Executives want you to be comfortable when you’re presenting to them. Yet, most of the people who come to me to polish their executive presentations are FAR from comfortable when they have a high level executive audience.
Coaching, Presentations
Ingrid Gudenas
Most people begin presentations unsure how the audience will react. It’s the not-knowing that undermines self-confidence. They look for the first response to regain their footing. And when the reaction isn’t what they expected, confidence drops again.
Prediction vanquishes fear, even when the starting point looks dismal. You’re not needing. You’re not guessing. You’re not hoping or wishing. You’re able to predict. With certainty. Prediction becomes possible when …
Coaching, Presentations
Ingrid Gudenas
Most leaders assume communication transmits reality, that if the words are clear enough, they will see it.
But communication doesn’t transmit reality. It creates it.
That’s a subtle but seismic shift.
And that means every time you speak, especially at a senior level, you are not just sharing ideas. You are shaping how reality is experienced in the room.
Coaching, Presentations
Ingrid Gudenas
Most people don’t know how to create instant acceptance. It’s rare to see someone who does. When the stakes are high, most think they’re being “logical” when they’re actually relying on a kind of logic that generates too many words. They talk a lot, present too much detail and explanation, believing it’s essential to creating understanding and agreement. Audiences don’t work like that.
Especially at the executive and senior levels. They have their own logic.
To be successful you have to master a different logic. Audience Logic. Audience Logic decides the outcome.
Here are the rules of Audience Logic (especially senior level audiences):
Coaching, Presentations
Ingrid Gudenas
Laura: “You weren’t watching me!”
Me: “No, I could hear you. I knew what you were doing. I was watching the audience to see what change you produced in them.”
Laura had asked me to be there when she presented at an industry conference with hundreds of potential customers. The revenue potential was enormous if she was successful with her presentation. I spent several days coaching her to get her messaging, and the way she delivered it, just right.
The big day came. I was watching the audience like a hawk. I wanted to see the audience reactions from the moment she said “Hello”, all the way through exactly how they looked as she walked off the stage. Were they looking at her with admiration as they applauded? Or shuffling around and checking their phones?
I started watching the audience before Laura even walked on. They were on their phones or talking to the person next to them. Laura entered the room. I could feel something change in the room as they watched her walk. It was the way she was walking. They could see she carried herself differently.
Coaching, Communication, Causative Communication
Ingrid Gudenas
Many people come to us for training and coaching because they want to create a personal transformation. What surprises, and blows them away, is when they find they’re also creating a beautiful transformation in the other person, whether it’s one person or thousands. That’s where the true power is.
This is Michael’s story, which started when he said:
“I am so frustrated! My new boss won’t listen and keeps overriding me. If this keeps up, I’m going to quit.”
Michael was one of the students on the Beyond Persuasion: The new route to extraordinary outcomes course. He chose this “unsolvable problem” to work on as part of the course.
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