De-stressing

As I write this I realise that I have met several very poorly prepared speakers. And preparation is everything in my mind.

Last year we cruised with a very eminent investment advisor who has made a fortune in his own investments and from advising others. Yet he sat in a lounge every evening stressing over the following day's lecture.

Kathy and I used our NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) techniques to get to the bottom of the issue. And it soon became clear that he was nervous because he had not prepared a strategy for his talks. We worked that through with him in a matter of 20 minutes, sealed his confidence by removing his anxiety and sent him off to do a little more preparation.

The next day we bumped into him at breakfast where he was eating a super meal and humming along as he redied himself to go on stage. That talk was outstanding.

He now uses those same targeted prepartion techniques in all his lecturing and has seen his portfolio and client list grow.

The key techniques - get your presentations produced well in advance; be clear that they match the descriptions that you give to the cruise company; get a colleague or friend to review with you. And check your personal strategy. Ask yourself what you will have achieved at the end of the next twelve months if this is to be the best year of your life. Then check how your presentations fit in helping you to achieve those goals.

You will probably want to make a few small changes to your style or content - but those small changes will be enough to provide the confident platform from which you will speak.

To find out more about travelling free as a cruise speaker click here - www.cruiseimprove.com/FREE

To discover the wonders and the frustrations of moving to the Mediterranean area visit - http://www.figleaf.org/