This Business and Moment...

[Josh]

Practice. Practice. Practice. I know it's obvious, but the more you become happy with the presentation the easier it becomes.

Also, as hard as it is, film yourself. Analyse yourself, and practice some more.

I present a lot, often to large groups of people (100+) and to senior managers and CEOs of businesses as well as government. I still get very anxious about it. But I practice. In smaller meetings, I look confident because I have practiced so much, and people say to me "how to you appear so natural?" - it's about story telling rather than reading a script/reading powerpoint slides. If you can tell a story (it doesn't have to be funny, just engaging) and practice the right use of rhetoric you'll be able to create a more interesting presentation, but also you will feel more comfortable telling a story. You should and must include relevant facts, you could use Cicero's rule of 3 approach for more poignant points.

I have a stack of useful info at the office I'll have a look and see if any of it I can share.

Thanks FF that helps, I've done a few practise runs on my own and think I know the slides well enough, I've spent ages changing them this morning which won't help but I wasn't happy with some areas.

I don't think I will get any technical questions but if I do hopefully I can answer then correctly. That's the issue for me, I know the most of the answers backwards - but I have this horrible nagging feelings that I will freeze up if asked, I've never frozen in a Presentation but that nagging feeling won't leave!

 

[Freefaller]

There's no harm in saying I'll look into it for you after this meeting if you are unsure. Better than giving the wrong answer or making something up. As long as you follow through with your promise it won't discredit you.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

There's no harm in saying I'll look into it for you after this meeting if you are unsure. Better than giving the wrong answer or making something up. As long as you follow through with your promise it won't discredit you.

This, you can't know everything, and you can't anticipate everything. Better to get back to them, in fact saying you'll find out and then responding in good time after the meeting can go down well.

 

[Josh]

Well that went really well. Good great feedback from the attendee's, full house of 80 people, lots of Q&A which helped. Due to the numbers I was moved out of a classroom and into a lecture theatre, this threw me initially but actually helped in the end I think.

Took me about 5 mins and a few laughs from the people there but I felt a lot more at ease, the bits of the presentation I intended to shock them with worked well. I overran by 5 mins but as they were on lunch afterwards nobody seemed very eager to leave, managed to give out my whole allotment of business cards which was nice I also managed to answer all the more technical questions - with surprising ease to be honest. I'm still no public speaker but that helped my confidence doing it massively.

Happy with that, although now they want me to run the presentation bi-monthly and have doubled my time so I can go even more in depth. I recorded it from the back of the room, I don't really move from behind the lecturn which I need to do, I think if I was a bit more fluid it would show more confidence in not needing my written notes as much, something which I didn't notice is I stifled coughs that were not there too buy time, it looks like I have chest infection on the replay. I need to find a better stalling technique for next time.

 

[Judgeneo]

I recorded it from the back of the room, I don't really move from behind the lecturn which I need to do, I think if I was a bit more fluid it would should more confidence in not needing my written notes as much, something which I didn't notice is I stifled coughs that were not there too buy time, it looks like I have chest infection on the replay. I need to find a better stalling technique for next time.

Glad it went well!
One counter-intuitive point is that silence isn't a terrible thing. If you're stalling and need to think of words, then instead of umming or ahhing or coughing, you could just shut up completely and walk around a little - appearing like a poignant thinker and giving you time to breath.

 

[Josh]

I like that idea Judgeneo, might convey that I am deep in thought about the answer more than scratching around my brain for it.

 

[Freefaller]

Yes good point Judge - and Josh, never stand behind a lectern it doesn't allow you to dominate the room. Stand big, and keep yourself engaged with your audience.

 

[Casdawer]

Today is my last day as a 2nd Line Analyst!! Been doing this job for just over 2 years and so happy to finally be moving on!

Tomorrow, I'll be putting on my Operational Security hat and it's going to be AWESOME!!

 

[currantloaf]

Job applications will be the death of me

 

[randomshenans]

Well done dude! Great news!!

Today is my last day as a 2nd Line Analyst!! Been doing this job for just over 2 years and so happy to finally be moving on!

Tomorrow, I'll be putting on my Operational Security hat and it's going to be AWESOME!!

I'm signed off from work for 2 weeks with a back issue, which is great :/ I'm trying to get emotuit work done while I'm off but being at home the wife is just huffing and puffing that I'm here... think she thinks I'm milking it but it bloody hurts.

 

[Steeps]

We hit a limit in Quickbooks, apparently if you have more than 4 new customers a day for 10 years you are an enterprise business turning over millions of pounds a month and can justify paying £lol for the enterprise package, and you are locked out of doing any accounts until you do... or transfer to quickbooks online which is quick and easy!

2 days we've been down so far unable to process orders, looks like the rest of my week is going to be spent fixing this mess. Such a huge backwards step in terms of functionality.

 

[AHarvey]

I've been given a helper (the old IT guy) to setup a load of hardware, but it seems he struggles with basic written instruction so I've spent 2 hours writing a script that should install everything in the right order and cut down on 'fix time' for me

3 hours sleep before work...

 

[AHarvey]

1 year at work today, payslip through, loyalty bonus just under a months salary...no one told me anything about it so nice to find. Still need to find time to have a proper meeting with my manager regarding salary/training/development going forwards.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

Found out on Tuesday that I've been offered the role I interviewed for last Friday. I'm chuffed but also a bit sad, I've been at my current place for 6 years and the team I work with are fantastic on both a professional and personal level, but the current restructure is a step in the wrong direction for the service and the new role is a massive pay rise (most of which will be eaten by the need to commute to Southwark but it's the right direction at least). I wouldn't say it's a long term position just because the role is a bit less hands on than I'd like (procurement in the Borough is devolved so I'll be working in a more advisory capacity rather than getting involved in hands on commissioning) but I love the area of London and it will help to increase my procurement process skills. Having said that I have just spotted a position at ARM that I'm going to have a cheeky crack at, it's a long shot but my luck seems to be in so why not!

All in all a pretty good week, helps to blow away some of the depression from the restructure consultation, I just hope some of the other talented guys in the team see the writing on the wall and do the same, they're worth a lot more than they're getting at the moment, both in terms of cash and respect.

 

[randomshenans]

I've been given a helper (the old IT guy) to setup a load of hardware, but it seems he struggles with basic written instruction so I've spent 2 hours writing a script that should install everything in the right order and cut down on 'fix time' for me

3 hours sleep before work...

What are you setting up? Surely you could WDS that lot out, piece of cake.

 

[AHarvey]

What are you setting up? Surely you could WDS that lot out, piece of cake.

we've no server solution at work, the call centre are on their own network as well. I didn't have time to do a lot of reading on the subject, just jumped on with AutoIT and built the script to do it.

Basic Win 10 Pro anni, Admin account, single user account, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, VOIP software and Chrome (bookmarks). Remote software, setting desktop/lock screen.

2 hours to write and test the script, he's still doing some things in the wrong order but I can remote in and fix them at a later date, only a small issue.

Once they are setup I need to get my head around UE-V and see if it's going to be possible to implement it here and whether it'll do what I need.

Then I need to do it all over at our other call centre

 

[Dis86]

Starting a business with a family member...yey or ney...that is the question.

 

[Phate]

Starting the new job tomorrow.

Thing is, I've had so much going on the past 2 weeks I've barely thought about it. I don't feel nervous, nor excited...anything really!

I'm sure that'll change when it comes to getting some sleep tonight though

 

[regulus]

Just had a project review meeting with our 'big' boss. The executive GM of the company. That was an interesting experience. He arrived late for the meeting, sat listening for a few minutes before effortlessly stepping into the conversation by announcing, 'guys, you're ALL ****ing into the wind', and proceeded to ask a series of the most uncomfortable yet lethally accurate questions I've ever experienced in a business review.

Never raised his voice, never allowed anyone to speak until he made his point AND allowed you the same curtesy, did not allow 2 words when one would suffice, dug down into the heart of your theory within 10 words if he sensed you weren't confident in your replies, and left everyone chided yet inspired to do better next time round. The two biggest bull ******s in the room was left squirming and disregarded within about 5 seconds and didn't dare speak again. But not before he let his eyes rest on them for just an uncomfortable second too long and make a mental note. The meaning was made crystal clear.

I owned up to my mistakes but was confident to point out that I've learned from them, showed how I've fixed them and how the remedy ties in to the overall project. Minimal words, relevant facts, no hot air and certainly no excuses. The man was as calm as an experienced assassin but everyone automatically knew that any excuse with even a hint nonsense behind it would focus the bead on you and you won't survive what comes next.

Not much of a story to the thread but it's good to see decent and able managers around. Certainly inspired me

 

[dr_volki]

Just had a project review meeting with our 'big' boss. The executive GM of the company. That was an interesting experience. He arrived late for the meeting, sat listening for a few minutes before effortlessly stepping into the conversation by announcing, 'guys, you're ALL ****ing into the wind', and proceeded to ask a series of the most uncomfortable yet lethally accurate questions I've ever experienced in a business review.

Never raised his voice, never allowed anyone to speak until he made his point AND allowed you the same curtesy, did not allow 2 words when one would suffice, dug down into the heart of your theory within 10 words if he sensed you weren't confident in your replies, and left everyone chided yet inspired to do better next time round. The two biggest bull ******s in the room was left squirming and disregarded within about 5 seconds and didn't dare speak again. But not before he let his eyes rest on them for just an uncomfortable second too long and make a mental note. The meaning was made crystal clear.

I owned up to my mistakes but was confident to point out that I've learned from them, showed how I've fixed them and how the remedy ties in to the overall project. Minimal words, relevant facts, no hot air and certainly no excuses. The man was as calm as an experienced assassin but everyone automatically knew that any excuse with even a hint nonsense behind it would focus the bead on you and you won't survive what comes next.

Not much of a story to the thread but it's good to see decent and able managers around. Certainly inspired me

sounds like a manager i would love to work for. sadly haven't had any decent managers except my first boss where i did my apprenticeship