Tag: speaking

Double reminder

FabrizioLeave a comment

News, magazines, social media, broadcasters, experts, webzines, blogs, radios.

They are all out there fighting for our attention. And of course they exaggerate the things they say and they write.

Here’s a double reminder, particularly useful in these days of overexposure and quick bursts of fear.

As consumers, we can decide what to dedicate our attention to. It’s often not easy, but we can concentrate on the job we are here to make and cut out all the rest. No matter how dramatic, alarming, important the news of the moment is framed to be.

As content creators, we have a choice to make between trying to shout louder and use a softer tone of voice. If we decide for the latter, it will be tougher at times. But when we go for the former, the message we want to share will simply fade in the overwhelmingly buzzing noise that jams our audience’s ears at all times.

Talk

FabrizioLeave a comment

Talk about what’s holding you back.

Talk about that feeling you feel before speaking in front of others.

Talk about the fear that never let you leap.

Talk about how unease you are when somebody asks a direct question.

Talk about the challenge in putting your work out there.

Talk about how difficult it is to say you were wrong.

Talk about the knots in your stomach before meeting someone you like.

Because as you talk about all of this, you take the first step to make it all go away.

Giving time

Fabrizio1 Comment

Donating to charities or impactful causes might not be for everyone, but there’s a very accessible way to give that we can all practice regularly.

Giving time.

Giving time is personal, important, empathetic and transformational. No matter how busy we are, we can always find time to give. Either by mentoring, by coaching, by listening, by sharing our experience with those who have a different one, by merely being totally present.

There’s no training needed in giving time, you can start as soon as now. And the great thing is, the more you are in a bad place, the better giving time will make you feel.

[…] instead of moving away from your work when burnout strikes, you may actually need to move closer to it, albeit in a different manner. That different manner is “giving back” to your field. This can take many forms, including volunteering and mentoring, but the basic gist is that you should focus on helping others.

Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness, Peak Performance

Presenting

Fabrizio1 Comment

If you are preparing to deliver a presentation that matters (to you), consider the following.

Start with the audience and the change you’d like to see (even when you are just presenting results, you are still demanding a change). List them down somewhere and have them visible throughout the process.

Have the deck ready early, at least a week before the presentation.

Little text on a slide is always better than more. Always.

A list is a list even without a bullet.

Allow enough time to collect and implement the needed feedback. If you get feedback too close to the time you are supposed to deliver the presentation (<24hrs), be brave and disregard it.

Write a script for the key points and the transition between slides.

Rehearse the presentation multiple times, keeping the script at hand, but without reading it.

Few hours before the actual delivery, free your mind and take a break from the presentation. Do something else. The deck is ready by now, and so you are.

Good luck.

Assume people don’t know

Fabrizio1 Comment

Start by assuming that people don’t know. When you present an idea, when you share a thought, when you introduce your audience to your product or service, imagine how it would be to talk about that to somebody who is absolutely clueless. Chances are, they really are.

Take Ikea instructions, for example.

For as much as people make fun about them, the way Ikea presents how to assemble its own furniture is the clearest and easiest around. Just try another brand and benchmark.

Their minimalist design never fails, provided you can follow it to the letter (well, to the image) without trying to venture away from it. They have no words in it, no complicated code for the different pieces, the drawings are not necessarily captivating or artistic, and yet they never fail to tell you if that little hole goes on the inside or on the outside. And the great thing about them, is that they often are lengthy and elaborated, as they assume the normal person does not have the knowledge or experience for the job.

The next time you are sharing something important, think about Ikea’s instructions. And see how you can be as close to them as possible.