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Royal Marine Commando 🗡 Sharpiepresents64
November 12th, 2019
⏰ 2 minute read
⏰ 2 minute read
Me & the marines
Last week we did 2 group presentations of the 7 Steps, one in WeWork Noble House & the next day at the University of Indonesia. Later this month we will take the same presentation to Central Java. The presentation of the 7 Steps now always ends with a story of me when I wanted to be a Royal Marine. It was the first time I ever gave a formal presentation aged 18. Here’s the story.
Selection
POC
From the age of 16 I went parachuting with the Marines, flew in helicopters & met some of the SBS special forces at their base in Poole. The first part of the real selection was at Lympstone which has its own special & very scary to arrive at station. Over 3 days we did fitness tests, swim tests, the Tarzan & assault courses plus the infamous Endurance course with its ‘sheep dip’ underwater tunnel. It was here I made my first presentation.
Admiralty
After passing this first, potential officers course, I went on to the Admiralty Interview board in Gosport. There were 16 candidates, 12 Navy & 4 Marines. Over another 3 days we did leadership tests, academic tests, individual & board interviews. They asked me to sign up for life & I agreed. Only 2 out of the 16 passed, me & 1 of the other Royal Marines candidates.
Medical
The 2 of us went on to the naval hospital for a series of final medical tests over 2 days. On the 2nd day I failed the eyesight test, because I wasn’t allowed to turn my head slightly which gave me the perfect vision required. Small things. I left & went back to London in the train, my 3 year adventure over.
Presentation
3m
The presentation I gave at Lympstone was one of the tasks we all had to do, one after another. Everyone had a short time to speak, I can’t remember how long but I think I only spoke for about 3 minutes. The presentations were very varied. No one used slides then, there were a few props. Some were well prepared, others less so.
Script
I can picture the room right now, & remember nervously waiting my turn. Some tried to be funny, some successful, some less so. Some just talked, some had prepared scripts. I remember I’d written mine out as a speech, so that even if my delivery was not perfect, I was able to talk & make sense by reading it. It went quite well.
Father
When we finished the course the officer in charge told me I’d passed, went through each part & said the presentation was good. I talked about something close to my heart which I had strong feelings about, my father’s work as a doctor developing treatments for child leukaemia. It wasn’t a popular topic but I’d done my research by interviewing him & it surprised the audience who listened closely.
Lessons
Plan
I learnt a lot of lessons from the Marines. They have a saying which I use today in the 7 Steps presentation, ‘Plans, preparation & practice prevents piss poor performance ‘or the 7 Ps. 7 was already becoming my favorite number then. When we did the leadership tests we had to use gym equipment to get across an obstacle without touching the ground. Each person had a go as leader & we had 5 minute to plan. Luckily my plan worked. The 7 Steps, starts with a plan too.
Prepare
Preparation is what the 7 Steps is all about. Preparing the presentation before you make it. Before I went to Lympstone I prepared physically, with road runs & gym work. The endurance was the key & I went on the longest runs I’d ever done, in military boots to prepare specially for the 7 mile endurance course. Ar Lympstone many hadn’t prepared & only half of us finished. The rest had to drop out & go in the truck, automatically failing.
Practice
The last is practice. This is probably the one I’m weakest at & if I don’t practice, I’ll be more nervous & things can go wrong. The more practice you do the more you can handle things going wrong. When I went parachuting with several Falkland’s war heroes (battle of Top Marlow), we practiced & practiced landing many times. In the jump I drifted & ended up landing on the hard concrete runway instead of the tall soft grass. Apparently I bounced about 6 feet in the air, but I executed the roll & avoided serious injury. Practice!
Tough
The many Marines I met over those years were all great presenters. One of the best presentations I ever saw was one of the Falkland’s vets telling his amazing story. The reason they’re good at presenting is because they’re professional & they go through very very tough training. The more difficulties you put yourself through in presenting, the tougher & better you will be as a presenter. Remember he 7Ps & always say yes!
Be a great presenter!
Sebastian
Last week we did 2 group presentations of the 7 Steps, one in WeWork Noble House & the next day at the University of Indonesia. Later this month we will take the same presentation to Central Java. The presentation of the 7 Steps now always ends with a story of me when I wanted to be a Royal Marine. It was the first time I ever gave a formal presentation aged 18. Here’s the story.
Selection
POC
From the age of 16 I went parachuting with the Marines, flew in helicopters & met some of the SBS special forces at their base in Poole. The first part of the real selection was at Lympstone which has its own special & very scary to arrive at station. Over 3 days we did fitness tests, swim tests, the Tarzan & assault courses plus the infamous Endurance course with its ‘sheep dip’ underwater tunnel. It was here I made my first presentation.
Admiralty
After passing this first, potential officers course, I went on to the Admiralty Interview board in Gosport. There were 16 candidates, 12 Navy & 4 Marines. Over another 3 days we did leadership tests, academic tests, individual & board interviews. They asked me to sign up for life & I agreed. Only 2 out of the 16 passed, me & 1 of the other Royal Marines candidates.
Medical
The 2 of us went on to the naval hospital for a series of final medical tests over 2 days. On the 2nd day I failed the eyesight test, because I wasn’t allowed to turn my head slightly which gave me the perfect vision required. Small things. I left & went back to London in the train, my 3 year adventure over.
Presentation
3m
The presentation I gave at Lympstone was one of the tasks we all had to do, one after another. Everyone had a short time to speak, I can’t remember how long but I think I only spoke for about 3 minutes. The presentations were very varied. No one used slides then, there were a few props. Some were well prepared, others less so.
Script
I can picture the room right now, & remember nervously waiting my turn. Some tried to be funny, some successful, some less so. Some just talked, some had prepared scripts. I remember I’d written mine out as a speech, so that even if my delivery was not perfect, I was able to talk & make sense by reading it. It went quite well.
Father
When we finished the course the officer in charge told me I’d passed, went through each part & said the presentation was good. I talked about something close to my heart which I had strong feelings about, my father’s work as a doctor developing treatments for child leukaemia. It wasn’t a popular topic but I’d done my research by interviewing him & it surprised the audience who listened closely.
Lessons
Plan
I learnt a lot of lessons from the Marines. They have a saying which I use today in the 7 Steps presentation, ‘Plans, preparation & practice prevents piss poor performance ‘or the 7 Ps. 7 was already becoming my favorite number then. When we did the leadership tests we had to use gym equipment to get across an obstacle without touching the ground. Each person had a go as leader & we had 5 minute to plan. Luckily my plan worked. The 7 Steps, starts with a plan too.
Prepare
Preparation is what the 7 Steps is all about. Preparing the presentation before you make it. Before I went to Lympstone I prepared physically, with road runs & gym work. The endurance was the key & I went on the longest runs I’d ever done, in military boots to prepare specially for the 7 mile endurance course. Ar Lympstone many hadn’t prepared & only half of us finished. The rest had to drop out & go in the truck, automatically failing.
Practice
The last is practice. This is probably the one I’m weakest at & if I don’t practice, I’ll be more nervous & things can go wrong. The more practice you do the more you can handle things going wrong. When I went parachuting with several Falkland’s war heroes (battle of Top Marlow), we practiced & practiced landing many times. In the jump I drifted & ended up landing on the hard concrete runway instead of the tall soft grass. Apparently I bounced about 6 feet in the air, but I executed the roll & avoided serious injury. Practice!
Tough
The many Marines I met over those years were all great presenters. One of the best presentations I ever saw was one of the Falkland’s vets telling his amazing story. The reason they’re good at presenting is because they’re professional & they go through very very tough training. The more difficulties you put yourself through in presenting, the tougher & better you will be as a presenter. Remember he 7Ps & always say yes!
Be a great presenter!
Sebastian
If you’d like to do 7 Steps training for your team, WhatsApp me
+6287855572666