Public speaking

It is hard to believe that I was once so shy and introverted that many friends were surprised when I chose to work in the business world as an accountant after graduating from university. They wondered how my sensitive, introverted nature would cope with corporate life.

Indeed, the most difficult aspect of corporate work for me was speaking in public. Mostly, I cleverly managed to avoid having to do it – though of course I didn’t avoid the fear, worry and anxiety surrounding it.

Then I moved to a more senior role in the charity sector as an accountant in the head office of the Red Cross South Asia regional delegation. Although one might imagine ‘charity work’ as less pressurised, this certainly wasn’t the case for me as part of my remit was presenting the financial situation of each project in the region at six-monthly meetings!

These meetings, in most beautiful parts of South Asia, used to ruin my life. Not only would I worry about them well in advance, hoping for success, I would berate myself for weeks afterwards for ‘failing’ yet again. All this turmoil while knowing that very soon I would have to go through it all again.

Then, there was the one time that I gave a better presentation. I had no idea how it happened; it just seemed to be lucky chance, and I never managed to replicate. Now, many years later, as a voice and communications expert, I can see that I had happened to alight on some of the strategies I now recommend to my clients who are seeking to improve their public-speaking skills. I would love to share them here so that you, too, can learn to give a successful presentation.

1. Let go of perfection

So what was different about this regular six-monthly meeting? I had been chatting and laughing with colleagues during a break when my boss asked me if I would give my presentation immediately following break rather than later in the day as planned. Without thinking, I said yes, of course – and within seconds the familiar sensations of panic came.

I had not prepared all my visual material, so with shaking hand, I quickly wrote some notes on a flip chart in the few minutes before everyone reassembled.

My boss introduced me and thanked me for agreeing to speak early, with no notice, even though I hadn’t completed my preparations. This somehow gave me a freedom and released me from my perceived obligation to be perfect.

Now, I can see that the need to be perfect locks us up. If we have decided we need to ‘get it right’, part of our mind is constantly monitoring our performance, checking in to see how perfect or how ‘right’ we are. When we let go of perfection, all of that energy that was spent checking up on us is available for the presentation.

2. Don’t lose you

Often when we give a talk, we get ‘lost’ in the audience. Sometimes, just looking at and seeing all those faces is enough to disorientate us.

What I came to realise more recently is that when I was to give a presentation, I would be really focussed on it for an hour or two beforehand, even while others were presenting. I would be wondering what everyone would say, to my face and behind my back, when I gave another ‘bad’ presentation and all the while hoping I could somehow avoid it!

But not this time. Rather than anxiously ruminating, I had been laughing and joking with everyone at the break and I still had that energy with me when I went to speak. I was somehow still connected to the authentic me, and hadn’t had time to invent the ‘me’ who gives important presentations.

To help stay or reconnect with yourself, plant your feet firmly on the ground, maybe a little bit wider apart than you would normally and breathe deeply into your abdomen. This has the effect of making sure you are really present and grounded and keeps you with your own experience.

At the same time as this, I would recommend expanding outwards so that you are aware of what is going on beyond the room you are in. This allows you to be present, without getting overwhelmed by all the people in the audience.

3. Be playful, be you

As I said, I had just been talking at the break, laughing and joking with the national and the international staff and I brought this somewhat playful energy into the presentation.

I’m not suggesting that you start making jokes, particularly if your subject is serious. It is more about avoiding the tendency to adopt a different persona when we give public talks, which can make us sound a bit like a textbook or our mother or even our father!

Nowadays, I suggest asking a simple question, “Who am I being?” when you find yourself suddenly sounding like your mother or your schoolteacher! This question ‘brings you back to you’. Of course, you are good at being you, so your presentation is likely to be successful.

4. Stay connected with the audience

I was able to keep my connection with the audience from the break and into my presentation. A lot of people in the audience were really supporting me. I could feel them ‘rooting’ for me when I started and almost celebrating with me as I spoke so much better than usual.

Often when people give talks, they choose one of two ways of being, neither of which is particularly effective. When people are nervous, they tend to not be very present with their audience – understandably, as they would rather be anywhere else other than up front! This lack of presence makes it hard for the audience to engage with what the speaker is saying and sometimes even hard to hear the speaker.

The other approach that many people choose is to ‘push’ what they want to say at their audience. This tends to be tiring for the presenter and it often leads to resistance and even ‘tuning out’ in the audience.

What I now recommend is different from what most people do and that is to ‘pull energy’. You can do this by imagining a thread from behind your audience, through your audience, through you to behind you. Doing this keeps your audience engaged and makes it easy for you to connect with them.

Don’t worry if this sounds a bit strange or mysterious. It is something that many great performers do naturally and is something that you can learn.

I hope that these strategies that I stumbled on accidentally are useful to you in creating the success you desire and deserve with public speaking and with your career.

Fiona Cutts is a communications coach, linguist and facilitator for Right Voice for You, a special program by Access Consciousness. During her career as an accountant and auditor, Fiona struggled with an intense fear of public speaking and presentation delivery. As a Right Voice for You facilitator, she draws upon that experience to help others liberate themselves from fear and judgment, and unleash their confident and authentic voice. You can learn more at www.fionacutts.com.

As a woman, it can be particularly challenging to make yourself heard within an organization. Females can sometimes be less assertive than men, and may not speak up as much in meetings or other group settings. This is why presentations – whether it’s a weekly work-in-progress meeting, a monthly sales report or a keynote speech at a conference – are so important. They give you the chance to demonstrate your authority, confidence and professionalism to your colleagues, thereby confirming your reputation as a thought leader within your business. Unfortunately, presentations are for many women a handicap rather than an asset – and PowerPoint slides could be part of the problem.

There are several reasons why you tend to rely on PowerPoint, but many organisations are moving away from it in their meetings so you need to move with the times. With this being said, let’s bust the 5 myths about relying on PowerPoint in your presentations, and show you how to get everyone sitting up and paying attention.

Myth no. 1: ‘PowerPoint helps me structure my presentation’

When preparing for a presentation, many people take a back-to-front approach, diving straight into PowerPoint and putting all of their content onto slides first, and worrying about the structure later. ‘Having all the content in front of me helps me organise my thoughts better,’ you might tell yourself. But this approach can lead to presentations that meander around the core message, and can leave the audience feeling unconvinced or, even worse, confused. There are, in fact, several steps you should take before you even turn on your computer, to make sure your presentation is as powerful as possible.

The very first thing to consider is your audience: who are they? And what are their pain points? It’s important to do your research – if you’re presenting to a potential client, you might check out their website and LinkedIn page; if you’re presenting at a conference, you might ask about the typical demographic of the attendees.

Once you have a good idea of who you’re talking to, the next question to ask yourself is, ‘What is my core message?’ What do you want your audience to do or think as a result of your presentation? You should be able to summarise this in a single sentence – this then becomes the overarching theme of your presentation.

Once you know your audience and you’ve got your overarching theme, only then can you begin to think about your structure. But don’t reach for that power button just yet – I recommend good old-fashioned pen and paper for this step. Think back to your audience’s pain points and try to address these. Ask yourself, ‘Why should they care about what I’m talking about? Why is what I’m talking about important to them?’ Consider what information your audience needs to be persuaded to your point of view, and try to condense this into two or three key points if possible – no more than five. Your audience may struggle to retain more than 5 key points after your presentation.

Then consider what information you have to support your key points. This may be facts, statistics, examples, analogies or recent stories – try to relate to your audience here, as this will make your message resonate more.

A useful way to organize your structure is using a logic tree, which forces you to stay on-message.

Once you’ve decided on the best structure, you can then think about how many PowerPoint slides you might need to make your case effectively – or whether you need them at all!

Myth no. 2: ‘The more information I fit onto my slides, the more knowledgeable I will appear’

Trying to fit as much information as possible into a presentation, or ‘content cramming’, is a very common mistake. You may think it makes you look like more of an authority on the subject at hand, or that you’re ‘covering your bases’ by addressing as many points as possible. But, the reality is, people’s mental capacity is limited, and all that content cramming achieves is cognitive overload, thereby diluting your message and influence.

Content cramming: a big no-no

As The Colin James Method®’s co-founder and facilitator, I’ve seen it all and honestly, I believe content cramming is the refuge of the insecure. There is a constant stream of information bombarding your audience every day, they don’t need more… they want you to help them create meaning from the information and work out how to apply it to make a difference in their world.

Knowing what to leave out is just as important as knowing what to include, and this is where knowing your audience comes in. When considering whether to include something, ask yourself, ‘Does my audience care about this?’ If the answer is ‘No’, then get rid of it. This helps you to present relevant and useful insights to them. It’s also a massive confidence booster to know that you’ve got information that will help people to avoid a pitfall or gain some advantage.

Myth no. 3: ‘PowerPoint slides help me remember what to say’

You have likely heard the phrase ‘Death by PowerPoint’, and treating your PowerPoint as a script is a sure-fire way to a slow and painful demise for you and your audience.

You may think that reading from your slides is a good way to reinforce information; this, however, has the effect of distancing your audience rather than engaging them. You may also feel like it is a good way to make sure you don’t miss anything important, but think about this: if you can’t remember your presentation, and you’re the one who is familiar with the subject, how can you expect your audience to?

Breaking down your presentation into bite-sized chunks will not only help you stay on point and communicate your core message with confidence, but it will also help your audience digest what you have to say.

Myth no. 4: ‘PowerPoint slides will distract people from my less-than-stellar presentation skills’

If you’re not feeling super confident, it can be tempting to hide behind your PowerPoint slides, so to speak. But your delivery will heavily influence how your presentation will be received. If you don’t appear confident, people will assume you are not confident about your message and will be less likely to be persuaded by what you have to say. And all the flashy graphic effects in the world aren’t enough to mask a poor delivery.

The only solution? Learn the skills of a good presenter and practise, practise, practise.

Once you’ve got your structure down pat, practise delivering your presentation out loud. Avoid trying to write out a speech word for word, which can make you sound unnatural and stilted; instead, use your key points as prompts and imagine trying to speak to your audience directly. You’ll find after a few dry runs that you’ll start to sound knowledgeable and unscripted.

While you’re practising, think about your voice: your pace should be measured, your pitch should be low and calm, and you want to be able to project your voice to the back of the room. Think about your body language too: try to make eye contact with everyone in the room at some point, use the available space to keep up energy and attention, and use hand gestures to visualise your points.

Myth no. 5: ‘Presenting information visually on PowerPoint slides helps with audience retention’

This is not necessarily a ‘myth’, but it’s not the gospel truth either. PowerPoint can be a great tool for presenting visual information – but it may not be the best one for your particular presentation.

When you’re considering the point you’re trying to make, try to think outside the PowerPoint box. Is it best illustrated by drawing a diagram on a flipchart or whiteboard? Could you use a prop? Could you ask the audience to participate in an exercise or discussion? Being creative with how you communicate can have a marked effect on audience engagement and retention.

If you do want to use slides, we find that they work best if they support your verbal presentation with evocative images, numerical graphs and tables, or video clips.

Try it for yourself!

As Sheryl Sandberg writes in Lean In: “Feeling confident – or pretending that you feel confident – is necessary to reach for opportunities. It’s a cliché, but opportunities are rarely offered; they’re seized.” So take these tips, and seize the opportunity to make a lasting impression at your next presentation. You could even challenge yourself to present without the crutch of PowerPoint slides – you might be surprised by the results!

Erica Bagshaw is an entrepreneur, Executive Coach and Co-Founder of The Colin James Method® and Inner Profit Pty Ltd a vibrant leadership development company in Australia. She has spent the majority of her career growing and developing close client partnerships. She loves sharing her expertise on the all things communication.

As some of the world’s most prominent female leaders gathered for KPMG’s annual Women’s Leadership Summit, on June 28^th, it was clear that after decades of campaigning for equality, women are at last ‘seen’ in the upper echelons of business and politics. But, how well they are being heard?

In a world where lower pitched male voices are still seen as conveying more power, women may well be fighting a losing battle when it comes to seeking vocal equality because the average female speaking pitch is 20% higher than the male. Dr Kayes, a prominent voice coach, explains that this is due to physiological factors such as size of larynx and length and thickness of vocal folds, which differ between the genders in adulthood.

And according to research, she goes on to explain, political leaders with lower voices tend to be perceived as more dominant and attractive.

This equation of: lower pitch = perceived testosterone = power, may be highly frustrating, from a gender equality perspective, but according to Dr Kayes, there is plenty that women can do to make good use of their own innate pitch range for influencing others when in roles of leadership.

To see this in action, she takes a look at these videos of the leadership summit’s three keynote speakers, and analyses how they use their own pitch range effectively: Condoleezza Rice (former US Secretary of State), Lynne Doughtie (Chairman and CEO of KPMG) and Ginni Rometty (Chairman and CEO of IBM).

The first similarity you notice between these three powerful women is the musical pitch of their voices. When you listen to the pitch of someone’s voice you are listening for two main things – the resting pitch range (the ‘notes’ where their speaking voice mostly sits) and the larger pitch range (the range of notes used for expressive purposes or calls to attention). It is that combination which leaves us with an impression of that particular voice and, therefore, that person.

When you speak, you use different pitches or notes in your speaking range. In voice research studies, this element is called ‘frequency range’ (frequency in this instance meaning the number of vibrations per second that your vocal folds make, which is roughly equivalent to pitch.) Using acoustic analysis, means, upper and lower frequency ranges can be measured.

Everyone has a small set of notes that they speak on regularly, and a larger set of notes that they may use for emphasis (both higher and lower than their regular speaking range). Sometimes these are defined by our voice type or the size of our vocal folds, and sometimes this is dictated by our environment, cultural background and so on.

Both Doughtie and Rometty have very low speaking pitches – both use the notes between low D and G (below middle C on the piano). Rice has a higher speaking pitch (from the G below middle C to the D above) but Rice’s bottom note, is towards the lower end of female speaking pitch averages.

Returning to the aforementioned equation of lower pitch = perceived testosterone = power, Doughtie, Rometty and Rice all speak on a relatively low pitch, but each of them also uses a wide pitch range. This is a particularly useful strategy for women. Using a wide pitch range not only helps to keep listeners interested, allowing them to engage with you, it also avoids the pitfall of ‘higher is louder’, an acoustic fact of the voice in which pitch and volume co-vary. So if the overall pitch is higher, using volume for emphasis might cause people to hear the speaker as shrill and hysterical.

The wide pitch range is most noticeable in Doughtie’s video for Business Insider UK. As we listen to her description of the difference between a mentor and a sponsor, her voice jumps well over an octave up to the F above middle C. That large jump in pitch alerts the listener to the fact that “a sponsor” is exciting and worth having. In that one minute interview Doughtie covers almost two octaves in her speaking voice. This is a flexible voice which demonstrates that she is involved in what she is sharing, eliciting a sense of empathy from the listener.

There’s no such thing as a ‘bad’ pitch range–it is all about context. For example, Hillary Clinton was criticised during the 2016 presidential election campaign for being ‘shrill’, and falling into the trap of shouting out her message instead of letting the microphone do the work for her.

Listening to some of Ms Clinton’s speeches during the 2016 election campaign, including the Detroit Speech referred to above and her Victory Speech in Iowa, you can hear that whatever her resting pitch range she tends to use volume for emphasis, rather than pitch variation. And–worryingly in both these examples–you can hear an underlying ‘rasp’ that indicates she may well have been pushing her voice to create volume.

Ms Clinton would have benefitted from some advice on hydration and regular vocal warm-ups to keep her voice fit for delivering speeches day after day. Varying her pitch range would have enabled her to take the pressure off her voice and maintain vocal stamina throughout the campaign.

But it’s not just about pitch. In studies investigating vocal charisma in leading public figures, people in positions of leadership were noted to vary their voices within a single speech, in order to appeal to a wide range of listeners: different ages, genders and cultural backgrounds. Researcher Rosario Signorello of UCLA also found that the same politicians might use different pitch ranges for different situations.

So how do we adopt these learnings into day-to-day life? Dr Kayes shares her expert insight.

Addressing large groups

Aim to set an inspirational tone: use a wide pitch range and vary it often for emphasis and interest. You can easily find your personal ‘resting pitch-range’ by reading a few sentences from your planned speech aloud and then reading it again but with your lips closed. It’s an excellent way to hear your own pitch. Putting a hand over one ear will also help you hear your pitch range internally. Now read the sentences again, in exactly the same way but this time exaggerating the up and down movements of your pitch. Now read aloud in a normal voice but still using the exaggerated pitch range. Record yourself–how did you sound? Where would you like your pitch to go up and where would you like it to go down? Soon you will become more comfortable with using your voice in this expressive way and it will feel more natural to you.

The business meeting

In an important meeting with colleagues you won’t want to sound too excitable, so use a smaller pitch range and a generally lower speaking pitch. To access that lower pitch, say “uh-huh” in as natural a way as possible. Closing the lips always helps to increase our internal awareness of pitch, so now make the sound “mm-mm”. Making the same sound do a small nose-dive in pitch downwards is if slightly sceptical. Slightly is the key-word here. If you want to access some higher pitches, make a slightly surprised “mm-mm”. Then practise using these more moderate pitch changes in some key sentences such as “well, that works for me” or “I think we’ll need to discuss this further”.

The informal interview (radio or TV)

In the informal interview it’s important that use your normal comfortable pitch range, so that you sound spontaneous and natural. Change of pitch can also alert your listener to the most important point you want to make. Refer to Doughtie’s textbook example above.

If you are feeling a bit nervous about the interview make some low-pitched buzzing sounds on a ZZ or VV to get your breathing centred. Aim to let go of your belly when you need to breathe in and to gently pull your belly inwards when you make the ZZ or VV.

Remember that the female voice has its own powers of persuasion! Learning to use it properly will ensure we are both seen AND heard.

Dr Gillyanne Kayes is a Voice Coach for ITV’s The Voice and CEO of Vocal Process. She has worked with some of the world’s leading actors, singers and West End artists, helping them to get the best out of their performance. The ‘1 Minute Voice WarmUp’ app, a collaboration between Dr Kayes, voice guru Jeremy Fisher and app developer www.speechtools.co, is now available to download on IOS and Android.

Public speaking is the number one skill that’s guaranteed to position you head and shoulders above the competition, so why do so many people avoid it?

Gerald R. Ford said, “If I went back to college again, I’d concentrate on two areas: learning to write and learning to speak before an audience. Nothing in life is more important than the ability to communicate effectively.”

It’s the top skill that will place you miles ahead of your competition, yet it’s frequently overlooked as an essential marketing skill. My own take on having the ability to speak well in public is that it’s probably the single most powerful thing you can learn to do that gives you the ammunition to say “If I can do that, I can do anything”. Once you can confidently stand up in public and give a great presentation, you’ll never fear anything again.

If you’ve ever marvelled at the abilities of a great presenter, the clever use of words to draw pictures, the confidence and charisma that exudes from the platform and the awe in which they are held, you’ll agree with the above statements.

So why is it that when it comes to attending training courses, presentation skills aren’t always the first port of call? Could it be to do with that oft-quoted (and probably misquoted) statistic that speaking in public is feared more than death? Let’s not go into an examination of how ridiculous that would be if it were true. After all, how many of you would really swap places with the guy in the coffin if you were asked to speak at a funeral?

There’s no doubt that public presenting or pitching can get the palms sweating. But given the benefits you’ll get when you can do it well, you can’t afford to let this stop you. Let’s examine what these barriers really are, so you can lay your fears to rest and get this most important of abilities added to your list of “things you MUST perfect,” shall we?

First, examine why you’re nervous. There’s always a reason for nerves. Examine what the reasons are so you can deal with the cause and go a long way toward eliminating the symptom. Note that I say “go a long way toward eliminating,” the chances are that you’ll always feel some nervousness but nerves are your friends because they keep your senses sharp and prove that you want to do well.

Even seasoned performers suffer from stage fright. Some had it so bad they could barely perform! Fortunately, the thought is usually worse than the task. Once you get started, you’ll often find your nervousness will disappear. I liken it to knowing that you’re about to tackle a drive round London’s Hyde Park Corner or Paris’s Arc de Triomphe in rush hour. Thinking about it really freaks you out but when you’re in the middle of it, you’re too busy concentrating on not hitting anyone and it’s only afterwards you get to think “Wow, I made it in one piece, and you know what? It wasn’t as bad as I’d expected.” It’s true that the thought is usually worse than the activity.

Some of the most common reasons I’ve found for people suffering from nerves are these:
– Worry about forgetting what you’re going to say
– Worry that the audience will think you’re a fraud
– Worry about saying the wrong thing and offending somebody
– Worry that someone will ask a question to which you don’t know the answer
– Worry that you’ll get a dry mouth or get tongue tied
– Worry that you’ll finish too soon or run long

Some of the less common ones I’ve heard were “I’m worried in case there’s a fire alarm halfway through my talk” and “I’m worried that the hem on my trousers will unravel in front of everyone during my talk” and “I might fall off the stage.”

I could dismiss all these are “silly” or “invalid” and tell you that none of them will ever happen, but the fact is that they often will. (Yes, even the trouser hem thing’s happened to me, and I watched someone tumble off the stage just last week!). Looking down the list, you can see that there’s a lot you can do to avoid these situations occurring: being well prepared, stating your qualifications in your introduction, knowing your subject matter inside and out, timing yourself several times during rehearsals, and so on (sorry, I don’t have a magic wand to disable fire bells during speeches).

But so what if any of them still come to pass? What’s the worst that can happen? Well, it’s not life or death, you know. You have to learn to keep your fears in perspective. And remember, the audience wants you to be good because nobody enjoys sitting through a bad presentation.

Do what you can to be prepared and don’t let fear of speaking stop you from gaining that most revered of all skills, the one that will impact every area of your personal and business life. Give yourself the very best opportunity of succeeding and you’ll find the rewards are massive.

Maria Davies is a top sales presenter & success coach who works exclusively with women. Her presentation skills training will show you how to increase the audience share for your product or service by as much as 91%.

When we need to show confidence we all have our tricks. For me, I need to wear high heels when I speak in public. Perhaps it’s because I am on the short side or maybe it just makes me feel stronger. I also prefer to stand and use a lapel microphone rather than a handheld or a lectern. These are all things that help me present in public in a confident fashion.

Confidence is a tricky thing – it can be there one minute and gone the next and yet it is so important for our personal presence.

Here are 10 tips that may help you in delivering presentations and become a confident public speaker:

Introduction – If you can have someone else introduce you. It is often easier for someone else to give you a strong introduction rather than trying to do it yourself.
Stand tall – You will feel more confident if you have a first grip on the earth. Place your feet about hip width apart and please don’t cross the legs and rock if you are in front of an audience.
Sit tall – When you lift your shoulders and straighten your back, you will feel more confident. Don’t slouch back. So much of it is in the angle of your hips and the straightness of your back.
Don’t preen – For many women flipping and stroking their hair is a habit. When in front of a group, this can be very distracting for the observers.
Avoid pet phrases – Some people use a pet phrase throughout their presentations. This can be distracting for the audience. Things like ‘um, ok, all right’ repeated too often may encourage the audience to start counting. Ask a trusted friend or tape your presentation to determine if you do this.
Change pace – When I am nervous I tend to speed up and forget to pause. Remember, your audience needs those pauses to absorb your words. Some repetition works but don’t overdo it.
Vary your pitch – Some presenters talk in a monotone with little change of pace or pitch. This is likely to make it difficult for your audience to hear your key messages.
Lost for words? – If you lose your train of thought just take a minute, breathe, take a sip of water and looks at your notes. I normally have a list of dot points that I want to make in the order I want to make them.
Someone interrupts – Stop, don’t try to go in competition. Either point out you were not finished or when they finish just ask ‘may I continue’.
Keep it simple – When you are speaking to a group, don’t fill in every second with words, vary your speech and keep your messages simple.

The Feminine Touch

In the boardroom or meetings where ideas and plans are discussed, those with the most impactful displays hold sway over which way the company progresses with its current and future goals. As a female forging her own way in a world still heavily populated with men, this is intimidating. How do you even start to impact those that seem set on fighting your every argument?

Tossing aside those that won’t bend simply because they are stubborn, knowing how to influence others to support your vision is not hard.

Believe in your message

Of the many ways to approach the situation, passion, above all, is the biggest source of power.

Recall great orators and performers. The best have total belief in what they are doing. This, then, radiates outward to the audience, pulling them in and holding sway over how positively or negatively they view something. As an entrepreneur, this is essential, as many of your dreams are untested, requiring complete investment by you before anyone will feel safe enough to join.

Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

If you have never taken a debate class, do so. Without a doubt, there will be questions and arguments against your presentations and knowing how to defend your plans is half the battle.

While many performers and presenters have a built-in charisma, this is not the reason behind their success.

Through research and preparation, you can build a defense against every question you can think of before it is even asked. This will also allow you to find weaknesses and fix them so that your vision is steadfast in light of all foreseeable outcomes. If you have trouble finding passion, this will leave you with a sense of power that will translate as such.

Know your audience.

As mentioned before, female entrepreneurs generally go up against an almost fully male body of employees. Instead of decrying the injustice of it all, use this to your advantage. Study how the male mind assesses ideas and present to that. Take the time to figure out what information the audience will find most useful and most enticing. Through grabbing their attention and keeping it held with what they deem as useful packets of information, you engage them, making your perspective that much more valued and entertained.

Feeling small because you did not get the job

Some argue that such a thing as influence is impossible to achieve without natural talent, but this is false. While many performers and presenters have a built-in charisma, this is not the reason behind their success.

Knowledge and catering to the audience are huge facets behind success or failure, and for women, this is no different. Taking the rocky path of a female entrepreneur or leader in a company makes it that much more essential to study the art of influencing others to fall in line with your plans. Once this is achieved, there is arguably no dream that cannot be accomplished.

Nicole Dominique Le Maire

Nicole Dominique Le Maire is an HR Expert and co-author of the book The Female Leader, Empowerment, Confidence & Passion available here:http://thefemaleleader.biz

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