Mirror. Signal. Manoeuvre. Three words drummed into me by my driving instructor when I was learning to drive.
Many years later, these words still resonate with me, but regularly I see drivers failing to indicate at a junction or roundabout. I don’t know if it is down to their forgetfulness or if they assume it is obvious to other road users which way they are going to travel.
Either way you often need to be a mind-reader to anticipate their actions!
This element of good driving – Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre – is instilled in all learner drivers to ensure they take account of the road conditions and environment they are travelling along, signal their intention to change direction, adjust speed and move to the appropriate position on the road to implement a safe and timely change in direction. Short-cutting this approach can lead to confusion, misinterpretation and potentially serious consequences for other road users and pedestrians.
A similar scenario can be played out when presenting to an audience.
All too often, we see people spending a great deal of time focusing on their content but paying scant attention to how they structure their presentation to capture audience attention from the start, promote key messages, use verbal, visual and vocal skills effectively to ensure the audience is with them throughout the delivery.
A powerful presentation needs to be informative, memorable and leave audiences wanting more. This means:
- taking into account audiences’ requirements and presentation logistics at the outset
- using various ‘signals’ to hold audiences’ attention, promote key points and make the presentation delivery memorable
- using appropriate clarity and pace of delivery to ensure audiences fully understand the presentation goals.
If you reach a traffic-light moment when crafting a presentation and need help to mirror your audiences’ requirements, signpost your intentions and manoeuvre into a commanding position. We can show you how.