Comments on: How Decker Made Me Different

By: ade

ade — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:46:29 +0000

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I never really gave thought to all the things you pointed out but now I know better.

Sometimes its good to be the teacher’s pet

By: Michael Gardner

Michael Gardner — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:54:15 +0000

Your personal candor and willingness to share, the good and the not so good is quite inspiring. For me the biggest takeaway, apart from all the specific tips you mentioned, is your decision to have someone help you professionally. That has made all the difference to me as well, and I teach this stuff! There really is no substitute for working with a coach who is skillful and caring. Athletes think nothing of it, same with musicians. But we business people shirk at using someone to help us practice to develop specific skills. Your experience is a great example of how to do it. Nicely done!

By: Ally S

Ally S — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:26:06 +0000

I can’t thank you enough for this Nancy, this is such a great help. (This is one of the reasons why I think you’re such an inspiration – your willingness to keep learning, and teaching).

And this has spurred me on to get coaching as well. I’ve been getting by on being ‘good enough’ but I think you’ve showed that have an independent expert’s view can really help you get to the next level. Thanks again.

By: Naveen

Naveen — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:52:19 +0000

That’s a great post. As a grad student in the sciences, presentation delivery skills (e.g. posture and eye contact) rarely get mentioned. However, one of the best science communication workshops that I went to was led by Tim Miller, from Divine Wind Design, who had a background in theater before getting his PhD.

By: Michael Wilson

Michael Wilson — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:05:53 +0000

I loved the article. I run a social networking platform company and too wrestle with public presentations. Many people are communicating more these days via social media, which is traditionally an electronic, pre-published format. I think this creates fewer opportunities for people to practice delivery skills and increases the need for this type of training & study. I’ll try a few of these tips at our next all hands meeting.

Thanks!

Michael Wilson
CEO, Small World Labs

By: Rev. Dr. Chris N. Hinkle

Rev. Dr. Chris N. Hinkle — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:27:04 +0000

I’ve noticed that Bert Decker constantly harps on video. Now I see why. I guess it’s time for this old preacher to break out the camera again.

By: Michael Vanderdonk

Michael Vanderdonk — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:15:32 +0000

Great post, showing just how much you as the presenting package effects the gift. Giving someone a birthday gift wrapped in old newspaper is very different than the same gift wrapped in crisp, colourful paper tied with a red ribbon.

I also really like the use of the faces on the chairs when you don’t have a live audience to practice on. I use it every time I’m preparing a presentation or making audio and video recordings. It makes a huge difference!

By: Ellen Finkelstein

Ellen Finkelstein — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:53:33 +0000

Great post, showing us before and after. Funnily enough, I just did a post on filler words and eye contact (http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/powerpointtips/powerpoint_tip_filler_words_eye_contact.html). My technique is to use little animals on the back of my chair when I practice. I show a picture of them.

By: Alec Sharp

Alec Sharp — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:03:26 +0000

This was great – thanks so much for sharing your experience with us. Among the many great ideas in here:
- Taping pictures to chairs as a way of practicing making eye contact with individuals;
- Kelly spotting a specific, distracting “filler word.”

Along those lines – I teach a class on Facilitation and Presentation Skills (not my main thing, but clients asked for it,) and in it suggest that everyone survey their teammates for one (ONE! not a laundry list) bad habit that they exhibit in their delivery. The first time I did this was about 20 years ago, in the days of overheads and pointers. To be fair, I had the class also decide what was one bad habit on MY part. No problem! Almost immediately they agreed that I was constantly tossing my pointer from one hand to the other, and people were more concerned with when I was going to drop it than the message. It’s always surprising how much someone’s delivery improves when they are given something specific to work on. Just like in your work with Kelly.

Thanks,
Alec
http://www.clariteq.com

By: Peter Botting

Peter Botting — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:18:53 +0000

Good stuff. Preparation makes all the difference.

I have a client who competed in the Olympics who told how he had trained over 5 years for a sporting event that took less than 5 minutes. Good performances only come from preparation and coaching.