On this Christmas night, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and a happy celebration of the holiday you celebrate to all those loyal readers of these articles.

For whatever holiday you celebrate, I believe there are common sentiments – goodwill toward everyone, giving of oneself to others, and encouraging others for a better future.

It is the season of gift-giving. You were bestowed with gifts the day you were born. You will have a successful life if you discover your gifts and use them to improve the world.

You are making the world a better place through the gift of your speaking. Did you know that? Your encouraging presentations make a difference in the lives of your audience members.

Simply put, you were made for greatness! Your job is to discover this greatness and use it for the good of others. In the process, you will have a fulfilling life.

Still not convinced of your greatness? Explore three reasons below why this is true.

Your Free Will

You possess the gift of free will. There are no other creatures in our world that have this gift. Use it wisely.

Your free will allows you to develop presentations that improve your audience’s personal and professional lives by:

• Satisfying your audience’s needs and wants

• Revising your presentations “on the fly” depending on the feedback you get from your audience.

• Choosing how to answer audience questions for their betterment

Exercising your free will in your presentations also brings hope to your audience. Below are good ways to exercise your free will in your presentations:

• Choose a positive presentation message and deliver it with all the enthusiasm you can muster.

• Ensure your delivery is satisfying the wants and needs of your audience. Make changes during your presentation if your audience’s wants and needs are not being satisfied.

• Have a powerful presentation closing to reinforce your message and motivate your audience to act on what you say.

So, by exercising your free will to help your audience, you are exercising your greatness.

Another way to exercise your greatness is by sharing your gifts.

Sharing Your Gifts

Your greatness is not achieved by only realizing the gifts within you. Instead, sharing your gifts grows your greatness.

Do you ever say to yourself, “No one would want to listen to what I have to say?” Oh, on the contrary! Someone in your state, your country, and the world is craving to know what you know – your “tribe.” Your job as a speaker is to find your “tribe,” determine their wants and needs, and then satisfy those needs and wants.

Brian Tracy says if we try to educate ourselves to do what we want to do in our lives, even if we live to one hundred years old, we will never achieve success without the help of others.

Your job as a speaker is to accelerate the pace of achievement of your audience by sharing your gifts. Below are three ways to share your gifts with your audience:

• Always be sincere with your audience; you will be your most credible if you are.

• Acknowledge the gifts of your audience by inviting them to share them through their questions and comments both during and after your presentation.

• Share your audience’s gifts with future audiences. Pass them forward.

So, you exercise your greatness by exercising your free will and helping your audience by sharing your gifts.

A third way to reach the greatness within you is to improve your speaking ability and delivery.

Your Ability to Improve

Humans are unique. We don’t live only by our instincts. We are the only living things on earth that can improve on our prior presentation performance. We can evaluate our past performance and use that evaluation to improve our next performance, in your case, your speaking performance.

I have been a Toastmasters International (TI) (an international public speaking organization) member for over thirty years. TI is, above all, a constant improvement “learning organization.”

At the local level, TI is divided into Clubs of twenty to thirty members. The primary purpose of a TI Club is to help individual members improve their public speaking ability and delivery. TI Clubs do this by having structured evaluations of all presentations delivered at Club meetings. Therefore, the presentation evaluation section of the Club meeting is most important in contributing to the continuous public speaking and delivery improvement of Club members.

TI takes advantage of the human ability to improve any activity by evaluating activity performances and then applying the evaluation of those activities to future activities. In your case, the activity is delivering your presentation.

After every presentation you deliver, evaluate your performance by asking the following questions:

• Where did I excel? Keep doing this in future presentations.

• In what aspect of my presentation do I need to improve? Select three things to improve after every presentation and implement planned improvements in your next presentation.

• In what areas of your presentations can I grow? These areas include items that would enhance your presentation you have not implemented yet.

You exercise your greatness by exercising your free will, helping your audience, sharing your gifts, and constantly improving your speaking ability and delivery performance.

Don’t leave your light “under a bushel.” Uncover the bushel.

You were made for greatness!

Call to Action

• Exercise your free will to create and deliver a presentation that satisfies your audience’s wants and needs of your audience.

• Share your gifts with your audience. There is someone in your town, state, or country that can benefit from your presentation message. Find them and help them.

• Improve your speaking ability and performance constantly. This is one of the prerequisites for your greatness.

Frank DiBartolomeo is a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and award-winning speaker, presentation and interview skills coach, and Professional Member of the National Speakers Association. He was awarded Toastmasters International’s highest individual award, Distinguished Toastmaster because of his outstanding work in public speaking and leadership.

Frank formed DiBartolomeo Consulting International (DCI), LLC (www.speakleadandsucceed.com) in 2007. The mission of DCI is to help technical professionals to inspire, motivate, and influence their colleagues and other technical professionals by improving their presentation skills, communication, and personal presence. Reach Frank at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com and (703) 509-4424.

Don’t miss Frank DiBartolomeo’s latest book!

“Speak Well and Prosper: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Better Presentations”

Available now at Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com