Chapter 12

How to be confident and charismatic as a presenter

‘There are only two types of speakers: those who get nervous and liars.’ Mark Twain

Recently we were part of an internal law firm partner conference and a leader stepped up to make a presentation. From the sidelines his behaviour was interesting. As he waited to come on, his confident demeanour from the earlier coffee break appeared to vanish. He walked diffidently to the dais, looked serious and stern and then delivered a bland and unengaging presentation, standing behind a lectern, unsmiling with closed body language. Almost as soon as he completed his presentation, he came off and he slipped back into the confident leader, smiling and chatting with colleagues. What a difference ...

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