Gerry Sandusky's Blog

I see a lot of professionals who confuse the purpose of proposals and presentations. Proposals are for laying out all the details, getting everything perfect. Presentations are not. Presentations—whether they are in person, remote, one to one or one to many— are about connection, not perfection.

True influence begins with an emotional connection, not intellectual perfection. If you go for perfection you will miss the emotional connection every time. Perfection has its place—in proposals. But presentations have a different function and a different focus.

Put your focus on connecting with your audience. Focus on helping them to feel that you understand where they are coming from. When you make that connection, then you open up the pathway to having intellectual influence and sharing your excellence.

If you find that your presentations are flat and you aren’t connecting, ask yourself if you are going for perfection or for connection? When people go for perfection, all of their energy shifts to their thoughts, and their tone of voice and body language tend to go flat. It’s almost impossible to connect with an audience with a flat tone of voice and no body language.

Shift your focus. Shift your results. And lose the weight of dragging the need to be perfect to the front of the room or the front of the Zoom.

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Adding multi-media to your presentation only enhances the presentation if your audience knows what it’s looking at and where to look—in person or in a remote presentation. The simple skills you learned playing “Show & Tell” in kindergarten will still serve you even in a high stakes business presentation.

The post Something you Learned in Kindergarten Can Save Your Next Presentation appeared first on Presentation Skills Training | Gerry Sandusky.

Becoming a better communicator doesn’t begin with thinking of the next thing you want to say or even how to say it. It begins with becoming a better listener.

Too often we only listen long enough to figure out what we want to say. There’s a far more effective way to approach listening and it literally requires you to do nothing. But don’t confuse that with easy.

The post Improve Your Communication by Improving Your Listening appeared first on Presentation Skills Training | Gerry Sandusky.

 

The worst reason to give a presentation is because you were asked to or—even worse—you were told to.

The best reason to give a presentation is because you have a clear objective.

And the best way to give that presentation is in a way that achieves your objective and supports your brand.

It’s Not As Complicated as You Think

Ah yes, the five-letter word where so many people get lost: brand.

It’s not as complicated as you might think and you don’t have to be a multi-billion dollar corporation to have one.

Brand is simply the top of mind perception people have when they encounter you or think about you.

 

Discovering How Brand Works

Try this simple exercise:

Think about your dream car for a few seconds. See yourself driving it. Now, you get out of your dream car and look back at it over your shoulder.

Okay, what kind of car were you dreaming about? And what did you feel when you thought about that car?

That’s brand.

It’s what people think about, what they feel, the perception they have when they either think about you, or encounter you.

 

Brand “You”

Now, when it comes to brand, “you” can be an organization, like Tesla, or a department in an organization, the public relations department of a national bank, or “you” can be, well, you, your individual, professional brand.

You already have a brand—even if you aren’t aware of it—because people think of something when they think of you. The key is what do you want them to think of.

That is your brand target.

And it’s okay if you aren’t there yet. Maybe you want people to think of you as cutting edge, forward-thinking, super-sharp, and revolutionary. That’s a pretty aggressive brand. It’s bold. Maybe you aren’t quite there yet. That’s okay. Your own sense of your brand—whether organizational or individual—should be in part aspirational. That’s what drives you toward being more, toward being better.

Brands can be global like Coke (click here to see for yourself). Or they can be local, like a favorite restaurant with a loyal following where you live. Here’s my favorite Sushi restaurant. It’s not as big as Coke, but it has a great brand. I think of great thoughts when I think of them.

Get Clear on Your Brand

Once you get clear on your brand, then turn your attention to your presentations—regardless of whether those presentations are in-person or virtual.  Now, ask yourself does your presentation and the way you

perform in that presentation supportyour brand or dilute your brand. Every barista at Starbucks is making a presentation when they take your order and present you with your drink. That’s a presentation. And it will look pretty similar regardless of whether you experience that presentation in Baltimore or Denver or San Diego.

Starbucks trains its people to support its brand.

Think of all of your communication and your interaction as presentations. If the way your interact supports your brand, do more of it. If it dilutes your brand, change it.

It really is that simple.

3-Step Approach:

Step 1: Get clear on your brand.

Step 2: Get clear on what you want your brand to be.

Step 3: Make sure the way you perform in your presentations supports your brand.

Strong brands all have a few things in common. They know who they are. They know who they want to be. They do everything they can to make people think of them in those terms.

Building presentations that build your brand follow the same three-step approach.

Once you get clear on your brand, click here to watch a video that will show you how to put more “you” in your presentations.

The post Build Presentations that Build Your Brand appeared first on Presentation Skills Training | Gerry Sandusky.

In this age of remote work and remote communication, eye contact equals influence. To lead effectively, you need to get comfortable with making eye contact—even if that now means making eye contact with a camera lens. It’s a learnable skill, a skill you can quickly develop. And the faster you become comfortable with making eye contact, albeit remotely, the faster others will feel comfortable connecting with you in remote communication.

The post Increasing Influence Begins with Better Eye Contact appeared first on Presentation Skills Training | Gerry Sandusky.

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The post The Power of Perception in Establishing Trust as a Leader appeared first on Presentation Skills Training | Gerry Sandusky.

By now you know uncertainty is the new normal. While some states are opening up others are closing back down. Business meetings remain, for the most part, remote and on video. Travel is complicated. Conferences, large gatherings, big events all remain the realm of some time in the future.

Crisis is also Opportunity

Until there is a coronavirus vaccine—and likely for some time after there is one—we all have to learn how to communicate effectively in new ways from remote settings. But that doesn’t mean we have to look at this as a hardship. It’s actually an amazing opportunity.

Fast forward a year, two years, five years. The day will come when we won’t worry about the coronavirus and its impact on our lives, our businesses, and our careers. And when that day does come, we won’t go back to doing everything the old way. Yes, with a little luck we’ll have conventions and concerts again. We’ll have handshakes and high fives. But we’ll also have the experience of not driving two hours to a business meeting that we can take in our home office on Zoom.

What You do Now Impacts What You’ll Do Later

How you handle this current crisis and the communication skills you develop during it will have a big impact on your ability to grow into the future.

If you see the current uncertainty as an opportunity than one thing is certain: you’ll be a more diverse and complete communicator in the future.

 

The post How to Use Current Uncertainty to Double Your Future Impact appeared first on Presentation Skills Training | Gerry Sandusky.

Free Q&A Session for Leaders:

https://go.andyneary.com/the-leadership-playbook-qa-session

The disruption of routine caused by COVID-19 has created havoc for everyone. Leaders feel it too. Managing a remote and agile workforce, finding your own bearings, and shifting from phase to phase as we transition to the “new normal” is unsettling.

It has also revealed for many leaders three areas where they are lacking:

Their own sense of their personal brand (Here’s a hint: if you think it’s related to a logo, you might be a little lost here too)
Keeping the uncertainties of location and remote work from undermining their productivity
Communicating with their people on Zoom and other video conference calls

You aren’t alone.

That’s why we created the Leadership Playbook for the New Normal.

It’s a 3-part, 2-hour, live, on-line workshop. It’s for leaders like you. If you are looking to improve your brand, productivity, or communication skills we’re here to help. This program will help you improve in ways that work online and on-site, no matter where you work.

If you would like to learn more about this program, or just talk about the leadership challenges you face with other leaders, join us for a free, Q&A session Thursday, June 18th at 6pm ET. Click here to reserve your space:

https://go.andyneary.com/the-leadership-playbook-qa-session

In one of our first sessions, an attendee said this: “It was such a relief to find out I wasn’t the only leader feeling overwhelmed. I was amazed at how easy it was to get not only back on track, but on a stronger track than ever before.”

We hope to see you on Thursday night.

And if you have any questions about our upcoming, next session of the Leadership Playbook for the New Normal, I’m happy to schedule a short call with you to discuss it one-on-one. Just reach out to me at info@sanduskygroup.com 

 

 

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