We've all heard the expression, “You had me at ‘Hello’.”  That sounds pretty good.  But when it comes to giving presentations, for a real winner that's way too late.  The really GREAT communicators will have you before they say “Hello”.

You see them standing there and, well BEFORE they ever say anything, you can SEE there's something different about them. 

Their poise, their dignity, their self-assuredness, their utter calm, make them stand out.

They don’t look like “normal” people.  They have presence.  They own the room.

It takes you in the audience only a split second to see all that.  Enough that you're intrigued, captivated, leaning forward a little to catch their words.

They have you well before, “Hello.”

This is the hallmark of a great communicator.

Two VPs are attending a presentation skills workshop that’s running here right now.  Our Lead Trainer, Janet, is leading the session.  I just sat in at the beginning to watch everyone’s first videos.

If you hadn’t told me that either of these two was a VP, I never would have known.  Reason is neither had executive presence, neither communicated with the poise, dignity and elegance you’d expect from a VP level. 

One is a new VP, so you could say that's understandable in their case.  The other has been a VP for a couple years.

In both cases, the material they’re presenting, the content, is very interesting.  But the way they presented would leave you cold.  You’d be gradually tuning out and then only semi-listening, checking your phone.  I watched their audience in the workshop.  Their audience, trying to pay attention, was fighting a losing battle. 

Both VP’s sounded “Corporate” and correct.  They were intelligent, articulate, experts in their fields.  But their words weren’t making an impact.   Their ideas weren’t landing.

And that's really the point, isn't it?  When we give a presentation, we want what we say to matter.

I left after their first videos, had meetings all day and went back in at the very end of the afternoon to see their mid-point videos.  Wow!

It’s not what they’re saying or what they’re doing.  It’s how they’re BEING, their presence.  They have an aura.  It creates an atmosphere.  It creates a mood.  It creates an expectation, an anticipation.  A promise of something great to come. 

There’s an invisible chemistry now between them and their audience. 

That's how these two VP’s were at the end of the 1st day.  Very changed. 

They had presence. Presence strong enough to make you notice them even before they spoke.   Just the way they walked into the room, stood, looked over the audience. 

They had that unmistakable aura of an executive, the elegant dignity of a powerful individual who knows who they are and their message, someone who matters.  A leader totally at ease, in absolutely no rush, taking their sweet time, self-assured, creating with their presence alone a promise of a great presentation to come.

Then, again even before they started to speak, the way they looked out and into the audience, connecting with a good number of individuals, they made a powerful connection with everyone in the room.

Connection made.  All before, “Hello.” 

As they spoke, their connection with their audience intensified.  I could swear the audience stopped breathing at a couple of points.

I could feel the audience’s disappointment when their talks were over. They wanted to hear more, but it was gone. You can only imagine the reception they’ll get when they come back to speak again.

It was the same content they’d presented in their first video.  Almost the same words.  Completely different presence.  Completely different connection with the audience.  Completely different impact.

Important point – this doesn’t just apply to VP’s.  Because it’s so unexpected, it’s even more powerful when it happens with someone at lower levels of the organization.  People really notice.

This really is how to make what you want happen. Have the powerful presence of someone others are eager to hear, make a powerful connection with the audience, make them keen to hear your next words, create a never-ending fascination with your message.  Know that it’s not what you say.  It’s how you say it.  Be able to do it with any audience.

That was the end of the first day of the workshop.  I'm looking forward to seeing them at the end of the second.

What you have to say matters.  Don’t be “normal”. Don’t let anything stop you from being the absolute best you can be.  Do it right. Capture your audience before you say, “Hello”. 

This is an ability that is living, right now, inside of everyone reading this. And once that ability is awakened and brought to the surface, your life will never be the same.

Be the cause!