britia.info

Curious how to find your personal best in business presentations? Follow the lead of star performers and you can achieve greatness too.

Star performers share a single trait: they challenge themselves to always strive for their personal best. Whether in business, sports or the arts, masters are at the top of their game because they never stop seeking to get better.

For a professional role model for performance, consider Michael Jordan. Even if you’re not a basketball fan, Jordan was famous as the top player when he was playing for the Chicago Bulls. How did he stay at the top?

Jordan is known for continuously challenging himself. At the end of each season, word has it that he spent the entire off time picking apart his game. He never stopped looking for weaknesses, and how to get his game better.

The same goes for great painters, filmmakers, actors and dancers. Great stars work hard — and never stop. Find a personal role model and look further than your business, industry or professional area of expertise. Look to the arts, sports, and entertainment.

Who is your role model for inspiration?

While you may not have celebrity status in your industry, you can do the same practices. Set your own personal standards and never stop raising the bar.

Use these 3 tips to continuously dissolve obstacles and seek out your unique personal best.

Tip 1: Don’t Settle

Good is good. But it’s not great. Don’t settle for second or third when you could be first. Go for being the very best at what you do. The single trait that characterizes winners is never stopping or settling for “OK” performances.

A simple way to do this: after every single presentation ask yourself: what could I do better? Keep a journal. After every presentation, record your ideas and reflections. In the next presentation, adapt your delivery to include a specific improvement.

Tip 2: Invest in Learning

The single trait that marks leaders: investing in learning. Learning is a lifelong process — if you are committed to be the best you can be. You don’t have to be perfect or know everything right now. In fact, you will never know absolutely everything.

However, you can grow your skills and dramatically improve your ability to convince, influence and persuade.

Great performers know that learning takes many forms. Reading, studying, watching videos are all key components in a living plan for learning.

In addition to self-study, learn with teammates, mentors and coaches. One-on-one instruction is particularly helpful for interactive skills, such as facilitative presentation skills. An expert coach can show you new skills in seconds, which would never be obvious in weeks of reading.

Shoulder to shoulder instruction is often the fastest and smartest way to improve interpersonal skills. This type of coaching is also possible with direct contact with an expert coach – either in person or virtually.

With advances in technology, video feedback with an expert coach is a cost effective and quick way to get personal attention and immediately advance your skills. Consider personal presentation coaching as a smart option if you are serious about finding your personal best.

Tip 3: Make Mistakes!

The key in being the best is to encourage experimentation and accept failure. It sounds like a contradiction. But it’s not.

When you make mistakes, you learn. Plus, your learning is personal. It’s a visceral experience that no one can challenge or take away. You know in your gut — because you have lived through it.

The important things about mistakes:

First, fail fast.

Make mistakes quickly so you can solve problems. Push the edge to find out what does work – and what doesn’t.

Second, make new mistakes.

Don’t make the same mistake twice. By making different mistakes, you will quickly raise your personal standards.

Third, keep records.

Keep track of what you learn. Notice patterns and notice what works. This is absolutely essential if you are serious about achieving your personal best.

With these three tips you have a treasure map to the hidden land: your home-zone of best.

What do you notice? Your peak performance is always changing. It’s not a static zone of set standards and repeated behavior. Instead, it’s a living land in dynamic flux. By keeping your skills fresh you are constantly moving forward and finding your own greatness.

Develop your personal best presentation skills by constantly challenging yourself and working with a coach. With one-on-one feedback you can quickly find out how to win at presenting.

Six sigma was originally introduced in the 80s by Motorola for measuring productivity or quality control within the operating methods/frameworks of corporations. In majority of the cases, Six Sigma Presentations are handled by veteran presenters who hold a Six Sigma certification. There could be different types of certification though. Those who are novice would be awarded with a Green Belt, whereas the intermediate level presenters are awarded with the Black Belt. And finally, the highest level six sigma presenters are known to be Master Black Belt holders or Champion – who formally orients the whole process into an organization.

However, let’s first see what the Implementation part should include. The presentation is often coincided by invitation and serves as a great introduction to and kick-off for the implementation phase of Six Sigma. So you can always start your presentations with a chart that showcase the progress of the company for incorporating its philosophy in the day to day practices. The second part would be about Measuring Quality. The majority of the manufacturers have come to realize today that a great customer service should begin with a prominent quality product.

Ventures that implement Six Sigma processes for improving product quality can succeed with a setting and achieving their goals for boosting customer satisfaction. And this translates to increased profitability. And the third phase should cover the Critical Elements. This phase is accompanied by slide shows that make use of PowerPoint or alike software applications. However, the presenter here would provides a basic overview on the Six Sigma which includes the background as well as history, along with the relevant objects like graphs, the line-length of the product and especially the success stories with other companies which have been successful in implementing the Six Sigma.

In totality, Six Sigma is a Measure, Process, Tool and all round vision to boost the performance of the organization. You should focus on the objectives though. There could be different types of objectives based on the unique needs and demands of the company. But the typical objectives include gaining operational excellence in the company and understanding the fundamentals of the 6 Sigma Program. Nevertheless, the six sigma presentation also covers how the organization and sigma steps relate to TOC (Theory Of Constraints) or TQM (Total Quality Management). The sigma presentation generally holds a brief discussion on the ability to well define a strategy or roadmap for the success of the company. The 6 sigma presentation needs to be customer focused, nevertheless. But at the same time, it must also cover the operational training in respect of comparative performance of competitors regarding customer support services.

In other words, the presentation should help companies understand the viable avenues to figure out their stance against the performance of their close and distant competitors. Most successful six sigma presentations also focus on Data Driven Decisions. The presentation should thus explain why is it worthwhile testing or inspecting a certain department, venture or process. In line with that, it should also show how the performance of that factor, department or aspect relies on output effect symptoms.

Top 10 Tips to help you Manage your Presentation Nerves
Next time you are faced with the daunting prospect of having to deliver a presentation or speech, try out these tips from the Communicate Now! website and you’ll be surprised at just how effective they can be at helping to manage your nerves and reducing the fear of presenting.

1. Visualise a positive outcome ahead of the day. Imagine yourself giving the presentation ahead of time. Visualise yourself at the end. You know it went well. Remember how you felt. What you saw in the room. Try and be as detailed as possible. Repeat this several times ahead of the actual day.
2. Use prompt cards (e.g. 6″x4″ record cards) to remember the key phrases in your presentation. Use one card per slide (If you are using MS PowerPoint). This means if you were to lose your place you would be able to regain your composure again by simply checking your prompt card.
3. Practise delivering the presentation out aloud. Use the prompt cards and your slides to make the rehearsal as real as possible.
4. Practise breathing techniques. You need to breathe deeply using your stomach to full effect. A few deep breaths can help to reduce the tension and help you relax.
5. Focus your energy on something other than your impending presentation. e.g. if seated waiting for your turn to present, try to make your arms as heavy as possible on the arms of the chair. Try to make them feel like “dead weights”. Push down on the arms of the chair. (But try not to break the chair!)
6. Clench your fists tightly then release them and stretch your fingers as much as possible. Do this several times just before you have to stand up to present.
7. Try and visit the presentation room ahead of time so that you can accustomise yourself to the room layout, where you will be presenting from etc.
8. Try not to keep notes on large sheets of paper (A4 or foolscap) and then hold the notes whilst you are presenting. If you are holding them and your hand is shaking a bit it will make you more aware of the fact. Try to use prompt cards instead or ensure that your notes are on the lectern.
9. Remember that most good speakers feel nervous when they speak. You need to have nervous energy if you want to make a more dynamic presentation. Remember too that although you might be feeling quite nervous inside that doesn’t need to be obvious to your audience.
10. Practise smiling in a mirror. The more you can smile when presenting the more you will be able to take control of your nerves.