It’s so frustrating when you realise that your preparation, done with all good intentions, might actually be the very thing that is torpedoing your impact.

What I see a lot is what I call “the content crutch” in action.

Everyone gets anxious about their high stake speaking moments. We know we need to prepare, but so often we go about it in exactly the wrong way.

We believe that if we work, the “what” the “how” will look after itself.

We lean too much on the script, the deck and the notes when we need to stand up without the crutch. And then we get in the room and we stare at the slides, or we look at our notes and we read them!

You get all mixed up and you can’t express it properly and then you get worried that your audience will think you don’t know what you’re talking about. If you know you rely on the content crutch, you are in good company.

School schooled you that the As come through writing, reading and arithmetic. You have to work against your schooling and find a new kind of preparation when it comes to speaking.

There’s a very simple test to help you know if you’ve set yourself free from the content crutch.

✔ Can you cook your ideas into a few words or bullet points?
✔ Can you speak without having to read them, stare at your slides, constantly go back to your notes?

If you answered no to one or both questions, then what you need, pure and simple, is a process!

Research has proven that how you manage your nerves before an exam is key to being calm during the exam. It’s also key to confidence in public speaking.

Because when you’ve prepared the right way you can throw off your content crutch and set yourself free!

That’s why I’ve created my new course Master Your Meetings with a short and time efficient 4 step system designed to prepare you for every interview, presentation and meeting, no matter how high the stakes.

You can read more in the interview I did with the lovely Suzy Walker in Metro Newspaper back in Januay 2023 on ‘How finding your voice can make you happy’ – click here and do yourself a favour and join Master Your Meetings. Make the most of the founder members rate of £297 as the price will for sure be increasing soon…