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How Wii Can Help Develop Your Skills and Your Business

How Wii Can Help You Develop Your Skills and Your Business

Is There Anything Worse Than Speaking In Public?

"I knew my time had come. My palms were damp, my stomach was turning, and I was so nervous I couldn’t speak. What if I did it really badly? What if everyone laughed at me? What if I was the worst anyone had ever seen?

Sure, there are people out there that made it look easy, made it look enjoyable, but I was not one of them. I’d been told I had to stand up and do it, I had no excuses left, and I couldn’t delegate this to anyone else.

What was I doing? Making a presentation? Speaking in public? Sadly no; those things are easy compared to what I had to do. I was next at playing Just Dance on the Nintendo Wii. In front of friends and family I had to dance to a tune and earn points if I was in time, and ridicule if I wasn’t!

As the music to Rasputin by Boney M came on I was aware of only one thing – the image of a Russian dancer, dressed in a Cossack, on the screen, and I had to mirror everything this character did for the entire duration of the song!

It was only after I’d finished (and the song did eventually finish), and I’d caught my breath back, that I became aware of the similarity between what I’d just experienced, and my experiences of learning something new in the workplace (especially my first business presentation).

1. I was reluctant to do something I wasn’t already “good” at.
• I like being in the comfort zone and dancing in front of friends is not in my comfort zone because I perceive myself to be “bad” at it.

2. My reluctance to try something new was only there because other people were watching.
• If I’d been on my own the first time I’d tried to Just Dance, I’d have had a go straight away – the self-inflicted pressure of having to do it in front of others was entirely due to me fearing embarrassment if anything went wrong.

3. Having an expert to follow really helped.
• I had a great performer to copy, initially this was just the image on screen, and later became copying what my daughter was doing to get higher scores. By having a great “model” to “copy” means I learnt what I should be doing without making costly or timely mistakes.

4. Getting immediate feedback (from the points I was scoring) allowed me to measure my improvement over time.
• I’d set myself a totally unrealistic target of being “perfect” first time I attempted the dance. By changing the target to “consistently improving my score” I was able to get small successes along the way, and track my progress.

5. The more I practiced the better I got.
• Once I knew the dance, I could predict what I needed to do next and be ready for it. Practicing on a regular basis meant I got to know the dance quickly, hence accelerating my progress.

6. Situations are never as bad in reality is as you make them out to be in your mind.
• I actually really enjoyed the first time I danced. I’d built it up as a huge problem and this had created a barrier that stopped me from even trying. Once I’d started, I had momentum and it was fun and exciting to try something new.

So, to summarise my advice from my Wii Just Dance experience: be prepared to move out of your comfort zone; understand why you are reluctant to try something new, or something you feel you’re not good at; follow an expert if you want to learn quickly; make sure you get immediate feedback; measure your progress; practice, practice, practice; and go for it!"

All of these points (and many more) are covered on our Winning Presentations training course. You won’t be expected to dance at the course, but you will learn how to develop your confidence and skills to deliver effective, professional presentations to audiences of all sizes. For more details of this course, and the other courses we deliver that are designed to help you grow your business, please take a look at our training schedule.

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