MAGIC IN YOUR COMMUNICATION

This is how you do it

If I had to describe my work at its core, I see myself as a storyteller. Always have been. As an eight-year-old girl, I would immediately go up the stairs to my room after school to drown in my self-invented world behind my typewriter (yes, that was still in the pre-computer era).

Of course, I love flying to New York and listening to a private concert by Duran Duran in the Boom Boom Room with a gin and tonic in my hand, in de Boom Boom Room naar een privéconcert van Duran Duran te luisteren, but I am happiest when I sit behind my laptop and write. Preferably something that makes you laugh and that you can benefit from.

To quote Matthijs van Nieuwkerk; I certainly don't capsize under a great feeling of inferiority, but it remains exciting to speak in front of a group.

For my work I sometimes climb onto a stage to give a presentation.. The same principle applies here: you tell something that is, hopefully, entertaining to listen to and that your audience can benefit from. To quote Matthijs van Nieuwkerk; I certainly don't capsize under a great feeling of inferiority, but it remains exciting to speak in front of a group.

You never know if they really enjoy it when you're standing there, so you tend to, at least I do, speak a bit faster. With the idea; then they can quickly get rid of me.

Don't do that, I learned yesterday from Bas Mouton, author of the book ‘Magic in all your communication’. “Assume that people enjoy listening to you. If you rush it, it won't get any better. Let your words land, take me along.”

Bas Mouton is a big player in the presentation world. He trains politicians (he won't brag about it, but one of them is Mark Rutte himself), high potentials, CEOs, and top managers. The question was whether I wanted a session with him? You couldn't make me happier because I really enjoy speaking, but I have a list a meter long of things I would like to improve. How nice would it be to have a touch of Barack or Sheryl Sandberg in your story?

Bas is not a coach who tells you how to hold your hands or how to work on your voice. His main task is to ensure that what you tell touches your visitor.

I first received a homework assignment. If there was anything I could change about the Netherlands, what would it be… I decided to keep it close to myself and demanded affordable childcare so that women can more easily continue working and a ‘fine’ for women who pursue a university degree but do not work in that field, but move around in tennis outfits with the cargo bike.

Bas could relate to that. We got to work. I on a stage, he in the audience. For three hours, he turned me inside out. Very enjoyable and constructive, by the way. Bas is not a coach who tells you how to hold your hands or how to work on your voice. His main task is to ensure that what you tell touches your visitor. And I learned a lot from him.

A presentation is only good if the visitor benefits from it.

It must inspire them. If you only tell your personal story, it's like showing your vacation photos. Nice, but what does the other person get out of it?

Grant everyone in the audience a sentence

Many people look into total nothingness when addressing an audience, a bit anxious about their audience. Then you won't touch them. Look into the audience, find faces where you feel recognition and attention, and look at those people. “Grant everyone in the audience a sentence,” says Bas. Then look back at that guy in the front row and direct your next sentence at that woman in the back left of the room.

The power of the pregnant pause

It's good to let a sentence land for a moment. This is called the pregnant pause; the receiver knows that something is coming and becomes even more curious...

Speak vividly

If you say that you have quit a good job with a car and a bonus, you could also be a lawyer. If you, in my case, say that you give up to sit in the front row at Chanel twice a year, being flown business class to Venice where a bottle of champagne is chilled in your room and you receive at least three designer bags a year, your story becomes personal and your audience has much more imagery with it.

Don't look away

Stay with your audience, stay in the moment.

Bas gives training sessions, and I would recommend those to you before a visit to a psychologist. Why not go with ambitious girlfriends to such a training day? Much more inspiring than a silly tarot card reader.

Speech Republic (that's the name of Bas's company) has a menu with different forms of training. If you (or your company) have some money to spend, then go for the one-on-one training that I had. The most common is the four-day group training, but you can also choose a one-day course.

And there is also a book; ‘Magic in all your communication’. In addition, Bas even helps you write a good love letter.

I get to come back one more time because Bas wants to train me from an 8 to a 9.5. I would say; Sheryl Sandberg, I'm coming.