Bristol writer has the X-Factor

Tina Coulsting Carter used to be so painfully shy that her heart would start pounding at the very thought of announcing her name.

Now,

however, she is a confident public speaker who has built a business

around helping others to present themselves effectively.

And

she reckons that anyone can achieve a similar dramatic change in their

ability to address an audience by following a simple formula that she

has devised.

Such is her faith in the way her system

can transform a person's ability to present themselves that she has now

written a book called Get The Presentation X-Factor.

"It's

a formula that can work for anyone," says Tina, 54, when we meet in the

offices of Bristol-based Mentor Communications Consultancy, of which

she is a co-founder.

"So many people who have learned the formula have said to me 'oh my God, I wish I'd known that 10 years ago'."

But

surely not everyone needs to know such a formula? After all, most of us

don't have to make presentations in our everyday lives.

Tina disagrees. "The formula doesn't just apply to when you're making a speech in front of an audience," she says.

"This is something that can be used in many aspects of your daily life, such as emails and phone calls.

"For

every email and every phone call I make, I know in my mind what my main

message is, which is one of the key aspects of the formula. There's

nothing worse than people who ramble on and don't get to the point."

Tina

first began thinking about a formula for successful presentation more

than a decade ago, when she was involved in producing a training video

starring the comedian Mel Smith.

"Mel Smith was playing Christopher Columbus pitching to the King and Queen of Spain for funds to discover America," she recalls.

"I really learnt a lot from working on that, because it showed the importance of getting your message across effectively."

The

following year, Tina began teaching media production at the University

of the West of England, where she had taken a degree in media and

cultural studies.

"I was showing students how to

make news programmes, and I remembered the lessons I'd learnt from the

video with Mel Smith," she says.

"It made me think

that if I was going to show students how to present then I was going to

have to do a good job of presenting myself so that got my message

across well.

"After all, if you don't show confidence in yourself, you can't expect people to be confident in you."

Tina believes that her own ability as a presenter is testimony to the success of her formula for getting The Presentation X-Factor.

"I

know what it's like to be painfully shy. I remember being very young

and sitting in a meeting and feeling my heart beating very hard because

I knew it was getting closer to when I'd have to announce my name to

everyone," she says.

"I'm like most other people. I

find it hard to sell myself, but at the same time I have to abide by my

own rules. I've had to teach myself the formula, and I feel a

responsibility to get the message out there."

So what is Tina's formula? It can be found in full on page 55 of her book Get The Presentation X-Factor,

and key points include deciding the main message you want to get

across, and showing your audience how your message benefits them.

"Audiences

have short attention spans," she says. "You have to catch them and hold

them, and that means making it clear why what you're saying is going to

be useful to them.

"If someone doesn't grasp the point you're making right from the start they don't bother to listen, so an opportunity is lost.

"What

I see in presentations by many business managers is that often people

don't understand the point they're trying to make until three quarters

of the way through what they are saying."

Tina points out that failing to get your message across is a problem that does not only occur with an audience.

"For

me, the difference between a manager and a leader is someone who

communicates well, and makes people feel good about coming to work,"

she explains.

"If you can encourage somebody to do a

job then they're more likely to succeed in that job than if you're

suspicious of them all the time. If someone expects you to fail then

you invariably will."

I remark that presumably this

"toxic boss" situation can also apply to politicians, given the way

Labour MPs were almost evangelically on-message under Tony Blair but

now seem mutinous and uncertain of what they stand for under Gordon

Brown.

"I do a lot of training with people like

him," Tina replies. "They're very analytical and not particularly

expressive. People like Gordon Brown don't like making small talk. They

don't understand what it's for.

"I remember working

with the head of a big public sector organisation who had been promoted

up the ranks but found it very difficult to relate to his staff.

"He

was someone who didn't do small talk, and I had to say to him that he

just had to see making small talk as part of his job, such as asking

his PA about how her son is.

"Analytical types such

as him like having a formula they can work to. He contacted me later

and said 'I can't believe this, it's brilliant'."

Tina points out that some people are not natural communicators.

"It's harder for some people than others," she says. "Gordon Brown does well considering his background and personality."

So which politician is an inspiring communicator? "Barack Obama," she replies without hesitation.

"He's

got absolutely everything. When he talks to people he addresses their

concerns, and he speaks in a language that anyone can understand."

Mentor

Communications Consultancy, in Redland, not only provides

communications training for major companies, but also does training for

individuals.

"We do a fair bit of interview training, for example, with people who have interviews for big jobs," she says.

"What I'd say to anyone made redundant and wanting to get back to work is that they should invest in themselves.

"Paying

for interview training may seem like a lot of money, but you have to

weigh up the value in terms of whether it could give you the edge, and

if it is the case then it's money well-spent."

How

would Tina's formula work in a job interview? "As with presenting to a

meeting, or making any other kind of presentation, it's about knowing

what you want to say," she replies.

"You should ask

yourself about the things you want to get across and expand upon them.

Always have examples so that you can clarify things and bring them to

life.

"Interviewees think they can't have any control over the interview, but they can – it's about being prepared."

Get The Presentation X-Factor! is published in association with Silverwood Books and costs £9.99 in paperback.