Wow! Work and Fencing can mix!

This weekend I was giving a lecture at the University of East Anglia about presentation skills and being confident in front of groups of people. (I have the honour of being an Associate Tutor at the Centre for Continuing Education i.e Adult learners.) I was talking about some of my preferred techniques for doing well in these potentially stressful situations and afterwards it dawned on me how much these techniques were also applicable to fencing. (I'm not sure which way I'm cross fertilising but I don't think it matters really...) These are some of the things I talked about at the UEA so see if you can make the connection...
Establish a positive intent - it's beneficial to establish in your mind that you are going to succeed or do well.
Own the room - when you enter a room to do a presentation it's your room. The audience are only guests in it.
Use the space available - make use of the room to make maximum impact
Ground yourself - establish your balance and calm centre before you start in order to calm your nerves
Preparation is king - make sure you know what you are doing and/or talking about
Anticipate questions and develop answers - by figuring out what people are likely to ask you can prepare yourself for it and respond appropriately
Practice improves your skills - the more you do something the better you will get at it
Your energy is vital - it is your energy that people will react to and remember long after the presentation is over
I guess this post is continuing in the same vein as my previous post about fencing developing skills that can be re-applied elsewhere (and the converse of skills from outside fencing applying to your performance on the piste - if you are prepared to think about them hard enough). To me there is an obvious correlation with fencing in these themes but I'm not going to beat you over the head with it; you can figure it out for yourselves I'm sure!