Key Tools for Killer Presentations

Want to stand up and speak out with confidence, genuinely inspiring and influencing your audience?

Whether it’s a high-stakes presentation on a stage or a high-impact conversation in an office, Nan Crawford has some tools for you (and for an audio version of these tools, listen to Power Practice #16: Stepping Up and Speaking Out).


When preparing an impactful presentation, Nan says, it’s important to consider 2 realms: the internal factors of strategy and the external factors of delivery.

Internal Strategy

Ask yourself:

  1. Who is my audience?
  2. What do they need?
  3. How do I prepare to deliver that to them?

Identifying your audience and their needs is pretty straightforward. But how do you deliver on those needs if you’re busy worrying, “How do I keep from freaking out?!” That’s where #3 comes in.

It’s all about focus, Nan says. If you struggle with stage-fright or nerves, you can let go of that jagged energy by shifting your focus from fear to desire. Shift your focus from fear of failure to your desire to make a difference. Shift your focus from the fear of judgement to the desire to be generous. Shift your focus from a fear of rejection to a desire to connect. From fear of forgetting what you’re going to say to a desire to guide the audience to a place of discovery.

Shifting focus from fear to desire to be of service will allow you to connect with your audience and their needs in a way that is authentic, confident, and effective.

External Delivery

Ask yourself:

  1. How will I walk into the room? Where will I land? How will I hold my body?
  2. What am I aware of in terms of my breathing?
  3. Are my voice, facial expressions, and gestures congruent with my message?
  4. What do I want my audience to feel, say, and do?

The way you move and position yourself sends messages to the audience before you’ve even spoken a word. If you plan ahead of time how to position yourself so that energy is flowing through your spine, you’ll foster an immediate connection between your audience and your intention.

Breathing is another opportunity to send a clear message. So many of us live in a world of full plates and fast lanes. When you are “extravagant with our breath,” as Nan encourages, it allows you a moment of clarity to choose words that are delicious and juicy. More than that, it’s an act of generosity to your audience, giving them time and space to let your ideas (and their own) really land.

By taking big full breaths you give energy to your voice, allowing for concise, crisp, and clear words spoken with conviction. You connect with your body, creating facial expressions and gestures that are vibrant, alive, and compelling.

All of these factors are driven by your overall intention. Writing action verbs in the margins of your presentation will help you connect with what you want your audience to do, say, and feel. Maybe you want to challenge them or shake them up. Perhaps you need to dismiss a concern or clarify a point. You can paint a vivid picture. You can advocate, warn, or reassure.

It’s important to note: the question is not “What do I want them to learn?” If your intention is to inform, you are not going to inspire our audience to take action. “We’re all drowning in information,” Nan says. “What we hunger for is insight and inspiration, for energy and encouragement.”

We’re thrilled to have Nan Crawford bringing her insight and inspiration to the stage at Emerging Women Live 2017, along with killer presentations from Elizabeth Gilbert, Sera Beak, Alicia Garza, Esther Perel, Amanda Steinberg, and so many more. Register today for an some unforgettable energy and encouragement:


Remember: how you deliver your message is just as vital as what you have to say. With Nan’s tools, you are well on your way to giving a presentation that will genuinely inspire and influence your audience.

And be sure to tell us what killer presentations you have in the works in the comments!

Juicy Bites This Week: Authentic Networking Makes for True Connections

This week we find out:

 

  • Arianna Huffington’s re-imagined definition of success
  • How to avoid forced networking and achieve authentic connection
  • How the success of a women, from a remote Indian village, is the foundation for many more leaders and game changers to emerge
  • Why women should not be afraid of failure
  • What are the habits of wildly successful people
  • How we adapt when it comes to learning under stress

 

At the end of this post, we encourage you to join us for a conversation. This week’s Juicy Bites question for you, dear emerging women, is:
 

“How would you describe, in one word, authentic networking?”

 
We would love to hear from you, so make sure you leave a comment at the end of this post.
 

1. Arianna Huffington: ‘The third revolution is to change the world that men have designed’ via The Telegraph

 

This week, Arianna Huffington was in London, leading The Huffington Post UK’s first-ever women’s conference, “The Third Metric: Redefining Success Beyond Money and Power.” The focus of the conference was to discuss a more sustainable definition of success, one that includes well-being, wisdom, and our ability to wonder and to give back.

‘It’s a model of success that’s not working for women, and it’s not working for men, either. Our workplaces are fuelled by sleep deprivation,’ says Arianna. The term ‘success’, she believes, should include the values of wellbeing, wisdom and kindness. Go-getters, she hopes, will become ‘go-givers’.

Arianna Huffington sees women leading the charge because, by coming later into the boardrooms of business, women have the clarity of vision to see them for what they are.

Continue Reading…
 

2. Permission to NOT network. (And to wear gold pants.) by Danielle Laporte

 
Danielle Laporte comes out with the truth and says: “Networking? Loathe it. And unless there’s a dance floor, I always leave the party early.” She makes the point that there are important distinction to make about networking: “ There’s fear-driven connecting, and there’s pure-enthusiasm connecting. There’s having unrealistic expectations about a connection, and there’s in-the-realm-of-possible kinds of connections.” Danielle encourages us to ease up on the forced networking and embrace true connection, and to try this:
 

“Only bust a move when you’re truly enthusiastic about doing so; when you feel you have value to offer; when you can feel a beautiful pull.”

 
Continue Reading…  
 

 3. Innovation Lessons from Shantha Ragunathan, an illiterate woman from a remote Indian village via HBR

 
Shantha Ragunathan lifted herself and her family out of poverty, bought a home and put her kids through college — all because a microfinancing scheme allowed her to buy a cow.

Shantha had strong business acumen and innate leadership qualities, even though she had no formal education. “Although she was poor in resources, she possessed the innovation mindset shared by many game changers,” write Vijay Govindarajan and Srikanth Srinivas. Continue Reading…
 

“Shantha Ragunathan is truly a game changer. Shantha’s success spread in a ripple effect from her family and her village to dozens of neighboring villages, ultimately affecting thousands of individuals. […] Even more important, by serving as a role model, she created the foundation for many more such leaders and game changers to emerge.”

 

 4. Five Reasons Why Women Fear Career Failure (And Why We Shouldn’t) via Huff Post Women

 

Women entrepreneurs deal with plenty of obstacles, but, according to a new study, the biggest challenge they face is something self-created. It’s the fear of failure which disproportionately impacts women. Julie Zeilinger identifies 5 reasons why women across career fields fear failure:
 

  1. Women’s unique history of exclusion adds pressure not to fail.
  2. Women define success differently — and thus what works for us may look like “failing.”
  3. We’re taught to view success as a linear progression — and anything that deviates from that progression as failure.
  4. We believe failure is permanent.
  5. When women do experience failure, they try to hide rather than acknowledge it. This silence creates the myth that they are the only ones who have failed.

 
Continue reading… 
 

5. Getting ahead: Habits of wildly successful people via Fast Company

 

There is no recipe for success, but, you can definitely move ahead by developing healthy habits. Here are some of the habits of highly successful and productive people:
 

  1. Get up insanely early
  2. Keep promises, no matter how small
  3. Learn how to tell stories
  4. Lead, don’t dictate
  5. Don’t be afraid–or embarrassed–of your failures
  6. Ask questions, a lot of them

 
See the entire list here
 

6. Balancing yourself: Study Shows that Brain Makes Adjustments to Learn Under Stress via Huff Post Women

 

Our brains are pretty adaptable when it comes to learning under stress. When we have to acquire new knowledge under stress, the brain generally employs unconscious rather than conscious learning processes, a Ruhr-Universität Bochum study finds.

Although it’s quite an interesting study, we know that the brain functions optimally when it’s not under stressed. Previous research has shown stress to have a significant effect on cognitive functioning including poor memory, decreased focus, and trouble learning. Continue Reading…
 

“To minimize stress and super-charge your brain power, try incorporating mindfulness into your everyday life. The practice of cultivating mindful awareness has been associated with lower stress levels.”

 

This week’s Juicy Bites question for you, dear emerging women is:

“How would you describe, in one word, authentic networking?”

Let’s start a conversation. We would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below.