A Modest Proposal

What is it you think is success when you stand up to say something? We tend to get caught up in stuff that can - ultimately - take us away from our actual goal.

On the long list of things we are told to consider/do "right" when we are speaking/presenting - are often things that can ultimately freeze us up a bit. Remember being told not to cross your arms or being told that you need to gesture? It can lead to some... overthinking.

It's like learning to play golf - there's how to hold the club, the backswing, the downswing, the shifting of the club face, the keep-your-eye-on-the-ball.... But if you want to improve, you can really focus just on one thing. It's not the best analogy I could give you but if you've ever tried to master a new sport, you likely have found yourself trying to do it all. Perfectly. And then sucking because, well... you're human.

But the point I want to make is this: In the pursuit of presentation perfection - the "doing it right" effort often misses the most fundamental metric of all:

You could speak to ten different people and get ten different opinions about what the "right" way to present is all about. But if you talk to the most important stakeholder - you - I suspect these are going to be the elements that have you walking away feeling successful.

Chime In: What's a presentation "metric" that ultimately kind of messes you up?