Mark Sanborn on Confidence

Great post from Mark Sanborn on confidence.

Excerpt:

"Too little self-confidence results in timidity and too much in arrogance. The amounts aren’t absolute so one person’s healthy self-confidence might be interpreted by another as arrogance. It is good to remember what Lou Holtz and John Heisler said in The Fighting Spirit: “You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose.” A little modesty is a good thing for even the most competent professional. What is confidence? I define it as competence coupled with certainty. It is foolish to think yourself competent if you’re not and of little value to be competent if you don’t believe you are."

Memorization Station at the PLI Blog

Click over to my Personal Leadership Insight blog for a post about how to memorize any written content...

http://pliblog.yournextspeaker.com/2007/12/masterful-communication-memorization.html

Who You Got In The Room?

It is obviously important to know in advance who you are going to have in your audience. Why are they there? What did they come to learn/do/see? Who are they? Here is a simple breakdown of how to understand an audience member's motivation walking in the room...


Passionate Paul - "I absolutely want to be in the room."


I am here to learn something specific that will help me either solve a problem or add to a solution I am currently experiencing.

How to Spot Me - I am sitting in the front rows. I am asking you questions beforehand. I am taking notes. I am challenging you for more, better, deeper, more specific information.


How to Connect With Me - Give me your best content up-front. Quickly let me know you have what I think you have. Win me over with substance.

Curious Chris - "I think I want to be in the room."


Your program title looks interesting, you look interesting, etc. I don't have an urgent need for your content, but I think I might like either you and/or your content.

How to Spot Me - I am cordial toward you. I am basically like Passionate Paul, only I'm not quite as eager or anxious.


How to Connect With Me - Make the experience great. Attack all my senses with music, interaction, reflection, information, etc. Win me over with interestingness.

Social Sally - "I have ulterior motives for being in the room."


I am here because my friends are, my co-workers are, or it is the better than being somewhere else. I am not really interested in you or what you have to say.

How to Spot Me - I will be checked into the room, just not checked into you or what you have going on. I will be chatting with my people in the room and/or texting/calling my people not in the room.


How to Connect With Me - To get to me, you are going to have to go through the side door. You can't hit me directly with information or even interaction. I will put up a wall. Ask non-responsive questions that I may have wrestled with recently. Tell a story that I can relate to. If you do interaction, let me stay with my friends. Win me over with indirection.

Hostage Harriet - "I absolutely don't want to be in the room."

I am here because I was forced to be here. I didn't have a choice. If I had a choice, I would certainly choose to be somewhere else.

How to Spot Me - Arms crossed. No eye contact. No response to questions. I might be abrasive or disruptive, but not necessarily.

How to Connect With Me - Don't force the issue. Just assume I'm not in the room. If I try to disrupt you, deal with me quickly and privately. Be real with me, though. I'm still a person with emotions. It just so happens my barriers are up higher than others. But you can't take them down. You have to give me a good reason to take them down on my own. Win me over with respect.

Have Some Fun With The Serious Stuff

I spoke to 250 middle school students this year and we covered the conference rules right off the bat. However, instead of just covering the rules and moving on (which would have been very boring), we had some fun with them. We actually had fun with the name "rules," not the rules themselves (which were very serious.) The students were in teams and I gave the teams a challenge to come up with the funniest, most creative new name for the word "rules."

We just so happened to have a huge beach ball on hand and some sharpies, so once a team decided on their contest submission, they sent a representative forward and we inscribed it in the beach ball.

The students had a blast, their creativity was sparked and we started the conference on a high note, not a down one. The winning team also had the honor of having their creation mentioned all conference long.

So, the next time you are called to cover the rules, cover the Conference Wooblycootins instead.

If You Need Music For Your Programs

We use music all the time in our keynotes and workshops. If you would like to view the lists and purchase the songs we use in our programs, follow this...

1. Download and install iTunes (you don't need to have an iPod or a Mac)

2. Once inside iTunes, go to the iTunes Store.

3. In the Search field in the top right corner, type in yournextspeaker (no spaces).

4. Click the link in the left column titled Playlists. This will get you to both our Fast playlists and our Slow playlists.

Enjoy and remember to always keep your program music Clean, Powerful and Positive!

Start Small and Work Your Way Up

When you begin your presentation planning, start as basic as possible. Start with one phrase that sums up your core belief about your topic. Start with one question that could serve as the catalyst for your audience's thinking. Begin small and then grow from there - keeping only the important, timely, relevant and unique pieces of information.

This strategy will keep your information load low and drive most (if not all) of your content back to one central theme, point, lesson, etc. Both of these are necessary if you want your audience to retain and act upon your presentation.

The Characteristics of an Effective Leadership Game or Exercise

Following are the characteristics we look for when creating and developing our leadership games and exercises:

• Grouped in teams or partners
• Audience paced, not presenter paced (turn it on and it runs)
• No to low material/props
• Includes a competitive element
• Physical movement
• Challenging, but inclusive
• 20 - 40 minutes in length
• Simple and clear instructions
• Full use of already existing resources in training room/building/campus
• Safe and friendly
• Appropriate music prepared
  

Print this list. Cross-reference it with your existing material and use it as a checklist during your next workshop or training session planning time.

A Little Less Information And a Lot More Understanding

In a training environment, you have a choice to make between two significantly different modes of operation...

1. You are more interested in the audience receiving a ton of information. You believe the value of a training program is based on the amount of content given. Your trainings involve a ton of "sitting and getting." You speak and the audience listens (or tries to.) Not much interaction, not much audience participation and not much of anything other than you talking.


2. You are more interested in the audience receiving a ton of understanding. You believe the value of a training program is based on the connectiveness of the content given. Your trainings are interactive, discussion-based and both mentally and physically engaging.


Path one is very presenter-focused. Listen to me. Here is what I know.

Path two is very audience-focused. Let's work on this together. I want you to experience the learning, not just hear the learning points.


Pick your path. Choose wisely. Let's hope for your sake and your next audience's sake that you choose number two.

10 No-No's for PowerPoint Use

Following these 10 points won't make your Power Points remarkable, but they will keep them from being horrible...

• No bullet points
• No shadowed text
• No clip art
• No red backgrounds
• No text larger than 64 font
• No text smaller than 24 font
• No slide transitions
• No reading of the slide content
• No more than 15 slides... ever

Buy Yourself 15 Minutes of Attention

If your group meets in the same place on a regular basis and/or if you are presenting at a day-long or longer conference, buy yourself at least 15 minutes of attention by moving the group to a new location. Facility fatigue can set in over time and make it more difficult than it needs to be to get and keep your audience's attention. Move to a new room and they will become new listeners!