Sell yourself better

Remember “death by PowerPoint”?

Let’s do little audit here:

Assuming you currently work with a team:

• how was the last presentation you heard from your team members?

• too fast? too detailed? too slow? boring? overwhelming?

Now, let’s do a little audit on your own presentation skills:

• Do you struggle with pitching your ideas compellingly during presentations

• Do you have moments where you propose something to your team and their response was not as enthusiastic as you wished for?

• How many filler words do you use?

Today, I want to share a surprising discovery with you.

A hidden gem if you want.

Get ready for Microsoft PowerPoint's Speaker Coach.

A Little-known Feature with Big Impact

I’m pretty sure you haven’t heard about PowerPoint's Speaker Coach.

I was totally unaware of it until a few weeks ago.

And I’ve been using PowerPoint for nearly my entire career - which spans now a little over 20 years…

What’s so cool about it?

It provides crucial insights into your speaking style.

It analyses your speech in real-time, gives you feedback on your pace, tonality, repetitive words, filler words, and even the length of your pauses.

Your Personal, On-Demand Speech Coach

Think of Speaker Coach as your personal speech mentor. Available 24/7.

This tool offers a simple, easily accessible, and free way to uncover your or your team members' communication weaknesses and transform them into strengths.

Elevate Your Communication Game

Next PI System Demo coming up?

Next interview coming up?

Next Retro coming up?

All of those meetings benefit from better communication.

If you rehearse your presentation at least once, you will see improvements over time.

And that means more of your ideas see the light of day instead of being shelved right after the presentation.

Leverage Speaker Coach for Your Team

As a Scrum Master, your role involves coaching and enabling your team members to achieve their best.

Imagine what they could do with this tool?

How would their presentation skills change?

Take the First Step

I know it can be scary to have someone audit your presentation.

The good thing is: this tool doesn’t judge you.

Try Microsoft PowerPoint's Speaker Coach and let me know how it went.

And if your team members are not pro-presenters, yet (which I guess they are not if you work in IT), then show it to your team as well.

It can enhance your presentation skills, and it can also boost your overall communication abilities.

Meaning: you can 'sell' your ideas more effectively.

Remember, "The best way to predict the future is to create it," as Peter Drucker wisely put it.

Let's create a future where we, as Scrum Masters, and our team members, can communicate more confidently and effectively.

A future that doesn’t look like this:

This might also lead to a more successful and impactful team.

To your inevitable success,

Simon - Career Coach - Hegener