confusion

• In your script add ‘before’ and ‘after’ emotions in parentheses

• Your eyes should change when the emotion changes

• Emotional shifts are unclear without a character’s baseline emotion

• Leave your emotional baseline when you embody a character

• Record video, playback muted, ask a friend to identify the emotion

• Be congruent to connect

Holograms? Hula hoops? What do they have to do with delivering an unforgettable presentation? Mark and Darren explain how and why holograms help you to vividly create scenes in the minds of your audiences. This simple but potent technique will allow you to transform your speech into an experience.

SNIPPETS:

• Holograms appear in the audience’s mind whether you’re aware or not

• Holograms establish characters and scenes

• You can point to a hologram and the audience will recall the scene/story

• Holograms have experiential value

• Holograms have emotional impact

• Use the depth and width of the platform to make holograms more vivid

• Use hula hoops – INSIDE is dialogue; OUTSIDE, speak to your audience

• BLOCK spots on stage. Use them to show MOMENTS of TRANSFORMATION

• Time progresses audience left to right

• Decide what scene/character/story each hologram represents

Avoiding mistakes and adopting the right practices are keys to successfully growing your business. Today Darren and Mark talk with business growth expert and Hall of Fame speaker Mark LeBlanc as he shares four decades worth of wisdom on finding your niche, developing your content, connecting with your audience, and much more.

SNIPPETS:

• If you quit 1,000 times, start again 1,001 times

• You must earn the right to speak

• Avoid thinking that you’re better than you are

• Raise your hand and get help

• Engage minds, touch hearts, stir souls, and make them laugh

• Focus on a singular idea and build your speech around it

• Frame your content

• Build an ‘accordion’ presentation

• Create a great defining statement

• Find your sliver of the market

As presenters, our words are our most important tools. Preparing an unforgettable presentation requires some wordsmithing. Darren joins Mark…our resident wordsmith…to discuss this critical aspect of the script editing process. They offer several wordsmithing techniques, explain how to use them, and reveal why they are extremely effective.  

SNIPPETS:

• Say it in a more VIVID and VIBRANT way

• Edit for impact by asking, “How can I say it better in fewer words?”

• Monosyllabic words are easier for the audience to remember

• Use rhythm and rhyme have more impact in less time

• Use impingement words

• Choose, use and lose words as necessary

• Use rhetorical devices

• Find funny words, and words ending with a ‘K’ sound

• Craft your Foundational Phrase, Elevator Pitch and Value Proposition

• Use tools like https://wordhippo.com

Your presentation is over, you’ve delivered great content, and you’ve served your audience well. But is there a way to add value IMMEDIATELY? Darren and Mark discuss the concept of CORRIDOR CONVERSATIONS…how getting an audience to continue engaging and interacting with each other can provide added benefit.

SNIPPETS:

• Ignite corridor conversations

• Use stories as conversation-starters

• Invite attendees to ask: What’s the problem, and what story has the solution?

• Create questions that spark conversation

• Hang around to gauge the impact

• Debrief corridor conversations in your post-event call

• Arrive a day early to learn what questions will spark conversation

• Add stimulating questions to a slide

• Follow up before the end of the event when you can

No two audiences are alike, so how can you ensure that you connect with every audience, especially when you deliver the same presentation frequently? Darren and Mark share personal experiences as they talk about ways to connect with every unique audience, keep your presentation fresh, and get glowing testimonials.

SNIPPETS:

• Every audience is different

• We are 100% responsible for our connection with the audience

• Interview audience members in advance

• Identify  and honor the company’s ‘patriarch’ and ‘matriarch’

• Identify and edify NEW employees and team-members

• Invest extra effort to find out what resonates with each audience

• If you’re not connected your audience feels neglected

• Stay connected; you won’t be rejected

Did you know that there are world class techniques embedded in the structure of speeches and stories? Today Mark and Darren discuss several of these techniques, which, when applied, can make your next presentation unforgettable.

SNIPPETS:

• Never devalue the power of a well-told story

• Assign names to your characters

• Provide at least one physical characteristic

• Give the audience a reason to emotionally connect with the main character

• Show characters’ ‘BEFORE’ condition (body language, emotion, demeanor)

• Make the main character ‘likeable’

• Apply the ’Rooting Principle’ – make the audience WANT to support them

• Show the character ‘AFTER the Disaster’

• You don’t need expert feedback to understand emotional impact

Unforgettable presentations have basic, core elements that help to make them unforgettable. Today Darren and Mark discuss CORE 1: CONTENT & STRUCTURE as well as CORE 2: STORIES. Their principles will set you on the path to delivering your unforgettable presentation.

SNIPPETS:

• The CORE 4 lay the foundation of your presentation

• Use a strong structure on which to hang your presentation

• Strong structure makes your presentation digestible and unforgettable

• Choose content that serves the audience best

• Visuals and stage use should reinforce your presentation’s structure

• Stories are the heartbeat of your presentation

• Stories should pique curiosity

• Stories must elicit emotion

• Stories should include emotional shifts

• Well-told stories deliver ‘moments’ in your presentation

There will likely be times when you must present, but you are not at your best. Perhaps you’re not feeling well, facing a personal challenge, or exhausted because of a lengthy flight delay. Mark and Darren prove that they know this all too well as they share their experience and advice about how to be unforgettable…even when you are ‘a little off.’

SNIPPETS:

• Inform the event planner

• Remember that you’re there to serve the audience

• Acknowledge the ‘elephant in the room’ and ask for grace

• Focus on what you CAN do instead of what you cannot

• Commit to delivering the best that you can under the circumstances

• Consider herbal throat sprays to keep your voice healthy

• How you respond will affect your reputation

• If you must, pass the gig along to an associate

• Ask a seasoned pro for options to handle the situation

A speaker at an event you’re attending can’t make it and someone asks YOU to step in on very short notice. Are you READY? Today Mark and Darren share insights on how and why to be ready for any presentation opportunity. They also disclose the benefits, to you and others, of being ready. 

SNIPPETS:

• Don’t GET ready; KEEP ready

• Identify the opportunity, jump on it, own it

• Have a ‘front pocket’ speech ready to go at all times

• Attend events with a servant’s heart

• Introduce and offer yourself to meeting planner an event staff

• Ask yourself what presentation you would give if a speaker doesn’t show up

• Be willing to fill the void; you will make the meeting planner the hero

• New relationships; the speaker who couldn’t show, audience, event planner

• If you get stuck, refer another presenter; others will refer you, so BE READY

“But it’s some of my FAVORITE MATERIAL!”  

We want to give our audiences ALL our wisdom and experiences. But that’s not always the best decision. Today Darren and Mark expound on three reasons why our favorite material must sometimes end up on ‘THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR.’

SNIPPETS:

• Your stories, anecdotes and references must serve your ‘PREMISE PURPOSE’

• The WEIGHT of your story may be heavier than your message

• Your content shouldn’t overshadow your premise

• Consider the RELEVANCE to your audience

• Your liking a story doesn’t mean the audience will

• If a story is too long for the allotted time, you may need to cut it

• Store Cutting Room Floor material in your Story Folder for later

• You can use Cutting Room Floor material to create handouts

• Test your content