How To Present May 2012

MAY 2012

www.michellebowden.com.au

IN THIS ISSUE US Speaker Kathleen Ronald shares her tips for professional presenting How to tell good stories Get referrals flowing...

5 SECRETS to successful presenting Service with FLAIR! Are you boring your customers?

PLUS: Inspiring Success Stories www.michellebowden.com.au

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DIARY DATE INFLUENTIAL PRESENTATION SKILLS (2-day Public Program) Join Michelle at her next public program IN SYDNEY: • May 22-23 • June 26-27 • August 22-23 IN BRISBANE: • October 24-25

Who is Michelle Bowden?

Michelle is an expert in influential presentation skills in business. She has run her 2-day Influential Presentation Skills program over 570 times with many thousands of people and she’s been nominated for Educator of the Year 4 years running.

Michelle is one of only 25 Australian females who is a Certified Speaking Professional - the highest designation for speakers in the world.

Michelle’s Update Welcome to the May issue of How to Present! This issue is packed with articles that will assist you to present with greater confidence and influence in business.

I’ve personally never had so many bookings in my training calendar so thank you to all of you who are forwarding this magazine to your friends, families and colleagues. I really appreciate your support. I’m so proud to tell you that the subscription rate for How to Present has increased tenfold in the last year thanks to all your support. If every reader sent the link to this magazine to just one other person I’d be well on my way to sharing tips for presenting in business with my target readership of 100,000 people! So please do keep spreading the word about How to Present for me - tell everyone you know!

And how exciting is this .... in line with the massive growth and success of How to Present, I’m excited to be featuring the first Professional Speaker from the US on my cover this month! Kathleen Ronald is just a lovely person, with a super sense of humour and is an expert on networking so you make some serious $$$ - Kathleen shares her top tips for presenting in business with you.

I’m also featuring two success stories in this edition so you can see the excellent results people achieve when they take their presentation skills development seriously - thank you Jackie Giles from George Weston Foods and Emma Yates from Amway. I hope you draw some personal inspiration from these clever girls!

Do check out the helpful article from Andrew Griffiths on How to get your referrals flowing, and from my great buddy Jason Jay - the Flair Guy - on how to use questioning cleverly for results. And I’ve shared the secret to effective storytelling, and my 5 Secrets to Successful Presenting. PLUS the wonderful Yvonne Godfrey shares her tips for those of you with children (young and old) on how to turn mistakes into maturity milestones (actually I thought it good advice even if you don’t have children!)

So grab yourself a ’cuppa’, put your feet up and have a read! And most importantly, make sure you put the invaluable advice into immediate action so you see some fast results. Happy Presenting!

For a list of Michelle’s clients please visit: www.michellebowden.com.au

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5 SECRETS TO SUCCESSFUL PRESENTING

BY MICHELLE BOWDEN Being able to communicate in an influential way so the audience hears your message and then changes their behaviour accordingly is not just about what you say, it’s also about what you do.

Here are five tips for making your communication more successful.

1. Get to know your audience Who are they?! What are they expecting from you and the message?! What are their objections?

What questions are they likely to ask you?! What will they need to hear to bring them on your side?

2.! Build Rapport Rapport is about a connection and a relationship between like-minded people.! Rapport encourages open mindedness, trust and confidence. We are more likely to accept ideas when we feel in rapport with the presenter.

Build rapport by minimising differences between you and your audience members.! You do this through your language, style, energy, eye contact, dress, use of jargon, storytelling, body language and vocal quality.

3.! Find a Mentor I realised early on in my career that if I was going to become an expert in presentation skills then I should hurry up and learn from the people who were already occupying that space!! So I set about working with the top speakers in Australia (both face to face and through their books and CDs and resources). In some cases I was lucky enough to actually become friends with some of these amazing people.! Through these relationships I’ve been gifted hundreds of tips and tools and strategies that have set me up as an expert in this area.! I recommend you do the same.! Find speakers you love and learn from them.

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4.! Be yourself Audiences are smart and will work it out pretty quickly if you’re faking it.! There’s a lot of talk around at the moment about authenticity – authenticity is a sense of integrity, trustworthiness, or the ‘real McCoy’!! The best advice for successful presenting that I could give you is just be yourself, because everyone else is ‘taken’!

5.! Seek reliable feedback and then put it into action It helps to practice in front of a live audience.

Especially if that audience contains other experienced presenters. Ask your colleagues, bosses and anybody else you respect to watch and listen to you and then to give you some feedback.! And while you’re at it, why not videotape yourself so you get feedback from your toughest critic: yourself. Record yourself and watch the video. You’ll be amazed, impressed and horrified by what you see and then make a plan to change the most obvious things first and fix things one step at a time.! The more you refine, the more refined you’ll become!! And you’ll notice this in turn will increase your confidence.

Successful presenting is something we can all master – it’s just a matter of knowing what to do and then doing it.!

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5 SMART WAYS TO GET REFERRALS FLOWING...

BY ANDREW GRIFFITHS Some people are great at it, some are not. If there are people you have been working with for years and you don’t refer potential customers to them on a regular basis, you need to address this straight away.

It isn’t just about your suppliers , it is about the places where you eat out, the people who take care of your car, the next door neighbour who owns a handy man business and so on. You need to always be looking for ways to refer other people’s businesses.

2. Help people refer customers to you If your business doesn’t get many word of mouth referrals, I hate to say it, but you are probably doing something(s) wrong. It might be lousy service, it might be that your products are too expensive or it might be a bad reputation. A tough love start to this article I know, and it’s true.

On the more positive side, let’s assume you run a great business, you are already getting quite a few referrals, but you want a lot more. What are some simple strategies to help out?

Here are five of my all time favourite ideas for generating referrals. They have worked for me for over 25 years and they apply equally today as they did when I bought my first business.

One of the biggest business mistakes we can all make is assuming people know what we do and what our business offers. The reality is most people know a bit about our business, not a lot.

It is our job to educate potential referrers to let them know not only what products or services we offer, but also what our ideal customers look like. The more specific you can be about this, the better quality referrals you will! receive.

1. Be a great referrer of other people’s businesses Look at the list of suppliers you deal with. Do you actively refer people to them? If not, why not? Today, business is about reciprocity and to put it very bluntly, if you want more referrals, give more referrals.

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5 SMART WAYS TO GET REFERRALS FLOWING... look for ways to drive business to others, and rest assured the more you refer the more you will be referred.

The more you make this a habit the easier it will become and soon you will find yourself referring people all day long. (Editors note: please start with Michelle Bowden Enterprises when you decide to adopt this excellent advice from Andrew!)

5. Get good at asking for referrals All of the above is a waste of time if you aren’t good at asking for referrals in the first place. I have written about this a lot in my books and blog posts, because it is the stumbling block for most people. So here is my simple three step process:

Whenever you introduce a new product or service, tell everyone and keep telling them.

3. Take the risk out of being referred The reason many people don’t refer others is simply because they don’t want to take responsibility or be blamed if the business they are referring buggers up in some shape or form.

Of course, this can happen as it is out of our control, but to keep getting referrals, you have to take the risk out of it for them.

This means, if you get a referral treat it as gold. It is new potential business that has probably cost you nothing to get. Deliver on every expectation and ask the new customer to report back to the business who referred them just to let them know they are being looked after.

Our first referral to a business is always the toughest, the more often we refer and get great feedback the more often we will refer new business.

4. Refer at least one other business every single day Referring people is like going to the gym – do it once a year and you will pay the price. Always www.michellebowden.com.au

Step One – ask the customer if they are happy with what you have provided.

Step Two – thank them for their business and let them know how great it would be to have another 50 quality customers just like them.

Step Three – tell them you love your business and you are working hard to grow it and you would really appreciate their help by recommending it to their family, friends and colleagues. The wording here is quite specific – follow it and you will get really rewarding results.

The more you use this system, the easier the words will flow.

OK, good luck generating those word of mouth referrals. There is a pile of business out there, you just have to be better at chasing it than your competitors.

Andrew Griffiths is an entrepreneur with a real passion for small business. He’s an international speaker, 8 time best selling author and passionate campaigner for notfor-profit organisations. www.andrewgriffiths.com.au

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SUCCESS STORIES! JACKIE GILES BUSINESS SERVICES DIRECTOR GEORGE

What kind of presenting do you do at work?

I seem to spend lots of my time presenting and influencing at work. Sometimes I present to my wider team of up to 100 people or a group of 6-10 executives or a team environment of 2-20 people. So its very varied and requires a different approach for each type of audience. !

What prompted you to attend Michelle's Influential Presentation Skills program?

WESTON FOODS Jackie Giles is currently Business Services Director at George Weston Foods, the producer of several iconic brands like Tip Top, Golden Pikelets and Don. She studied for the AICD diploma last year and actively supported the RUOK?day awareness campaign. In December, she joined the Board of the charity, NSW HeartKids. Jackie managed an exciting 22 year career in the telecommunications industry working in the UK and Australia, principally within Cable & Wireless, Optus and Vodafone, with time as a telecoms risk and management consultant in Ernst & Young.

Jackie has held a wide range of line management roles covering shared services, business program change management, risk management, customer experience, customer operations and complaints handling. She is married & the proud mum of two boys. www.michellebowden.com.au

In my last role, I wanted to help my whole team to develop their influencing and presentational skills. I wanted a reminder of what I was able to do well when presenting and what I need to improve upon. I was willing to share my experience and development needs with my team, so it became a fabulous opportunity for a team building event as well as a fantastic learning experience. The whole team thoroughly enjoyed the two days, even the most reticent and shy members relaxed and got stuck in.

Michelle’s style is energetic, infectiously positive and great fun. She makes everyone feel as though they can achieve new levels of presentational achievement. By the end of the two days, they have surprised themselves and gained a new confidence in presenting.

It was one of the best team building and learning events that I have done. !

How did Michelle's program change your attitude to presenting in business?

In almost all of my presentations, I have to present numbers and scenarios around numbers

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SUCCESS STORIES (CONT.) – it therefore is easy to sound bland and boring!

Its also easy to lose people’s attention quickly when talking numbers. Michelle’s program made me think differently about this aspect in presentations. Ok there are the numbers but its important to think about what you are saying about them, so I find a way of introducing an interesting fact or quick story about the number I need people to remember and this leaves a message on why its important for people to recall that number. At the same time, I make eye contact with several people in the room and pause a second to emphasise what I am saying is important to them at that moment. I have used this to great effect at different levels across the organisation. Michelle reminded me that what I say and making eye contact at critical points is key to getting your message across and getting someone to hold and recall that message. !

What positive outcomes have you achieved from improving your presentation skills? !

I have only been at my current company for just over 6 months so I have focused on getting to know people quickly, their motivations and a bit about their history in the company – I felt quite stressed before my earlier presentations but now I know my colleagues and team members better I can relax a bit more, this makes me a better presenter and influencer and gives me confidence to ad lib more effectively with questions or say I don’t know and turn it towards a colleague that will know the answer more accurately than I do.

How have improved presentation skills have impacted on your job and your career?! www.michellebowden.com.au

I am conscious of the impact of the pause and I now use it much more effectively. I love the opportunity to use “pacing and leading” or questions to grab people’s attention earlier in the presentation; in many ways its obvious but I had not really consciously considered this and styled my presentations effectively to grab the audience so early. For really important presentations to executives, I am more relaxed and this means they see me,!hear me and engage with me relatively quickly in my time in front of them.

Hopefully this means I am more impactful for them and they remember what I said to them!

Integrity, trust and accountability are important personal and business values – great presentations are a sound way of underpinning these are important to me. !

What were your top three take away's from Michelle's program?!

Firstly, speak from the heart – use voice tone , the pause and eye contact to achieve a natural way of doing this.

Secondly, use a quick story to make things interesting and memorable – this works for me when presenting lots of numbers or facts and as I improve my knowledge of people across the company.

And thirdly, throw a question back to a person in the room when you know they will give a better answer than you – makes them feel good, makes me more credible and makes the rest of the audience feel involved.

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STORYTELLING TIPS

BY MICHELLE BOWDEN We know that stories bring our content to life and help our audience to remember our key messages which makes us remarkable – worthy of remark around the dinner table at night.

You can extract a story from: •

anecdotes, metaphors, analogies, examples, case studies, legends, fairytales, myths, your personal and professional life, magazines, newspapers, journals, movies, family, friends and clients’ lives (with their permission of course), children’s stories and fables.

People often tell me they are afraid of telling a story because it’s not very professional. On the contrary, the right story can increase your professionalism because it can reinforce your experience and trustworthiness = your credibility.

There are many courses around that you can do to become a good storyteller. It’s really quite simple though, if you’d like to tell stories try Dale Carnegie’s Magic Formula Story. It is a really simple 3-part technique to use for telling stories.

Here’s what you do: •

•

•

Incident. Tell the story — this is where you deliver a short, interesting account (the incident) to your audience.

Point. You know how some storytellers tell the story, tell the story and tell the story.

And you sit there thinking, ‘get to the point’! Well, it’s really important that you deliver the point of your story. Don’t assume it’s obvious to your audience.

Benefit. This is where you link your story, and the point of your story, to the people

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in your audience who are listening to your story.

What else do I have to remember when I tell stories?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Love your story and tell it like you own it!

Talk with your audience not at them.

Keep the story short!

Make sure the story is relevant!

Use your gestures, stage emotive language and vocal emphasis when you tell your stories, so the story is exciting for your audience and to ensure you pull your audience into the story with you.

Aim to create a Referential Index Shift.

This is a fancy name that means the storyteller’s reference becomes the reference of the audience member. In other words — your story becomes their story!

Practise with your friends before delivering it to a business audience. Your friends love you and be more forgiving!

Listen to other storytellers as much as possible. You’ll learn heaps about what to

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TIPS FROM A PROFESSIONAL SPEAKER KATHLEEN RONALD PROFESSIONAL SPEAKER Kathleen Ronald is the “Queen of Business Connecting” and is an unparalleled networker, internationally renowned speaker-trainer, award winning business consultant and poet, contributing best-selling author, and the founder of Speaktacular. Kathleen has 30 years of experience providing custom, inspirational keynotes, training seminars and consultant to Fortune 500 companies, small business, and professional associations. She teaches how to Grow Your Net Worth by Growing Your Network; The Fortune is in The Follow-Up; and The Seven Deadly Sins of Business Networking. Kathleen has a HUGE library of training products designed to help entrepreneurs double business! www.speaktacular.com. How awesome that she is sharing her top tips for presenting with us this month. Here they are: 1. Million Dollar Impressions! Every item beyond your presentation is a part of your first impression! Your wardrobe, delivery style, cards, handouts, grammar, jokes, PowerPoint, show bags, and surveys, and more are all being judged!

2. Inspect what you expect! Murphy’s Law may come into play and you must take the www.michellebowden.com.au

responsibility to make sure all systems are a go!

Cover your assets or any hick-ups will be your ass.ets!

3. BE the Expert! Know your material, know your audience, and create a presentation that they walk away wanting more!

4. Present in a way that all learning styles can learn from you! Are you familiar with the D.I.S.C. system? If not, Google it and learn it! If you are talking only to the High I’s you will lose the D’s, S’s and C’s.

5. ADD Humor! If you are not funny, hire a comedian to write some lines that work for your style and topic.

6. ADD Props! Props support the audience to “remember” the teachings."

7. Less is More! In an effort to give a ton of value in one presentation, you will overwhelm and lose your audience if you have 30-50 slides ~ so use the (K.I.S.S.) system, Keep It Simple Sweetie when writing your talk.

8. Get out of your head and speak from your heart! People want to be able to “connect” with you and if you are not open, honest, authentic, and vulnerable, as you present ~ they will leave feeling bored with facts!

9. Never read from a script or stand behind a podium! USE that stage to create energy in the room!

10. Watch your tone, accent and speed of delivery! These points are critical if you want to be the best for your audiences’ listening and learning needs.

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SERVICE WITH FLAIR

BY JASON JAY - THE FLAIR GUY How does it feel to be invisible?

taken up leaves us vulnerable – and this is not a comfortable state for us.

Standing in line at a bank, or trying to flag down a waiter, or maybe even or waiting to return those unwanted Xmas pressies at Target! You know you’re there, they know you’re there, but no eye contact or acknowledgment is even attempted. First you get a little agitated then, as time ticks on, frustrated, and eventually down right ‘peed off’!

The easiest way to control is to initiate contact by way of verbal or non-verbal Acknowledgement. One of our most primal needs is to be validated or accepted and until this happens no effective communication is possible.

While being invisible may be the dream of many a Harry Potter fan, when it relates to business it’s the epitome of poor customer service.

Once we have validated another’s presence, the mission then is to quickly establish connection and build rapport. Imagine you’re in a retail shop and an assistant says ‘can I help you with something?’ What’s your reaction? ‘No thanks, just browsing (that’s to say; shove off I’m not going to buy anything!’). Alternatively if you met with a ‘How’s your day been?’ How do you respond now? Are you likely to be more open to the clerk/ salesperson? I’d guess so.

Why is this? I believe it is all revolves around one word: Control. When we put ourselves in a service situation we are effectively surrendering some of our control to the supplier or business.

Perhaps it’s to ask their advice or to help us fix an issue, whatever the reason we approach service staff to help us do something that we are unable to do ourselves.

By surrendering our control we then expect some reciprocity; we want the supplier to take control of the situation and assist us in meeting our needs. To give up control and not have it

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We have all attended those ‘smile’ training classes, where we are told that ‘smiles are free’ and that ‘the shortest distance between two people is a smile’. Remember that making eye contact and smiling is the easiest way to validate another’s presence and to non verbally communicate the message ‘I accept you’.

The key is to employ Open Questions as conversation starters (i.e. questions that start with what, why, how, who, what or when) and not closed questions “Can I help you? Are you right there?’ The more ‘threads’ of conversation you can spin between you and the correspondent the quicker you create rapport.

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SERVICE WITH FLAIR (CONT.) By understanding the importance of taking control and validating others’ simple presence we can make them feel accepted and ‘visible’.

By threading open questions through our early contact we can put them at ease and quickly establish a level of rapport & trust.

Sounds too simple? Remember this as you waiting in line next time with people avoiding eye contact with you – and then make a pledge to

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not do this yourself to those people you interact with at work day in, day out.

Jason Jay is a customer service expert. Jason is unique on the conference circuit, being the only speaker to mix-up cocktails on stage as well as teaching members of the audience a few tricks of the trade. His presentations allow for a lot of laughter and interactivity – plus a few tasty drinks at the end! For more visit www.theflairguy.com

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FIRST BASE MADE EASY

BY ROBIN POWIS Wearing the right foundation is essential to create a natural flawless look.

When choosing a foundation match it exactly to your skin tone, testing on a bare face gives the best result.

Apply foundation to cleansed and moisturised, or primed skin. Makeup King, Napolean Perdis says 'Not to prime is a crime'.

A primer creates a consistent complexion so your foundation applies seamlessly.

Avoid dark circles under your eyes with a concealer applied in a highlighting V. Perdis says

the top of the V starts on the inside and outside edges of each eye, meeting in a tip at the top of each cheekbone.

Then blend it.

Double check your foundation in daylight to ensure you have blended it correctly; you don't want to see where your makeup ends on the jaw or hairline. definingstyle.com.au

YOU CANNOT BORE SOMEONE INTO BUYING YOUR IDEA OR PRODUCT!

BY MICHELLE BOWDEN You cannot bore someone into buying your product! This is a famous saying by David Olgivy.

Have you ever been subjected to the classic sales pitch where the sales person told you all about themselves and how clever they are, instead of listening to you tell them what you need and why you need it?

People are much more interested in solving their own pain, than in listening to you going on and on about your products and features and your impressive client list.

completely related to solving your client’s pain, frustration or challenge.

That way you’ll be relevant, engaging and interesting.

So listen more that you talk and be sure that when you speak you say something that’s www.michellebowden.com.au

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YOU

IS IT TIME IMPROVED YOUR PRESENTATION SKILLS? COME JOIN ME! Dramatically improve the way you present and influence.

nominated for Educator of the Year for the last 3 years.

Attend one of my Influential Presentation Skills programs.

Absorb yourself in a generative and experiential approach. Learn something then practice, then learn something then practice…

It’s a life changing experience!

Group sizes are limited to only 10 people per program.

Risk free - 100% moneyback guarantee.

Risk free approach to a subject most people find ‘daunting’!

Endorsed by thousands of people from over a hundred corporations around Australia.

Interactive and personalised.

Facilitated by Michelle Bowden who has over 18 years experience running her programs and who has been

Plenty of time for you to get personal one-on-one time with Michelle’s during the program.

Address your specific, personal needs.

Techniques are embedded so you remember them decades later.

SYDNEY DATES: June 26-27 August 22-23 October 16-17 December 3-4 BRISBANE DATES: October 24-25 To chat about your specific needs or receive more information please email Michelle directly: michelle@michellebowden.co m.au

Learning with lots of laughter.

TESTIMONIAL FROM BRENTON SMITH, VICE PRESIDENT SALES - ASIA PACIFIC, JAPAN - SYMANTEC.CLOUD Well! Where do I start? Michelle is one of the most outstanding and enthusiastic presentation skills coaches I have ever worked with.

Her energy is contagious and her approach is very effective. She does not teach a class, she immerses herself in the people and getting them a successful outcome. A great combination of humour, anecdotes, practical and theory result in a virtually guaranteed better presentation.

She then stays in touch personally to assure you are practicing your new skills. www.michellebowden.com.au

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SUCCESS STORIES! proof formula so I could get my message across every time and have a broad appeal.

EMMA YATES HEALTH AND WELLNESS TRAINER AMWAY OF AUSTRALIA

How did Michelle's program change your attitude to presenting in business?!

Emma Yates is a Naturopath, Nutritionist, public speaker and health writer with over 15 years experience. She is an accomplished public speaker having travelled extensively in Australia and overseas delivering presentations on a wide variety of health topics.

What kind of presenting do you do at work?

My role is quite diverse. I have present !to customers on Health & Wellness related topics as well as product knowledge for over a decade.

More recently I have done customised induction training and presentation skills for new colleagues and delivered our training strategy to management and staff.

In general, what positive outcomes have you achieved from improving your presentation skills?

My back ground is in Health Science and I really just stumbled into the corporate world.

Presenting !for me has had it's challenges but what I have always known is that when I'm passionate about my topic and feel well rehearsed I can just sit back and enjoy the ride.

I'm enjoying the positive outcome of all, I'm remembering why I love what I do!

In what ways have your presentation skills improved since completing Michelle's training?!!

What prompted you to attend Michelle's Influential Presentation Skills program?

I'm all for personal development !and even though I have done a lot of presenting there is always room for improvement. !Michelle's model really appealed to me, I liked the idea of a fool www.michellebowden.com.au

I find the concept of 'Business" presenting interesting, and one and has caused me much stress. Presenting to customers or patients is never the problem for me but work colleagues always send me to water. !As my career has progressed though I have been asked to present to many areas of the business. Before the program I found this extremely daunting. ! During the program I met people !from a diverse range of areas and to see that no matter what your industry or your message if you get your groundwork right any message can be compelling. Michelle was adept at tailoring anyone's message using her simple model. !

Michelle's !program showed me how to breakdown any topic and make it appealing. Now I know I have the skills to present to any area of our business from customers to management.

I am better able to manage my nerves and give myself the time and space to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

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SUCCESS STORIES (CONT.) How have improved presentation skills have impacted on your job and your career?!

Knowing I can present in any situation has increased my confidence and meant that I am confident to volunteer to speak in situations that I would probably have avoided in the past. This gives me more visibility in the Business and in turn makes my up line feel more confident in my abilities to get the message across and be more influential in business. !

What were your top three take away's from Michelle's program?!

1. The whites of the eyes and the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;clickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

2. Extending my energy to reduce nerves.

3. 4Mat IS the perfect way to structure your message: Why, What, How and What if?

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PARENTS CORNER TURNING MISTAKES INTO MATURITY MILESTONES

BY YVONNE GODFREY

No one is exempt – messing up is a part of all our lives. However, not all mistakes are equal!

Smart mistakes Call these mistakes discoveries. Getting it wrong shows us how not to do it – ultimately leading to the right way. How wonderful that young people are still willing to risk and ‘give it a go’.

Dumb mistakes Ignorance, lack of knowledge, poor judgment, immaturity and misplaced trust are all www.michellebowden.com.au

foundations for dumb mistakes that can cost dearly. Just because we ‘didn’t know’ or weren’t properly equipped does not change the potential damage of our actions. The willingness to learn and to take advice is the key to maturing through mistakes. Resistance to counsel is the beginning of pride – and pride is the killer of our conscience. This is the dilemma of youth – to discover life for themselves while maintaining safe boundaries.

Deliberate mistakes Short-cut thinking, selfishness, ‘what can I get

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TURNING MISTAKES INTO MATURITY MILESTONES (CONT.)

away with’ mentality. Our conscience is our moral compass that guides our thinking and develops our character helping us to stay on the right path. If we don’t pay attention to our conscience, its signals (guilt) become dull and if continually ignored, we no longer recognise right from wrong.

Healthy guilt convicts us, stimulating us towards a corrective course of action. Unhealthy guilt condemns us telling us that we are no good as a person and that nothing will change.

Understanding the difference helps to protect self-esteem and grow self-leadership.

5 steps to fixing mistakes and restoring people With the right approach and willingness, I believe that all wrongs can be forgiven leading to restoration in most cases. I can say this because I have lived it and witnessed miracles.

1. Squash your pride – humble yourself Fess up, take the rap, and don’t pass the buck.

There are no winners in the blame game.

2. Ask for forgiveness Forgiveness frees us from the burden of guilt and shame. Forgiveness also takes away the other person’s right to kill you on the spot. While you cannot control the other person’s decision to forgive, you can demonstrate how genuinely sorry you are by doing what you can to fix your mistake. And remember, forgiveness is instant but reconciliation can take time because trust must be rebuilt. Don’t rush it!

3. Assess the damage Make restitution – even if it costs money, is humiliating or painful. Only your proactive

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actions can restore any kudos or respect you may have lost.

4. Put preventative systems in place Stay out of the danger zone. Recognise your vulnerability and act wisely.

5. Sharpen your conscience Do a moral stock-take to determine if you have been disrespecting life’s principles. Forget the legalism of rules and rights. Focus instead on respect and responsibility – this is love in action!

Yvonne Godfrey is the 2009 & 2010 NZ C o r p o r a t e A w a r d s P e o p l e ’s C h o i c e Professional Speaker of the Year.

She began leading at the age of 10 when she went dairy farming with her father and brother, learning to work in a team and to think for herself. At ! 22 she began her journey into business leadership and quickly began sharing her success with others. Through Seminars, workshops and mentoring, Yvonne has impacted over 100,000 people! in 24 countries. ! In 2009 Yvonne founded! Miomo! (Making it on my Own) to equip 17 – 24 year olds to set-up for adult life.

To date 160 young people have successfully completed the program. www.miomo.co.nz

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CULTURE

CD OF THE MONTH

Don’t miss Christian Marclay’s groundbreaking 24-hour video work, The Clock, which has attracted record crowds at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. Marclay was awarded the Golden Lion for best artist at the 54th Venice Biennale for The Clock.

Thinking of improving your presentation skills but don’t want to go on a training program? You need to grab a copy of How to Present - Tips from the Master. Tips from 14 of Australia’s top public speakers. Go to my website

BEAUTY Inika's famous 100% Vegan and Certified Cruelty Free Kabuki Brush is one of a kind. The thick and luxurious brush head of the Inika Kabuki Brush delivers complete coverage and is soft and silky on the skin.

MOVIES Romantics Anonymous is a grown-up fairytale that shows you what happens when a man and a woman share a common passion - they fall in love!

BOOK OF THE MONTH

MICHELLE LOVES...

Endorsed by AIM, if you are serious about really improving your business presentation skills then you need this book. Go to my website

Here are some of my favourite things for you

SKIN BEAUTY

HEALTH

BEAUTY

Remove oil and reduce shine with Bloom's purse-sized pack of facial Blotting Tissue. Made from light rice paper tissue that is infused with a fine powder and scented with Lavender essential oil.

Walnuts are an essential element of your diet. Just 7 walnuts a day and you will experience the benefits.

REVLON Grow Luscious Lash Liner delivers ultra intense color impact in one stroke. Botanical and vitamin rich formula nourishes and supports healthy lashes.

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How to Present Magazine

May 2012

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Photo Gallery

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How to Present Magazine

May 2012

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