The Seven Strategies of Master Presenters - Lifecycle Performance ...

Manage Yourself, Difficult Participants... / 183
continuum (see Figure 6-3), where one end point is characterized by
people who are external and the other is characterized by people who
are internal. People who are at the external end of the continuum
believe that what happens to them is a result of fate, chance, luck, or
external circumstances. In other words, they tend to view themselves
as being acted upon rather than as actors. People who are at the internal
end of the continuum believe that what happens to them is a result
of their own behavior. Master Presenters take an internal stance regarding
themselves in the development of their presentations.
External
Figure 6-3: External/Internal Locus of Control
Internal
Five factors related to your locus of control in regard to developing,
rehearsing, and delivering your presentations are:
1. Your level of commitment to finishing your
presentation.
2. How you handle the roadblocks and obstacles that get
in your way.
3. The amount of persistence you bring to the task.
4. The ability to forgive yourself and start over again
when you make a mistake.
5. How you control excess anxiety.
1. Commitment. It has been said that the two hardest things in
developing a presentation are starting it and finishing it. Starting and
finishing a presentation takes a high degree of commitment. One technique
that is helpful is to ask yourself how committed you are to finishing
your presentation. There are three levels of commitment: