Your professional association is having its annual workshop. You have been asked to lead one of the training conferences.

What a nice complement! Someone believes what you have to say will be interesting, helpful, informative, or inspirational—perhaps all of the above. You are delighted. You accept. The date goes on your calendar; it seems very far away. You tell yourself you have lots of time to prepare. After all, you have been asked to present a topic you know about. (if the subject is one you don’t know about, decline the invitation—or suggest a more familiar topic.) How tough can this be?

The answer begs another question, “How effective do you want to be?” Delivering a successful presentation takes effort. It absolutely can be tough. But you can do it. [Read more...]