Nervous about presenting? That’s good news.
Do you worry about having enough presence to be influential?
Maybe you feel nervous speaking in front of senior people. Maybe you feel less polished than the colleagues around you.
That discomfort is good news. It means you care enough to succeed. It probably also means you have more of what it takes than you realize.
Here are three ways to build your presence that have nothing to do with how you show up in the room.
- Treat imposter syndrome as a growth signal, not a character flaw. That uncomfortable feeling means you're operating at the edge of your capability. That's exactly where growth happens. Welcome it.
- Lay the table before you arrive. Send a clear agenda with a defined purpose. Circulate quality pre-reading. Have one-to-ones with key stakeholders beforehand. If you're joining online, check your lighting, audio and background. Walk in already ahead.
- Trust your message. You know your material. Nobody else in the room does. Distil your thinking into one core message and no more than five supporting points. Keep it close. If time is cut or questions throw you, you'll know exactly where to return.
Influence isn't about looking good. It's about being good.
More soon,
Davina
Whenever you're ready, here are five other ways I can help you:
Elevate, the book – helps leaders set their teams up to set up a new dynamic across their team that will elevate everyone’s skills, helping the team get better, faster decisions.
Engage, the book – helps individual contributors prepare papers and presentations that leaders can approve without reworking.
Engage, the self-paced course – supports both individuals and leaders prepare more insightful papers and presentations for senior leaders and boards.
Extreme Clarity, the 2-hour workshop – introduces techniques for structuring your messaging.
Board Paper Bootcamp, the 2-week program – helps you clarify and convey complex ideas to senior leaders and boards.
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ABOUT AUTHOR: DAVINA STANLEY
I love what I do.
I help senior leaders and their teams prepare high-quality papers and presentations in a fraction of the time.
This involves ‘nailing' the message that will quickly engage decision makers in the required outcome.
I leverage 25+ years' experience including
- learning structured thinking techniques at McKinsey in Hong Kong in the mid 1990s before coaching and training their teams globally as a freelancer for a further 15 years
- being approved to teach the Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto in 2009
- helping CEOs, C-suite leaders and their reports deeply understand their stakeholder needs and communicate accordingly
- seeing leaders cut the number of times they review major papers by ~30% and teams cut the amount of time they take to prepare major papers by ~20%*
- watching senior meetings focus on substantive discussions and better decisions rather than trying to clarify the issue
My approach helps anyone who needs to engage senior leaders and Boards.
Recent clients include 7Eleven, KPMG, Mercer, Meta, Woolworths.
Learn more at www.clarityfirstprogram.com
(*) Numbers are based on 2023 client benchmarking results.
