Expert Feedback to Improve Your Presentation Skills

When you receive feedback and advice on how to improve your presentation skills you need to ask yourself:

• Is the person giving this advice truly qualified to help me improve?
• Does the person giving me feedback have my best interests at heart?
• Am I seeking advice or are they motivated to give it to me?

Unsolicited feedback says more about the giver than the recipient.

This week I attended a great conference focused on building business through YouTube, Twitter, podcasts, and blogging. A very successful gentleman, who had been introduced to me by one of my speech coaching clients the previous year, said to me, “The feedback you gave me last year on my speech was the best I’ve ever received. Please do the same this year.” What you are about to read is a little of what I told him. What do you notice about how this feedback was presented to him?

This is what I observed.

• Your personality and content are great.
• Your likability level is high.
• You were well dressed in an environment where many superstar speakers wore ripped jeans and tee shirts; that was a great move and helped you stand out. You are a very successful businessperson and you showed it.
• You are very approachable.
• You let the audience know that you had to learn you needed the message they are now hearing.

This is how you can improve.

• Check the technology before others are in the room.
• You have a stage, stand on it. Serve those in the back of the room.
• Stand still at the beginning. How you stand represents the stability of your message and your business.
• You are improving from last year… You only used the non-specific, low-value word “stuff” four times.
• You said, “I am married to a Filipino.” This sounds demeaning. Instead, “My wife is Filipino.” would be nicer. You could also add a descriptive word that has nothing to do with how she looks. (His wife looks like a movie star.) Though women are too often judged on their appearance, they get ahead in business by having the exact same attributes that make men successful. Why not “My brilliant wife is from the Philippines” or “…was born in the Philippines?”

Did you notice the feedback starts with sharing what he did well? We improve by building on our strengths.

Become a great presenter quickly, easily, and cost-effectively on your own schedule. I’m here for you 24/7 through Fripp Virtual Training.

“I wanted a super bowl-quality coach, and I was lucky to be introduced to Patricia Fripp. Her help in coaching and scripting was world class. With Patricia Fripp on your team, you can go places.”
– Don Yaeger, Long-Time Associate Editor for Sports Illustrated magazine, Award-Winning Keynote Speaker, New York Times Best-Selling Author

Join FrippVT today!

Executive Speech Coach and Hall of Fame Keynote Speaker Patricia Fripp works with individuals and companies who realize that powerful, persuasive presentation skills give them a competitive edge.