Motivational Quote: Hope

“Without hope there is nothing.” – Bob Gibson, Hall of Fame Pitcher

Motivational Quote: Expecting Success

“Success isn’t something you chase. It’s something you have to put forth the effort constantly. Then maybe it’ll come when you least expect it.” – Michael Jordan, Basketball Legend

How our “Date with Disney” can improve your next Presentation

We can hardly contain our excitement. Tomorrow my family leaves for a week long trip to Disney World.

We have been preparing for this moment for years. We have saved up the money, booked and planned our trip extensively. We searched websites for tips on how to get the most out of our money, time and energy (The 3 currencies that we all have available to us). We have planned how we were going to get there (Southwest Airlines http://www.southwest.com/, where we are going to stay http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdwi/en_CA/resorts/resortLanding?id=AllStarSportsResortLandingPage , what theme parks we are going to visit, and even which restaurants we are going to eat in.(Because you have to book 180 days in advance to get reservations to some restaurants).

In fact, we have spent almost as much energy planning for this trip as we did for our wedding (17 years ago). And you may be asking yourself why have we spent so much time and energy into planning for this trip?

The reason we have invested so much into the planning of this experience is that we want to have the best time. We have tried to plan for and eliminate all of the things that could possibly go wrong, in order for us to have a fantastic (and memorable) experience.

So all this planning got me thinking.

Why don’t we put the same effort into delivering a killer sales presentation or a speech?

The truth is that the pros do.

They invest time / energy / money into preparing in order to eliminate all the things that could possibly go wrong.

According to David Peoples, in his awesome book Presentations Plus http://www.amazon.ca/Presentations-Plus-Peoples-Proven-Techniques/dp/0471559563,

“95% of how well your presentation is going to go will be determined before you even begin.”

And I say that, “Increased Preparation leads to Increased Confidence and Increased Confidence leads to Increased Success.”

So think about how you are going to prepare for your next presentation.

Think about how you are going to Prepare your Material.

Think about how you are going to Prepare the Environment.

And think about how you are going to Prepare for the Moment.

I will go into more detail on these topics (and lessons learned from Disney World) in future blogs.

As for now, my family and I have a date with Mickey Mouse and we are prepared to have an awesome experience. So as Tigger says, “TTFN (Tah, tah for now)