Speaking and presenting is a phenomenal way to generate leads and grow your business if you are in an expert-based business (coach, consultant, professional service provider). We can’t afford to waste our speaking and presenting opportunities. Today, our special guest Trevor Lee will help us become the speakers and presenters we’ve always wanted to be.
Join Trevor Lee and Tim Fitzpatrick for this week’s episode of The Rialto Marketing Podcast!
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How To Energize & Inspire Your Audience With Your Next Presentation
Tim Fitzpatrick
Speaking and presenting is a phenomenal way to generate leads and grow your business, especially if you are in an expert based business, somebody like a coach, a consultant, or a professional service provider. But here's the thing. We can't afford to waste or blow those speaking and presenting opportunities. That is why I have a special guest with me today, and he's going to help us become the speakers and presenters that we have always wanted to be. Hi, I am Tim Fitzpatrick with Rialto Marketing, where we believe marketing shouldn't be difficult. All you need is the right plan. I am super excited to have Trevor Lee from Trevor Lee Media with me. Trevor, welcome, and thanks for being here.
Trevor Lee
Tim, it's an absolute pleasure. And yeah, you set me up nicely. Now I've got to deliver the goods after that introduction.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Yes, I've raised the bar right? But I know you will deliver. We had a great conversation on your podcast about marketing fundamentals, so I am happy to switch sides and talk about presenting and speaking. And actually presenting and speaking is one of our main lead generation channels. So this is a topic in conversation that is near and dear to my heart. And I think a lot of people don't do it because there's fear, they're scared, but there's no reason to. And hopefully we can help people get over that hump in our conversation today. Before we jump into it, I want to ask you some rapid-fire questions to help us get to know you. Are you good to go?
Trevor Lee
Good to go, Tim.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Okay. It's not a gauntlet or anything like that. When you're not working, how do you like to spend your time?
Trevor Lee
Well, I try and do quite a bit of running if I can because it gets me out and about. It clears my head. And I tell you what, I find that when I'm out running. I never listen to music when I'm running, but I always find it a great source of ideas.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Your mind just runs, doesn't it? You just kind of let it go where it takes you.
Trevor Lee
Yeah.
Tim Fitzpatrick
What's your hidden talent?
Trevor Lee
Well, I'm going to say a card trick.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Okay. And what's the card trick?
Trevor Lee
Well, I can't really demonstrate it here today. I just wonder whether I could try and do that. But I've used it when I've done my own speaking gigs. I've sometimes started with this particular card trick as a sort of warm up for the audience. And it's a very simple trick, but people are always astonished by how it works, and sometimes so am I. But that's probably my hidden talent.
Tim Fitzpatrick
What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
Trevor Lee
I think it's keep learning because I'm a big believer in the fact that it doesn't matter how old you are, how experienced you are. Learning is a fascinating thing, whatever you're doing. And I think sometimes we get to the stage in our business careers where we think we can stop learning because we simply know enough. So I think that would be it. Keep learning as the best advice.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Somebody that I used to work with said, the day I stopped learning is the day I'll die. And that quote always, for whatever reason, it always stuck with me because I'm with you. I'm just one of those people. I'm always looking for new things to learn, like we are never done, and it keeps me invigorated. So I love that. What's one thing about you that surprises people?
Trevor Lee
Well, I'm going to say my age, and that's a bit of an ego trip and a motivational tool for me as much as anything to say that. But, yeah, I think some people do occasionally because I'm quite fit, quite sporty, and I'm getting quite old now.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Well, I can tell. Look, my hair is a heck of a lot grayer than your hair. Hey, that's a testament right there. What does success mean to you?
Trevor Lee
I think one of the pleasures I get from life now at my age and the way I do business, Tim, is seeing the satisfaction when someone else, based on something I might have done with them, does something really well, comes back, says, hey, Trevor, thanks for that bit of advice. It worked really well. Or thanks for your support. Thanks for your help. So I think what success means to me is not me being successful, but the people I'm working with or helping being successful. That's how I would define it at my stage of my career.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Where's your happy place?
Trevor Lee
Well, I'm going to say the Cornish Coastal Path. I'm in Cornwall in the UK, and I try and do a lot of my running on the Cornish Coastal Path. There's always something new to see and hear and meet and watch. So I would say that's a great place to go and I'm very lucky that I can run and I'm very lucky to be able to run on the Cornish Coastal Path.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Now, is it paved or is it a trail?
Trevor Lee
It's mainly a trail. There's a bit of scrambling on parts of it. It's just a great place. People walk it a lot. You've always got the sea on one side of you. It's a fantastic place to be, particularly on a nice day, obviously.
Tim Fitzpatrick
What qualities do you value in the people you spend time with?
Trevor Lee
I think it's those people who continually push me to keep getting better and keep doing things myself in the same way I might do that for somebody else. So I'm always looking for conversations with people that say, oh, come on, Trevor, you can do this or come on, you can do that better rather than say, oh, that's great what you're doing and all that sort of stuff. So I think people who push me are the people I value.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Tell us a little bit more about what you're doing at Trevor Lee Media who are you working with? How are you helping them?
Trevor Lee
Well, right now there are three strands to my business, really, Tim. I'm working towards being very much a presentation and sales coach specialist, but trying to combine the two together because as we'll probably find out during this conversation, it's great doing a presentation and you can deliver a really good, competent presentation. But ultimately, chances are in the business sector, certainly you want some sort of outcome. So what I'm trying to do is trying to bring the two together so that I can not only help people with my presentation skills, but I can bring my sales skills into play as well. So it doesn't matter what type of presentation they're doing. Sometimes it is a sales pitch, but usually it's not. But there's still an outcome to be achieved, and that's what I'm trying to do. And I do fill a commercial gap for a handful of companies who are growing, and they could ideally do with an experienced commercial director, which I've been in the past career for many years. So I do the equivalent of a couple of days a month for them just to help them in that process. And once they get bigger, then my job is done and they get somebody in a bit more permanently.
Tim Fitzpatrick
And you have a book. Tell us about that.
Trevor Lee
Oh, yes. You can probably just see it over one of my shoulders. In fact, I've actually got a copy a bit closer to hand, but there it is. It's called Twelve Business Lessons from Running an Ultramarathon. And one of my goals in life was to write a business book and then run an ultramarathan. So suddenly after the ultramarathan was done, I decided to combine the two. So I did the ultramarathon in May 2021. It was called 44 at 60. One was the mileage. One was my age at the time. So I let listeners and viewers work out which is which. But I'm sure they'll seem quickly just giving away my bloody running shirts, giving half it away in the background there. Yeah. So the book is really running an ultramarathon from first ultramarathon and being a bit of a runner, but definitely not an ultramarathan runner. So I looked at all the things I learned from setting a challenge to everything I needed to eat on the run, to getting a crew together. And then I converted all those sort of key twelve lessons into a business context. So you get a chapter. Chapter one would be the running challenge, whatever it might have been, and then the equivalent in business.
Trevor Lee
And I flow through the book also my training program, so that if somebody is looking to run a first ultramarath and they can use the book for that as well.
Tim Fitzpatrick
That's awesome. There are so many things that I think we can learn and apply from our personal life to business and vice versa and or things that you're seeing working in other industries that aren't applied in your industry. So I love how you've tied in something that you really enjoy doing and how that can help in business. So we'll make sure people know where to go to check that out. Let's jump into speaking and presenting. Many of us do not look forward to it. What can we do to become more confident presenters and speakers?
Trevor Lee
That's a great question, Tim. And you're right. There's so many people that we'll both know who avoid doing presentations and speaking opportunities, and they have this thing that they believe they're never going to be good enough. They're going to mess up too much, they're going to make too many mistakes. And I find that they find a lot of ways and excuses almost to avoid it. I don't know how that resonates with you. I'm sure you have seen similar things yourself, but I think there are two things for me, really. If you want to become a more confident presenter, then what I say to people is take out some of the things that may make you feel nervous. So reduce be in control of the manageables if you like. And the two big ones for me are preparation and practice. And I think if you can spend more time preparing your presentation, preparing the kit that you're going to use, getting familiar with it, then that's going to make you feel more confident about delivering it. And I think the other thing and I feel that in business generally, and I don't know whether you see this as well, is that we seem to have this great reluctance to practice. Now, we've talked a bit about running, and it's the same with other sports. If we were doing a sport at any level, not just at the very highest level, we would be practicing. And everyone's heard of Tiger Woods. And I always use the comparison and say Tiger Woods would not go into a golf tournament, no matter how many he's won, no matter how great a player he is, without a lot of practice, he'll be there practicing on the driving range. You'll be there practicing his iron. He'll be there practicing his pussy. Yet in business, we've got a presentation to do. And we just think, oh, we'll just turn up and do that.
Tim Fitzpatrick
I'll just wing it.
Trevor Lee
And people see that in action. And I think, oh, and they think, oh, that's not a great presentation. And I think seeing other presenters in action sometimes puts people off. And they think, well, if they can't do it, what chance have I got? I think the confidence thing is a barrier to stopping people wanting to get involved. So that's how I feel about it. I think the other big message is everybody feels a bit nervous. So if you're feeling nervous about doing a presentation, I think that's not a bad thing because I think you need that little bit of nurse to give you a little bit of edge to get the adrenaline flowing, to get in what I call the presenting zone to get ready for your performance effectively. So I think those are some of the things, Tim, from my point of view.
Tim Fitzpatrick
A couple of the things that I have found helpful and I talk about all the time whenever we're on this particular topic is one you touched on this, Trevor, we all have a bit of fear, but the more if we lean into that and just continue to push ourselves, the more comfortable we're going to get. Look, we all suck in the beginning. I don't know what podcast episode this is for us, but it's, I don't know, 150 something or more. I still get better each and every time. It's that practice, the repetition of doing it over and over again, you get more comfortable and more confident. I think the other thing, too, that creates some of that fear for people is like, what are people going to think? And the sooner we can get to a place where we just don't care what other people think, the far better off we're going to be. Those are my two cents that I would add to that. I'd love practice preparation. It's going to help you face the fear and stop caring what other people think.
Trevor Lee
And I think that's a great point that you raised Tim about. What are people going to think of me? I know that lots of people have said to me, well, people are going to think I'm a rubbish presenter and all this sort of stuff. And I say to them, look, the audience is there because they want to benefit from what you're going to tell them. Yes. Therefore they want you to do well. And people say, oh, yeah, but I might forget something. Well, who cares? Because the only person who knows if you forget part of your presentation is you.
Tim Fitzpatrick
That's right.
Trevor Lee
No one's got the script. And go, oh, hang on, Trevor, you didn't mention that bit.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Yeah, that's exactly right. And anytime that I've ever presented and I've had that fear by the time I'm done, I'm like, oh, actually, that wasn't bad. That went pretty well. It's like working out. Like I haven't had this problem because I'm very disciplined and I've got the habit. But people that have this, they don't want to work out. Once they push themselves to work out and they're done, nobody ever goes, oh, God, that sucked. They're like, gosh, I'm so glad I worked out.
Trevor Lee
Well, I think that's the thing. It's interesting. When I work with people in person might be a group of four or five people. And a part of the coaching is to get them to present a couple of minutes in front of each other. And the routine I have when they do that is I get all the others who are not presenting to where the coaches hat and I'll get them to give me some feedback. But first of all, I'll say to the person, so how did that go? And usually they say, well, I was really nervous. So I say, right, just hold that there. So I turn to the others and they go, okay. Who spotted that Sally was really nervous. And very often everybody says, none of us. So the signs that that person was giving out to the audience were not of a nervous person. It was in their head that they were thinking they were nervous. And it's amazing. The transformation once they hear their colleagues go, well, we didn't think you were nervous. We thought you were great. Okay. They'll build them up a bit for sure. But nevertheless, it's a big moment for them.
Trevor Lee
And I noticed as soon as someone says that to them, it kind of gives them that big step forward.
Tim Fitzpatrick
It's so interesting you say that. Have you seen The Adam Project? It's a new movie on Netflix with Ryan Reynolds.
Trevor Lee
I haven't, no. Okay.
Tim Fitzpatrick
There's a kid in there. And forgive me, I do not remember his name, but he absolutely steals the show in this movie. He is amazing. And I caught a clip of him. He was on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and I caught a clip of the interview, and it's the very beginning of the interview. And she's just kind of breaking the ice. And she asked him a question and he fumbles a little bit and he's like, I'm so sorry, I'm nervous. And if he hadn't said that, I never would have known that he was nervous. So it's so interesting that you bring that up. It's like we feel nervous and we think that we're portraying that, but in a lot of cases, we're not at all. So it's in our head.
Trevor Lee
It absolutely is. Well, as we know them, lots of things in business to do with mindset and visualizing yourself doing really well. And it's a difficult one, isn't it? It's a really difficult one to have that positive visualization of success. I can be great at this. It's not easy. But going back to that, to summarize that point, if people are listening to this, watching this and thinking that they're not confident enough to do a presentation well, preparation and practice and start small as well. Do a presentation to your colleagues. Do a presentation to three of your colleagues for five minutes. Go to a little networking event where you've got a couple of minutes to do a small presentation. But don't push yourself into a massive auditorium, a big event, because that is going to be you are going to be nervous if that's your first one. Like you said about your podcast, you've got to start somewhere, but then you've got to keep working on it and learning from it, and you will get better. You will get more confident, but you still need that little bit of a nervous age anyway.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Yeah. So we've all suffered death by PowerPoint. I'm sure as we say, it's contrarying at this image. Whether it's PowerPoint or Google Sheets or whatever the heck it is these days, how can we be more effective with our slide decks?
Trevor Lee
Very simple. Take the words off the slides. That to me, Tim, is the answer to this question. Most slides are full of words. You think about slides that you've seen in presentations, people listening, watching this podcast. Think about the slides that you put on your own slide decks in your presentation. You don't need the words, you just don't need them. And the worst ones that really cause death by a PowerPoint are when people list out bullet points and they use sentences and got 50, 60, 80 words on the slide. I've got a slide I use to demonstrate this, which has got 310 words on it, and it's a genuine slide that I pinched the presentation I was on the receiving end of in my semi corporate life. But get the words off the slide. It's not the number of slides that cause death by PowerPoint. And I prove this because whenever I do a session with people, by the time I get to talk about death by a PowerPoint, I'm usually up to a certain number of slides. And I stopped the thing. And I go, right, we're going to have a little quiz now. So if we're doing it virtually, we use the chat or the poll or whatever. And I say, how many slides have I used so far? And usually the answer is somewhere between 20 and 30. That's what the delegates say. And then when I tell them it's slides 76 you've got on screen at the moment, they go, what? 76 slides you can't have used 76. I said, there you go. There's my point. So death by PowerPoint is not about the slides in terms of number. It's about what you put on those slides. So get rid of the words and get rid of the marketing template on every single slide. You don't need it. No one's going to forget who you are between slides. So you don't have to have all your logos and all your awards dotted around the edge of all your slides. Yeah, just don't do that. That will help. And the other thing about death by a PowerPoint is don't keep a slide on the screen for too long, which is my 76 in 20 minutes or something. So they're whizzing through. Because the longer your slides on there, the chances are the more detailed it is, the more complex it is. So if you've got a slide that has to stay on the screen for more than say 30 seconds, even then it's too complicated, it's got too much stuff on it.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Say that again. How many seconds?
Trevor Lee
I'd say about 30 seconds. Don't keep your slide on the screen for more than about 30 seconds, with one exception. And that is your opening slide. And I had a guy come on my podcast called Brian Burke Up who specializes in presentations, and he said, keep your opening slide on there for 75 seconds so that you get a chance to be in front of your audience and they start to focus on you. Because what a lot of presenters forget is the presentation. It's not about the slides. It's about you. It's what you're saying. And to me, the phrase I use is that your slides, they're a prompt. They are not a script.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Yeah. I love that. They're a prompt, not a script. And we've all been in presentations where there's too many words like you say and the presenter just reads right off the slide. It's like, well, Jeez, you should have just given me your slide deck and I could have saved the hour or 2 hours or whatever it was and just read through them myself. Right. So if there are words, few as possible and the words are there to prompt what you're going to talk about and expand upon.
Trevor Lee
Yeah. The important bit, Tim, is it's a prompt for the audience. Not really for you. You don't really want to be looking at the screen. You know, that turning around every time you change the slide, it's for your audience. So they're listening to you. But if there's a couple of words or an image, ideally on the slide, it just keeps them in the loop about if they're not keeping up with what you're speaking and that does happen, then they know from looking at the screen what's going on. But what we don't want them doing is you quite rightly. Say is reading what I'm actually speaking.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Yeah. Got it. So this does go back to that preparation and practice, because I think for a lot of people, their slides are the script.
Trevor Lee
Definitely.
Tim Fitzpatrick
And if you don't practice it enough, that's why you do need the words. But if you practice it, you don't need a bunch of words on your slides.
Trevor Lee
No. And you're in danger then of trying to deliver a presentation word for word. You're not reading a film script. You're not taking part in a show. You are delivering a presentation. And the authentic you is never going to deliver the same thing exactly twice on the trot. You're going to say things slightly differently. So, yeah. If listeners want to avoid inflicting Death by PowerPoint, then get the words off those slides. Try it. Be brave. Start with one word and then if you need a few more, add them. But try not to go beyond ten. Set yourself that goal, one to ten, maximum. If you can do one. Brilliant. If you need ten, don't write them in a sentence or as bullet points.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Got it. And then try to keep your slides on the screen for no more than about 30 seconds ish.
Trevor Lee
Yeah. Because that keeps the whole thing moving. Then I think if I was to time some of the presentations I do, some of the slides will be on there for 10 seconds or less.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Got it. So now let's dig into the presentation itself. What three things should I aim to do to deliver a successful presentation? Is there a framework here that you use or let's dig into this.
Trevor Lee
Yeah. I mean, I thought about this Tim, this question, and I got a few different answers initially, and then I narrowed it down. So I think the three I would advise would be number one is focus on your audience. So that would be my first of the three things. And very often when we put a presentation together, in particular, we tend to think about what we would like to include in the presentation. We'd like to make sure we include all the great stuff about ourselves and our company and all the things that we want the audience to think, hey, that's great, brilliant and all that. And I think one of the challenges for a lot of presenters is not giving enough consideration to what the audience want from the presentation. And if you've been successful, you want your audience to be sitting there thinking, Crikey Trevor has created this presentation just for me. And very often, of course, as you well know, that a lot of people put presentations together. They go, the first thing they do is, okay, so when did we last do a presentation at this sort of event? All right, let's get that one out. Let's just change the front. So the date is right and the logos right. Now, is there anything else we need to change? We never think, is the audience going to be different? What are the audience expecting? So the number one of those three things is put yourself in the shoes of the audience. If you were on the receiving end of your own presentation, what would you want from it? Chances are it wouldn't be you talking about yourself at the beginning. And indeed, for most of the presentation. I believe that presentations have to engage, they have to educate, they have to enthuse, and to a degree, they have to entertain. And if you can get those four things right, then you are going to be successful.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Can you repeat those one more time? That's easy for people to miss.
Trevor Lee
Engage, educate, enthuse and to a degree, entertain.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Got it.
Trevor Lee
Now, I don't mean by the last one that you've got to turn up doing card tricks or eating fire or juggling while you're presenting or whatever. But I think that the over. It is a bit of a performance your presentation. So therefore, you need your audience to be part of it. They want to enjoy it.
Tim Fitzpatrick
So focus on the audience. What's the next tip you've got?
Trevor Lee
Number two is having a clear purpose. And what I mean by that Tim is asking yourself these sort of questions. So at the end of the presentation, what do you want the outcome to be? What do you want the audience to be doing next? What are the next steps? What do you want to have happened during your presentation? Because there is a reason we're doing a presentation, and that really ultimately boils down back to your purpose. And very often we forget that I've been setting presentations and people know what I do. And they come up to me afterwards and they say, Trevor, how did it go? How was I? And the first thing I say to them is, okay, Tim, so what was the purpose of your presentation? And they look at me as though I've asked them the most ridiculous question in the world. What do you mean by purpose? Well, I can't give you your answer to your question about whether I thought it was good until I know what you were trying to achieve. So I think very often we forget that, but we just think, oh, we've got a presentation to do. We might think if it's a sales pitch, then we're probably thinking we want to get them to place an order. But is that really what you're after at that point in time? How many times do we do a sales pitch and someone says, oh, great, thanks very much. And then where do I sign? It doesn't always happen that way. So if you want to deliver a successful presentation, you need to know what you're setting as the metrics of success, and therefore, that's the purpose, the outcome. So that would be my number two on the list, maybe in a particular order as well.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Okay. So focus on your audience. Number two is having a clear purpose. What should the outcome be for the audience? What's number three?
Trevor Lee
Number three is to be a ruthless editor. And that goes back to what we said about the audience Tim, where you sit in a presentation for your audience, not for yourself. You're getting rid of those words on the slides. So that makes you a ruthless editor, and you're potentially getting rid of quite a bit of the normal content you might include. I'm a big believer that in any presentation, it doesn't matter how long it is, whether it's five minutes or 55 minutes, but you really should be focusing on three core things that you want your audience to engage with and ultimately take away. And if you give them 23, which a lot of presentations do, then as a member of the audience, I'm bamboozled. I can't take 23 in I can't write down 23 things. I have no idea which of the 23 are supposed to be best for me. It's too much. It's just too much. So we've got to get rid of some of the stuff in our presentations and make it simple for our audience to react positively to them so often that if I'm ever putting a presentation together myself, whether it's for a program or coaching or whatever it might be, I will put it together and then I'll go through it and I'll ruthlessly slash tons of it. Right. That goes out. Much as I like it, much as I would love to tell them about this, it's not what they want. So again, it goes back to the roof of this editor is driven by your audience and what they're expecting, and it's driven by your purpose and what you want ultimately the outcome to be.
Tim Fitzpatrick
I love that. So no more than three things that we should be focusing on?
Trevor Lee
Three core messages, I think. Yeah. So if you're doing a presentation about all the great products that your company has, if it becomes like a catalog or a manual, well, it's just bamboozling for your audience. So six to three, it might be two core messages. It might even be one core message. But it makes it easier for your audience to engage with you, to interpret it, to understand it, if you can keep it simple for them. So that's the key to it. It all comes back to your audience.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Yeah. Well, with marketing messaging, we're always talking about not confusing people. When we confuse people, we lose them. It's the same thing here. We're trying to serve. Right. And I think that's why some people just tend to go, oh, well, I've got to show them all these things, but all those things in a one single presentation just becomes overwhelming and confusing. And then that impacts the effectiveness of the presentation, right?
Trevor Lee
Absolutely. And there's a clear link here, obviously, between you talk about marketing very often a presentation is clearly a form of marketing.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Yes.
Trevor Lee
If you're presenting an event or a big event or networking event or you're briefing your colleagues, even it is kind of sharing an idea and wanting them to take it on board and buy into it and go with you and understand it all the things that marketing tries to do for us as well really, Tim.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Yeah. Now, Trevor, we touched on your book in the beginning. Can you give us some of the business lessons? We don't need a ton of them. But are there any particular business lessons from the ultra marathon that stick out to you?
Trevor Lee
Well, I'll just pick two or three out then. For me, it came about because I was going to run what for me will be a third marathon around my time of my landmark birthday. And I was speaking at a conference a couple of years before that, actually. And the headline speaker was a guy called Jim Lawless. I don't know whether you've come across Jim. His concept is called Taming Tigers. And basically it's about putting yourself outside your comfort zone and setting yourself what I remember back in my media days, we used to call a big hairy audacious goal. It's a term that people will be familiar with. Some people say it's outdated and all that stuff, but I think everybody knows what it is. So during that lunch break at that conference, I knew that in the afternoon I was going to be introduced to the audience 100 and 200 people, whatever before my session. And I was brief that along with the other three afternoon speakers, we were going to be asked, what did we learn from Jim in the morning? And I decided over lunchtime, doing a marathon was fine, but it wasn't really challenging enough. I needed to upgrade it. So that's why I knew about this thing called the classic quarter. I didn't know it was 44 miles. I didn't know it's all on the coastal path. But anyway, I find myself announcing to this audience, and that's what I'm going to do. So the one thing that I learned about that was that if you're going to I'm sure you meet so many people who say, oh, yeah, I've always wanted to do that, or I wish I'd done this or, yeah, I'd like to write a book, Trevor, but they never do. And with this challenge, the big thing for me, Tim, was actually announcing to the world I was going to do it well, not to the world, but to those people in that audience. And that made it real. And that meant I had to kind of then progress with it. And I did launch a podcast about it as well, which also reminded me every time I did an episode, I was going to do this. So I think the first lesson there is, set yourself a big goal, talk about it, share it, make it public, make it real, and go for it, and don't find excuses not to give it a chance. Now, it's not always going to succeed, but even if you deliver half of it, that might be something fantastic. So that would be number one, I think number two was about learning. And I do a chapter in the book about learning how to I had no idea how to run an ultra marathon. I had no idea about cruise, about eating, drinking, whatever, about shoes, about pace. I knew nothing. Running poles, nothing. I used my podcast, really, as a way of getting experts on the show to tell me what I needed to know. And I think in business, as I think we touched upon earlier, learning is a big thing. And here we are on this podcast. We're sharing ideas and tips for people to deliver better presentations. Doesn't matter how many presentations you've delivered. Hopefully there's something you've picked up today. So I think learning was number three, number two. And then the third thing I pick out, Tim, would be enjoying your big moment. Or for me, it was a big day. I knew it was going to take me twelve or 13 hours to run this ultramarathon. And people said, So are you looking forward to it? And I said, I am. I can't wait. I've done all the preparation, all the planning unless I fall down the stairs overnight. Then I'm on the start line and I'm ready to go and everything is in place and I'm going to go and I'm going to enjoy it and I'm going to talk to people all the way around. I'm going to record bits of my running podcast on the way around. I'm going to have a great day out and I think if you've got a big business occasion, a big presentation, even then I think go into it with the attitude that you're going to enjoy it. And I strongly believe that if you enjoy whatever it is you're doing, then the people you're working with or your audience or whoever, they're going to enjoy it too. And who wants to work with someone that they don't think is going to be fun or enjoyable to work with? So those will be the three things. I think, Tim, setting that big goal, learning. Keep on learning and then enjoying when the time comes, your big day or your big moment or your big presentation, even really enjoy it and lap it up and make the most of it and make it a memorable occasion.
Tim Fitzpatrick
This has been awesome, Trevor. I appreciate you taking the time and switching sides of the mic. I know I've picked up some great tips. If people want to learn more about how you can help them nail their speaking and their presentation skills, where should they be going?
Trevor Lee
Well, my website, Tim, is called Trevor Lee Media. That's L-E-E. Co. Uk and all my stuff is on there. The podcast that you came on, you mentioned earlier, Better Presentations, More Sales podcast that comes out every Monday. So I try and fill that with as much advice and tips as I can. As you kindly shared when you came on it a few weeks ago now. So those are the two key places and I'm on LinkedIn as well. You can find me on LinkedIn and please connect with me on LinkedIn. I try and share ideas and tips on LinkedIn as well as best I can without being overwhelming.
Tim Fitzpatrick
Awesome. Thank you so much. So again guys, it's Trevorleemedia. Co. Uk. Go check it out. He obviously knows what the heck he's doing and like I said, speaking and presenting is a phenomenal way to get your message out there and bring new exposure, generate leads and grow your business. So please take advantage of it. Trevor, thank you so much for taking the time and I appreciate it. Those of you that are watching listening, I appreciate you. If you are struggling with your marketing, you're not quite sure what that next step should be. I got to tell you, everything starts with a plan. You've got to have a plan if you want to get consistent, repeatable results. If you head on over to Growthmarketingplan.com, that's growthmarketingplan.com. You can download our free 90 day marketing plan toolkit. All the resources, downloads, tools are there so that you can put together your marketing plan in minutes and start to see results. Again, it's growth marketing plan.com. Thanks so much. Till next time. Take care.
