Are You in the Top 5?

That's Top 5% - as in the exceptional presenters who are talked about for all the right reasons.

Mark Sanborn's "The Encore Effect" is filled with helpful ideas on becoming a presenter who effectively communicates his message to the audience, causing them to call for an encore.

Here are Sanborn's methods for moving into that rare atmosphere of the Top 5%:

• Find out things about your audience they won't imagine you could know
• Anticipate every question your audience might raise and formulate a strong answer
• Rehearse every problem that might arise
• Know more about your competitor's products, features, and benefits than they do
• Become the expert in your field
• Through your appearance and demeanor, give your performance a level of gravitas that your audience won't forget
• Give your audience more than one reason to invite you back

Think your job description doesn't make you a presenter?

Think again.

Anyone who comes into contact with other people - in your organization or outside it - needs to know how to be a Top 5 performer.

The curtain is coming up - it's showtime!

Stirring the Flames of Passion

I've been revisiting some great books on presentations in preparation for a series of major opportunities in the next month or so. Mark Sanborn's "The Encore Effect" is one of these. Earlier this year I posted on his use of PDA in presentations.

Today, a look at a few more of his excellent suggestions that will have your audience (of one, or a thousand) calling for an encore.

Four Insights of a Passionate Performer

• Passionate people know for whom they are performing
• Passionate people know how to perform remarkably
• Passionate people know why they perform
• Passionate people know what their performance needs to look like

Cultivating Passion

• Study and learn your subject matter
• Use small achievements or successes to fuel larger ones
• Look to other passionate people as role models
• Plug the leaks
• Make passion a part of your life

Does your passion for your work burn brightly? Or is just a smoldering flame?

A Little PDA, Please

That's Passion, Discipline, and Action - were you expecting something else?

Mark Sanborn, writing in "The Encore Effect", reminds us that everyday we are in a performance of sorts. Like actors in a play, there are bad performers, average performers, and exceptional performers.

Passion plus Discipline without Action = daydreaming

Discipline plus Action without Passion = a fire made from damp wood

Action plus Passion without Discipline = a race car without a driver

The right mix of PDA will move you into the exceptional category, enabling you to give a remarkable performance. Remarkable performances affect us, whether on the stage or in a meeting. They:

• Move us to act
• Make us feel good
• Cause us to laugh
• Stimulate us to think

The curtain is rising on your performance today - knock em dead!