Geronimo Leadership Coaching

I'm Yours

Sunday post- Radiant Day- I'm beaming with happiness and wanted to share it with YOU!
I've got this song stuck in my head: I'm Yours , from Jason Mraz, and the lyrics are simply beautiful.

So I figured I would tweet them, and send a link to the You Tube Video. Then I asked myself: why not just simply post it on my blog, with the lyrics, so that I can look at it when I want, read the lines and dance along with you?

What does it all have to do with leadership and women?

Everything! It's about LOVE, it's about Empathy, it's about Choosing Joy in Your Life, Opening Yourself and Finding the Freedom to Express Your Essence.

It's about Open Leadership!

I'm not sure whether it would fit in a Harvard business Blog, but who cares?  :-) If you're reading my blog, you already know it's both professional and personal, non-conventional and irreverent!

So, enjoy your SUN DAY!

"Well, you done done me and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but your so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks, now I'm tryin to get back
Before the cool done run out I'll be givin it my best test
And nothin's gonna stop me but divine intervention
I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some

But I won't hesitate no more,
No more, it cannot wait
I'm yours

Well open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
Look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
Listen to the music at the moment people dance and sing
Were just one big family
And it's our godforsaken right to be loved loved loved loved loved

So, I won't hesitate no more,

No more, it cannot wait I'm sure

There's no need to complicate our time is short

This is our fate

I'm yours

Scooch on over closer, dear
And I will nibble your ear

I've been spendin' way too long checkin' my tongue in the mirror
and bendin' over backwards just to try to see it clearer
But my breath fogged up the glass
and so I drew a new face and I laughed
I guess what I'd be sayin' is there ain't no better reason
to rid yourself of vanities and just go with the seasons
it's what we aim to do
our name is our virtue

But I won't hesitate no more,
no more it cannot wait
I'm yours

well open up your mind and see like me
open up your plans and damn you're free
look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
listen to the music of the moment come and dance with me
ah, la one big family
it's your god forsaken right to be loved, loved, loved, loved

open up your mind and see like me
open up your plans and damn you're free
look into your heart and you'll find love love love love
listen to the music of the moment come and dance with me
ah, la happy family
it's our god forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved

it's our god forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved
listen to the music of the moment come and dance with me
ah, la peaceful melodies
it's you god forsaken right to be loved loved loved loved"

4 Presentation Lessons From Dynamite Scott Berkun

 

The only thing I knew from Scott Berkun until now, from France, was the huge success of his latest book with the provocative and teasing tittle "Confessions of a Public Speaker".

I read somewhere on Twitter that this guy reminded someone of Tom Cruise 's character in Magnolia.Not a big fan of Tom Cruise, let alone of The Preacher ' style, so I didn't investigate further.

This guy looked a little like dynamite for me, red and dangerous!

By mistake, I picked up one extract in Spanish, but actually, since I don't understand Spanish, it's less insulting to watch!(sorry the Spanish speakers, the content might be very rude). Just check the first minute and the body language gives you enough clues to understand what's going on...

Then I read "How to be Passionate" (when you open your mouth) and stopped to watch Scott Berkun for the first time. I made my own judgement. Make yours!

Scott Berkun 's 4 "lessons" :

1. My life is at stake.
2. I believe what I say .
3. I’ve extended my range.  
4. I have great respect for anyone who voluntarily listens to me.

Here's what I wrote on his blog:

"Now I understand why people talk so much about you and why you make such an impact.
It’s the first time I’m watching a video of you, and frankly, I expected you to come across much more excited and “like a preacher on cocaine”.
Instead, I see simplicity, honesty and humility wrapped into pure dynamite, “ignited” by 100% PRESENCE."

Triggered 3 ideas :

      1) In business presentations too,the most essential is to believe and care about what you say and why you say it.

No wonder we, as presentation coaches and trainers, find it so hard for corporate clients to express themselves with Passion. Do they believe in what they say? Do they actually feel that put their life at stake when they present? Do they respect those who listen to them?…
Our role is to remind them of the fire which is burning inside of them.Why do they CARE?
Taking them back in touch with their inner child is one way.Telling their story is another.

      2) There’s a cultural dimension when you’re speaking in public.

I agree with Olivia Mitchell's comment that there’s a cultural dimension when you’re speaking in public. We each need to find what is the most comfortable with our personality and our culture and pay attention to the audience’s culture. But point 4 (respecting anyone who’s listening to me) should take care of that! More on cultural dimensions with my blog series on 12 Women Speakers, 12 Communication Styles , based on the SPM approach.

      3) There are other kinds of energy.

Scott Berkun talks about volume, about gestures, postures, facial expressions.Smiling and making eye contact are also potential “dynamites”.Using my background and training as a theater actress, I’ve discovered other sources of energy. It comes from within, from your desire to share. It can be turned off or full watts, just like a light bulb.You hardly need to speak very loud or gesticulate when you find it. Actually you could very much stay still and silent and be intensely present.

Tap into your desire to share and contact this energy.

What does it look like? How does it feel? How does it sound like? How could you make it grow in intensity? How could you translate it so that people around you get it and act on it directly?

I started writing this post last Friday. Meanwhile I gave two days of training in Stress Management that ended just yesterday evening.

Stress is like the fire burning inside of us which ignites the energy and the passion Scott Berkun is talking about. Too little and you're invisible or boring, too much and you're burning yourself and others!

I spent two days helping managers to "play with this fire" and learn how to handle it with great respect and courage in order to share it with honesty, simplicity and effectiveness.

Having read Scott Berkun's 4 presentation lessons helped me give this talk.I made sure that each of the participants recognized the powerful energy there was inside of them and learned how to channel it and spread it,respecting their personal rythms and differences, according to the cultural environment they were into.

I hope it will help you, too!

What sort of reactions does it trigger, for you?

How do you connect with this fire? Does it look, feel, sound like dynamite or like camp fire?

What kind of fire are you willing to share today?

About "fire", read a warming and delightful post and short video from Terrence Gargiulo in Story Matters Stories & Fire.

Fun is Incredibly Powerful in Presentation

I thought this post would be the easiest to write, in the series of Six Trends in 2010 Presentations.

Incredibly hard! I've been struggling with it for one week. Okay, there was Christmas in between, and a house still full of teenagers, their friends and a husband in holidays, all hungry all the time and wanting to be entertained...Still...I thought I'd have fun writing this last post of the year and "end in beauty" 2009.

 What is Fun? Is putting a silly hat and making jokes fun? Mmmm, NO!

(By the way,the title of this picture is fun "overexcited nerd")

What is NOT Fun? Serious-Hard-Tedious-Soporific-Moralistic-Preaching-Self-centered-Righteous-Perfection-BORING!

Why is Fun so hard? It's because it's often unpredictible. If I tell you I'm going to write a post about fun , I find myself seriously paralyzed by the injunction I need to find funny stuff to say...

Why is it so powerful in presentation? It makes us human and alive! And we're craving for humanity in our virtual world...

                      

What is Fun? Fun is the "E" in TED. Fun is Entertaining.Fun is humour. Fun is play. Fun is light. Fun is creative. Fun is joy. Fun is freedom. Fun is free!

Here are The TED Commendments - Rules that every speaker needs to know, thanks to Tim Longhurst.

1. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick
2. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before
3. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion
4. Thou Shalt Tell a Story
5. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy
6. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
7. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desparate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
8. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
9. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
10. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee

What is NOT fun? You would think statistics, graphs, data, figures are not fun.Or announcing the decline of Occident.Think again!Have you ever heard and watched Hans Roesling talk about statistics and the rise of Asia?

So you've got it. Anything can be fun, entertaining. Even the most boring business report.

Why is Fun so hard? Especially when we're speaking in public.

• Hey, we want to be taken seriously! We present our personal selves in front of others, publicly...at work!
• Work is supposed to be a serious place, (Working is for adults-Playing is for Children...)
• We don't want to make a fool of ourselves!
• We want to be in control and "masters" of the situation!
• We're supposed to be the Experts...
• We don't want to show the others that in fact...we don't know
• We are afraid of humiliation in front of our peers
  

Why is fun so powerful in presentations? And especially online?

"Le rire est le propre de l'homme"   Rabelais Laughter is unique to man said Rabelais(and not" laughter is the cleanser of man", like I found in Wikipedia!)...although laughter can clean the soul...

When we're funny and making people laugh, we are saying:

"Hey! I am a human being! Just like you!"

We make mistakes. We fail.We're authentic. REAL. VULNERABLE. ALIVE.
Opposed to the remote and virtual perfect image on our desktops...

Fun has become part of our life, personally, socially and professionally.

• Just read Peter Bregman 's article in The very academic Harvard Business Review "How to Make Problem Solving Fun?"

• Or Michael Deutch in the Mindjet 's blog "Become a presentation Superhero"

• And a last one, before this post gets too long, Carmine Gallo in Business Week "Your next presentation Should borrow from Broadway".

What are you waiting for?

When you prepare for Your Next presentation:

1. Make it Simple
2. Make it Short
3. Make it Personal
4. Make it Interactive
5. Make it Collaborative
6. Make it Fun!

And I'm still working hard on point 2!

Bonus! If you are a presenter and want to learn more about Making Presentation Fun, join Lisa Braithwaite's  Ning Network at  Speak Schmeak 

You will find, among many others, Olivia Mitchell, Steve Cherches, Cliff Atkinson, Rich Hopkins,Tony Ramos sharing stories on what they have done to add fun to a presentation.

You can share your own stories right now, in the comment box just for you!

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve

Have Fun!

Do You Want To Play The Presentation Planning Game?

 Have you ever felt this growing anxiety at the idea of planning the structure of your presentation?

If you're a bit of a perfectionist,  passionate about your subject, and a little lacking confidence, you might have the temptation to spend phase one of the preparation in gathering ideas, information, data, examples, anecdotes, images, etc.... Great brainstorming! The danger is to get caught into that phase and start acting as a starving squirrel before a freezing winter.

 

(Scrat, from Ice Age,  an American film created by Blue Sky Studio and released by 20th Century Fox.)

Collect as many nuts as possible, avidly,compulsively and stock them in dreadful fear of being caught "illegitimate".

Here is a tool which works like a game and adds the fun and clarity usually lacking at this stage of the preparation. Simple, easy, fun and friendly!

Created by CleaveFast, part of Bunchberry & Fern

The simple, yet brilliant idea, is to turn things upside down.

Instead of starting by collecting and brainstorming, opening more and more windows at the risk of losing your time , purpose and nerves (and totally your audience, by the way!), you start by the end.

In CleaveFast 's game, the first questions to ask yourself are:

"What will be different about the world when I've finished?

What will these people know that they didn't know before?

When people are telling their friends about this presentation, they will say..."

Even if we already knew this, nothing really new under the sun, the necessity of finding your Key Message, we all seem to forget it at the minute we start preparing, and rush like the good zealous student for more data and content.

Three added values in CleaveFast's Pyramid Tool

1. Make it look like a game

Children still trapped inside of grown-ups LOVE playing games. Well, I do, anyway!

And Play is Good for You! The purpose of the game is to get your ideas climb the pyramid.You have three basic instructions.

• Decide what your "Global Message" is
• Find three powerful stories, images, anecdotes to illustrate your global message
• Only then, brainstorm and gather ideas in many forms (words, images, audios, movies...)

That's when a Mindmap is pretty useful and fun to do!

Once you have done this, you can start climbing  the Pyramid. Your ideas will get to the top if they belong to the Rules of Three and add real value to the three stories you already have

     2.  Make it visual and easy to remember

 

     3.  Integrate the rule of Three Stories

Remember Steve Jobs announcement speech at Stanford?

Well, you don't have to be Steve Jobs to do this, the very old and simple idea of using three stories to illustrate your speech. Back to the origins of storytelling, ancient myths and religions in all cultures have used the rule of three . More about it in How To Use The Rule of Three in Your Speech by Andrew Dlugan in Six Minutes Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog.

So, what's in it for Your Next presentation?

• Take a deep breath before you dive into your subject and take the time to reflect, project yourself in the future and ask yourself very simple questions, aimed at your Audience 's needs.
• Then, play the game and follow the Simple Plan in 3 steps!

The idea is to relax, knowing you already have the essential : Your key message. How to craft it? "C'est une autre paire de manches!" *Some clues in Speech writing articles to be followed...

*"That's another kettle of fish?"