We live in a world of distractions, constant and loud. We are expected to be available to everyone all the time, we compete for mindshare with unlimited amounts of content and entertainment, we have a social media landscape which can turn every day into an all-day conversation with friends all over the world.
Quieting the mind, and turning off the distractions is hard. Really hard.
Everyone we speak to complains about it. Everyone sees it. And lots of people struggle with how to deal with it.
Each of us must deal in our own ways, by managing our time, limiting access, controlling the expectations of others.
But we also can HELP each other. How? It is pretty easy, actually, especially in the workplace. Because when it is your turn to lead the meeting, run the conference call, or give a presentation, you can make that time simple and easy for others. You can make it easy for them to focus on your time together by getting to the point, simplifying the message, backing it up with simple and clear slides, utilizing speaking skills that are not annoying and distracting. You can make it your goal to make the time together, simple, clear, and valuable.
You can make your time together the one time of the day when others can breathe a little easier, because they know you will make it easy for the discussion to happen, even if the topic is a tough one. Through your preparation of content, the way you structure the story, the slides you build and delivery skills you display, you can make it easy for others to engage, listen, discuss, and move on.
What a breath of fresh air you can be.
Think about that for a moment. Think about how valuable that would be to your colleagues, your organization, and your own brand. Powerful… And necessary.
Have a great day.
[…] on having a good, but simple, meeting, that perhaps might even end a bit early. In other words, let’s try to be the simplest and easiest part of this person’s […]
I have been scouring the Internet for supporting information that I could genteelly provide to my boss that sitting in the front of the room during a presentation to a Customer group is a distraction…and I cannot find anything. Do you have any reference that will help get this person to get out from between myself and the audience? Or from between myself and the presentation being displayed via projector device. It is less distracting for me as I tune him out but when I see eyes and heads turning away from me to him I try to not become frustrated, but I imagine it creeps in. He also seems to have a habit of occasionally feeling he needs to add a point that may be coming up in my presentation….any help here would be appreciated. Over time I have taken many classes on speaking and read books on the subject as well. I know I have seen these items of etiquette and control of the environment you are speaking in but the big ole Internet does not seem to have any. Thanks, Ed