When you walk into your kitchen, you probably know exactly:- – where to flip on the light switch… – how the sink tap turns on… – or where to find a teaspoon. You could probably do those things with your eyes shut. At home, your body knows the space it’s in. It’s developed a physical […]
For many of us, being put in the spotlight means confronting three fears: – ourselves – other people – the space. That’s something I learned many years ago, from Richard Hahlo – an actor, director and long-established trainer for the National Theatre and his own company, Hydrocracker. Fear of ourselves is the worry that we’ll […]
Far be it from me to publish cartoons that might be construed as a criticism of the Almighty – so let’s focus instead on the notion that many businesspeople seem to think a long sentence, preferably chock full of multi-syllabic abstract nouns, packs more punch than a short one. It doesn’t. The tendency to ramble on often […]
A good presentation involves more physicality than you might think. I’ve written before about feet, hands and eyes – but actually, there’s a physical element even in the way you use muscles to form your words. Or there should be. But often the impact of what is being said, formally or informally, is lost because the […]
Faced with a presentation to deliver, most businesspeople focus almost exclusively on the content of what they want to say. As I’ve said in previous Articles, they’re missing a trick. Making your words work well means making sure they are complemented by your voice and your body. The way you use your feet, your hands, your […]
Preparing well for a presentation is vital. Most people know that. What they don’t know is how to prepare, or what the preparation is really for. To an actor, preparation mostly means rehearsal – and when I work with businesspeople, that’s what I tell them they’ll be doing on my training course. Companies put consistent […]
Actors have nights in the theatre when they’ll come off stage at the end of the play and say that all their props jumped up and bit them. “The doorknob came off in my hand…” “My lighter wouldn’t light…” “I choked so hard on my drink that I couldn’t get my lines out.” When that […]
If you really want to know how much energy it takes to reach whatever audience you’re presenting to, here’s a way of testing it. Get someone you trust to stand as far away from you as possible in as large a room as possible. Ask them to spend just a minute or so telling you […]
I never use video to teach people how to make live presentations. In fact, I think video can be thoroughly misleading. Why? Because it’s a different medium. If you were actually being filmed giving your presentation, there could well be valid reasons for keeping fairly (though not rigidly) still. But that would depend upon the […]
If this is one of your ‘presentations worries’, there’s a very easy answer. Do nothing at all. Luckily, your hands are quite capable of taking care of themselves. Hands – or any other part of the body – are usually a problem when your attention is in the wrong place. If your attention is fully […]
