Harvard Business School social psychologist professor Amy Cuddy says people judge you based on 2 criteria when they first meet you:

* Can I trust this person?

* Can I respect this person?

Psychologists refer to these dimensions as trustworthiness and competence respectively, and ideally you want to be perceived as having both. Interestingly, most people, especially in a professional context, believe that competence is the more important factor. After all, they want to prove that they are smart and talented enough to handle your business. But in fact trustworthiness is the most important factor in how people evaluate you.

While competence is highly valued, it is evaluated only after trust is established. And focusing too much on displaying your strength can backfire.

In Quebec, we have BIG winters! We get ready for the snow and cold. We take out our coats, our scarves, our mittens and our boots. We also take out our shovels, we change the tires on our car and we buy the salt to melt the ice.

We know that we can’t change this reality and the general attitude of Quebeckers is simply to get ready to face it. Without drama, without resistance, without hyperventilating. We take ownership of it the best we can, while daydreaming of summer days and imagining ourselves living in the Bahamas!

This is what happens for most problematic situations. When we prepare ourselves and we get used to them, they don’t represent a problem anymore. They simply represent reality.

If speaking in public causes you anxiety and concern, make an effort to stop thinking about yourself, your nervousness, and your fear.

Instead, focus on your audience: what you're saying is "about them." Remember that you're trying to help them in some way, and your message is more important than your fear.

Concentrate on your audience's wants and needs, instead of your own.

They ask you to give a presentation to your customers, peers or superiors because you have the knowledge in the subject; you do it every day, you master it and you are known to be the one …
the expert in the attic!

You give your presentation and you realize that you are not reaching your audience. You are hiding behind your expertise and none of it means anything. You are giving a long one-sided conversation.
You are just giving a monologue.

Great presentations don't come out of nowhere. It requires preparation, refinement, revision, practice … and the skill to interact with the people you seek to change.

Although you may not be in a position to have control of a meeting, you can always have control of your own time. The next time you are asked to attend one of those disorganized, uncontrolled and never-ending meeting, let your superior/manager know that you’ll be there, but that you can only afford so much time. “I’ll be there Mike, but I’ll probably have to leave after a half an hour – I really need to work on that report/proposal/project if we want to respect the deadline. Anything I miss I can pick up from Sylvie later on.” Your superior/manager will need to choose between letting you leave the meeting early, or giving you permission to be late on your report/proposal/project.

It’s not politically correct to judge a person by how they look, but we should give our appearance as much preparation time as we do our speech for that important presentation. Think about how you want to come across. What impression you want to give. What should you wear to reinforce this message?

The introduction is probably the most important part of your presentation. To be effective, the introduction must produce three results:

1. Capture the attention of the audience and create a relationship.
2. Set clear expectations by stating the theme and scope of the presentation.
3. Establish your credibility.

The best way to avoid the memory gap during a speech is to build a presentation whose thread takes a high degree of internal logic without requiring memorization. In case of an oversight, it should not stop the flow of the presentation to gain in completeness. The audience generally has not noticed the oblivion because the presenter is the only one who knows all the points he wants to present.

The use of technology to excess can blur the line between what is the message and what is the medium. "Death by PowerPoint", or "Prezi Vertigo" are all too frequent and most presentations have become mediocre. Presenters should only project material on screen that helps the audience remember the message. A powerful presenter should be able to stand before his audience and transfix them with simple words and compelling stories.