After lots of reflective posts recently, here’s a simple article on making presentations yourself….. :)
Shoes, like bras, are often bought for the wrong reasons! Often they’re bought knowing that they don’t fit quite right… or at least not knowing that they fit perfectly. That’s a shame, because both can have quite a significant impact on your presentations and how you appear to other people generally. (I’m going to discreetly stop talking about bras here and concentrate on shoes but the same principles apply!)
You can’t make an outstanding presentation if you’re not standing right. Posture is critical. With a poor posture you’ll not only not look as good as you should/could do but your voice will sound strained and thinner – which means you’ll not sound as credible and confident. That could make all the difference to the sale, or whatever you’re trying to achieve!
We often do our basic exercises barefoot on our training courses, to get a stronger sense of our balance and how we’re standing. That’s great for courses of course, where everyone is there to work and is enjoying themselves, but you can’t give business presentations barefoot (well, not easily). So please, the next time you buy yourself a pair of shoes that you’re going to where for work (or anywhere else you make presentations), think about it for a moment; it might look good but does it affect your balance?
Really?
Are you sure?
There’s a difference between not affecting you and affecting you in the way you’re used to (so you don’t notice it). Take another look. Go for a walk. Run a little. Bounce up and down. If your shoes get in the way of you doing any of those things they’re not right and you need to think hard about whether to wear something different.
There’s a trade-off, of course, between feeling good and looking good. If you feel confident in one particular pair of shoes you might consider wearing them even though they don’t feel right: of course in the long term you should also consider whether you should be getting your confidence from a pair of shoes! In an idea world, you’d wear shoes which looked great and which didn’t inhibit you in any way.
Shoe makers take note – is that so much to ask?!?
