Some people are just natural born speakers, they are comfortable talking in front of an audience, they look confident and credible, but they are the minority.

For most presenters, effective presentation delivery requires learning presentation skills and a lot of practice. Fortunately, there are online resources to teach you how to be a better presenter.

One of the good resources to learn more about public presentation skills is Effective Speaking, below is their latest newsletter about 3 best practices in delivering a Presentation.

Many of the people who attend our courses are concerned about their delivery.  They want to look confident and credible and deliver their material in a way that has the audience engaged.  In fact, some believe that their delivery is more important than their message.  We don't agree with that but we do agree that poor delivery can sabotage great content.

Conversely, conscious delivery can enhance an audience's understanding and increase the likelihood that they'll be influenced by your message.  Here are three delivery techniques to try:

1-    Drag

This is the name for a technique taught to us by Colorado Springs-based speaker/story-teller, Doug Stevenson.  Drag out your words to emphasise an assertion or point.  In the drag

"Each       Word Is       Separated      From      The      Others       And      Given      Equal       Weight."

So the sentence takes longer to say and its delivery is quite deliberate and measured.  This lets the audience know that this statement is more important than those around it.

2-    Wait
Sometimes known as a pause, the wait should be used whenever you've made a statement of significance.  If you ask a question, wait - while the audience ponders it in their own minds.  When you complete a "paragraph" of thoughts, wait - so that the audience can consolidate the information.  And when you've just explained the contents of a slide, wait - so the audience can integrate your verbal message with the slide's visual message - in non-distracting silence.

3-    Move
Movement can (and should) be used to signal transitions and "edges" in your content.  If you have a list of three short statements (eg "the new model is faster, cheaper and safer") deliver each 'bullet' to a different audience member.  Move your attention and eyes from one person to the next - that way, the fact that there are three benefits will stand out. If you start to give an example to illustrate a point, move to a different place in the room as you say the words "let me give you an example" so that transition is physical as well as verbal.  When you have a really important point - such as your Key Message - move to the centre of the "stage" and move closer to your audience before you deliver the point.  When they see you go to that position they'll get that what you're about to say is important.

Consciousness creates Congruency
These three techniques will make your delivery congruent with your message. Just as smiling when describing a sad event weakens your words,  Drag, Wait and Move will strengthen your words.

And they have you look more confident.

Initial findings suggest that there is a strong relationship between implementation of excellence programmes and employee engagement, morale and satisfaction.

If you would like to participate in the research you can contact Adam at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . For further details about the research and the findings read the post below.

Ahmed
BPIR.com

Here is some fresh research that may give you the reminder you need to stay the course. I’ve been thinking about the connection between Excellence and People a little too much lately. I’m about halfway through my PhD thesis on the subject and besides the fact that my eyes may pop out of my head, I’ve seen some interesting connections.

Early results are showing three connections emerging from the data.

• A strategic approach to quality improves employee engagement
• A strategic approach to quality improves employee morale
• A strategic approach to quality improves employee satisfaction

So far I’ve collected data from a number of organizations and the correlations can be seen in the following scatter diagrams (if you want to learn about scatter diagrams check out last month’s article on how to create them: http://www.excellence.ca/en/knowledge-centre/articles/graphing-marathon-measures-3-scatter-diagram )

Quality and Engagement

 

So far the quality and employee engagement connection is the strongest relationship out of the factors I’m considering with a correlation of 0.753.  What this chart is saying is that as an organization is more committed to quality (higher quality scores) the level of engagement of staff also increases (higher engagement scores)

Quality and Morale

 

Quality and employee morale has the second strongest relationship out of the factors I’m considering with a correlation of 0.743. Similar to the previous chart as an organizations quality score increases so does the employee morale score.

Quality and Satisfaction

 

The connection between quality and employee satisfaction is significantly related with a correlation of 0.679. It happens to be the weakest out of the factors I’m exploring but similar to the other two charts as the organizations quality score increases so does the employee satisfaction score.

As I build this story further I’ll keep you posted.  To make the connections even stronger I need more organizations to participate in this research. To participate all you need to do is commit to sending the survey to a statistically valid sample of employees at your organization (we can figure out this number together).

Let me know if you want to participate.  Email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Benefit of participating.  Each participating organization will receive:

• A report with full results of the survey which measures both the organizations strategic commitment to quality and the impact on employees (satisfaction, engagement, morale)
• Comparison with database of other organizations for benchmarking purposes

Details of the Research

• Using a 65 question survey, targeted to various Canadian organizations, this research explores the specific relationship between a strategic approach to quality and three elements of employee measures including employee satisfaction, employee morale and employee engagement.
• The survey is structured into 3 sections.
• Section 1 includes a 37 question multidimensional construct that measures an organizations strategic commitment to quality. This construct is based on the criteria and principles of the Canadian, American, Australian, and European national excellence models.
• Section 2 includes a 24 question multidimensional construct that measures employee satisfaction, engagement, and morale. This construct is based on nine different models from leading edge research on these topics.
• Section 3 includes 4 personal attribute questions that are used as statistical variables in the analysis.
• Understanding the relationships between a strategic approach to quality and employee measures will help organizations, leadership teams, unions, and employees make decisions about the benefits and risks associated with adopting a strategic approach to quality management as it relates to employees.

Email me and I’ll get you set up to participate in this important research! This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

According to experts mental toughness is not something inherited or an inborn DNA trait. It is something that has to be developed over time through different methods such as coaching, reading and even past experience.

Below are interesting tips on how to gain better mental toughness.

But once you DO understand it, you can master yourself and how you respond to ANYTHING that comes your way. Remember, too, that YOU ARE GREATER THAN ANYTHING THAT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU.

You do not have to be born with mental toughness. Mental toughness is a transferrable trait. You don't have to go through a trial by fire to experience it. Life will give you what you ask for. But once you ask, Life sets you to task. You will be challenged, many times a day to keep moving forward and reach your goal.

Here are some action tips for you to gain more mental toughness in EVERYTHING you do.

1. Listen to the experts. Read biographies and listen to audio programs telling of winners who have overcome tremendous obstacles and setbacks to become successful. Check out success stories in magazines and the Internet - fitness, money, or otherwise - you'll find they are people JUST LIKE YOU. So if they can do it, WHY THE HELL CAN'T YOU?

2. No pain, no gain vs. Patience, pacing, and persistence. You don't need to go through emotional or physical pain to succeed. This is a myth. When you realize that failure and handicaps have NOT prevented winners in any area of life, you gain more confidence and courage to pursue your own dreams.
3. But you don't need to "come from behind" to get ahead. Learn from the trial and error of others, and expect a lot of yourself. Not a pipedream, but expect a lot, and expect to get it. It can be easy to overtrain, overcommit, and overwork if your expectations are too much. GO WITH THE FLOW. Success WILL come; understand it may take months instead of days.
4. "What next?" thinking. Give yourself solution-oriented feedback when solving your problems. Don't dwell on what went wrong. What are you going to do about it? Spend your energy on moving forward, finding an answer. Journaling helps here. What did you accomplish today? What went well? What can you do better? How do I feel about my progress? Are my goals making me reach, or am I just going through the motions? Am I focused? Are my goals MY OWN?
5. Get comfortable with the unfamiliar. Make it a part of your daily routine to do something totally different than what you normally do. Work out at a different gym. Put your TV in the closet for a month. Drive to work using a different route. Change workout routines regularly. You'll be better prepared to handle diverse environments with greater calm and confidence.
6. THINK AND SPEAK WELL OF YOUR HEALTH. Teach yourself and your children to use positive self-talk about fitness and personal health. Too much attention is paid to minor aches and pains, like there's value to not feeling good. We tend to make real what is the "main feature" of ourselves. What's YOUR "main feature"?
7. Don't be a victim of ads and fads. Yes, the world is full of greedy people looking for a fast and easy way to put your money in their pockets. Make sure the thing that impresses you meets your criteria, and satisfies your concerns. Mental toughness doesn't mean going it alone, with lose-weight-fast or get-rich-quick schemes. Mental toughness means learning from the pros who have been there and done that.

Hang out with people who have already achieved their goals or who are dedicated to goals similar to yours. Avoid associating with people who have the same unresolved problems or who are frustrated by their lack of achievement. You know, the pity parties. "Oh, woe is me. My life is in an upheaval. How about you?" "You poor thing. Woe is me, too. I feel terrible about myself. How about you?"
Some people tend to thrive on the attention they get when they feel bad. A strong community of like-minded people give you motivation, support, and purpose for succeeding.

8. Focus on desired results. Pure and simple: winners dwell on the rewards of success. Losers focus on mistakes and failure. Do what's necessary NOW. Be in the present. Then you don't have to worry about what happened yesterday or what's going to happen tomorrow. Thus, two-thirds of your worries disappear.
9. Expect the unexpected. You can't control what nature and others do. You can anticipate what MAY happen, and prepare for them as best you can. You can also control your response to what happens.

In July’s issue of Gulf Lead Consultant’s newsletter. Dr Tariq A. Aldowaisan and Eng. Elaf A. Ashkanani talk about facilitation as a skill and how to effectively conduct a successful workshop or meeting. They also highlight the latest and commonly accepted good practices of facilitation; and share their experience of the most important factors/drivers of workshop meeting success.

The use of ergonomic design can include the use of ergo tools, furniture, lights and can even take into consideration noise, space and air quality of the environment.

It is important for us to be comfortable while doing our task in order to attain the best possible result for example in jobs done by sitting for long hours it is important to be sitting in a comfortable chair, the table and computer need to be at the correct height, with adequate lighting. See the clip below to see whether you are sitting correctly in front of your computer.

As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, we sit all the time. Whilst  the shift towards computer-based work has increased productivity, it has, unfortunately, contributed to  an increased risk of heart disease and obesity in the long term. The negative health effects of sitting are starting to weigh heavily against the benefits. Below an infograph from MedicalBillingAndCoding.org shows some worrying statistics about the effect of sitting for long hours.

A script of the interview follows the video.