Really!? These are the Secrets to Truly Grabbing your Audience?

Here's what you can do to make changes that will bring about huge shifts for you and put you firmly in the driving seat of your success. I have just run a survey with a selection of my clients, who are happy for me to share the findings here.

The one question that I asked in the survey is this...

"When a presentation or crucial meeting/conversation has gone extremely well for you, when you have felt that you were the best you've ever been, if you were to bottle it for future success, what ingredients would be in the bottle?"

Here is a summary of those magic ingredients... and you may be surprised by some of them! The good news is, you can now add them to your mix and create the most amazing cocktail for your own success. Here goes...

1. What sticks with people is what you deliver on the day, so make sure that you have been laser focused with your discipline, in order to be in the great position two weeks before the day (yes, two weeks before!) of being fully prepared and rehearsed with your content and your delivery and also your mind, body and soul.
2. Stop, look, listen and ask yourself how you can reduce your stress levels. The key ingredients that were given here are; find realistic ways to a) Reduce your business travel, b) Increase the quality time you spend with your family, c) Seriously take a look at your work-life balance and take action steps to improve it, d) Ensure you get enough sleep... 7 to 8 hours per night seems to be the magic number for the difference to be felt, e) Get enough rest generally, which is separate and different from sleep, so ensure you engage in things that will give you rest... this can be reading or watching for some, yoga or meditation for others, and running, cycling or going to the gym for others... yes those latter activities can be a form of rest for many people.
3. Prepare to a level where you know you cannot improve your content and your delivery any more. This means a) that you have rehearsed it in front of others, including to people outside of your own team and received constructive feedback on the clarity and structure of your message, the simplicity and visual impact of your slides, is your intention crystal clear from the get go, is your "this is why this is relevant to you" (the people who will see/hear your message) crystal clear and is your goal driven home, i.e. what do you want people to think, feel and do after they have heard your message, and what do you want people to think and feel about you.
4. Also, that you have recorded yourself (video), and as you review your footage make sure you ask yourself those same questions as in point 3 above. If you are not happy that you have got it nailed, amend your content and your delivery again until you are. Persistence pays.
5. If you have have been disciplined with Points 1 to 4 above, the benefits are priceless because this means in the moment, on the day, you are free to focus outwards, to be fully present for and with the people you are talking to, so you can enjoy what you are doing and so can they. It also means that you have the time and the mental and physical bandwidth to converse with your audience before your presentation, meeting or crucial conversation. This, as opposed to being inwardly focused on your content, your nerves and your fears, not enjoying it and making it less than average, or worse, for your audience.
6. Also, if you have have been disciplined with Points 1 to 4 above, and you are experiencing the benefits as described in Point 5 above, this enables you to make that giant leap, that great shift from having a fear and a dislike for presenting, delivering key information at meetings and engaging in crucial conversation and getting stressed, anxious and irritable about them, to seeing and experiencing those sitauations as opportunities to engage and connect, to draw people in, to make a diference, to get things done, to bring about change, to launch new initiatives and projects, to raise the game, to garner support, to positively influence others, to gain professional and personal recognition, to be a positive example and role model to others, to grow your company's revenue, to be the Champion You. What's not to love about all that?
7. And the last one is from me, as a summary... Go for it. Enjoy it. Be disciplined. Be focused. Allow and authorise yourself to be who you are truly capable of being. Find out more: Voice is Power

As a final note, and for a bit of ghastly horror/fun, imagine that your goal is to do the worst job of communicating possible and get a Gold Medal for Worst Ever Message and Delivery... well all you have to do is change all the positive words in bold in this article to their negative opposites (as I have done below for you) and read them out (even record them and play them back!) and imagine what you would be like then and what it would be like for the people you are talking to! Then put all those toxic ingredients in a bottle clearly marked POISON and make 100% sure that you store that particular bottle in a place that is forever out of reach, but keep it there as a reminder of how things could be if we are not in the driving seat of our Self, and if we are not focused, disciplined and mindful.

Poisonous Ingredients: non-focused, all over the place, ill-disciplined, terrible position, not prepared, not rehearsed, no feedback from others or self, pre-occupied and cluttered mind, tired and weary body, troubled and anxious soul, stressed, too much travel, no quality family time, awful work-life balance, not enough sleep, not enough rest, poor clarity and structure of message, no clear intention or goals, no why is this relevant for your audience, no focus on how you want the audience to think and feel. STOP! Enough!!!!

So, to end on the positives... get in the driving seat of your Self, be focused, be discipline, be mindful. Enjoy the Bottle of Success... not the other one! If any of the ingredients in the Poison bottle are resonating for you, what Action Steps will you now take to exchange that bottle for the Success bottle?

As always, please share your thoughts, comments, questions, examples, etc below and do share this with those you love and respect... and with those who you want to nudge or even shoulder barge in the right direction! :-)

Photos Shutterstock: Champagne Popping: Wolfilser. Poison Bottle: elnavegante