Geronimo Leadership Coaching

A New Beginning: Here Comes Geronima!

After a Spring break, I'm back with my Women Speakers Series, ready to blog about Women, Leadership and Creativity.

Women in big corporations, or women entrepreneurs?

Women learning to play the rules in a men's world or women creating their own rules, in a new world?

What about new learning, women adopting new technologies with ancient wisdom? Women embracing change with confidence, wild and raw power and generous enthusiasm in a global world?

Too many topics, too many tags, too many categories. What about the focus I had decided at the end of last year? Women Leaders and Presentation Skills?

Time to pause and reflect.

What happened?

During the last two weeks, mother nature has been very generous with us, at home, in France.

• Our family expanded. My husband 's eldest daughter gave birth to a beautiful baby boy , we all went to visit her in Arcachon, near Bordeaux
• Back home, we spent one week taking care of our garden, harvesting  the blossoming flowers and trees  with our ...seven children. 
• I took a break from blogging and put my professional project on hold.

Our home has been a busy beehive! I gave myself 100% to my family's needs and adapted myself to the telluric changes such an event meant into our lives, for my husband and me, too.

What did I learn?

• I reflected on women's ages and aging, took comfort in reading the wisdom of older women. I connected with plenty of wonderful young grand-mothers, around me and on twitter and shared experiences with them.I met Julie Daley and her wonderful blog and passion for the creative power of women.
• I discovered a whole new world and also realized I had still a long way to go, to get my youngest ones (and the big ones too!) ready for adulthood.
• I was reminded that time was running. I was not ready to become a retired grand-ma.I had still plenty of things to accomplish.I felt torn between a sense of eternity and emergency.

What are the challenges today?

Feeding my big family, making money out of my business, living my talk and empowering myself, as a woman.

• I received two major training and consulting offers, which will imply transformation in my business, more travels, shifts in my clients. It took me back to my past expertise, to the corporate world and big business schools and universities. Is it what I wanted to spend the rest of my days doing? The clients who called me wanted me to coach men senior managers. How am I going to fit in all? Where does Geronimo fit ? Where is my soul?
• I also reflected on my experience with "Your Next Presentation", the innovative and interactive online training and coaching tool I had launched back in January. People seemed to be very curious and interested, but nobody bought it! I was also very shy at promoting it, almost ashamed of making a sales page, of tweeting and blogging about it. Having very mixed feelings about marketing techniques for coaches, and still looking for my true way to sell, being kind and entertaining, and not too pushy, but still selling! I still very much believe it can work, provided I find the way to market it to the people who need it!

Who are the people I want to spend most time working with?

• Who are my customers? Corporate executives, MBA students, high potential managers? Am I really writing for those when I'm blogging, when I'm twitting? When I'm building cooperation via Skype with wonderful brilliant women across the world?
• Or women entrepreneurs? Women in transition, just like me, just like you, women consultants, coaches, trainers, business owners who desperately want to prove they can make it, even if it's an everyday chalenge? To blossom as a woman, as a mom as a business owner, as a peaceful warrior, as global citizen, as a creative human being?

Wow! I needed a big breathing space to think about it all!

Today, everybody's back to school with new classes (the 3 youngest), to university with new exams (3 oldest),back home with a new baby (the new mom), back to the corporate world with new projects( my hubby) and back to Geronimo Leadership for me!

Where's my North Pole Star? What's my vision? What are my priorities? What's my next step?

Why am I writing all this?

Because Geronimo is slowly morphing into a new Geronima, a feminine creative essence of the wild woman 's wisdom.

And sharing the process of this transformation is exactly what I want to spend my time doing during the next half of my life.

Giving birth to the new Eve and being the midwife of other women's blossoming.

Because I am re-designing a new website, where I will package all my expertise to serve women entrepreneurs, who want to transform their dreams into reality, a step-by-step road-map, helping them keep their soul, their compass and their energy and have fun doing it!

The feminine Anima of Geronimo is emerging. I still have my bow and my arrows, I'm still riding my wild horse, but I don't have to pretend to be an old Male Apache Chief anymore.

Because I care for you and wanted to let you know the changes ahead.

I would love to hear your feedback and reactions to this post where I'm sharing my truth and my vulnerability. I really care for your feedback.

Transition places are not famous for being comfortable and in the midst of my life, I'm torn between conflicting directions again (like in the myth of Demeter and Artemis, I shared earlier in a post)

Here are 3 questions for you:

1. What do you think about the change from Geronimo to Geronima?
2. What would you like to find more of in this blog, now that it's more focused on women entrepreneurs and less on big corporations?
3. Do you have a similar story you would like to share here? A story of transition or a challenge about positioning yourself, about finding your niche, about getting to know which client you want to work with?

How a little Flip Camera can Save Your Presentation

  

Who said "guys like gadgets/tools, women like shoes"? Wake up to 2010: this is not true anymore! Women would spend more on gadgets than on designer shoes, especially if the gadgets are designed for them!

Look at these models... Dr Freud and "Live Your Dreams"!

Better than a new pair of designer shoes!(which, by the way, I would NOT recommend wearing for giving presentations!)

For Christmas, I ordered the same gift as my 12 year old girl: a flip mino camera.

I'm using this device because it's affordable, reliable and plain basic to use. Plus it's small,cute and I like the name!

What I learned from my 12 year old girl

She uses her Flip Camera to create short movies of her and her brothers and her friends skate boarding and snow boarding.They play these short videos over and over again. They laugh and giggle endlessly...

Guess what also happens when she does that?

• She gets immediate 100 % honest FEEDBACK about her performance
• She clearly sees what she's good at and what needs to be improved
• She acts on this feedback and corrects by practicing again and again
• She's LEARNING incredibly fast

Then, she uploads the best ones to YOU TUBE, and promotes herself on her blog! Clever girl!

How can a flip camera save Your Presentation?

On why you need to video yourself, read my previous post!

If you have more sophisticated cameras, and know how to use them, or if you can be filmed by a pro, even better.

But you can already improve your next presentation by rehearsing with your flip camera.

You'd be tempted (as I was!) to use your build-in camera in your laptop . Very tempting because then, you just have to look at the little green light and speak, without worrying where the tripod is...

Don't do that for presentations! I did...It's awfully hard to look natural! When you're going to be presenting in front of your audience, will you be sitting behind a desk? No, the first thing speakers do when they are called is to stand up.

Unless it's an interview,you want to be standing to speak up!

Here's what you will be looking at, passionately:  a weird cyclops on 3 legs = flipcam on tripod!

If you could persuade your best friend to sit in front of you and listen to you while you rehearse and record yourself, it would be a big advantage!

Then, you will have someone to look and to speak to. Make sure they sit very next to the tripod where you install your flip.

If you are on your own at home, or in your hotel room, rehearsing before the big Day, then imagine your best friend, or your "ideal client" is watching you and imagine you look at him/her.I know, it's hard :-)

You could imagine you had a friendly audience listening carefully  ...

Believe me, after practice and a lot of imagination, it works!

Maybe this picture could help...

What will YOU learn?

• To see yourself like others see you
• To increase your self awareness
• To memorize your speech and then be able to improvise, if necessary
• To spot details you were not aware of and work on your blind spot
• To be ahead of the learning curve!

Then, just like my 12 year old daughter, you could upload your company's presentation to YOU TUBE or promote yourself on your website and on your blog!

Next week, it's my turn! Watch out this space!

Video Yourself and Boost Your Presentation Skills!

Are you about to make a presentation?

Are you wondering how others can see you?

Would you like to learn how to dramatically and quickly improve your performance?

Video Yourself!

What Speaking coach Mike Landrum says, interviewed by Marc Ragan, is plain simple:

• The first step of any kind of learning has to be "self-awareness"
  
• Most of us, when we're in a presentation mode, might be self-conscious, but not self-aware
• Video enables us to see ourselves from the point of view of the audience
  
• Preparing with Video shortens the learning curve

I love Marc Ragan videos. They're short,entertaining and packed with practical tips.

  Watch Mike Landrum video ,where he  discusses the biggest stumbling block of speakers, how video can improve their performance, and the problem with using PowerPoint in speeches.

If You can watch this video here, on my blog, it's thanks to Twitter ,Rebecca Renner ,Krzys Baszton and Jonathan Thomas.

 

In my next post, I will tell you how a flip camera can save Your Next Presentation!

Cooking Recipe: Presentation "a la Cicero"

You want to learn how to make a good presentation?

Who better than Cicero himself could teach you?

Here is the recipe of Chef Cicero, the master of Rhetoric in Ancient Rome:

Presentation "a la Cicero

Serves a small meeting as well as a thousand people conference. Adapt the length of the cooking to the length of the speech. Now and then, stir the pot. Adapt the cooking temperature and seasoning (delivery, especially) to the type of audience and the result expected...

First find the ingredients  (inventio):

• Fresh and juicy Arguments

• Piquant and sharp Counter-arguments

• Toothsome Ideas

• Scrumptious Examples

• Sweet Anecdotes

• Spicy Stories

• Mouth watering Savory metaphors

• Peppery Data

• Gustatory Images

Arrange the ingredients in logical order, by importance and opportunity (dispositio)

Then, dress up these ideas and embellish them with style (elocutio)

Make sure you make them tasty and memorable (memoria)

Finally, serve and deliver with art of grace, dignity, gesture, modulation of voice and face (actio).

(Cicero denounces Cataline)

This recipe has crossed thousands of years and you can find it applied today, in 2010 in politics of course and courtrooms, but also in the corporate world, at the work place every where, every day, all across the world.

Every time you prepare a speech, a presentation, a mission statement, a  sales or marketing pitch, a web seminar, a tele class, a job interview, an elevator speech etc..., you benefit from Cicero's 5 canons of classical rhetoric, whether you're conscious of it or not!

5 Key Steps in Cicero's recipe to make a presentation

• Invention : brainstorming and “playing devil’s advocate”, determining major topics, arguments and counter-arguments.The danger here might be to muse endlessly and collect a bountiful amount of ingredients, not all relevant .You can also use whatever you happen to have in your cupboard, fridge, cellar, kitchen garden,stock of previous presentations...Or you can combine the two and search and purchase exactly what you need, according to your core message, your intention and your audience.

• Arrangement : it must include  an introduction, a statement of facts, a division between ideas (if appropriate), proof or evidence supporting all ideas, refutation of ideas, an optional digression, and a conclusion.It refers to structure and logic.

• Style: Invention and arrangement are concerned more with what is being said, style is concerned with how it is being said. L'Art et la Manière...Your Style! It may include metaphors, ethos and pathos to  persuade , convey emotions and have a great impact. (we'll see that in other posts)

• Memory: you need to have an innate knowledge of your topic, be able to memorize it and also enhance some of the most convincing aspects. You want to be prepared to deal with interruptions,feedback, questions and still stay on your track.It refers to learning and anticipation for an interactive presentation.

• Delivery : like style, delivery focuses on how it is being said, all the non-verbal aspect of your presentation (voice,smile, eye-contact,gestures,posture,breathing, rythm, pauses, intonation, volume, etc...). You will adapt your delivery according to your audience and to the desired outcome of your speech.

In order to make Your Next Presentation a Success, you need to follow these simple steps, work hard and get yourself a seasoned presentation skills coach.

Contact me at Geronimo Leadership Coaching

One-on-one presentation coaching on content, design and delivery

email me : [email protected]  tel 00(33)6 73 70 53 09

Sign up for my new product, offering the best of blended learning on YOUR desktop!

You can learn to present the classical way, and you can also learn to cook the Roman way, as if you were living in Cicero's Rome, 55 BC!

Can’t resist including this boar recipe, in hommage to Asterix and Obelix!

Roast Wild Boar

"Aper ita conditur: spogiatur, et sic aspergitur ei sal et cuminum frictum, et sic manet. Alia die mittitur in furnum. Cum coctus fuerit perfundutur piper tritum, condimentum aprunum, mel, liquamen, caroenum et passum."

"Boar is cooked like this: sponge it clean and sprinkle with salt and roast cumin. Leave to stand. The following day, roast it in the oven. When it is done, scatter with ground pepper and pour on the juice of the boar, honey, liquamen, caroenum, and passum." (Apicius, 330)

For this you would need a very large oven, or a very small boar, but the recipe is equally successful with the boar jointed. Remove the bristles and skin, then scatter over it plenty of sea salt, crushed pepper and coarsely ground roasted cumin. Leave it in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, turning it occasionally. Wild boar can be dry, so wrap it in slices of bacon before you roast it. At the very least wrap it in pork caul. Then put it into the oven at its highest setting and allow it to brown for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4, and continue to roast for 2 hours per kg, basting regularly. Meanwhile prepare the sauce. To make caroenum, reduce 500ml wine to 200ml. Add 2 tablespoons of honey, 100ml passum, or dessert wine, and salt or garum to taste. Take the meat out of the oven and leave it to rest while you finish the sauce. Pour off the fat from the roasting tin, then deglaze it with the wine and the honey mixture. Pour this into a saucepan, add the roasting juices, and fat to taste. Carve the boar into thin slices at the table, and serve the sweet sauce separately." 

 "Around the Roman Table Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome "by Patrick Faas

Now, you just need to find a boar...

 

What a Professor, Chef Gusto and Ratatouille Can Teach Us About Presentation...

Yesterday, I had the greatest pleasure to receive in my REAL mailbox a package from The Royal Mail.

The package contained two brand new books from Max Atkinson: Lend Me Your Ears, All you need to know about making speeches and presentations and Speech-making and Presentation MADE EASY, seven essential steps to success.

What Do Professor Max Atkinson, Chef Gusto and Ratatouille have in common?

 They have the recipe of "How to make a Presentation" and I'm going to share their secret...

It had all started with Twitter, with a simple tweet from Max "I am looking for someone to translate my books in French", followed by a short exchange of DMs (direct messages) and emails. And here it comes, in my mailbox!

I read the biggest one (Lend me Your Ears) yesterday evening and again this morning, and I am even more committed to sharing it with the French audience (I also need to find a French publisher by the way!)

There is especially one sentence, at the beginning and at the end of the book, which is for me the core message:

"Anyone can do it, once they know how".

"When it comes to mastering the power of the spoken word, the only thing that separates the hesitant majority from the gifted few is an understanding of the needs of audiences and the techniques that meet those needs. Where the gifted minority has the edge is in having had the good luck of being blessed with an intuitive grasp of how to do it. The rest of us need to work at it, but the good news is that everyone who is able to get messages across in a private conversation has the potential to do the same in public...And the great thing is that anyone can do it, once they know how."  Max Atkinson in Lend Me Your Ears.

Does it ring a bell?

Watch:

In this video clip of the excellent Pixar movie Ratatouille (one of my favorite, with the Indestructibles!),

Gusto, the French Chef, whispers into Remy's ears his secret:

"Anyone Can Cook!"

I've written the dialogue as if it was taking place in your company's team:

Imagine the CEO of your company, Mr or Mrs Jones, pointing at one your newly hired team member, let's say Miss Bridget :

- Mrs Jones: "Now, who's THAT?"

- You: "Oh...Her? It's nobody."

- Mrs Jones: "Not nobody: she's part of the team"

- You: "She's  (fill in the blank with: lacks experience, not confident,, intern, introvert, shy person, hard-working but dull,not a speaker, not an expert, confused, not clear, not articulate, lacks charisma, etc....). She doesn't do presentations."

- Mrs Jones : "But...She could?"

- You: "Hum...No."

- Mrs Jones :"How do you know? What do I always say? Anyone can present!"

- You: "Well....Yeah, anyone CAN, that doesn't mean anyone SHOULD!"

Unless you learn how to!

I believe, like professor Max Atkinson and like Chef Gusto, that anyone can learn to make delicious and yummy presentations!

If you feel like my Bridget in the story, you need to find yourself a mentor, like Remy found Gusto in Ratatouille, someone who believes it IS possible.

Someone who believes in YOU.

Someone who will teach you how to and then coach you, empower you, giving you the way to find your own voice, to grow your confidence.

I shared with you "Le  Secret des Chefs", next I'm going to give you the recipe!

Little Chief, Geronimarion.

The Girl Effect

Have you heard of The Girl Effect?

It's a movement on the rise.It's no big deal...Just the future of humanity.

Why Girls?

"Adolescent girls are uniquely capable of raising the standard of living in the developing world. Girls are the most likely agents of change, but they are often invisible to their societies and to our media."

"When everyone-girls, parents, teachers, executives, artists, hairdressers, forest rangers, rock stars, presidents, investors, advertisers, skateboarders, truckers, cowboys, organizations, chefs, teenagers - knows about The Girl Effect, then real change can happen.The site is just the beginning.The end is nothing less than ending poverty."

What can we do?

First, simply watch this 2 minutes presentation, a few animated words dancing at the rythm of our thoughts. Learn how:

• Short
• Simple
• Entertaining
• Visual

Presentations can be highly effective and powerful

Then share, speak about it and contribute to the ripple effect.

Want the facts on the Power of Girls?

Go to The Girl Effect site and download the girl effect fact sheet. Very valuable information to discover and share with the world.

Why do I post such a video on a presentation skills blog?

Remember Seth Godin's eBook big buzz earlier this year? What matters for me most in 2010:

  Generosity   Women

Speaking (((((RIPPLE))))) eDO  

  Geronimo Leadership Coaching

 I  use my Generosity, Creativity and Passion to Boost Your   Next Online Presentation !

  And I really love to work with women from all generations, speaking all languages or with men who believe in women's leadership and actively support them!

The Girl Effect combines all these words, and want to be speaking about it!

Please share this post, go to the Girl Effect Site and make ripples!