I have been practicing Presentation Skills for the past 10 years now.

Along the way, I have done all sorts of things to try to get better:

• I read books like Resonate, Presentation Zen and TED Talks

• I competed and won in Toastmasters Speech Contests

• I jumped at every opportunity to speak in front of an audience

And all of these things helped me a ton.

But if I had to start all over again (as a beginner), this is the simple framework I wish I had used:

Step 1: Buy a crazy-expensive presentation skills course

Not something that would you ruin you financially. But something that would make most of your friends raise their eyebrows: "Really? Why would you pay so much for that?"

The big expense will motivate you to work on getting your money back.

Step 2: Build your own presentation skills training for PAYING clients.

The best way to learn - is to teach.

The key detail here is: "PAYING clients."

Hey, I know you're now saying: "But Lukas, when I start as a beginner?"

Look, I said it would be SIMPLE, not EASY.

Nobody really learns just for pleasure. We learn best when we ABSOLUTELY MUST learn.

The answers to the question: "Why should someone pay me for this," will be your learning goals.

Step 3: Deliver the training so well that the client either refers you or books you again.

If your goal is just to be "okay," you will become "okay," not OUTSTANDING.

If you perform "okay," you will get paid, but likely not booked again.

Aim to be so good they refer you or book you again.

As soon as this happens: You can be pretty sure your presentation skills reached an OUTSTANDING level.

And as a side-effect - you likely recovered the cost of the crazy-expensive training from Step 1!