Creating Icebergs Out Of Hostility

*Have you ever dreaded an upcoming presentation, meeting or
function because you just knew that the group would be hostile*
Maybe you had heard that these people are very critical, even
aggressive.

*How can you prepare for such a situation even though you would
prefer to disappear into thin air.*

1 Use Adversity To Make You Stronger

Very often we make our greatest breakthroughs in the face of huge
challenges. We improve our performance overnight because we
absolutely have to so as to avoid dire consequences. It might
even be a case of get this result now or lose your job.

Knowing that you will be facing a hostile crowd, why not decide
now to prepare for the presentation better than you have ever
done before. Decide that you will absolutely take charge of the
situation and then devise a plan to make sure you will be awesome
when the pressure is on.

Work on the content of your presentation, your delivery, and
especially on how you will interact with a difficult audience.
Anticipate heckling, negative responses and resistance. Then
decide before the event how you will deal with it. Devise answers
and responses for stupid questions and boorish behavior.

All too often we do a little preparation before a big event and
then just hope that it will all turn out right. If professional
sportspeople approached their work like that sport would not even
be worth watching. If all those famous singers, dancers and
comedians did not constantly work on their skills BEFORE a
performance then you would never have heard of them.

Giving a presentation takes very little time, and it is the tip
of the iceberg, an iceberg that you sculpt in the days before the
event.

Think for a moment about how much time you spend in preparation
for a speech, a job interview or a meeting. Now DOUBLE the time
you normally invest in yourself. Spend time on becoming excellent
instead of just aiming to be good.

Use the force against you to become stronger - turn the threat
into an opportunity. The stronger the breeze, the stronger the
trees.

2 State Management

To perform well when the crowd is openly hostile it is critical
to be able to maintain your composure. You will need to be cool
under pressure despite the negativity that you see and hear in
front of you. If you need a magic wand then anchoring is the
answer.

Anchoring is the single most effective way of taking charge of
your emotional state. With an anchor you can change how you feel
in an instant, I devote an entire chapter to it in my e-book
because it is such an important skill to master.

Consider for a moment - *if you could feel any way you wanted to,
how would you like to feel in the face of hostility*

Write down the various answers that come to mind. Maybe you would
like to feel confident, powerful, energetic, or even courageous.

Now, refer to my chapter on anchoring if you need a reminder,
then set up an anchor for those resourceful feelings that you
will need in the heat of the moment when the pressure is on.

Then later on when you are speaking, whenever you need to, you
can fire your anchor and instantly go from feeling overwhelmed to
feeling confident and strong.

By the way, if you have never used anchoring you are in for a
mind blowing experience.

3 Disaster Planning

The final stage is to run through worst case scenarios for your
upcoming presentation. Think about what could go wrong, what
might go wrong, and even, what is unlikely to happen that would
be catastrophic if it did happen.

Then work out a plan to deal as best you can with each scenario.
Until you have completed this stage you are not ready to face the
crowd.

By the way, you are the best person to devise your strategy
because your approach must fit with your personality and
presentation style. Make sure you feel happy with your plan
before you decide to implement it, otherwise on the big day you
could well end up getting stuck. Not knowing what to do, you
could just end up feeling confused.

The presentation itself is the tip of the iceberg - be sure you
sculpt a fine iceberg that will not melt under the spotlight.