Who are you? What’s your personality type? Are you Amiable, Analytical, a Driver or Expressive?

To conclude my blog, I wanted to share a video of Peter actually giving a presentation so that you could see the master himself. Instead, I stumbled across a Personality Quiz that Peter developed. If you’re wondering how this all relates to Peter Urs Bender’s insight on being an effective leader and communicator, take this 5 minute quiz. You’ll be intrigued with what you learn about yourself.

When Peter said that you must be able to relate to your audience, I think he meant that you must be able to connect to them. How best to do this depends on your personality type and those that you are trying to connect to.  Whether you are presenting to a group of people or are meeting one on one with someone, understanding their personality as well as you own will allow you to relate better to them and affect positively you’re performance and future relationship with them.

Quiz at http://www.peterursbender.com/quiz/                 

My personality type is ‘Amiable’. I’m not surprised but I never thought that understanding the personality types of others was so important.  What even surprised me more was what I need to do to better connect with people.  The article says that I need to step out of my comfort zone and become closer to the personality type that I want to connect to. Why, because “The further away you are from someone on the personality grid the more difficult it is to relate to them.” (“Understanding/Working with Others,” n.d.)

Now it all makes sense … I wish everyone the best in their pursuit of wisdom and happiness. Never give up hope on what you want to accomplish. Good Luck everyone! 

References:

About Peter Urs Bender. (n.d.). Tips for Understanding and Working with others. Retrieved from http://www.peterursbender.com/quiz/tips.html

Picture source: http://shellhouse.org/mvc/personality%20quiz-5886.html

      Peter Urs Bender died in 2005 after he lost his battle with cancer. During his lifetime, he became one of North America’s top speakers and wrote five famous books. (Guffey, Rhodes, Rogin, n.d.)These included Secrets of Power Presentations, Leadership from Within, Secrets of Power Marketing, Secrets of Face-to-Face Communication and Gutfeeling. 

      So what is Peter’s legacy? ““… to everything there is a system. If you learn the system, even a mediocre person can be successful.”” (Guffey, Rhodes, Rogin, n.d., p. 485) His work continues to leave a positive footprint on those who have listened to him speak and on those who have used his system to deliver their own presentations. Peter’s message: plan what you want to say carefully, say it in a way that relates to the audience, and practise it over and over again until you are confident on how to deliver it.  (Guffey, Rhodes, Rogin, n.d.)

Peter has inspired me because I too have a learning disability like many people in the world, and I do need to overcome my fear of public speaking as well. I know it isn’t easy, but this great man took opportunities in his life to learn more about himself and how he could improve his communication skills, even though it was difficult for him because of his dyslexia.  If Peter had not taken the Dale Carnegie course, joined a speakers’ club, or became a university professor, he probably wouldn’t have become the man he was. (Guffey, Rhodes, Rogin, n.d.)   It is amazing and uplifting for me to hear about someone like this who triumphed as a leader and a teacher. I know it is difficult, but if we take Peter’s advice and put a system in place, we too can take better control of our lives, and achieve great success.   Come on, isn’t it worth a try? What do you have to lose? I’m going to try it. What’s stopping you?

Picture Source: http://www.screwlife.com/2011/05/09/the-difference-between-a-successful-person-the-others/

References:

Guffey, M., Rhodes, K., Rogin, P. (2011). Business Communication: Process and Product. (Canadian 6th ed.)  Toronto, ON: Nelson. Chapter 14.

Moore, S. (n.d.). Peter Urs Bender: Biography of a self-taught leader. Retrieved from http://www.peterursbender.com/fullbio.html

            Did I ever mention I have a learning disability?  But why would anyone say something that personal?  In my opinion, and to others that may share the same thought, I think the world is oblivious to things that have been going around them for many years, especially when it comes to people with disabilities. To anyone who has a phobia, be it spiders, clowns, tight spaces, or socializing, you are not alone.  For those who fear public speaking, imagine for a moment that you also have a learning disability. Imagine then how debilitating you might feel when asked to make a presentation. It would be very difficult for such a person to even attempt to break their fear, as they would convince themselves that there is no point to doing something that they will likely fail at, be laughed at or ridiculed for.

The message I have to my readers is don’t be critical when listening to someone else give a presentation. Think about how others are trying to do their best.  Don’t try to put them down, and give them respect by listening and learning. Remember, life is short and it takes practice for everyone to master something.  After all, look at Peter Bender who had dyslexia. He mastered the art of presentations and became a guru in this field.

             Have you been at a presentation or lecture where people are talking, acting up and are being disrespectful? What message would you give to them, and to others who have a hard time learning and doing things in life?

Picture source: http://www.inc.com/how-to-deliver-a-speech-that-gets-a-standing-ovation.html

           So, did everyone like my story from last week?  I know everyone wants to be brave, but as soon as our fight/flight reaction kicks in, we need to get a hold of ourselves in order to neither run away, or fight (please don’t).  In order to do that, we could use stress reducing tactics such as counting to ten or more, or meditation.  Whatever helps you the most matters, as your success in life depends on you how you handle roadblocks.

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            Want to know the truth about something?  In Peter’s book, Secret of Power Presentations, he says that even highly successful people still hide their nervousness with false confidence when presented with a fearful situation (and it might be their phobia).  Whether you’re experienced or not, anyone that needs help with presentations and stress management, Peter is there for you. Peter believes that you should say something positive about yourself before you speak.  “This will be my best presentation yet.  I know more than anyone else in the group.  They need my input and everyone will benefit from what I have to say.” (Guffey, Rhodes, Rogin, n.d., p. 519)  In doing this, people will be able to convince their subconscious from taking over their thoughts with negative images or words/sounds of fear.  Afterwards, there should be nothing, at least, in your way to giving a great performance during your presentation.  (Guffey, Rhodes, Rogin, n.d.)

            I was wondering since we are on the subject of positive thinking, and stress management; What is your best strategy against anxiety and fear?  Maybe you can relate your answer to my posts on glossophobia, and other fears…………….

Picture source: http://www.personal-development-is-fun.com/positive-thoughts.html

Reference:

Guffey, M, Rhodes, K., Rogin, P. (2011). Business Communication: Process and Product. (Canadian 6th ed.)  Toronto, ON: Nelson. Chapter 14

           As I was thinking about my next blog, I read about how audiences and fans of Peter Bender always gave him great responses to his work, whether it was an interview, presentation, workshop, or one of his books.  They couldn’t get enough of Peter. They were so motivated by his words that they wanted him to keep on talking.  Peter gained his popularity because he believed in his values, followed a system, and carefully customized his message to the audience. I’d like to share with you one of my experiences.

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I’m about to give a presentation.  I walk up to the front of the room where my laptop is connected to the projector that will display my PowerPoint.  Everyone is talking.  They are loud, and very talkative.  Immediately, I am nervous; will they even be interested in my presentation? Will they be bored?  Will they try to distract me?  Can I really do this?   Then all of a sudden, I get their attention; the presentation is about to begin. My body starts to become tense and sweaty, and my brain begins to process a million thoughts a second. I know that I have to break through the conversation barrier (be the first person to start a chat with someone or begin the presentation).  Pressure is building; my throat gets stiffer.  Can I do this? Then, I focus; I know my material; I know what to say - I can remember how to react to people in my presentation; I know what to do.  Suddenly, I tune out from my “distractions”, and I begin to speak.  I am still a little bit anxious, but I clear my throat and speak more clearly. I move through my presentation; my words easily coming out of my mouth. I even add appropriate moments of humour, and use my visual aids at the right time.  The audience gives me their undivided attention, but not without moments of someone talking or taking a phone call. They are interested in what I am saying.  Then before I knew it, I was almost done; I just had to say,” Thank you for attending my presentation…..”  Everyone applauded.  My presentation was not top of the class; it could have been better, but no one showed any sign of discontentment. After that, I was able to watch everyone else’s presentations and compare mine to theirs.  I thought I did a really good job.

This is a reflection of me a couple of years ago when giving a presentation in Biology class during high school.  I may have stretched the truth a bit; other presentations appeared more entertaining than mine. I was too focused on content and a serious delivery – after all, the topic was bacteria and viruses; but I survived because somebody once told me to picture the audience in their underwear.  

Presentations are funny to me.  They make me feel like the worst teacher, researcher, or leader in the world; then I come out feeling great.  And every year, I get better and better.

I’d like to hear about your stories.  Can anyone relate to how I was feeling when giving my presentation?

References:

Guffey, M, Rhodes, K., Rogin, P. (2011). Business Communication: Process and Product. (Canadian 6th ed.)  Toronto, ON: Nelson. Chapter 14

Picture source: http://www.prlog.org/11135765-watch-ufc-124-online-free-ufc-124-live-stream-in-hd-for-free-this-saturday.html

       George Torok, a colleague of Peter, coauthored The Secrets of Power Marketing? with him. During an interview with George, he shared their system to creating a presentation about their book.

·  Analyze the purpose (i.e. what was the purpose of the presentation) – 50% of their time

·  Anticipate the audience (i.e. what did the audience need to know, how would they feel about the content and would they understand it) – 30% of their time

·  Adapt the message (i.e. create a message that the audience could relate to by making the message clear and simple to understand, don’t speak down to them, don’t be arrogant in your knowledge and don’t use technical language) – 20% of their time

What does this all mean?  To summarize Torok, this means that to create an effective presentation, you must know why you are giving a presentation and who your audience is. Once you have determined these two key components, then writing should come easy because you now have a road map on what you need to say and how you need to say it.  (Guffey, Rhodes, Rogin, n.d.)   

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At first, I didn’t agree with this message.  Why would I spend most of my time thinking about the purpose and anticipating the audience’s reaction? Isn’t it more important to figure out what you want to say? I usually jump right into writing a presentation without much thought to the audience and maybe not enough thought to the purpose. This is because I just want to get it finished. However, after thinking about this for a while, it started to make more sense.  Having a well-developed purpose and knowing who your audience is should make it easier to write. Why? As a simple example, if you’re creating a presentation to college students versus business professionals, you really have to know what the purpose of the presentation is. Is it to inform or is it to teach or is it something else? You also have to know your audience because they have different needs and different views on the subject and will have different questions and may even apply the information differently. Once you know this, it will be easier to write the presentation because your purpose will be clear and you will know what your audience needs to hear.

So the next time that you need to prepare a presentation, are you going to approach it differently? Try George’s advice and let me know how it goes for you.

      Check out this new video!  It is about John Douglas Jefferys, a well-known presentator, who demonstrates and talks about some things you can do to improve your presentation skills.  He uses humour to catch the audiences' attention, and the video displays synchronized words about presentation topics on screen to help viewers of the video follow along.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whTwjG4ZIJg&feature=related


Reference:

Guffey, M, Rhodes, K., Rogin, P. (2011). Business Communication: Process and Product. (Canadian 6th ed.)  Toronto, ON: Nelson. Chapter14