Ep 23: Unlock your star performance at awards presentations - with Thunderbirds star and pro-speaker DOMINIC COLENSO.

In this episode, Donna is joined by Dominic Colenso, who began his career as a professional actor, before training as a director at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

He’s worked alongside some of the UK’s most famous actors, appearing on the London stage, in BBC period dramas and most famously played Virgil Tracy in the Hollywood film adaptation of Thunderbirds.

Through his company In Flow, he now empowers businesses, sales teams and leaders to increase the impact of their communication and perform at their best under pressure. Drawing on his extensive experience on stage and screen, he shares the secret tools and techniques used by the world’s best actors to help his audience unlock their own star performances.

In demand as a speaker, trainer and coach, he’s also the author of the bestselling book “IMPACT: How to be more confident, increase your influence and know what to say under pressure.”


Donna O'Toole is the Founder of August, and she has had the pleasure of supporting entrepreneurs, business leaders and teams to win the most prestigious awards in the world. She has seen, first-hand, how receiving awards and recognition has motivated teams, solved problems, supercharged brands and raised their profiles, helping businesses to grow and do even more good things for their employees, their industry and their community.

Transcript

Donna O'Toole: 0:09

Hi, I'm Donna Rachel, and you're listening to my exclusive winning awards podcast. Over the years, I've had the pleasure of supporting entrepreneurs, business leaders and teams to win the most prestigious awards in the world. I've seen firsthand how receiving awards and recognition has motivated teams, solve problems, supercharge brands and raise profiles, helping businesses to grow and do even more good things for their employees, their industry and their community. In this podcast, I'll be sharing valuable awards, insights, tips, and inspirational stories to make sure that you get the recognition that you deserve, so that you can go on and achieve your dreams. So what are you waiting for? It's time to start winning. Oh, and welcome to another episode of the winning awards podcast. Thank you very much for joining us today. And our guest for this episode began his career as a professional actor. Before training as a director of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He has worked alongside some of the UK his most famous actors appearing on London stage and in BBC period dramas and most famously play Virgil Tracy in the Hollywood adaption of Thunderbirds, which is very exciting. Through his company in flow, he now empowers businesses, sales teams, and leaders to increase the impact of their communication and perform at their best under pressure, which is what we're going to be talking to him about today. So drawing on his extensive experience of stage and screen, he's going to be sharing tools and techniques used by the world's best actors, to help his audience unlock their star performances. Dominic is also the author of the best selling book impact, which is how to be more confident, increase your influence and know what to say under pressure, we all need that. Now this is what really excites me about introducing someone next to you today is actually going to be teaching you the secrets of making a powerful presentation that can make the difference between winning and not winning the awards that you enter. So welcome, Dominic, thank you so much for joining me today.

Unknown: 2:10

Thanks, Donna. Great to be with you.

Donna O'Toole: 2:12

Thank you. So Dominic, you're an expert speaker, and you teach other people to become experts, because to me, even if they don't realise it. So when the pandemic hit last year, there's a huge shake up, obviously, to every industry. But tell us a little bit about what that meant for your industry and sort of how the party has been for you. And what you've noticed has changed perhaps in the world of professional speaking,

Unknown: 2:37

there has been undoubtedly a massive shift over the last 18 months. And I don't think anyone saw it coming there were there were the odd kind of, you know, webinars and virtual events, you know, we all begrudgingly got onto Microsoft Teams, or zoom for a meeting every now and again, and to be honest, probably kept our cameras off. And all of a sudden, we just been thrust into a completely different way of working of communicating. And importantly, from an awards perspective, presenting and pitching in a completely different way, we've lost that ability to have that handshake and maybe have a cup of coffee and build the rapport and all of a sudden we're in kind of broadcast mode. So for our business, there was a there's a massive shift from me travelling around the world, speaking in front of audiences, or being in a training room, to being stuck in my home office and delivering down the lens of a camera, but what was great from my perspective, was that I was able to take all of that experience of being on screen of watching some amazing performers and directors work with the camera and apply those principles to help other people show up more powerfully. So we've had a really busy 18 months, lots of people been asking for help and we're seeing fantastic results from the people that we've been working oh that's

Donna O'Toole: 4:00

brilliant. And I should say I've attended one of Dominic occa lenses amazing speaking workshops, and I spent more of it standing up and jumping around physical then I perhaps it expected at the beginning. But I guess that's important, isn't it?

Unknown: 4:20

there's a there's a huge Mind Body link which I think most people forget about and as we've been in this zoom teams environment for that for the last 18 months, more and more we become sedentary and you know you check in with your emails at eight o'clock in the morning and by six o'clock maybe you got up for lunch and by getting up for lunch who's probably going to the kitchen and opening the fridge and grabbing something else and coming back to where you were sitting and pre pandemic we were travelling to different people's offices we were at least walking up and down the corridor and going to someone else's desk or going to to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Which was two flights up. And now we're just sort of sitting here. So that's a, it's a really important thing for people to be thinking about when they're when they're getting ready for a performance is actually what's what's going on for me physically? Am I, you know, a little bit kind of small and tense or am I taking up space. So actually, I know we're, we're speaking this podcast, but if you if you will, with me, now I'm standing up in my office recording this with you. Because that allows me to be energised and to be more present. And I think that's a really important thing for people to consider.

Donna O'Toole: 5:37

I completely agree. And I have to say, I'm going to confess now I have bought myself a standing up desk, and I'm using it right now. But I'm doing that. So I forget that I was standing desks that I need to put it up. So that's a good reminder. And you can't see you guys in the audience can't see Dominic right now. But he is standing up and he's moving around while he's chatting to me. And you know, and I do completely agree because when I'm presenting at an event that's online, I do feel so much better standing up. I feel like there's more power in my delivery and energy in everything that I'm giving to the audience. I completely understand that. So recommending stand up.

Unknown: 6:18

I mean, great communication is essentially the transfer of energies between two people or two parties. And you're now having to do this down the lens of the camera. And I learned very early on in my acting career, I was lucky enough to do a BBC period drama with the director called Steven Poliakoff, it was called The Lost prints and there were lots of kind of the the great and the good of a British acting royalty if you like who were there. So it was it was Bill Nighy, who is playing one of the other key characters, and then Michael Gambon, who played Dumbledore in in the Harry Potter franchise. And what was fascinating about watching those actors was how they turn their performance on in front of the camera. So it wasn't kind of jazz hands. It wasn't like big and expressive. It was just incredibly focused. So they could be sitting relaxed and having a cup of tea off screen. But as soon as they we set up the shot and the director shouted, you know, action people, people just shifted their energy levels. And that's really important when you're thinking about communicating down the lens of the camera. So I speak to my clients about an energy scale of one to 10. So one is like man flu can't get our bed. 10 is two cans of Red Bull pack of m&ms. Yeah. So like completely why we want to be aiming for what I would call a level eight energy. So you're in that kind of upper court aisle. And if you are, then you will stop the camera sucking energy out of your performance. because quite often, you'll think that you're being kind of natural and normal. And if you've ever watched yourself back on video, you suddenly watch your back and go oh, that was a little bit flat numbers a little bit under energised. And that's purely you know, the mechanics of the camera. If someone was sitting in the room with you, they probably wouldn't have felt that. But we need to just be thinking about hedging that energy up for the camera and making sure that it transfers down the lens.

Donna O'Toole: 8:23

Yeah, absolutely. And that's something actually I've really noticed because so with for example, with zoom and meetings and presentations, we were using zoom, we've been using zoom for years. So when the pandemic catnip everyone else is moving to zoom, I was just celebrating that every one I finally got on board. I thought that was absolutely brilliant. But it's a very different feeling for me when I'm having a meeting with somebody on zoom, than it is when I'm presenting on zoom and actually speaking at an event. Now for our clients, what we're doing is we're working with people who are entering awards, and getting into awards finals. Now they've become used to using zoom or teams for their meetings. And so they you know, hopping on to an awards presentation, feeling like they're hopping onto a meeting, but actually it's a completely different level of performance is needed in that and in an award presentation you what we're asking for. And when I'm judging some often judging on the other side of the table, is for someone to absolutely give us their absolute best shot within 15 minutes, which is a lot harder to do down the lens like than it is in person, you know, they've moved from being 3d to 2d. So what's your sort of secrets Do you think for for, for changing? We've talked about that sort of energy shift, but for people to remember it's not a meeting anymore. This is a presentation you're pitching, what's the difference and what kind of secrets or methods because you put in for that.

Unknown: 9:56

So it all comes down to your preparation Rarely, and I think you nailed it when you said people just sort of jump on to these, it's like you can't, you can't jump on to these things. If you, if you think about the act, behind the curtain in the theatre about to step out into that performance, you can't be kind of like on your mobile phone, texting your mum and then walk out to do the scene, you've got to have that kind of level of focus. And that requires when we're doing this from a kind of home office environment, or to be honest, even even as we go back into the office, and we're doing it from the kind of hybrid environment, we need to, we need to have a kind of reset to help us reset that energy. And it's interesting, I've got a seven year old daughter, and we have, we've just had the summer holidays. And we kind of run out of things to watch on Netflix in the in the Disney Channel. And I saw the the old Disney version of Robin Hood. So the animated version with the with the fox, like I've gotten very sort of fun memories of that of my childhood, I think it was made in the 1970s was probably about 10 years old when I first watched it, and then and I put nail down in front of this. And she was absolutely bored stiff. Because when and so as I as I started to watch it, because actually, it was really, really slow. And we have become so used to things as consumers of content, we've become so used to things being really punchy, and to swapping between different shots, and there's an explosion, and there's this and there's always stuff kind of happening to us. And as as presenters, we need to think in the same way we need to be thinking about how do we capture our audience's attention and keep that attention when they're all of these distractions that are surrounding us. So people are listening to this podcast right now, the vast majority of people will be listening to this podcast and doing something else at the same time, whether that sort of half checking some emails, or cooking dinner or walking the dog, it's very rare that people sort of sit down and become present with with one particular thing. And even a judging panel at an award ceremony kind of virtually, they might have their email browser or their mobile phone might be sitting on the on the desk. And if that WhatsApp message from their loved one pops up, that's a distraction. And we're competing with that. And we're competing with that in a way that we didn't used to be when we were physically in the room with people because it was considered you know, bad manners and rude to be distracted in that way. Now it's just become part of the norm. So when we're thinking about how we create content for a virtual audience or a hybrid audience, we need to be thinking about how we create more of those energy shifts. And that requires you to be really in the driving seat of your preparation, you can't just sort of rock up and hope it goes well, you've got to be you've got to be really kind of planning those gear shifts that happen throughout your pitch and and how you keep your audience engaged. Even if you're not actually having a two way conversation. Even if you're in that broadcast mode,

Donna O'Toole: 13:24

I have to say, actually, so from which I think perspective, often a judging day will be nine to five or so imagine So a typical judging format will be 15 minutes, that the contestant is pitching. And it might be a whole team or it might be an individual. And then another 15 minutes of q&a from the judges, which is my favourite bit. And then a little gap of maybe five to 10 minutes, and then the next slot Come on. And then the next thought and it goes on. Can you imagine as a judge how your energy levels fall, as the day goes on, you're getting tired, you get hungry around lunchtime, you've had your lunch, and then you think you need a nap. very real hair, you know, you're getting towards the end of the day, and you're looking forward to the day ending. And all of those contestants are brilliant, you know, they've done brilliant, they've done really, really well to get as far as they have. But you're absolutely right in that you need a whole other level of energy now to keep us judges essentially entertained, because that's what that first 15 minutes is doing is it's capturing our attention, it's making us want to know more. And often also, in those presentations, the presenters will need to bring with them a you know, their preparation, which is typically a PowerPoint presentation that's going to take us through well there's a very there's a real difference in how you present your PowerPoint presentation. You know whether I'm going to go to sleep or I'm going to be enthralled and waiting for the next slide. So what do you think about that kind of format? What is it Any tips you can think of to help our presenters in that situation?

Unknown: 15:04

Absolutely. So I think key when we're talking about PowerPoint is that you are the star of the show, not the PowerPoint. So one, one thing that I see people a mistake that I see people making is that they will share the screen. And then they will keep that screen share up for the whole 15 minutes

Donna O'Toole: 15:24

aboard, you wouldn't actually have to do that. So that's right, nice. But what's great is actually when you then unshare it, and then you have some q&a, because that's Yeah, that's brilliant.

Unknown: 15:33

I mean, what what if it's possible, what I will be actually looking to do is to share the slide and then stop the show at SlideShare and talk for a bit and then bring the slide back up so that you're actually kind of cutting in between those two things. If you're, you know, if you're in control, and the the big challenge is overwhelm. So as you've said, you as a judge are there from nine in the morning until five at night, and you're seeing, you know, eight 910 presentations during during the day. What are the key messages that you want to leave those judges with? And how do you package that up in in a way that is easy for them to take away? So start thinking not about everything that you possibly could tell people, but actually what do you need to tell people in order for you to be memorable and craft your story around those those key pillars, it's about really kind of reducing the the pitch content down to its essence. And making sure that if you are using visuals in terms of the slide deck, that that information is supporting your narrative and not confusing your narrative. So often see far too much on slides. I'd actually rather when I'm talking to clients, you know, in a pitch context, quick, putting together a pitch deck, I'd rather have a pitch deck of 60 slides that we're all really succinct, and actually that you run through those 60 slides in like 30 minutes, but there was a moving narrative. And it was really kind of clear than just to have 15 slides, but really have 60 slides worth of stuff crammed onto 15 slides where, you know, you put a slide up in front of a someone on on zoom, and you're not in control of where they're looking. So you might be talking about the graph at the top right, and they're looking at the the pie chart button left. Whereas if you start to split that stuff out and really focus your audience's attention, then they can go with you on that journey. So you you control the audience's narrative rather than them being able to pick and choose. And I think that's really important.

Donna O'Toole: 17:44

That's really important, actually. Because there is times when sometimes when I'm judging and someone's talking, and your focus has been taken by something on a screen, and you're thinking, what does that say? Yeah, what is what am I put that on?

Unknown: 17:57

Exactly? And then you're like, you're turning your head to the side to try and read something that's slightly

Donna O'Toole: 18:03

the point of that, that part where they're actually pitching, we can't interrupt and say, could you just just say what that is there? Or I can't actually read that. That's one of my biggest kind of bugbears is actually I can't read what's on the screen anyway. So you know, it's all about being bold, and being clear, and not worrying too much. I think about all the kind of brand side of things, but actually more likely say about how you're leaving people feeling at the end is that great saying you always forget what people were said, but you won't forget how they made you feel. And that's absolutely true. I can always recall certain winners at certain awards, not because I can't remember thing that they said, but I remember that I was crying by the end of it. Or that, you know, they really made me laugh or what you know, it was it was the feeling that you got from them.

Unknown: 18:52

So I talk a lot about creating bingeable content. So you know, think of it think of the Netflix model, you get to the end of the episode, and you want to tune in for more. And if we put that into an awards context, that is what your presentation is your presentation is there to create that interest in that dialogue with the judges in the q&a section so that they can dig deeper, you know, yeah, you've been shortlisted, you're they're presenting because they they like your material, they you know, all of the all of the background information checks out, now is your opportunity to create a relationship with them and to get them to kind of lean in what what worst case scenario is that people start to lean out because they just become overwhelmed, and they switch off and disengaged. So, you know, questions is a great thing. It's not something to be worried about. It's something to be excited about. If you've got people asking questions. You've got them engaged.

Donna O'Toole: 19:49

Yeah, definitely. I agree with that. And I always think you can tell, you know, when the judges are really excited about a project as well because they'll have lots of questions. The other the other side According Is it because you've covered absolutely everything possible but that there's there's nothing left to ask which is brilliant but um you know it's always very difficult to tell it for pick a winner because often you know we don't we're not even collaborating with each other as judges we're just picking up scoring them independently ourselves so very difficult to know what your if what you're thinking is what someone else is thinking as well but I think from the presenters point of view you you kind of need to read the room a little bit as well you know, this is on zoom you can see people so if you can see that like you say they're leaning out they're checking out of it a little bit, you know, what do you need to do to bring them back in again Can you can you re energise the situation to pull it back?

Unknown: 20:47

Yeah, and when you're when you're rehearsing these things you must do you must do the rehearsal on the platform that you're going to be using. So if you know if you're used to using ms teams at work and all of a sudden you're being asked to present on zoom is different there is a learning curve that you need to go through and it's really worth doing doing your kind of dry runs by setting up a meeting and actually doing the screen share as you do the screen share I see so many people would mark it and go this point are part of the slide and then what happens is when you come to put up the slides you can't find the share button the new shared your whole desktop and all your private emails and it becomes a nightmare and then you're not no longer focused at the thing that you're trying to achieve and you've got all of this other kind of chaos around you so I'd really encourage people to do that rehearsal in the platform that you're going to be working with and if it's a different platform than you're used to working with then you need to go away and do some homework and get used to that because the the judges are looking at you whether this is a kind of judging and awards scenario or or the client in a pitch they're they're they're kind of looking to get a feel for you and build a relationship with you and if you're stressed and flappy and everything's kind of tense then you're going to pass that feeling of tension on to your audience and that's a really kind of dodgy place to be

Donna O'Toole: 22:21

yeah that's so true actually and the other thing I always say his record yourself I mean that's a great thing nowadays you know there's gonna be some advantages hasn't there on one of those is you can actually practice record yourself and watch it back no matter how painful you find it and self evaluate.

Unknown: 22:37

And let's be honest, it will be painful, yes, let's just kind of hold our hands over here and go it's going to be cringe, you're going to absolutely hate it. I have episodes of things like Midsomer Murders that come up with Christmas and I try and hide behind this the shaver there's nothing nice about seeing yourself on camera. You don't believe that you sound like you do. But actually, it's a really useful way of seeing exactly what the audience sees. And and doing something about that. So one of one of my big bugbears in virtual is how people are framed and you know, whether they're, whether you're kind of looking at their nose on the camera, or whether whether they've kind of made themselves at eye level. And you can see you can see a little bit of their hand gestures and all of that sort of stuff. The only way that you'll tell is by watching it back yeah and and sort of working out where you need to be in relationship to the camera and the laptop and all of that stuff so don't don't scrimp on the rehearsal. You You can, you can only rehearse in your body you can, you can practice in your mind. But for me rehearsal happens when you actually physicalize it and vocalise it, speak the words out loud, create that muscle memory for yourself. Yeah,

Donna O'Toole: 23:50

and actually, something that happens quite a lot in awards judging is that's more than one person come together to actually present their pitch to you, which is lovely. And I've seen teams presenting in awards of maybe 810 people, it's been a huge team. And that's brilliant, but you need to practice as a team because I then say, oh, you're on mute, you're on mute. No, come off mute. Now. I can't hear Can you hear me and there's this this just takes up vital seconds and distracts everyone and we forget where we were and where did we got to and now we've got to sort of start that bit again. And so it is about really like to say rehearsing the whole setup and the whole scenario is if is, if it's on the day,

Unknown: 24:36

my most loads phrase of 2020 2021 is is is next slide please bless Chris wetty and those kind of those government briefings but they set a precedent for us not to be kind of in control. And and if you are presenting as a team, you need to know what's happening inside out and back to And there should be no need for you to say next slide because your team members should know exactly where you are and should be advancing those things for you. And the most important thing when you when you're thinking about those team presentations, it's the same in a pitch is how you pass the baton between the other person to give that that impression to your audience of that seamless, dynamic team connection. So it's just like a running race, you can get four of the fastest people on the planet into the four by four 100 metres. But if they don't practice handing over the baton to each other, they will, they will come second to a team that have rehearsed those transitions. And, and that's something that's really worth bearing in mind.

Donna O'Toole: 25:48

Yeah. And it's interesting, actually, because I think people often forget, and this is where they don't practice that in awards, presentations. It's a timed process, you've got 15 minutes, that means that that 15 minutes to judge is going to hold their hand up and ask you to stop. Now if you've fluffed up a couple of transitions along the way. And perhaps your video didn't play at the exact moment that you wanted it to. And you know, your Wi Fi cut out for 30 seconds or something, you're going to find actually you missed off the the great climax to your story. And your last couple of slides you didn't even manage to get to so I always say, you know, the great thing about rehearsing is not only can you rehearse and record yourself, you can time yourself. And you can see actually, what do I need to cut out? Actually, if I'm going from a bit too close to the bone? Where will we fluffing around there? So you know, there's some distinct advantages I would say. And so the other side of the coin is the award ceremonies. And a lot of wards had to pivot and do this armies online virtually in the last year. And it's an interesting concept actually, because first of all, that was really exciting. And really fun to sit at home like with your glass of champagne on the award ceremony virtually thinking, well I've got my pyjama bottoms on but no one knows. Then it's sort of then it then it became very frequent. And particularly for someone like me, who attends a lot of awards ceremonies, it's like, Oh, another night in the lounge, this award ceremony, and then it gets quite tiring as well. So then it's like, oh, it's not so much of a novelty now, I think I just have a cup of tea and I'll keep on top of this Well, good pass. But now actually, we've we're going back to live events and or an even hybrid events. So we've all got used to sitting at home in our jammies watching the award ceremonies, and now we're going back to the live events, you're gonna have to go this stage, you might have to make an acceptance speech might people like me and other judges actually having to present awards to teams. And suddenly that feels quite nerve wracking again, I mean, the idea of even getting back in the little black dress and shoes is is scarier now, but then having to go and stand up on stage in front of everybody else and talk to them in real life is actually quite daunting now so are you finding that with people that you're working with it and I'm really dominant? How can you help us to overcome that fear?

Unknown: 28:17

Yeah, absolutely. We're seeing it in all manners of different environments, people got so used to having their notes or open on their laptop as their as their speaking and to be you know, having your your screen surrounded by stickies or Microsoft Word document open and all of a sudden, now we have to walk back into a room with a real life human being, and create some level of engagement and not have a script. And you know, we can't all be walking around with our iPads looking down. While we're while we're having these, these interactions. So I think there are there are a couple of things to think about. One is just preparing and warming up for your nerves. So they will they will naturally be a kind of fight or flight response. In most of these scenarios. I work as a professional speaker, I still get adrenalin when I stand up in front of an audience to be honest, whether that's a virtual audience or a live audience, I think it's probably slightly heightened in a in a live environment because I'm now taken out of what I have come to know as a safe environment, my little office cave that I haven't left for 18 months, and all of a sudden you are you are standing outside of the group and other people are looking at you and that is that's a natural stressor and will create that kind of spike in adrenaline and spiking cortisol in that sort of situation. So one thing that I work with a lot of clients on and it's something that I discovered as a young actor really helped me I used to get very nervous kind of blush from the neck up, get that whole kind of red ringing right up to the ears, you could kind of fry eggs. He's just focusing on your breath. So we always say to people that having a panic attack, don't just take a deep breath, take a deep breath to be fine. And actually, there's real validity in that. So just just thinking about really slowing down the the breathing, focusing on, on how you breathe. And if people are interested in this, there's actually I did years ago, I did a video about this on on YouTube. So if you search me, dominant colenso, and have a look at YouTube, I do a little exercise where it will kind of take you through this. But number one thing to mount your breath and thinking about how to just dissipate that fight or flight response in that moment. Number two, have a conversation. I think sometimes we can, we can feel in those moments that the spotlight is really on us. But actually, if we turn the spotlight round and put it on our audience, and that's a much more enjoyable place to be. So as you go stand up to present an award or as you stand up to accept an award, rather than thinking, you know, I've got to, I've got to do this massive thing. And I've got to be the person in the spotlight and have this big moment. Just think about having a conversation with the people that are out there. You know, what, what, what are you? What are you excited about? What does this mean to you, and try and try and keep your responses in those moments, whether you're the person that they're presenting, or the person that they're receiving as succinct as possible. So, you know, you see it, we see it on the the acting awards, all the time, there is some people give a really good acceptance speech, and some people get cut off. There's a kind of reason for that. You know, think about the people that you want to thank, but you haven't got time to thank everyone. Think think about, you know, how do I how do I create a connection with this audience? And is there any kind of call to action that you want to give? You know, what do you want to give people an opportunity to engage with you afterwards? What do you have a cause that you want people to think about supporting? Do you? Do you have a product or service that will be useful to the audience that are sitting in the room? Like how can you? How can you make that little moment that you have as as valuable as possible for you and for your audience, so keep it keep it punchy?

Donna O'Toole: 32:32

Yeah, I completely agree with you actually, always try to keep it short and sweet. So the whole imagining the audience naked things not gonna work, then.

Unknown: 32:41

It's not something I've ever wanted to consider to be heavily on

Donna O'Toole: 32:45

me to. So as we move into our award season, as it's coming, there's going to be live events, there's going to be hybrid races and reversal events. Honestly, we've got it all going on this year. So I'm really excited about it. And I want to take this opportunity to say good luck, to everybody who's actually entering into and going into those competitions and to give you the impetus to be yourself, but your best version of yourself. With help from Dominic and his tips, Dominic, is there anything that you'd like to leave our audience with as they go forward into these big events,

Unknown: 33:17

I think my final thing would be obviously, we haven't got an opportunity to work together on on this. But if you are planning your presentation, or your pitch for one of these events, and you've liked what you've heard on this podcast, then my book impact is available at all good booksellers. And it's very, very practical. I'm not I'm not plugging it because I, you know, I want to make a fortune because I'm not gonna make any money out of the sale. But it is, it's full of really practical tips and tricks, a methodology that will take you from beginning to end and really help you create a presentation that's very compelling for your audience. That said, if you've got questions that come up from this, then please do feel free to reach out to me I'm always happy to hear from people. My email address is Dominic at inflow dot global. And if you drop me an email, I promise I'll respond.

Donna O'Toole: 34:10

Yeah, thanks so much. And I'd also recommend go look up, Dominic, and look at his show wheel, because I've watched it recently. And it's very cool. So I will warn now I'm a little bit jealous. Oh, thanks so much, Dominic. And and as I said, Good luck to everybody who's entering into these competitions. We know how hard you've worked over the last few years. And bear in mind that as from the judges position, we were rooting for you as much as you are. So we really want you to do well. So don't come in with fear, come in with pride, and ready to celebrate what you've achieved and share that with us. Because we're all here to support you. So thank you very much dominate and good luck for the rest of the year for you. I know you're super busy. And anyone who's interested in finding out more about how they can improve their presentation skills for all different reasons, not just for awards, do have a look. Dominic's book impact, it's really simple to follow. It really does make an impact. And that's why I invited him here today. So thank you, Dominic.

Unknown: 35:07

Thanks, Donna.

Donna O'Toole: 35:11

Thank you for listening to this episode of my winning awards podcast. If you enjoyed it or found it helpful, please share it on Twitter and LinkedIn. And if you have any questions, please head over to crafted by auguste.com, where you can find out more about winning awards and contact me. On the website. You can also take our free awards test, which will identify your award strengths and tell you how likely you are to win. I really hope you've been able to take away some ideas today so that you can go ahead and win awards have an even bigger impact on the world and achieve your dreams.