For the last couple of weeks, we have been covering different types of persuasion speeches. A couple weeks ago, I gave you a three-step process to win audiences to your way of thinking. Last week, we covered how to put together a sales presentation. This week, we will show you how to present a proposal to management. For instance, if you have identified a problem or opportunity for your company, you may need to get approval. So, how do you present a proposal to management that will get approved? The process is actually pretty simple. The method of how to present a proposal to management that we use works about 100% of the time. Just follow the simple steps in the session, and your project will easily get funded.Show Notes: How to Present a Proposal to Management-And Get Approval (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/how-to-present-a-proposal-to-management/)

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you present a proposal to a client. Here is the scenario… You have done your homework. A team at your company painstakingly created the perfect sales proposal. In fact, the potential client was so impressed, that they moved you to their “shortlist.” Now, though, they want you to present a bid proposal to the purchasing committee.Your team is one of just six to eight other companies competing for this contract. How do you make sure that the committee picks your team? Well, not to brag, but over the years, groups that I have coached have received over 80% of these contracts. Just follow this simple sales presentation outline, and your team will have a better shot at winning as well.Don’t Get Hung Up on the Terms Proposal, Bid Proposal, Shortlist Presentation or Sales PresentationBy the way, don’t get hung up on the terms that I am using. People will often respond with something like, “We don’t present ‘bids’ to our potential clients.” In other cases, professional people may say, “But I’m not a salesperson. This isn’t a sales presentation.” My point is, don’t get hung up on the terms.The process that I’m covering will help anyone who is presenting a solution to a person or group who will exchange money for this solution. The terms “Bid” and “Proposal” are standard procurement terms, which is why we are using them here.I have heard this type of presentation called each of the following over the years.Bid ProposalRFP PresentationShortlist PresentationSales PresentationPresent a QuoteOpportunities to close really big deals via a presentation are pretty nerve racing. We all want every, single advantage that we can get when we walk into the room. So, if you want to ace your next short-list presentation or RFP presentation, one of our coaches can help. Complete the form below, and one of our instructors will contact you.Show Note: How to Create a Business Proposal Presentation (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/present-a-bid-proposal-great-sales-presentation-outline/)

This week, I'm going to cover a simple three-step process to help you design a persuasive presentation. Most persuasive speech techniques -- especially the ones that are taught in high school and often at the university level, actually make people want to play devil's advocate and even argue with the presenter. So in the session, I'm going to give you a time-tested technique that is much more effective. Whether you are selling a product or service to a customer or selling an idea to your boss, this technique will likely come in handy.One of the highest needs of human beings is to be heard and to be understood. So, when you are writing a persuasive presentation, it is important to remember that your audience wants you to understand them as much as you want to be understood.Most people think that a single fact is good, additional facts are better, and too many facts are just right. So, the more facts you can use to prove your point, the better chance you have of convincing the other person that you are right. The HUGE error in this logic, though, is that if you prove that you are right, you are also proving that the other person is wrong. People don’t like it when someone proves that they are wrong. So, we prove our point, the other person is likely to feel resentment. When resentment builds, it leads to anger. Once anger enters the equation, logic goes right out the window.In addition, when people use a “fact” or “Statistic” to prove a point, the audience has a natural reaction to take a contrary side of the argument. For instance, if I started a statement with, “I can prove to you beyond a doubt that…” before I even finish the statement, there is a good chance that you are already trying to think of a single instance where the statement is NOT true. This is a natural response. As a result, the thing that we need to realize about being persuasive is that the best way to persuade another person is to make the person want to agree with us. We do this by showing the audience how they can get what they want if they do what we want.Show Notes: How to Design a Persuasive Presentation in 3 Easy Steps (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/persuasive-speech-how-to-write-a-persuasive-speech/)

This week, I interview Kelsey Greenwood who is a professional speaker and consultant who just wrote a fascinating paper on five simple ways to overcome stage fright. If you are experiencing nervousness when you stand up to present, these tips can help you easily reduce that nervousness. The first couple are both mental things that you can do to prepare yourself before you speak, and the last three are things that you can physically do to combat stage fright.Want to overcome stage fright for good? Do you experience dry mouth, rapid breathing, and sweaty palms when you present in front of a crowd? If so, these five practical tips can help you lower that level of anxiety in less than a week.Whether or not it’s your first time preparing for a speech performance in front of an audience, it’s best not to “wing it.” People experience the most stage fright when they feel unprepared. You prepare for a speech to feel more comfortable with your content, stretch your leadership skills and give you a sense of ease for the day of the performance. Each tip below provides a bit of wisdom with an actionable tip to help you overcome stage fright and reduce performance anxiety.Full Show Notes: 5 Practical Tips to Help you Overcome Stage Fright (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/5-practical-tips-to-help-you-overcome-stage-fright-and-reduce-performance-anxiety/)

Imposter syndrome is a term used to describe the feeling of inadequacy, self-doubt, and lack of confidence that many people experience in their professional or personal lives. It is the feeling that you are a fraud, that you are not good enough, and that your accomplishments are simply the result of luck or circumstance rather than your own abilities.The good news is that while imposter syndrome is a common experience, it is not the only one. The opposite of imposter syndrome is a sense of confidence, self-assurance, and belief in oneself. In this blog post, we will explore the opposite of imposter syndrome, how it manifests itself, and how capable people can cultivate it in their lives.The opposite of imposter syndrome is a sense of self-assurance and self-confidence. It is also a belief in yourself. It is the knowledge that you are capable, competent, and deserving of the success you have achieved. Imposter syndrome is characterized by self-doubt and negative self-talk. The opposite of imposter syndrome is characterized by positive self-talk, self-awareness, and a sense of purpose.By the way, this doesn’t mean being arrogant or overconfident. It is not about being boastful or self-promoting. Instead, the process is about recognizing your own abilities and accomplishments. You also have to have the confidence to share them with others.Show Notes: The Opposite of Impostor Syndrome-Journey to Self Confidence (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/the-opposite-of-imposter-syndrome-a-journey-to-self-confidence-and-belief-in-yourself/)

Doug Staneart — President and CEO of The Leader’s Institute ® and Creator of the Fearless Presentations ® Public Speaking Training Programs.Last week I began a two-part series on the step-by-step process that I went through to overcome public speaking fear. I covered the first four life lessons that helped me get there.Most of the tips in the last session were things that I learned early in life that helped me have the right focus when I experienced that fear and that first failure in front of a group. This week, I'm going to give the top three things you can do if you have already made the decision to get better as a speaker. (Or get better at just about any skill that you struggle with.)Show Notes: How I Eliminated My Public Speaking Fear and Stage Fright (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/how-a-shy-trailer-park-kid-became-a-world-class-speaker-and-how-you-can-too/)

Doug Staneart — President and CEO of The Leader’s Institute ® and Creator of the Fearless Presentations ® Public Speaking Training Programs.My public speaking class members often ask me questions like, “Do you still get nervous when you speak?” “How did you become a professional speaker?” And the most common, “You were a nervous speaker… How did you overcome your public speaking fear?”The answer to the first question is, “Sure. When I deliver big presentations or do something new, yes, I still get nervous from time to time. But the nervousness isn’t anywhere close to the public speaking anxiety I had years ago.”The other two questions, though, have both a short answer and a long answer.So, I thought that I would back up this week and show you how I overcame my fear of public speaking. You could also call this post how an incredibly shy person beat the odds to become a confident speaker and presenter. My first formal presentation in the business world was such a failure that it cost me my first career.However, that failure was a turning point in my life. It was horrible when I experienced it. However, it allowed me to help over 100,000 people avoid making the same mistake.I hope that my story can help you overcome your public speaking fear as well! If a person like me can become a great speaker… ANYONE can become a great speaker. You will have to work. You will also have to embrace your fear when you speak in front of an audience. However, you will also experience great rewards when you do!Show Notes: How I Eliminated My Fear of Public Speaking (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/how-a-shy-trailer-park-kid-became-a-world-class-speaker-and-how-you-can-too/)

A few weeks ago, I gave you a few of my favorite ways to start a presentation. Then, for the last few weeks, we have covered several ways to make presentations more interesting. This week, I give you a few of my favorite ways to end your presentation with a bang. You want to make the last thing that you do or so in your presentation memorable so that the audience leaves the room seeing you as a qualified speaker and more likely to use the information that you gave them. I cover seven very effective ways to end a speech along with a few "show stoppers." The show stoppers are things that you want to avoid. The last thing that you want to do is design and deliver a great presentation and then end on a downer.Show Notes: How to End Your Speech (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/how-to-end-your-presentation-with-a-bang/)

Storytelling in Speeches-The Easiest Way to Reduce Nervousness During a SpeechFeel nervous about speaking in public? Tell a personal story in your speech (early), and you can reduce public speaking fear dramatically. One of the first public speaking secrets that we share in our public speaking training classes is that stories are your friend.When you tell a story, you reduce presentation jitters and build rapport with your audience. Don’t believe me? Watch any professional motivational speaker on YouTube. You will find that their entire speech is composed of a series of individual stories that they link together. In this post, we will cover some of the major benefits of telling stories as well as the best way to do it.In this episode, we comer the ins and out of why you should insert stories into your presentations. We also cover how, when you do this, your nervousness will drop dramatically.Show Notes: Storytelling in Speeches (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/tell-a-story-in-your-speech-and-reduce-public-speaking-fear/)

The 5 Steps of Storytelling During a Presentation. Follow these Tips to Become a Better Storyteller.In this episode, we cover the Five Steps of Storytelling that we have identified in our presentation skills class. These best practices will help you organize your stories better. Remember that audience members have a short attention span. Good storytelling, though, can help you capture and hold the attention of your audience. In fact, inserting better stories is a simple way to improve your presentations dramatically.The tips on this episode can help you improve your story structure,. However, the best way to deliver a story in your presentation is to just play the video in your head. Then just tell the audience what you are seeing. Great storytelling is really just sharing your own experience with your audience. So if following these steps is a little out of your comfort zone, start by just inserting a single personal story from your own experience into your next presentation. Then try each of these tips, one at a time, in future presentations.This final tip isn’t really one of the steps of storytelling, but it is an important part of how to tell a story. It is a good idea to practice different versions of your story. I got this from my friend Ton Antion when I interviewed him about building a personal brand. He suggested having a 30-second version, a one-minute version, and a two-minute version of every story.By the way, I’m not saying to have three different kinds of stories. I’m suggesting that you get good at telling your stories in different ways, so the timing of your story is the right length, whether you have three minutes to speak, 30 minutes to speak, or three hours to speak. The best storytellers can condense the whole story down in time if they absolutely have to do so.Although I had been teaching students how to tell a great story for years, I never really taught this. I’d say, “If time is short, just condense your story down.” After Tom mentioned this tip, though, I began to pay attention to the look on my student’s faces when I said this. I’d sometimes see a little confusion. So we actually started practicing this in class. It has been a big help. In fact, we sometimes find that a well-worded 30-second story can be more impactful than a longer one. Try it yourself and see!Show Notes: How to Tell a Good Story in a Presentation in 5 Simple Steps (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/the-5-steps-of-storytelling-how-to-tell-a-great-story/)

Looking for how to write a speech in a few simple steps? Over the last 20 years, our instructors have dissected thousands of speeches. In that time, we’ve been able to identify simple things that can easily make or break a presentation. We’ve assembled a simple, step-by-step process that explains how to write a speech quickly and easily.In fact, once you understand the concepts below, you can use our Online Speech Writer to organize and print your presentation. A little warning, though, the process is very simple if you follow every step. If you skip a step, you can get bogged down, and the process can take a lot of time. However, if you follow the steps, you can write an effective speech in just a few minutes (versus hours or days)!Show Notes: How to Design an Entire Speech in 3 Simple Steps (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/how-to-write-a-speech-just-few-simple-steps/)

One of the more challenging parts of any presentation is the very first part. If you are wondering how to introduce yourself before starting your presentation, you are in good company. For most of us, once we get the first few sentences out, our nervousness will diminish pretty significantly. So, this initial self-introduction is really important. If we struggle here, our nervousness will increase. In addition, the old adage, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression,” is very true.In this post, we are going to cover the best way, a very simple three-step process that will help you introduce yourself in a presentation. A summary of the steps is below.Start with your name and company (or organization or school).Tell your audience what problem you can solve for them.Share some type of proof (social proof works best) that you can solve this problem.I will break down each step into a simple-to-follow process. Show Notes: How to Introduce Yourself Before a Speech (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/how-to-introduce-yourself-before-starting-any-presentation/)

This is part two of a two-part episode on how to start a presentation.Looking for a few ways to start a presentation that are dynamic? The opening is really the most important part of your presentation. You want to make a good first impression. In addition, you also want the audience to see you as a subject matter expert.Last week, we covered three ways to start a presentation to help your audience retain the content of the presentation better. This week, I give you five ways to capture the attention of even the most stoic audience right away!If you stick around for the last six minutes, I will give you my very best tip for starting a presentation. It is a bonus tip. It doesn't always work, but when it does, it is a show-stopper. So, stick around for it!Show Notes: How to Start a Presentation (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/how-to-start-a-presentation/)

Looking for a few ways to start a presentation that are dynamic? The opening is really the most important part of your presentation. You want to make a good first impression. In addition, you also want the audience to see you as a subject matter expert.Of course, we’ve all been there as a speaker. First, we design a powerful presentation. Then, we nervously walk out onto a stage or into the front of the room. The audience stares with skepticism written all over their faces. This stoic crowd has no patience for speakers who waste their time. And their demeanor is showing that fact right now. In a timid voice, we start with a simple, “Good morning.” We get no response from the audience — no warm welcome at all. As a result, our nervousness increases dramatically.The good news is that your speech doesn’t have to start this way. Your first words will create first impressions.So, in this session, I’m going to give you the best way to start a successful presentation so you can win over the audience members. Below are a few of my favorite ways to start a speech that will help you capture the attention of your audience and get even the most stoic crowd to want more from you.Show Notes: Best Ways to Start a Presentation (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/how-to-start-a-presentation/)

In this session, I’m going to cover 10 simple ways to overcome the fear of public speaking. This is a continuation of the 3-step process to eliminate public speaking fear. In that episode, I showed you the process that a nervous speaker should go through to reduce speech anxiety.As a review, the first step is to find out where the fear of public speaking comes from. Then, do a few simple things to reduce the risk of failure in those instances. (We will cover 10 of these tips in this episode.) Finally, you want to string together a series of successes speaking in front of a group of people. Basically, you want to get lots of practice so you can develop good presentation skills.This is the process that we use in our public speaking classes. Your local toastmasters' club and your local speech coach might use this process as well. So, presentation tips can help you eliminate presentation fear symptoms. However, to permanently reduce nervousness, you have to follow the process over and over. Every time you use one of these key tips and have success, your confidence will grow.That is why a good public speaking class or coach can help you move through this process more quickly. If you only give a single presentation once a year or a couple of times a year, you will find it difficult to string together this series of successes. You will become a much better speaker if you speak more often.Remember, stage fright is a common form of anxiety. And public speaking is a learned skill. No one comes out of the womb as a great public speaker. So a good coach or class can speed up the process exponentially.Show Notes: 10 Ways to Get Rid of the Fear of Public Speaking (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/10-simple-ways-to-get-over-the-fear-of-public-speaking/)

Happy Thanksgiving. And for those of you outside of the United States, happy third week of November. I wanted to take a break from the normal public speaking tips and share with you this week one of Abraham Lincoln's least quoted speeches but the one that has a significant impact on US citizens every November, his Thanksgiving proclamation that created the holiday.Where did the Thanksgiving Holiday come from? Yes, the pilgrim created the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth. And yes, President George Washington made the first Thanksgiving proclamation in 1789. But it was actually Abe Lincoln who created the national holiday. Ole’ Abe reinstituted the holiday that Washington created during his presidency.This episode covers the words of the Thanksgiving proclamation. I also add a little commentary to show you how you can incorporate some of Lincoln’s techniques into your own speeches as well!Show Notes: Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation(https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/president-abraham-lincolns-thanksgiving-proclamation-oct-3-1863-with-commentary/)

When folks ask me what I do for a living, I answer, “I help people eliminate public speaking fear.” It is always fun to watch the looks on their faces when they process what I said. Inevitably, I will typically get a response like, “You do what?” or “How do you do that?”The process is really simple. In fact, anyone can reduce public speaking anxiety if they follow this process. Over the last 20 years, our great public speaking class instructors have perfected the best ways to reduce anxiety symptoms. And we have organized the process into three simple steps. The process works every single time!In this session, we explain this simple process. However, if you looking for public speaking tips, see 10 Ways to Eliminate the Fear of Public Speaking. In that episode, we show you how to lower your heart rate, take deep breaths, and eight other ways to calm speech anxiety. This session is a little different, though. We are not going to give you a bunch of tips about how to reduce stage fright. Instead, we will show you how to become a good public speaker, so the nervousness goes away altogether.Show Notes: Eliminate Public Speaking Fear in 3 Easy Steps (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/eliminate-public-speaking-fear-in-three-easy-steps)

This week, I'm going to cover how to make that mental shift to where you begin to see yourself as the expert when you present. Just so you know, one of the major sources of nervousness and fear comes from people standing up to speak and fearing that the audience is going to figure out that they are not the real expert or that they are not as much of an expert as their boss or coworkers or other people who do what they do. Once you realize that if you are the person speaking, it is because you have information that the audience needs to know it helps boost confidence immensely.You Are the Undisputed Expert. So, Now Prove ItRegardless of what industry you are in or what expertise you have, you are the expert. The knowledge that you have is valuable to someone.When I was 14 years old, my dad owned a home remodeling company. Every winter, I crawled under houses helping him repair frozen pipes that had burst. After a couple of winters, I had so much experience doing this that I could do it in my sleep. So as a teenager, I was an expert at repairing ruptured PVC pipes.After I graduated from college, my first real job was working for an oil company doing title work for mineral rights. Before long, I had not only gotten pretty good at it, but I had also trained a number of new people.In my third year in the training industry, I generated a half-million dollars worth of sales for the first time. That same year, I also received a couple of awards for outstanding instruction.It took me five years as an entrepreneur to attain my first million dollars. However, it only took about eight more months to generate my second million.With each of these accomplishments, I became an expert at that thing. I had information that the general public didn’t have (even when my expertise was just repairing frozen pipes).Don’t underestimate your knowledge. Your experience has made you the expert.One of my friends in college was going to school to be an elementary school teacher, and she absolutely hated math. However, once she graduated, she found out that in the State of Texas, Math and Science teachers got paid an extra fee. This was because teachers with this expertise were in high demand. So, she decided to be a fourth-grade math teacher.Those of us who knew her pretty well were laughing when we asked her about her career choice. For the three or four years that we had known her, she complained over and over about her math classes. These classes were her nemesis. After a little teasing from us, she replied by saying, “In order to teach fourth-grade math, I just have to be an expert at fifth-grade math.” That day, I learned a prophetic life lesson…In order to be an expert at something, you just need to have a little more knowledge than your audience.For instance, let’s say that you are a restaurant manager who turned around a struggling location. How many other managers are there in the world who would want to hear how you did it? You’d be the expert at restaurant turnarounds (especially if you were able to do it a second or third time). Or, if you are a dentist who is really good at getting your patients to show up for every sixth-month check-up, then other dentists would pay dearly to figure out how you do it. Whatever you do on a day-to-day basis makes you the expert at that activity.Show Notes: You Are the Undisputed Expert (https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/you-are-the-undisputed-expert-so-now-prove-it/)

I was shocked at the huge list of dumb exercises to improve presentation skills on the internet. When I say “dumb,” I mean don’t try those tips. They will not work. In fact, they will likely make you even more nervous. So in this episode, I’m going to dispel some of the worst exercises and give you a few really simple things that you can do to become a better public speaker. So get rid of the tongue twisters and vocal warm-ups. Stay tuned for a few way more effective ways to become a good public speaker!Before I begin, though, there is an important point that you really have to understand. Developing public speaking skills takes time. If you have a presentation tomorrow morning and you are just now looking for exercises to improve public speaking skills, guess what? You are probably too late.Someone called our 800 number last week looking for help with an upcoming presentation. I asked him, “How long have you known about this fear?”He replied, “Well, I guess all my life.”So he knew he needed help a long time ago but waited until just a few weeks before his biggest presentation to try to do something about it. That would be like a teenager just starting to learn to drive a week before taking the driver’s test. You can probably do it. However, the teen would do much better if he or she practices an hour or two every week for an entire year. If you practice the public speaking tips below a little at a time on a regular basis, you will slowly become a great public speaker. If you try to do it in a week, you probably won’t improve a lot.Show Notes: Exercises to Improve Presentation Skills

Want to calm down before a presentation? Even if you don’t regularly experience the fear of public speaking, just before you start a speech, it is easy to feel anxious. This initial nervous energy can cause a speaker to have a shaky voice, dry mouth, or sweaty palms just before a presentation. The good news is that this experience is very common. Most of the time, if you start your presentation well, the level of nervousness will drop very quickly.However, sometimes when people feel that stage fright, they panic. When you panic in front of an audience, you will most likely experience even more nervous feelings.So, what do you do to calm down before the presentation and calm those nerves? Below are 5 Simple Ways to Calm Your Nerves Before and During a Speech.Create a Simple Presentation with Just a Few Key Bullet Points and Practice It with a Person.Find a Quiet Place to Be Alone and Perform a Short Series of Exercises.Interact and Network with Your Audience to Calm Your Nerves Before a Presentation.Just Before Your Start Your Presentation, Take a Steady and Deep Breath.Start Your Presentation with a Personal Story to Calm Your Nerves Almost Instantly.This episode covers each of these tips in more detail. For full show notes, visit How to Calm Down Before a Presentationhttps://www.fearlesspresentations.com/how-to-calm-down-before-a-presentation-5-simple-ways-to-calm-your-nerves/