Have you ever been to a presentation where the presenter appeared less than enthusiastic? They deliver information in a monotone manner and seemingly unaware of how bored the audience has become? Chances are, you’ve not only been to one; you’ve been to plenty.
A lack of self-awareness is a pervasive problem in the presentation space. Presenters are spending all of their time preparing content and not enough time assessing their own strengths and weaknesses—a tenet of being self-aware. And this can be a major career setback. Especially when you consider that a Hay Group study found that the most self-aware professionals in a business are typically in the top 10% of their team or department.
Heightened self-awareness will not only take you far in your career, but it will make you an exponentially better presenter. This is why:
Self-Awareness Shows You Your Strengths and Weaknesses
There is nothing that will help you become a killer presenter more than having a keen awareness of your strengths and weakness. After all, how are you supposed to improve if you don’t even know what needs to be improved? Knowing where you’re strongest gives you the opportunity to turn that strength into mastery while knowing your weak points lets you eliminate them altogether.
Self-Awareness Allows You to Harness Your Emotions
Your emotional output during a presentation is critical. Emotions are what an audience connects to most and they’re the key to keeping an audience engaged. If you’re privy to your own emotions around a given topic, then you can harness those feelings and integrate them into your delivery. Use inflections, pauses, and nonverbal cues. This technique will give your audience something to relate and connect to, and make them much more inclined to pay attention.
Self-Awareness Drives Your Motivation
Audiences have a tendency to mirror the emotions of those presenting. If you want your audience to get excited about what you’re presenting, then you need to be excited about it too. A strong sense of self-awareness allows you to tap into what, exactly, you love most and why. When you understand what you’re passionate about, you can easily transform that passion into motivation and excitement for sharing it. This will translate to your audience that it’s a topic worth getting excited about.
Self-Awareness Gives You Command Over Your Delivery
When it comes to presenting, it’s no secret that delivery is critical. Presenters without self-awareness are at serious risk of delivering a subpar presentation. They don’t know how they sound to others and what needs to be changed to make a better connection. On the other hand, if you’re keenly self-aware, then you know exactly how you’re coming across as well as how the audience is receiving you, so you can shift your delivery accordingly.
Want to take the next step to becoming a more self-aware presenter? Then take our Badge assessment to discover your unique presentation persona.
