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What to Do when you're Stuck in Neutral
By Beverly Cohen, Communications Specialist 

The annual report is due. The monthly budget has to be presented again. The sales projection statistics are worse than ever. Another dull boring project, and you have to present it. You just can't seem to get started. You keep putting it off because the material doesn't excite you. What do you do to move forward with a project that is inherently dull, drab and boring? How do you get out of neutral and move into forward gear?

Spice up your attitude, your material and your performance by using the GEAR shift method.

Get started. Organize your workload. If the project is large, and your deadline in not immediate, do a little bit at a time. Break the job into manageable pieces. Do a portion each day, preferably first thing in the morning.

Enthuse yourself and your audience with energy, positive attitude, and humor. If it's boring to you, it will be boring to others. Make it exciting to you, and chances are your audience will get excited, too. Do the unexpected. Is the room always set up the same way? Do you always stand in the same place? Break the pattern. Plan to be different. It will keep you on your toes and your audience awake.

Accelerate your pace with your voice and your body. Keep your tempo snappy. Avoid monotone mumble. The eyes of the audience follow movement, whether it's you or your visuals. Change your visuals and your location about every 45 seconds.

Reassess your materials. Make your visuals exciting. Add color, graphics, or cartoons. Personalize them by including photos of people in the audience. Keep your audience involved. Don't mock or minimize the importance of the facts. The material you're presenting is serious, but you don't have to be.

Put your presentation in GEAR and get out of Neutral. Get going with enthusiasm, acceleration and creative reassessment of your material and you'll transform a humdrum attitude into a humdinger presentation.

"Apathy can only be overcome by enthusiasm."
Arnold Toynbee