We spend a lot of time in our society tracking our physical improvement (or decline). We take snapshots of our former selves, hoard old clothing sizes for later comparison, and relish the moment a pair of pants is suddenly too large.
But what about our professional careers? How do you take a snapshot of your former self, or yourself as you are today, to compare with the future you? How do you track and measure your progress as a presenter so that you can understand the value of your efforts to present better and better each and every day?
To make an obvious suggestion, why not videotape yourself? It’s practical anyway–you can get a lot more mileage out of the time and effort you spend preparing for and delivering a presentation by posting the act on the web, and in time it can provide a nice reflective device to see if you’re getting better (or worse).
Creating a record of your presentations is also good for preventing redundancy. Have you ever had a friend or colleague who tells the same stories over and over again? That’s because they keep forgetting who they’ve told what about their experience. What starts as an interesting story is later devalued when the audience realizes that it’s the only story the speaker has–this is true for relationships, and it’s true for your speaking career. Don’t be guilty of delivering the same material over and over again. Truly dynamic presenters are just that: dynamic. They change and evolve, and you should too.
The only way to know if you’re doing so, however, is to keep a record of your performance. It may sound strange because none of your colleagues or competitors do this, but it’s entirely common for people to improve themselves. Why not apply your efforts to presenting? Heaven knows you’ll reap significant rewards as you become more adept and comfortable on stage.
