Probably one of the most important weapons in the toolbox of successful speakers and presenters to improving delivery is to visualize being successful. Many people may assume that this no more than daydreaming, but I believe if you see yourself visually succeeding chances are, youll ultimately be successful. In reality, this concept is an extension of power of positive thinking. Success and good things generally happen to those individuals who think positively. As a presenter, if you think positively and visualize your presentation as being successful chances are you will succeed. Does this happen in every circumstance? Absolutely not! There are many outside parameters that are going to affect the success or failure of your presentation. The next question most people would ask would be If I visualize success and it doesnt happen, should I stop wasting my time visualizing? Again, I say no. We can learn from our failures even if we visualize success. The best way to do this is to analyze what actually occurred versus what we visualized. By doing this, well soon discover that some of our techniques may not be as effective to the audience as we have perceived them. Heres a great example at my own benefit

I was recently involved in the International Toastmasters International speech competition. I won the club, area and division competitions. Now it was time for the state competition. Prior to the weekend, I watched recordings of speakers for a month. I practiced. I visualized incorporating some of the physical concepts they used into my speech. I visualized my delivery, facial expressions, gestures, the vocal inflections I used. I visualized every detail that I could imagine that I would use during the course of my speech. Needless to say, I didnt win. As a matter of fact, I didnt even place! Not only did I feel that my delivery was wonderful, as many other toastmasters present thought so as well after analyzing the speech--- where I fell down was the content of the speech. It was a good speech, but it wasnt International Contest level material. Thats where I failed and the aspect Ive learned that I have to correct to improve. By comparing my visualization of the speech with the actual delivery (a recording), I can see the technical elements of the delivery that I successfully visualized versus the delivery elements that I unsuccessfully visualized as being good. By using self analysis to compare the visualization with reality, I can become a better speaker and presenter. I know and see what I need to do to relate / react to the audience I know and see what I need to do to keep an audience involved during the speech I know and see what I need to do to use emotional grabs to touch the emotions of the audience.

By combining the concepts of visualization, post-presentation analysis and re-visualization, I will continue to improve the techniques I already possess which will keep me on course to make me a better speaker/presenter. Visualization is a valuable tool that everyone should use to help make themselves a better speaker/presenter. This is something that I recommend you incorporate into your toolkit as soon as possible!

John Fallon teaches Presentation Skills at Walhalla High School and hosts the free teacher PowerPoint resource site: PPT4Teachers.com

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