How To Present To Absolutely Anyone E-Book

Mark Rhodes

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 260

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

Master the art of public speaking with a mind- and content-based approach to success

How to Present to Absolutely Anyone is the ultimate guide to successful public speaking. Presentations, talks, and speeches are unavoidable in school, work, and even social occasions (have you ever had to deliver a wedding toast?)—but fear of public speaking is statistically more common than fear of death. Author Mark Rhodes once pretended he had crashed his car to avoid doing a presentation! Permanent avoidance will eventually hold you back, but mastering the art of the successful presentation can take you to new heights! This book shows you how Mark eventually learned to love public speaking: by setting himself up for a self-sustaining cycle of presentation success.

It takes more than stage presence to make a great presentation—you need great content. Without it, you won’t get the result you’re after, and you will dread the next talk. But if your presentation stands on its own two feet and you manage to banish the stage fright, you get a taste of success that ignites your passion and gets you excited to present every time! Packed with practical advice for both mental anguish and content creation, this book approaches public speaking holistically to arm you with real skills for success:

• Build confidence, reduce fear, and develop the right mindset for public speaking
• Engage your audience from the start, and reduce first-minute jitters
• Develop great content that you look forward to presenting each time

• Go beyond simple body language to reach your audience in a more authentic, organic way

Don’t mumble your way through a PowerPoint or try to put flash over substance. Craft an engaging, informative presentation that people want to see and that you want to present! This book covers performance anxiety, speaking skills, ideas/content, practice, preparation, and audience interaction. How to Present to Absolutely Anyone guides you from fear, to excitement, to success!

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Foreword

1 How to Deliver Presentations Without Fear, That You and Your Audience Will Love and You'll Enjoy Doing

How Did I Start Out With Presentations and Overcome My Own Fears?

2 My Change: From Extreme Public Speaking Fear to Total Confidence

Discovering Another Way by Accident

PART ONE: The Mindset and Confidence To Present

3 Getting Your Mindset Right: Building Confidence and Reducing Fear

Skill Set/Mindset

The Mindset Process TFAR

Fear of Failure

Four‐Year‐Old Children

Thoughts, Beliefs and ‘I Can't Do Presentations’

The Fear Release Process

4 Building the Motivation, Enthusiasm and Desire

Anchoring

Affirmations

Visualisation

This Is Why It Is so Important ALWAYS to Focus on What You Want, Not What You Don't Want

Hollywood Movies

But I Can't Visualise, I Can't Imagine Great Scenes!

Another Inner Voice Strategy

Over to You – It's Visualisation Time!

5 Being Yourself and Dealing with Mistakes

Mistakes

PART TWO: Delivering a Great Talk or Presentation

6 The ‘In‐Motion’ Start

Before You Speak

The ‘In‐Motion’ Start

Engage them at the Start or Lose them Forever

An Added Benefit …

7 Creating Great Content

Stories Make It Much Easier

The End is the Starting Point

Researching Content

Content Order

Oh, and Just Ask!

Your Prompt Notes

A Simple Presentation Structure

The Big Finish

The Power of Stories

Humour

Slides and Flip Charts

Practice in Segments

8 Dealing with Objections

9 Getting the Audience to Take Action

Getting People to Take Action after a Talk

Remember Benefits and Helping

You Need a Compelling ‘Why You’ or ‘Why Us’

How Will You Talk about What You Do?

When to Speak If You Have a Choice

Relevant Content

Seeding

Selling at the End with a Call to Action

Other Elements

10 Dealing with Audience Questions including Difficult Questions

How to Actually Answer Questions

People Who Keep Asking Questions

Getting Paid for Speaking

11 How to Prepare

Your Bio

Practice and Preparation Starts as Soon as You Agree to a Talk

Timing

I'm Still a Bit Nervous about Getting Started and Getting into My Flow

I Don't Have Enough Content to Fill the Time Slot

Slides

Microphones

Flip Charts

12 Delivering on the Day

The Day Before You Travel to the Venue

Travel

Prompt Notes

Timing

The Timer Person: Your Potential Problem

Other Things to Do When You Arrive at the Venue

The Presentations Before Yours

Voice Control

13 Final Thoughts: What Will Being Better at Presentations Mean to You?

Index

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

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E1

Advance Praises

Having seen Mark present and read the book, I have picked up some brilliant tips for maintaining a positive mental attitude and approach to presenting with confidence. I highly recommend going over the practical ideas in this book, as they give you some quick wins to improve how you'll present tomorrow.Nikki Jacobi, Chief People Officer, Yell

I really enjoyed reading Mark's book. It is packed full of tips, coping strategies and easy to relate to stories, which would certainly better equip anyone with their own presentations. It's as relevant for the seasoned pro as it is for the newbie, and as applicable when presenting to a cast of thousands or a more informal gathering. Keep it with you and read over and over again!Emma Fox, CEO, The Original Factory Shop

Speaking to an audience is something most people are faced with at some point in life. Mark has taken a topic that can cause anxiety in most of us and shown how with the right mindset and preparation, it does not have to be something to fear; in fact, it can be fun! Whether you are presenting to the company board or planning a best man's speech, this is a “must read” book full of great anecdotes and tips.Christopher Trippick, Head of Communications and External Affairs, Aquila ATMS

BRILLIANT! Well researched. Well written. And most importantly, Mark's book will help you deliver better presentations, and feel more confident every time you do!Andy Bounds, Award‐winning communication expert and best‐selling author of ‘Top Dog’

Terrified at the thought of presenting, Mark provided me with the confidence to feel in control of captivating my audience's interest. In this book he uses a myriad examples of practical tips and tactics which will empower you to stand in front of any number of people, deliver a compelling message and enjoy the process.Jan Smith, Partner, Ensors

After Mark's success as keynote speaker and facilitator at the recent Driver Hire annual conference, I was pleased to have the opportunity to read his new book. The book delivers exactly what it promises – it demystifies the art of public speaking. Working through a series of easy‐to‐read chapters, the reader can reflect on Mark's personal journey and some of their own experiences. In the process they will reveal simple tips and techniques that should help to make anyone a better public speaker.Richard Owen‐Hughes, Group Marketing Director, Driver Hire Nationwide

I like a book that ‘bubbles’ along; being easy to read, interesting and provides me with some real nuggets. This book certainly does that. I consider myself an experienced speaker, so I definitely recognise the good advice in the book. More importantly for me, I can see that the points raised and explanations provided can really help members of our team overcome any fear and improve their presentation skills.Peter Harrup, Tax Partner, BDO LLP

As someone who now earns his income from standing on his feet and presenting workshops, courses and webinars to real estate agents of varying experience within a multi‐£Million company, I read Mark's book with great anticipation and was not disappointed. Whether you are starting out on your speaking and presenting journey, or already highly accomplished, there is much in here for all, and the real‐life practical tips will help take you from good to GREAT!John A Murray, MNAEA MCMI, Head of Property Marketing Consultants Academy, Spicerhaart Group

The tools and techniques Mark shares in his book have been instrumental in elevating my presentation skills. It's required reading for anybody looking to build confidence in public speaking and take their skills to the next level.Marcus Yarham, Group Finance Director, Vertas

How To Present To Absolutely Anyone

Confident Public Speaking and Presenting in Every Situation

Mark Rhodes

© 2019 Mark Rhodes

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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data

Names: Rhodes, Mark, 1966‐ author.

Title: How to present to absolutely anyone : confident public speaking and presenting in every situation / Mark Rhodes.

Description: West Sussex : Wiley‐Capstone, 2019. | Includes index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2018035675 (print) | LCCN 2018045263 (ebook) | ISBN 9780857087768 (Adobe PDF) | ISBN 9780857087744 (ePub) | ISBN 9780857087737 (pbk.) | ISBN 9780857087768 (ePDF)

Subjects: LCSH: Public speaking. | Business presentations.

Classification: LCC PN4129.15 (ebook) | LCC PN4129.15 .R485 2019 (print) | DDC 808.5/1—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018035675

Cover Design: Wiley

With special thanks to Mike Ward who not only took a chance and gave me my first official speaking engagement, but also helped massively with my confidence when he said some simple yet powerful words as I came off stage:

“Mark, you are a really good speaker”

Foreword

I've had the pleasure of knowing and working with Mark for a number of years, I'm delighted to contribute to the Foreword on How To Present To Absolutely Anyone.

On many occasions in the past, I have invited Mark to speak at events; more predominantly whilst he was one of the ‘Millionaire Mentors’ on the EBA with James Caan.

Unfailingly articulate and engaging as a speaker, Mark has always managed to entertain and inform his audience; keeping the room fully focussed on his message at any time.

On a personal level, I was once amazed when he'd told me of his past fear of public speaking. His delivery has always been so relaxed and confident; drawing the audience in, I'd never have believed he had endured years of fear in this area. This is why this book is just so good; it's a pocket‐sized testament to Mark's journey ‐ packed with information, advice and Mark's experiences which will assist the reader in their own journey to perfect presentations. Its quite possibly the only presenting book you will ever need.

Bev James

Best Selling Author of Do it! Or Ditch it and CEO of The Coaching Academy.

1How to Deliver Presentations Without Fear, That You and Your Audience Will Love and You'll Enjoy Doing

I know this chapter title probably sounds like quite a big claim right now, but this book is about a process and system that I've developed over the last eight to ten years, where I've managed to take myself from somebody who'd never do a talk or presentation anywhere, to someone who is now in demand around the world as a speaker – and who always gets great reviews and feedback from the audience and the event organisers. But, more importantly, I never get nervous these days and actually look forward to doing presentations and talks!

Now, I know many of you reading this won't necessarily be aiming for a career in public speaking – or being a paid speaker as such – you just want to add the skills of speaking and presenting to what you already do.

There can be nothing better than being able to stand up in front of a room of people and deliver a message. A message that inspires or motivates people, or maybe a message that gets people interested in what you or your organisation does. A message you hope will get the audience to take some action afterwards and perhaps even engage with you in a transaction or on some other level.

Being able to do this can also make you the envy of your peers and associates, because so many people in the world would never do what you are about to be able to do.

The ability to confidently deliver a message to a group of people is empowering. After all, great speeches in history have moved millions of people and created a future very different to how it would have been without those speeches.

As I write this, I am reminded of two speaking engagements that I did recently on the exact same topic. One was on a Monday and the other was the very next day on the Tuesday.

At the event on the Tuesday, when I was introduced the audience applauded and looked excited for me to be there, despite the fact that they had not met me before and they didn't even know an external speaker was going to present to them that day at their event.

It was a very different experience to the day before, the Monday, when after being introduced I walked to the front of the room in silence, no applause, just deadly silence!

What is even more interesting about this is experience is that the Monday group had heard me speak to them five months before, they had loved my presentation so much that they had to get me back again to share even more with them … and yet there was no applause as I went up to the front of the room.

Why was this?

After all, you could understand it if it had happened the other way around. A crowd that had heard me before and loved me had given me huge applause and the Tuesday group who'd never met me had just stayed quiet.

Interesting. Well, in fact the difference was, quite simply, how I was introduced. Both introductions were very short but the words used and the tonality used were very different. The introductions were very short presentations themselves with very different outcomes, despite being about the same topic – me.

At the Monday event, when it came to my slot the person introducing me simply said in a monotone voice: ‘Mark spoke back in July and has come back today to share more with us, so I will now hand over to Mark’.

At the Tuesday event, the person introducing me said in an excited voice: ‘Really pleased Mark is here today to share ideas on Transformational Leadership, please give a warm welcome to Mark’.

So, a different tonality and a few different words ‘hand over to Mark’ vs ‘a warm welcome to Mark’ – these four or five words and how they were said made the difference between 80 people clapping and looking excited and 80 people sitting in a deadly silence.

A lot of presentations and talks that people deliver have their whole 30 or 60 minutes delivered like that Monday introduction. A much smaller percentage of presentations are delivered with the words and tonality that move people in unimaginable ways.

So this is why public speaking – and doing it correctly – is so powerful and so important. Not to mention rewarding!

Now, when I say doing it correctly, I don't mean there are 101 tips coming up in this book on what to do and what not to do when you are at the front of a room delivering a message.

What you have here is a process and way of developing yourself and your content so that delivering content or a message is easy and the audience are always engaged with both you and your content.

Everywhere I go and deliver my own presentations, I hear from so many people who want to develop this skill further and get better at doing this. Both from the standpoint of reducing their fear, if they've got fear, and of getting better results from the presentations that they do.

In my experience, people want to deliver a presentation that they are going to look forward to delivering and that they know the audience is going to like, enjoy and get value from.

I have heard it said that when people are surveyed about their biggest fears, the fear of public speaking ranks higher than the fear of death. And I also heard somebody once say that this means that at a funeral, most people would rather be in the box going in the ground than standing at the top reading the eulogy!

Now, I'm sure it's not that bad. I'm sure none of us would actually wish that in reality – although it might feel like that when the dreaded fear and feelings of impending doom strike when it is not something you are comfortable doing.

So I have written this book for all those people who tell me they want to be able to present with confidence, like I do, and know the steps I take to be able to deliver great presentations.

When I ask what stage they're at with public speaking, I realise most of the time that they are far more advanced than I was when I started out doing presentations. I'm not sure it is possible for anyone to be more scared than I once was.

Because they are far more advanced than I was, I know that I can easily help them to fast track what they're doing and to get far better than they currently are and far better results than they're currently getting. And that's the reason I've decided to put down everything I know, have done and continue to do, in this book.

This book is also for you even if you've never done a presentation before.

There are also free videos to support this book, which you can access at https://www.markrhodes.com/public‐speaking‐videos

How Did I Start Out With Presentations and Overcome My Own Fears?

I was desperate. I'd spent years fearing presentations and done some pretty extreme things to avoid them, even to the point where I once faked a car accident to make an excuse for not attending a meeting where I was due to give one. More on that a little later.

I knew that something had to change, that I had to master this. That I'd spent too many years running away from presentations, making excuses, and it was something that I needed to do.

I realised that I'd had success in other parts of my life – I had even started, grown and sold a business successfully – and yet I was still running away from doing presentations with dread and fear.

And, you know, I then figured it out.

I figured out what I needed to do in order to reduce the fear and in order to develop great content. So much so that today, I just love it. I absolutely love public speaking. I don't even get nervous anymore.

This has led to me speaking on many big stages around the world. I've spoken in Hong Kong, Dubai, the USA, countries across Europe. So many places.

I've spoken for major well‐known brands and received amazing feedback and testimonials. Again, this is just to show you how far I've come from the person who was too scared to do a talk and didn't know the first step in putting a talk together.

I've had two books published by a major publisher and out in the shops. I have also been featured in lots of press and media – and all of this has come about because of my speaking. My speaking has led to everything else.

I know that you might not be looking to become a speaker or write books, but I'm sharing this with you to show you the extent of the changes I've made from somebody who was totally fearful of doing presentations to someone who's in demand as a speaker.

I'm sharing this with you as a way to get you to believe that you too can get better at public speaking and presentations.

You can reduce that fear.

You can develop that content that you and your audience will love.

Do not think for one minute that you're just not the sort of person to do this, because no matter where you are with your own public speaking skills or confidence levels, I'm sure, as I said earlier, you are further on than I was when I started out.

So how did I do it? How bad was I? and how did I make that transformation?

Let's start with how bad I was.

On leaving college I got my first job in a firm of accountants. I'd been there for about six months when the manager said to me,

‘Mark, the supervisor is off today, you need to go to Head Office and represent our office. And at the meeting, you're going to be in a room of about 12 people, and you're going to have to stand up for about a minute and read out from this sheet of paper what we've been doing in our office.’

And I thought,

‘That's it, I'm not doing that. Absolutely no way. I'm not standing up and doing a talk, you can forget that.’

But then I realised pretty quickly that when your boss tells you you've got to do something, you've probably got to do it. And not only that, I was only 18. It was my first job after leaving college, so I thought, ‘I better do this’.

So I set off to Head Office in my car on this dreadful day. The closer I got to the venue, the hotter I got; the fear was getting worse and worse the closer I got to the venue.

I got about 100 yards from that building, and I thought: ‘I can't do this. There's absolutely no way. I can't do this. I'm not going’. Then I had a brilliant idea. I thought, ‘I know what I'll do, I'll tell them I've had an accident in the car and I'll have to miss the meeting because I've got to wait for the police!’

So that's what I did. We didn't have mobile phones or cellphones in those days, so I went to the nearest phone box, I phoned up the office and said: ‘I'm really sorry, somebody has hit my car. I've got to wait for the police. I'm not going to be able to make the meeting’.

They said, ‘Don't worry Mark, the important thing is are you safe? Are you okay?’ (I was feeling a bit guilty at this point for lying to my employer and the fact that they were worrying about my safety when there was absolutely nothing wrong with me – other than the complete fear of doing that one‐minute talk of course!)

They told me to sort things out and then go home and they'd see me tomorrow at the office and I wasn't to worry about missing the meeting.

Result!

When I got back home, I went through two phases.

The first was that I was really happy, really excited, really proud of myself because I had yet again got out of doing a talk or speaking in public.

Then the next phase I went through was, ‘Oh no, when I go in to work tomorrow they will see that there's nothing wrong with my car’.

I then had to go out with a hammer and break the back lights on my own car, just to create evidence of this so‐called accident that never happened!

That's how scared I was and the extent I would go to so I could avoid doing a one‐minute presentation, in public, to a room of 12 people!

That's how bad I was at speaking in public. But these days, I will stand on stage for an hour plus with 1000 people or more in the audience, no slides, and I'll love every single minute of it. In fact, when I look down at my stopwatch and see I've only got five minutes left of my time on stage, I'm disappointed it's going to be over so soon.

So, what changed?

What changed to make me go from one extreme to the other?

2My Change: From Extreme Public Speaking Fear to Total Confidence

After I achieved my success in business, I was completely astounded that I'd managed it; building a company and eventually selling it to a large Silicon Valley organisation in the USA.

I then got curious about success and how I'd become successful.

I read a number of books, I went on some courses. And I realised most of the things I was reading or hearing I had already been doing naturally, but in my own way, which had also led to my success so far.

What I also realised is that there were some things in my life that I was doing really, really well. Like sales; I was always good at selling and winning new business. And yet there were other things in my life I was doing badly, or not at all; like public speaking.

I eventually realised that the difference between these two things, as soft and simple as it might sound, was how I was thinking about them. I was thinking about them very differently.

You see, when I was going to a sales meeting to see a potential client or customer, I'd be thinking about everything going right. My excited and upbeat internal voice and thinking was something along the lines of:

‘They are going to love what we do. I can't wait to get there. I can't wait to tell them about our product, about our team. They're going to love us, they're going to want to work with us, they're going to see that we can transform their business and help them go to another level.’

That was my thought process – and thinking like that I felt pretty good when I arrived at those meetings. And I therefore got excellent results most of the time, and my sales conversion or winning rate was very high.

Now, when it came to giving a talk, and somebody said, ‘Mark, will you do a talk? Will you do a presentation?’ Instead of thinking about everything going right, I'd think about everything going wrong. I'd think:

‘Maybe I'll forget my words. Maybe I'll look nervous. Maybe the audience won't like it. Maybe I'll pass out!’

And after I've thought about these fears and talked to myself with my internal voice in a very down and depressed tonality, well, I'm scared – I'm smashing up that car and I'm not going to do a presentation anywhere!

This was the eureka moment for me. When I saw first‐hand from my own experiences how the thoughts we have, and how we think about things beforehand, have a major impact on the results we get and how we feel during the process – no matter what we are doing.

I then started to change how I was thinking about giving presentations, and I would think more about things going right than things going wrong, and that's when the fear started to diminish for me. I will explain exactly how I made this change as we go through this book.

The fear diminished to a stage that I managed to put myself on a course … it wasn't a public speaking course, but it was a course where I'd have to stand up and do a short presentation each day about what we had learnt that day.

Because I had started thinking about things going well with these presentations, imagining myself delivering those talks well, it started to reduce the fear to the point that I'd go on the course and take part in it.

Then the ongoing practice beyond that is what helped me go much further.

In addition to reducing my fears, I also had to come up with ways to develop content and methods of delivery as well as everything else that I'm going to take you through in what I call my ‘Zero to Hero in Public Speaking Process’.

Discovering Another Way by Accident

I found out something very interesting some years later when I started helping clients with public speaking and overcoming their own fears, something that made me totally change my original approach.

What I used to do was start by sorting out their mindset and helping them to reduce the fears that were holding them back.

I would say to them at the start of our first coaching session: