Success and Possible Presentations
Welcome to the promise of Monday and a New Year! We hope your holiday season was joyous, relaxing, and full of blessings.
This article is a continuation in a series from "My Life is Just Speech Material ... And, so is Yours." ?
In the last article, we began talking about Success in Life and how it relates to public speaking. Today, we will cover Success & Possible Presentations. Remember, last time we talked about how, even though we don't know you, we could identify multiple successes you have achieved in your life: learning to read, learning to walk, talk, say the alphabet, completing at least a few years of school, etc. These may seem like elementary successes, but they all required using skills that you have continued to develop as you have matured.
Using just these basic accomplishments, here is a list of possible presentations:
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Yes, that is right -- this list gives you 15 presentations and if you were to use all of the basic skills you learned as a child, you could easily identify 15 more. You don't have to know everything (or anything, for that matter) about these topics, just something to consider, do some research, and put together a great presentation.
The word "success," in and of itself can make a great presentation. How do you define success? What does success mean to you? How can you tell if you have achieved success? How people achieve success is very important to others. If you want to be a speaker, you most likely listen to other speakers to see how they do it. You emulate what you like about what they do, and learn what not to do by observing what you didn't like. If you want to be an author, you may read a lot to see what works and doesn't work. If you want to learn another language, you find someone who can teach you the desired language. All of these are ways of looking at the value of success.
In today's society we hear a lot about coaching and mentoring. Coaching used to be a word we only heard on the athletic field, but now we learn from the success of others by engaging a life coach or a speech coach. Or, perhaps, we coach others in various fields because we are good at what we do and want to share our expertise with others. As mentors, we help others determine what they are looking for on the job or in life. By working closely with them, we help them achieve their goals. What is the difference between coaching and mentoring? A great topic -- look it up and share your knowledge in a presentation.
There are countless stories out there about people who have achieved success, from the not so famous to the famous. A few I can think of include stories about starting with very humble means and working to take that poor beginning to great success in business or industry. Or, dropping out of school to help support a family, and using this hard work ethic to achieve greatness. Or, being a single parent and raising two beautiful children that make you so proud every step of the way. True success does not have to include Hollywood and a lot of money. Yes, sometimes those are the stories we hear most often, but true success can be very quiet and unassuming, depending on how one defines success.
What successes have you had in your life that could be the foundation for a presentation? Write them out and list at least three things you could talk about for each. Soon, you will have outlined a compelling and interesting presentation!
On January 17, we will continue this series on giving compelling presentations and speeches with "Sharing Challenges." In the mean time, if you have set improving your own presentations as a goal for 2022, please DM us. We'd love to chat about working with you to achieve your goals.