Being present during my presentation

(First written March 5)

The pun title just popped out of my coffee addled brain, it was too much to resist.

So it's almost a week since 'The right words' philosophy was verbally launched in the public domain. A group of nine lively minded people came along to hear what I had to say and ask some questions at my first 'Finding the right words' workshop. Most of the group were friends, which gave me equal measures of relief and nervousness. As ever fears were unfounded. The evening was relaxed and stimulating. What stuck me more then anything was the way that I managed to stay present throughout. I kept up with my thoughts as my brain created them and my mouth framed them in words. I also kept with my audience and enjoyed some wonderful moments where their questions and comments showed me that they'd understood my message.

It hasn't always been this way for me when presenting to a group. I've spoken in front of people, from groups of 4 to 400, many times. But this was new. I was calm, I took comfortable pauses, I was real and my ideas came out in ways people understood.

So why the change? I went on a a training course. Hang on a minute, a training course? To me it's rather incredulous that a course could really make me change the way I do things. Courses normally give me ideas. I then make a whole bunch of intentions on the way home and put the folder on the shelf next to the others. Not this time. This was one of two occasions where I've been fundamentally changed by a course.

The first time I was shifted along by a piece of training it was a management workshop on using emotional intelligence. After leaving the class, I took the first steps towards overcoming a pretty bad case of claustrophobia. There begins an interesting story which I'll save for another occasion.

The most recent fundamental change happened just a few months back. This time it was two days of presentation skills training. Since that weekend I've felt different, more at ease. I've been more comfortable about communicating and it's changed the way I get to interact with the world. I've discovered just how clarity, confidence and being yourself makes for more fluid communication and more fluid living.

What I learnt stays with me and saw me through last week's inaugural workshop.

Andrew Lightheart is the man who made all this happen for me, you can check out the details of his presentations skills masterclass at www.cobaltcommunication.com