Is what you want to convey getting through to your listeners? Do you appear convincing as a person? If you ask yourself two particular key questions before an important meeting or appearance, you will increase your chances of success many times over. They have proven to be very useful in my coaching sessions on several occasions

As a manager or specialist, you spend a large part of your time talking to others, be it in one-on-one meetings, team meetings, or presentations. You want to convince with what you say, factual as well as personally. You have prepared yourself well. But then you are not entirely concentrated for a moment, or something unexpected happens. In retrospect, you ask yourself: “Why didn’t it go quite the way I wanted it to?

The crucial two checkpoints before your appearance

Whether you succeed to appear as you had aimed for and to achieve what you are striving for depends mostly on what you have reflected on before the event. In my coaching sessions, I recommend that my clients to get ready by asking themselves the following two questions.

Question No. 1: What are the three messages that should be remembered by my conversational partner or by my audience?

You will have achieved this goal when a participant, in response to my question “What did Mr. / Mrs. X say?”, plays back to me precisely the key messages that you wanted to convey.

Question 2: What are the three attributes that I would like to radiate personally? This is about how you intend to appear as a person, as a leader, expert, or project manager. When I ask someone after your presentation or meeting, “What do you think of Mr. / Mrs. X. as a person?  – what characteristics would you ideally like to hear?

And please do never forget what is convincingly presented to you in every communication seminar: Body language and tone of voice are far more critical than the content! Answering these questions, therefore, involves both the verbal and the non-verbal aspects!

Reflect in advance!

Your answers to these two preliminary questions are your key to success. It is essential to enter into this inner dialogue in advance in order to approach your counterpart in this target stance and with this clarity from the start. The time invested in advance promises a great impact in the desired direction. With smaller topics, it can be a matter of a few minutes. With more extensive topics, you might want to invest more time. It is always worth it!

You can find out more about good personal appearance and effective procedures in meetings or presentations in a communication coaching session. Get in touch without obligation and deepen your knowledge in a one to one conversation.