Page 18 - How To Sell Yourself

Selling Yourself 17
Dear Arch,
Recently I was on a panel reviewing a program appli- cation. The speaker gave an oral presentation then sat and answered questions. It was as if two people were making the presentation!
The first was stiff, short of breath, pacing the floor...and had a “closed face.” The second was relaxed, used hand gestures, had a very “open face,” and cleared up much of what was missed by the “first person.”
Later, I asked if the speaker was familiar with your work. The answer was yes, and I could see the light bulb go on overhead! The lesson worked, and I was pleased I could share again how much more effective we can be when we follow your lead.
—John S. Myrland
Relax
What’s important is learning to appear natural in the unnatu- ral speaking situation. When you learn and understand what you do in animated conversation, you can convert that into the plat- form delivery. Unfortunately, we have very few really good role models. Most of the speakers we see and hear today are doing what they’ve seen other bad presenters do and then they imitate them. “I have to look professional in order to impress the audi- ence,” we think. Wrong. Most of the people running for public office, most of the so-called “experts” and analysts we see on tele- vision, most teachers, most speakers we watch at meetings, and certainly most of the people we watch on televised hearings, do a better job of putting us to sleep than Sominex or Nytol.
You don’t have to be like them.
You shouldn’t try to be like them.
This is about being yourself—you at your best.
Be yourself
You may not like the idea, but you might as well face the fact that style is, and always has been, at least as importance as substance,