However organised or disorganised you are, I’m guessing you see some value of having a designated place for everything: towels in a cupboard, books on the bookshelf, cutlery in the cutlery drawer.

Easier to find and easier to put away.

How hard could that be without those designated spaces? It’s the same when it comes to sharing your expertise through speaking.

Our brains like to store things, to file them away, so that when we learn something new about a familiar topic, it knows where to store it. If it’s a new topic, our brain needs to create a new storage container.

When you use a simple structure for your talk you’re helping your audience to use appropriate containers to classify what they learn from you. Without that structure, what are the chances of them retaining or retrieving the important parts when they’re scattered among everything else going on in their brain?

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I exchanged a look of shared amusement with the woman behind the counter.

Another customer having a conversation on his mobile phone. He wasn’t being loud and there was nothing untoward about his conversation.

It was just that he was on a mobile phone.

One of the first ones that looked more like a leather-covered brick. It was the late 1980’s and mobile phones were a rare phenomenon.

So our amused look carried a ‘Get you!’ message and tbh, my thoughts were something like ‘What a poser!’ (My problem, I know – not his).

Fast forward 30+ years and seeing someone on their mobile is rarely story-worthy topic – but your stories about your first impressions of innovation can be.

Sharing how your attitude has changed, etc. can add humour and context to your message, can illustrated how thoughts and attitudes change, etc.

What’s your first memory of mobile phones?

For more ideas for other stories, check out the Story Prompt Cards...

Have you ever heard a presentation that felt it wasn’t meant for you? That perhaps the speaker was rolling out a talk they’d prepared for a different audience, and therefore didn’t quite resonate with you?

Context is such an important part of creating an engaging presentation.

Who’s in the audience? What are the common features that bring this group of people together?

Perhaps they all work in a similar industry, belong to the same network or organisation or have similar interests.

Whatever those commonalities are, make them your starting point for what to cover in your presentation. How much will they know already? How can you angle your content to resonate with them? Which story will they relate to?

Adding in just a phrase or two that let’s your audience see that you know who they are and how your content might relate to them makes a world of difference.

Why not a book a call with me now to see how I can help? 

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When you’re speaking in public, are you more likely to wing it or fully prepare?
I’ve seen several speakers come unstuck due, as they admitted, to lack of preparation.

Even if you’re usually able to wing it successfully, when sometimes extra nerves caused by a different situation, a change of circumstances or whatever kick in their usual style of winging it, speaking off the cuff or from the heart – however you like to describe it – failed them.

There’s no need to fully script your talk – unless you want to - and I would never advocate learning by heart, but having a plan and a simple structure gives you something to fall back on.

Know your key message, your key points, your opening and closing lines. It can be that simple.

Know those 4 things, keep to time and go for it – if that’s your preferred style.

For help with a simple structure, check out my 10 Top Tips

Rachel Maunder is a communication skills and...

What’s your warm-up routine before you deliver your talk?

Do you even have a routine?

If the idea is new to you, here are just some of the things you might want to include:

1. Make sure your voice and facial muscles are warmed up and working well. It’s surprising how they can let you down if you don’t look after them. Making faces at yourself in the mirror and slide up and down the musical scale will help.
2. Move! As close to the start of the event as possible, make sure you move in some way, to get your blood flowing and your mind awake.
3. And breathe! As the time for your presentation approaches, keep focused on your breathing. Take some deep breaths to clear your mind of any anxiety and to calm any symptoms of nerves

For help with putting together your warm-up routine, do get in touch to arrange a chat.

You can book direct with the link below.

https://calendly.com/storycoach/30min 

Rachel Maunder is a communication skills and speaker coach...

What do you do when you’re asked to give a presentation and the one you’ve already prepared doesn’t quite match the brief?

I used to spend unnecessary time starting again from scratch, or even worse, turned down opportunities due to lack of time to prepare a new talk.

But not anymore. With a bit of creative crafting, it’s usually possible to adapt the piece you’ve already prepared.

Different angle? Spotlight the part of your content that touches on the new angle and bring that to the fore. Include another story to illustrate the angle.

Ask a reflective question inviting the audience to consider your content from the angle you’ve been asked to address.

Different audience? Include different stories more relevant to them. Include something to let them hear you know who they are and what they do.

Sometimes an added sentence, question or short story is all that’s needed.

For more help with creating and crafting your content, hop...

Do you have a pre-presentation routine? Most of the best speakers do – so why not you? 

When you prepare yourself both physically and mentally you are so much more likely to deliver your best stuff – and who wouldn’t want to do that? 

Here are a few tips to help you. You might want to use all or some of them, depending on the presentation itself, the situation and who is in the audience. 

1. Arrive with enough time to check out exactly where you will be presenting before your audience arrives. Where possible, stand where you will be standing to get a feel of what it will be like when your audience is in front of you.

You may even want to go through parts of your presentation in your mind, to consider what movement you need to make in order to reach the room, i.e., will you need to walk from one side of the stage or floor so that everyone can see you, or will it be better to stay central. 

For a virtual...