If you feel like your boss might not be listening to your ideas even when you know they are good, and then you’re not alone. We’ve all been through those times where we leave a meeting feeling like we weren’t heard or our ideas fell on deaf ears  . While many times, this may occur because people may be wrapped up in their own thoughts, or they’re just too distracted by their busy schedules; for others, the reasons may be much different: the problem is not in the idea; but rather, the way the ideas was presented. How you communicate, influence and persuade others are essential business skills that have a powerful impact on your career.

Getting the attention of your boss or senior management isn’t that difficult. Yet, why is it that some people are so much better at it than others? What mistakes could you be making?

What You Shouldn’t Do

While we try to do our best, there are still mistakes that we make which can send a negative message.

Being Unprepared

Great impromptu speeches only exist in movies and books. In reality, some of the best  presentations take days or weeks of preparation and practice. Careful planning and crafting of your message is essential. The more time you spend up front organizing your content and being comfortable with the flow the better. That being said, you want to make sure you do not memorize your presentation. If you do, you set yourself up for mistakes and you take the energy and conviction out of it. The reason people usually fail to present a memorized message well is that the content become more important than the people they are presenting too. When that happens you are missing the most powerful element of any message, and that is the connection you make with the listener.  People don’t care what you know until they know that you care. And by making the information more important than your listener, you miss letting people see that you care.

Presenting to Selective Listeners

The biggest mistake people make when making presentations is to present only to the senior people in the room. We do this by only having eye connection with the select few. That seems intuitive but it actually alienates the other listeners. And while you think, well, the senior people are the most important listeners you may be cutting your own throat. The person you are not looking at could be a trusted advisor of one of the executives. And when they ask them what they thought of your presentation, they may have a less than glowing opinion to share.  The best way to deal with that issue is to include everyone in the room with eye connection regardless of their title. This engage everyone, make everyone feel important and you come across as a much more confident presenter. So give the senior members a little more eye connection than the others but make sure to include everyone else as well.

Burying Your Listener in Detail

WE all think our information is important but that doesn’t mean that you share “Everything” you know about the subject you are presenting. Most people have short attention spans and executives in organization have no time for detail. The best way to be heard is to share the information people need to hear not what you want to share. Keep your presentation short and to the point and people will love you. And if people need more detail they can simply raise they hand and ask you a question. That way the detail you share is detail they want to hear.

Lack of Confidence

Confidence is something that can be projected even though you may not “fell” confident. Action speak louder that words. So if you use behavior skills that create a sense of confidence then people will assume you are confident.. And confidence speaks volumes.

At CommSkills Group we help companies and their employees improve their presentation skills to be more effective. By booking one of our programs and customizing it to your specific needs we will help your people be more confident and credible in any communication situation.