If you are a woman leader who wants to accelerate your presentation skills, join us on March 13th in Philadelphia to learn the following:

• how to overcome nervous tension before you speak
• techniques to prepare a presentation in 10 minutes or less
• strategies to capture, package and deliver your ideas
• how to appeal to a global and local audience
• increasing audience engagement through interaction

Ever been in a presentation and wanted to slit your wrists because the presenter was so bad, used way too many slides and read you all the details on their slide… or is that just me? A tad bit overdramatic? Perhaps?

If you are given an opportunity to stand and present to any audience, in a meeting, at a conference, in your community – you owe it to your audience to rock that presentation. You owe it to your audience to be good, to be on point… not to kill them with your overcomplicated, busy, ugly slides!

PowerPoint when used well,  can be an awesome addition to any presentation if you follow a few simple strategies:

• Less is more, consider less words and less slides
• Use one engaging photo or graphic instead of a huge amount of text
• Simplify your slides so they support your message
• Never read to your audience, they are smart.. they know how to read.. don’t insult their intelligence
• Use no more than 6 bullet points per slide, no more than 6 words per line
• Avoid things bouncing in and out, fading in and out – it’s exhausting
• Make your font big and bold so everyone can read it

Do you ever get nervous before you speak?

Do you get butterflies when you are preparing to present?

Do you worry about your audience’s reactions when you are speaking?

If you answered yes to any of these questions maybe your center of thought is wrong! Many years ago I heard Matt Church, founder of Thought Leaders share a great model explaining the reason people get nervous is because their center of thought was wrong, they are focused on the wrong thing.  This had a huge impact on me.

Matt went on to explain that often people think all about themselves, or maybe focus on their audience when the real way to present without nervous energy is to simply be in conversation with your audience.

If you get nervous before you speak consider the following ideas:

• It’s not about you … your audience is so glad it’s you up there and not them!
• It’s not about them – your audience wants you to do well, they want to be engaged and interact with you.

Recently while speaking for one of my fabulous oil & gas clients I met with one of the leaders before the live webcast, we were discussing how she was an incredibly valuable resource within her company. Her extensive experience as an administrative professional meant she was the ‘go-to-gal’ for a variety of applications, processes and especially information!

After interviewing her we discovered her secret … it was her ability to sequence information.

She is regularly bombarded with constant requests for her time and attention and there is always someone wanting her to do something, be somewhere or have something completed.

Does this sound like you?

If you want to reduce overwhelm and increase your impact try these strategies to sequence how you respond to information daily:

• Know your 20% – what are the activities in your day that allow you to achieve 80% of your results? The Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto is famous for creating what has become known as the 80/20 rule. His discovery was 80% of Italy’s land was controlled by 20% of the population. He was then able to apply this formula to so many areas. It is especially applicable to how we choose to invest our time daily. Focus on your 20% of activities and information that will help acheive your goals.

• Know your agenda – just like every meeting needs an agenda to be productive… every person needs an agenda each day. What are the goals and objectives for your day? When you are clear about your agenda you choose which activities and requests to respond to first.

• Know Your methodology – let the people in your life know the best way to communicate with you. Are you an email girl (or guy), do you prefer phone calls or chatting face to face. Once they know your preferred style they can communicate with you in this way. Always ask people you work with ‘what is the best way to communicate with you?’ and make a note of their preference.

Sequencing is knowing the order in which things happen – you get to choose daily how you manage information and requests.

What can you do today to reduce overwhelm by sequencing information? We would love to hear your thoughts and your ideas. Share them on our blog.

Now that’s productive!

PS. If you want to increase your impact by knowing what you should implement first, check out my friend Pete Cook’s blog on Implementing an Implementation Mindset

Do you find yourself wasting time online?

Do you want to stay connected but don’t know how to do it without investing significant time?

Do you feel addicted to social media?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then maybe you need a social media intervention! The trick is to invest 15 minutes per day on great social media tools including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Check out other ideas in this short video to increase your productivity and still enjoy being connected with social media:

Neen James shares how to be more productive with social media

When I first became a professional speaker I was fortunate to be mentored by world-renowned Matt Church. Many, many years later we are  delighted to share he is heading to the US to share Speakership program with those who want to accelerate their presentation skills. If you are a thought leader who speaks, trains or consults this program may be beneficial for you – find out more details – click here.

As you know one of my absolute MUST have travel apps is GateGuru. This week I was fortunate to interview the CEO and founder of GateGuru, Dan Gellert on Schreck Teck (as the gorgeous geeky Gina Schreck was speaking at a conference).

While talking with Dan he shared so much more functionality than I was aware.  Some of the outcomes of this fabulous interview included tips to help make road warriors lives easier. We travel a lot across the US and internationally and focussed on staying productive while traveling, these ideas included:

• Find a gym at the airport if you have a long layover (many airports include hotels with fitness facilities).
• Carry snacks to keep you energized and healthy – my favorites are almonds, protein bars, and  fruit.
• Walk around the airport to get exercise – it is surprising how many miles you accumulate.
• Take the stairs when possible as it increases your cardio.
• Seek out healthy food options at the airport,
• We also agreed Seat Guru is a must for frequent flyers (can’t wait to see this incorporated into GateGuru…hint hint).

Dan suggested ways to incorporate GateGuru into your travel plans:

• 3 days before your trip, plug in your flight details to GateGuru and set up notifications
• 3 hours before you are due to leave the for the airport check the flight again
• Share your details with those who might pick you up from the airport so they can track the progress of your flight

With a little extra planning and using this brilliant app, your next trip can be even more productive. Thanks Dan for the great conversation,  suggestions and thanks to Gina for trusting me with your show…. those are some big stilettos to fill!

One of my secrets of getting an enormous amount done in a short amount of time is using the Giant Timer app on my iPad. I set it for 15 minutes and then race against the clock to get as much done as I can. This is also a great tool to use if you are procrastinating on a task… just set it for 15 minutes and do the task you have been putting off … I promise it works! Now that’s productive!

A MUST read book

Recently I read the fabulous book Fascinate by Sally Hogshead (yes that is really her name) and it was full of great gems, strategies and learnings on how to be more fascinating.

There were many things she says in the book on how you can be more fascinating, she even details a process for it and outlines your 7 triggers to be more persuasive and captivating – definitely a great read.

One statement that really impacted me was ‘we are networking, not connecting‘. She went on to say that we’re doing things so we can tell others we did them. “We living hyperlinks!”says Richard Laermer. Wow – what a powerful statement. In his book Free, Chris Anderson says ‘hyperlinks are the formal exchange of attention and reputation’.

In our digital, hyper-connected world are we missing great opportunities to really connect with people we care about?

You have often heard me say ‘we don’t have time to do everything… we only have time to do what matters’.

Today decide that you will reach out to someone and truly connect with them, have a real conversation, look them in the eye, put down the remote control, get off your iPhone, iPad, blackberry (whatever your drug of choice is) and connect.

Thanks Sally for the reminder, we all need to connect more if we want to have a true impact in the world.

Now that’s productive!

Look someone in the eye ... just like Australian cockatoos

I am often asked what keeps my energy high when I travel so much around the world as a speaker… a fabulous Aussie fizzing vitamin called Berocca! It is now available in the USA and I highly recommend it. One tablet is full of Vitamin B and C and it great for a daily boost. Check it out here

Fizzy Vitamin B & C