I work with some great speakers in my day to day existence. People who lead businesses and do great things, and the last thing they need from me is coaching on the ‘how’ to deliver a relevant, focused message. They know how. They tend to use me as a source of stories, anecdotes, facts and figures that they can use for the tricky bits of their speeches. They just know that those ‘frills’ are the things that help their message stand out at conferences, meetings and sales pitches. They want great attention grabbers at the start, memorable ‘funnies’ that make a…
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How interesting are you?- find great anecdotes, facts and figures for your speeches- Private Eye
Jim Harvey22 Jan 2012 | 1:34 pm -
PowerPoint Tip: Effective dashboard slides
Dave Paradi's PowerPoint Blog10 Jan 2012 | 6:55 amAt the start of the year many organizations are looking back to see how they did last year. They will use many different measures, and they may decide that they want to start tracking certain statistics that will make a difference in improving performance going forward. A common approach is to create one or more dashboard slides that give executives a quick snapshot of how the organization is performing. In this article I want to share some tips on creating effective dashboard slides. The term dashboard comes from vehicle dashboards that use indicators to show the status of such metrics as… -
It’s About Simple Things Done Better and Better
Digital Coach26 Jan 2012 | 2:04 pmIt was the opening 5-minutes of my third keynote… and I felt it was important to create a “moment”. Not because I understood the mechanics of doing that but because in a recent... Podcasts from Distinction Communication -
The Elevator Speech Booklet – CLICK to Open!
'No Sweat' Public Speaking!5 Jan 2012 | 12:01 amYourYour Elevator Speech is a Mini-Presentation CLICK to Open Booklet Use this as a Template for Your Elevator Speech! An Elevator Speech is what we deliver when introducing ourselves at networking events, business meetings, or when meeting anyone for the first time. The term, Elevator Speech, implies it’s something that won’t take very long to deliver. If someone’s only going to be in an elevator with you till the next floor, it may be less than a minute. It’s not an exercise to take casually. Just as an Elevator goes up one floor at a time, the Elevator Speech… -
10 great books to help you think, create, & communicate better in 2012
Presentation Zen10 Jan 2012 | 6:54 amIn the spirit of personal kaizen, I have listed below a few books that I read (or reread) over the past year that you may want to read as part of your own continuous improvement journey. (Clicking on the book's icon takes you to Amazon.com.) (1) Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long. Over the last 10-20 years scientists have made many remarkable discoveries concerning the brain and how it works. David Rock is not a neuroscientist but he is a good "neurotranslator" of the scientific evidence and does a good job of…
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Presentation Zen
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Hans Rosling: The Jedi Master of data visualization
27 Jan 2012 | 1:31 amDr. Hans Rosling is one of my presentation heroes; he's been featured or mentioned in all my books and several times on presentationzen.com over the years. If there is a Jedi Master of presenting data clearly, visually, and simply, then it is Hans. He proves time and time again, that data are not dull—and when you are trying to change the world, there is no excuse for boring presentations. Most people are aware of Dr. Rosling through his popular TED Talks, but just in case you've never seen him present, below is a nice 5-minute piece he did on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS. At TED.com you'll… -
New: Presentation Zen (2nd Edition)
19 Jan 2012 | 12:36 amFour years ago my first book Presentation Zen was published by Peachpit Press. Since then I wrote two other presentation books and a sketchbook/storyboard book and a DVD (plus an additional DVD/Book just for Japan). Although a lot of time had passed, I was still happy with the original Presentation Zen. And yet, the original Presentation Zen book could benefit from a little freshening up in the form of a 2nd edition for 2012. This 2nd edition of Presentation Zen has the same look and feel as the original book and I still did all the design and layout myself. The biggest difference is the book… -
10 great books to help you think, create, & communicate better in 2012
10 Jan 2012 | 6:54 amIn the spirit of personal kaizen, I have listed below a few books that I read (or reread) over the past year that you may want to read as part of your own continuous improvement journey. (Clicking on the book's icon takes you to Amazon.com.) (1) Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long. Over the last 10-20 years scientists have made many remarkable discoveries concerning the brain and how it works. David Rock is not a neuroscientist but he is a good "neurotranslator" of the scientific evidence and does a good job of… -
Progress and the intentional selection of less
30 Dec 2011 | 7:26 pmMany people today talk about presentation technology as if it were a panacea for boring lectures and ineffective presentations. Technologies such as our laptops, iPads, and cool software packages are wonderful tools that can, when used well, increase the quality of communication and engagement. This is especially true when we need to engage with people live on the other side of the planet via tools like video conferencing, webinars, Skype, and so on. However, while technology has evolved in dramatic ways over the last generation, our deep human need for visceral connections, and personal… -
Steve Jobs: "People who know what they’re talking about don’t need PowerPoint"
20 Dec 2011 | 7:12 amOne thing we need to constantly remind ourselves is that slides and other forms of projected visualization—no matter how "cool" they may be—are not appropriate for every context. Multimedia is great for presentations before large groups such as keynote addresses or conference presentations, but in meetings where you want to actively discuss issues or go over details in depth, slides—especially the snooze-inducing bulletpoint variety, which are never a good idea—are almost always counter productive. I stressed early on in the first version of Presentation Zen four years ago—and ad…
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Decker Blog
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Roll with the technical difficulties
27 Jan 2012 | 11:28 amThe audience only gets what you give them. That’s what I kept forgetting as I moped through the Fort Lauderdale airport yesterday. Thanks to inflight wifi, I bring you my story from a cruising altitude of 30,000 feet, on my way home from a three-city keynote tour for a new financial services client (they’ve grown 30% per year for the last few and are investing in their people’s communication skills). The Orlando keynote was great, but then came Fort Lauderdale. True to form, I showed up at the venue early to find the room and set up my equipment. Despite testing it all, this keynote was… -
Simplify your complex problem
20 Jan 2012 | 10:20 amEverything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler. -Albert Einstein In the wake of primary season and PAC spending mania, comedians Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart have taken it upon themselves to shine a spotlight on the problems with Political Action Committees. It’s a complex issue, but they’ve made it tangible by using SHARPs (Stories, Humor, Analogies, References & Quotes, Pictures & Visuals) to grab our attention and go viral. The PAC issue is nonpartisan – campaigns for Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Green Party alike use PACs as a… -
Video Blog: Steve Jobs motivated with numbers
4 Jan 2012 | 8:00 amBefore coming up for air from the new Steve Jobs biography, I stumbled across a great example of how to motivate people by using graspable numbers. We call this a SHARP (Stories, Humor, Analogies, References and Quotes, Pictures and Visuals) using human scale statistics, which we’ve covered before but will again because it’s so valuable. Take a look and see how you can incorporate this idea in to your next opportunity. -
The Top Ten Best (and Worst) Communicators of 2011
14 Dec 2011 | 6:00 amOur Top Ten Communicators List is all about Trust and Vision. Happily, we start with the Best list, where we honor those who communicate and lead well. Unfortunately, those who dominate the Worst list have garnered most of the attention in 2011 – for lack of trust on the high end and deception on the low end. We have seen the fall of giants, as well as the sleaze of some we have never heard of. Just put these names together: Sandusky, Paterno, McQueary, Cain, Bialek, White, Fine, Boeheim, Sheen, Weiner and the list could go on and on to include CEO’s, politicians, Trustees, and… -
Lead like the Apple Store
12 Dec 2011 | 9:59 amWe know it, we’ve heard it, and this is one of the big guys behind it. Ron Johnson, while senior VP of retail for Apple, brilliantly created a retail experience that’s unsurpassed. Sure, it’s Apple’s products that make people walk in, but it’s not just the products (if it were, people would buy mostly from discount shops like Target, or online). It’s what he’s done with the Apple Store that recently landed him his new job as CEO of JC Penney. Reading about Ron in the Harvard Business Review grabbed me (highly recommend you read the article, too). I’m…
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Ethos3 - A Presentation Design Agency
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Curious George and Presentations
12 Jan 2012 | 11:11 amWho doesn’t love that naughty monkey? Sure he causes havoc everywhere he goes but he’s never boring. Unburdened by consequences, he just goes for it, grabbing that kite string and sailing through the air without looking back. Through the books, the movies, and the animated series on PBS, Curious George has much to teach us about creating exciting presentations. Be Curious That’s obvious, right? But how many of us have repressed our natural curiosity for the sake of getting by? When preparing a presentation, approach your topic with George-like curiosity to uncover fresh… -
Jeff Bezos’ 3 S’s of Presenting
11 Jan 2012 | 12:33 pmWhile competitors, critics and consumers have been anxiously awaiting the unveiling of the Kindle Fire for months now, its arrival has been hampered by less-than-glowing reviews and reports of bad behavior involving ill-placed power buttons, lack of volume controls, a hard-to-maneuver touch screen and difficult to read fonts. However, as I sit down to write this, the Kindle Fire is the biggest selling single item on Amazon and some tech pundits are predicting it will be the biggest-selling gadget Amazon has come up with yet. While its difficulties are clearly the antithesis of Apple’s… -
How to Boost Your Empathy
5 Jan 2012 | 5:19 pmAs the nation’s Baby Boomers enter their golden years, they will invariably begin to experience the disabilities associated with advanced age. Two recent articles got us thinking about how older members of our population encounter the world and how we can adapt our presentations to their needs. According to Discover Magazine, researchers at MIT have developed a so-called “Age Suit”–AGNES, or the Age Gain Now Empathy System–which helps wearers feel the effects of old age through “braces that make your arms stiff, a helmet that makes your spine curve uncomfortably, and… -
Sherlock Holmes and the Perfect Presentation
22 Dec 2011 | 7:59 pmWith Guy Ritchie’s latest installment of his Sherlock Holmes reboot coming to the big screen, we were anxious to see how it would keep up with the pace of its rock ‘em, sock ‘em prequel. Ritchie’s first Sherlock film was notable for being both a period costume mystery as well as an amped up action flick. This second story features a head-to-head collision between Holmes and his arch nemesis Professor Moriarty. If anything it has more intense sequences and even bigger action moments than the first film. The plot twists kept us guessing and the stunt sequences were… -
Twilight Tips for Presenters
2 Dec 2011 | 1:28 pmMovies can be a great teaching tool for learning how to build the perfect pres. A good movie has: a gripping story, great performances, a well organized structure. Seeing how a successful film does its magic can lend a lot of insight to your next presentation. One of the most popular movies in the country offers up great lessons in presenting. The first part of the final chapter of a centuries-sweeping epic, Twilight: Breaking Dawn offers important tips for all presenters whether you’re a vampire a werewolf or just a regular old person. Evolution Although the eternal sameness of an…
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Duarte Blog
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Obama’s SOTU: What Is, and What Could Have Been
25 Jan 2012 | 5:46 pmLast night President Barack Obama delivered what could be considered the biggest presentation of the year. In outlining his vision for America and his legislative priorities for 2012, the President attempted to persuade a variety of different audiences – including the United States Congress, business leaders and 25 million members of the American public – that he has a plan to continue improving the lives of Americans. So how did he do? Leaving aside the merit of his proposals, did he tell a story compelling enough to convince such a broad audience? Graphic recording of the State of the… -
In Honor of MLK
16 Jan 2012 | 10:57 amTo honor one of one of the greatest communicators of all time, we’d like to re-post a popular blog from last year: The analysis of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech from the March on Washington. MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech is not only literarily brilliant, its structure follows the presentation form perfectly, by traversing back and forth between what is and what could be, and ending by describing what the new bliss of equality looks like. In addition, MLK carefully chooses phrases and metaphors that resonate deeply with his audience. If you’re struggling to… -
Interview with Olivia Mitchell
11 Jan 2012 | 12:12 pmRecently I had a chance to sit down with Olivia Mitchell, the sole blogger for Speaking About Presenting, and one half of the presentation coaching team at Effective Speaking, based in Wellington, New Zealand. I know you struggled as a presenter for a long time. Can you talk a little bit about what that journey has been like to transform yourself? Olivia: My presenting journey started at least 25 years ago. I was just totally shy, not wanting to even speak up in a meeting. Speaking in front of a group? Forget about it. I just didn’t want to do that stuff. But, I also realized that if I… -
10 Mobile Apps for Highly Creative People
3 Jan 2012 | 5:19 pmWith an increasing number of mobile design options emerging by the day, creative people are finding new and powerful ways to flesh out their visual concepts while on the move. The era of the mobile studio is upon us, so we thought we’d share a handful of brilliant apps to help you capture your inspiration whenever–and wherever–it may strike you. Adobe Ideas A vector app for iOS and Android that lets you finger paint and sketch. In addition, It works seamlessly with the desktop versions of Illustrator and Photoshop so you can take your creations to the next level when you get… -
It’s fun to share with Cops That Care
20 Dec 2011 | 7:22 pmThroughout the year, Duarte host several events to raise money for one goal: purchasing a veritable mountain of toys! … that we donate to Mountain View’s “Cops That Care” program, who then distributes the gifts to children in need of a little—or a lot—of holiday cheer. Although I must admit it’s very tempting to keep them. I will also admit that the raising of the funds isn’t too terrible. From the good old fashioned bake sales and Taco Tuesdays, to screen-printing parties and extravagant auctions and raffles, we have a great time parting with our dollars. Duarte has been…
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Speaking about Presenting: Presentation Tips from Olivia Mitchell
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Find a Presentation Designer Here
25 Jan 2012 | 2:22 pmAre you looking for a presentation designer? I’ve been asked so many times if I could recommend a presentation designer that I’ve decided to publish a list of PowerPoint and Keynote slide design companies and freelancers. I asked each presentation designer to talk about their approach to presentation design and to give me an example of a slide that represents their brand. I’ve used a very traditional method to order these presentation designers – it’s alphabetical based on the principal’s last name. You’ll see a tremendous variety in approaches… -
6 Presentation Links Worth Clicking
14 Jan 2012 | 7:33 pmWhen I was in the States last year, I met up with Nancy Duarte… and she interviewed me. She’s now written up the interview on her blog. Find out more about my story and why I’m passionate about helping people be better presenters – and particularly helping people overcome the fear of public speaking. Here’s the link: Nancy Duarte interviews Olivia Mitchell. And here’s five more links to great writing on presentation skills: Even TED speakers get nervous TED is an elite conference where invited speakers give 18 minute talks on the ideas they’re… -
The sobering truth about what an audience remembers
27 Sep 2011 | 10:40 amLast week I spent three awesome days at the Presentation Summit. In this post, I want to explore what audience members remember from a presentation, using the first three keynotes of the conference as my examples. I asked as many people as I could what they remembered from each of these keynotes. This was an informal, non-random, non-scientific survey. Nigel Holmes Photo Credit: Rikk Flohr – www.rikkflohr.com Nigel Holmes is a phenomenal graphic artist who used to be Art Director for Time magazine. His presentation didn’t start well – there were a few technical hitches and it took him… -
The two types of presenter: which are you?
25 Aug 2011 | 5:03 pmThis is a post written by Tony Burns, my partner and co-trainer. There are two types of people in the world – those who divide the world into two types of people, and those who don’t. I’m one of the former. I find models useful – they show distinctions that can help explain and predict behaviors – and they can help us see other opportunities and ways we can grow. One distinction that, as a presenter and presentation trainer, I’ve found useful, is to look at whether a person is “careful” or “carefree” when it comes to creating and delivering presentations. It’s a question… -
The 5-step cure for boring body language
16 Jun 2011 | 4:05 amCould your body language be more expressive? Do you inhibit your natural body language when you’re public speaking because of your self-consciousness? Or maybe you’ve been told (by a well-meaning but misguided person) that you wave your arms around too much? As a result you’ve shut down your natural gestures and become stiff and boring. The secret to curing boring body language in public speaking is to replicate the state you’re in when you’re in an animated one-on-one conversation. When you’re in that state your gestures unconsciously complement what…
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Dave Paradi's PowerPoint Blog
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PowerPoint Tip: Boring presentations are not the problem
24 Jan 2012 | 12:48 pmHow many times have you heard that the problem with many PowerPoint presentations is that they are boring? This is a common refrain from the media and it used to justify why presentations should not use PowerPoint, or use some other hot presentation tool instead of PowerPoint. I heartily disagree that most business presentations are boring. The problem with most presentations is not that they are boring, it is that they are confusing. In today’s article I want to explain the difference and what we can do about the problem. A boring presentation is one that has no useful information for the… -
PowerPoint Tip: Effective dashboard slides
10 Jan 2012 | 6:55 amAt the start of the year many organizations are looking back to see how they did last year. They will use many different measures, and they may decide that they want to start tracking certain statistics that will make a difference in improving performance going forward. A common approach is to create one or more dashboard slides that give executives a quick snapshot of how the organization is performing. In this article I want to share some tips on creating effective dashboard slides. The term dashboard comes from vehicle dashboards that use indicators to show the status of such metrics as… -
Apply John Bohannon’s proposal to your organization
3 Jan 2012 | 8:50 pmRecently, John Bohannon presented a TED talk in Brussels that proposed replacing PowerPoint with dancers. The video has had over 330,000 views in less than two months and the idea has once again started people talking about how to improve presentations. In his presentation, John quotes a calculation from an article I published a few years ago to illustrate how much poor PowerPoint presentations are costing organizations. He compares the enormous amount wasted by poor presentations with the cost of funding arts programs in the US, and suggests that cutting arts programs would not help the… -
PowerPoint Tip: Spreadsheets don't belong on slides
20 Dec 2011 | 8:28 amFrequently people tell me that financial presentations include a huge spreadsheet that has been copied on to a slide. The text and numbers are way too small and inevitably the presenter says, “I know you can’t read this, so I’ll read it to you.” Spreadsheets don’t belong on slides. Today I want to talk about why not and what you can do instead.Why don’t spreadsheets belong on slides? Because a spreadsheet is an analytical tool, not a communication tool. We use spreadsheets because they are the best tool for analyzing numbers, doing calculations and comparing numerical information. -
The best tool for presenting PowerPoint on the iPad
12 Dec 2011 | 5:08 amIn the next few months I’ll be doing a webinar on using the iPad to develop and deliver presentations, but I want you to know about one of the tools that I’ll be discussing. It is SlideShark and it is the best tool I have seen for presenting PowerPoint slides on the iPad. I was one of the testers of the app, but I’ve held off sharing it with you until now because I wanted to make sure it was going to stand up in the real world - and it does. It is a free app, and here’s how it works. You upload you PowerPoint file to a free SlideShark account on the web (you can do this from the iPad…
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Six Minutes: A Public Speaking and Presentation Skills blog
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Speech Critique: Dan Pink (TED 2009)
10 Jan 2012 | 12:33 amThis article reviews a thought-provoking speech by Dan Pink about the surprising science of motivation, which was delivered at TED in 2009.Pink delivers a masterful speech which demonstrates many strong speech techniques, including:A powerful opening, which establishes a framework utilized throughout;Building of ethos and logos;Well-timed use of humor;Employing contrast and the rule of three;Powerful conclusion; andSuperb delivery.The strength of this speech isn’t surprising at all, given Pink’s former role as chief speechwriter for Al Gore.This is the latest in a series… -
Public Speaking Tips: Weekend Review #89
5 Jan 2012 | 10:15 amSix Minutes weekend reviews bring the best public speaking articles to you.This larger-than-usual new year’s edition review features topics including:best-selling speaking books;recap of the 12 days of Ask Six Minutes;the best and worst communicators of 2011;techniques to be persuasive and memorable;non-verbal communication tips;and much more!From the Six Minutes ArchivesSince our last review a month ago, we’ve been busy with a New Year’s guest article from Christine Clapp:5 Speaking Resolutions to Wow Your Audience in 2012… and the 12 Days of Ask Six… -
5 Speaking Resolutions to Wow Your Audience in 2012
30 Dec 2011 | 11:28 pmThe year is fast coming to an end, which means it’s time to set goals for the New Year.Here are five best practices of public speaking that speakers don’t always follow, but should resolve to in 2012:1. Pick up the phone before you pick up the pen.You can only learn so much from event planners and the demographic information provided by the group you are addressing. It takes actual conversations with expected audience members to get a handle on their interests, needs, and knowledge of your subject.While e-mail is passable in a pinch, it is far better to pick up the phone and talk to five… -
Bookending Your Speech: A Master Technique
15 Dec 2011 | 12:01 amThis article is part of the 12 Days of Ask Six Minutes.This event is over now, but you can send your questions anytime. Keith Kennedy asks:At my Toastmasters meeting last night, one of the speech evaluators recommended that the speaker should “bookend her speech”. I’ve never heard that term before. What does it mean, and is it something you recommend?In this article, we’ll define what it means to bookend your speech, and give a set of tips for exercising this wonderful technique.Bookending Your Speech: A DefinitionPicture a pair of bookends — that is, matched… -
How to Ace the Short, Impromptu Speech
13 Dec 2011 | 11:44 pmThis article is part of the 12 Days of Ask Six Minutes.This event is over now, but you can send your questions anytime. Several readers sent in questions related to impromptu speeches, including Matthias K.:I’m pretty comfortable when I have days or even weeks to prepare a speech, but I REALLY struggle when I’m asked to speak at a moment’s notice. Do you have any tips for impromptu speaking?In this article, you’ll find a set of tips that will make you shine the next time you are asked to speak on the spur of the moment.Impromptu Speech ScenariosImpromptu speaking may…
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Speak Schmeak
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How is a speaker like a cinnamon roll cake?
27 Jan 2012 | 1:11 pmKathy Shields' cinnamon roll cake at Savoy Cafe Yesterday I met a friend for an afternoon treat at one of my favorite Santa Barbara eateries: Savoy Cafe and Deli. Hubby and I have known the owners, Paul and Kathy Shields, for many years, and we love to support our friends and local businesses. (Stay tuned, by the way, for an episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, where you'll see me and my husband eating a meal at Savoy on camera!) As I stepped up to the counter, Kathy saw me and invited me into the kitchen to show me her fresh-from-the-oven cinnamon roll cake. We chatted for a bit as she… -
Can the audience read your scribble?
25 Jan 2012 | 6:48 pmHere's another topic speakers don't talk about enough: Your handwriting. You may have great content, smooth delivery, great audience connection, a sharp outfit, well-groomed eyebrows and a well-rounded sense of humor, but if you're going to write on a flip chart, white board or overhead, your handwriting better damn well be legible. I heard about a seminar recently where the speaker was all of the above. Then he started writing on a flip chart and his content went out the window. Interestingly, during that workshop, a video was shown of the speaker giving an earlier presentation, and his… -
It's the little (hairy) things....
19 Jan 2012 | 1:15 pmOn The Ellen Show last week, Kenneth Branagh was a guest, talking about his movie "My Week With Marilyn." Ellen asked him what he does to prepare for awards shows like The Golden Globes, which was forthcoming. I've heard a lot of celebrities' and speakers' preparation routines and rituals, but this is one I've never heard mentioned on national television: trimming eyebrows and nose and ear hair. Branagh commented that, as he's gotten older, he has developed more unruly hairs and he doesn't want that to be what people see when he's on the red carpet. It's a practical consideration as well for… -
Surviving the mini-presentation: Your self-introduction
17 Jan 2012 | 11:29 amLast night, hubby and I attended a dinner hosted by one of the distributors he works with in his job at a specialty foods store. We've been at a trade show for the past few days, and this is a typical evening: cocktail party hosted by one vendor, dinner hosted by another. It's always fun to meet new people and have time for relaxing and socializing, as walking the show (more standing than walking) for seven hours each day is a lot of work and pretty exhausting. At dinner, one of our hosts stood up and suggested that we all go around and introduce ourselves, including sharing something that no… -
Speaking on Skype: They can still see you.
12 Jan 2012 | 10:00 amMore and more of us are using Skype and other video chat platforms to hold meetings and coaching sessions. It's convenient, we don't have to leave the home or office, and it allows us to converse with people in different cities, states and countries. Video chat comes with its own set of rules and etiquette that parallel public speaking rules in some ways, and are completely unique in other ways. Here are a couple of tips to help you make the most of your next video chat. 1. Look at the camera, not the screen. This one is really hard, because we want to look into the face of the person we're…
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Janice Tomich | Presentation Collaboration and Coaching
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The Best Public Speakers Are Good Listeners
22 Jan 2012 | 5:47 pmDo you want to be an excellent public speaker? Then you must be a good listener as well as a powerful and articulate speaker. Not only before and after your presentation but during as well. You must be a human antenna attuned to your audience at every stage of your presentation from content development, while presenting, and post speaking. Julian explains the elements of a good listener: How can you put Julian’s insight into practice as a public speaker? During the content development stage you must know your audience or you will be a lecturer not a public speaker. Know your audience… -
Failure to deliver ~ Public Speaking Fail
8 Jan 2012 | 5:55 pmThis blog post has been difficult for me to write. It has been mulling around in my mind since last week. I don’t take lightly negatively critiquing public speakers. It takes confidence and a leap of faith to be front and centre and I am a champion for everyone who makes the leap. Here’s the but – When a speaker commits to the lectern they have a responsibility to deliver to the best of their ability and also to realize that every bum in a seat has invested time being there. Each attendee believes that a speaker will deliver insightful and valuable information. Last week I… -
Leonard Cohen ~ A Great Public Speaker
20 Nov 2011 | 7:35 pmThe Three Rules of Great Public Speaking Leonard Cohen has had an illustrious career. He has taken us on a long journey of introspection and poetic musings like no other. Watch and listen to his acceptance speech at The Prince of Asturias Awards and then dive in and unravel my critique below. Click here to view the embedded video. Cohen has been a performer for many years and knows how, in his Montrealish savvy way, to have us eating out of his hands. If we watch and listen closely we can hone in on what it takes to bring an audience from not knowing to thinking “what if?”. -
Trust ~ Can’t Be a Public Speaker Without It
12 Oct 2011 | 4:07 pmVia my Twitter friend @Billy2373 – thank you – a brilliant TEDGlobal presentation on the necessity of trust. In public speaking it means we must trust ourselves that we know of what we speak and we are the best person to communicate our message. We must also trust that our audience wants us to succeed and is open to sharing our ideas and inspiration. To Your Voice, Janice -
Persuasion – Dragon’s Den – Arlene Dickinson
18 Sep 2011 | 8:58 pmWhy are you presenting and honing your skills as a public speaker? To persuade. Not the disingenuous type of salesmanship where you bought in and later feel duped. I’m just into Arlene Dickinson’s new book “Persuasion” and her words although written for those who are learning the in’s and out’s of business acumen, apply nicely to the presentation arena. Dickinson says, ” If I can’t understand what you are talking about, I can’t trust you. Real expertise involves the ability to take a complex subject and distill it to the point where…
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The Daily Figure
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Obama’s Economy: Like a Rock
25 Jan 2012 | 8:30 amLet the campaign begin! The president’s first campaign speech, cloaked in his term’s last State of the Union address, deployed two central metaphors: the economy is a car, and it’s also a playing field. An economy built to last, where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded. While Figaro hates the clumsy rhythm and passive voice, he likes the trope. It uses the auto industry’s success as a model for what the rest of the economy can do. Thanks in part to government intervention (never mind that disaster in Japan), GM is back on top as the world’s… -
Interrupters Aren't People
23 Jan 2012 | 3:26 pmThe tribal rhetoric gets better and better. Mitt Romney, the inevitable Republican candidate who can’t seem to convince Republicans of his inevitability, uses a strong syncrisis to define “99 percent” protesters. They shouted, “We are the people.” Romney shouted back. No, actually, these are the people. These are the people; you’re the interrupters. We believe in the Constitution. We believe in the right to speech. And you believe in interrupting. Take a hike. Mitt Romney in Ormond Beach, Florida, quoted in the L.A. Times syncrisis… -
Gingrich Goes White!
20 Jan 2012 | 3:39 pmNewt Gingrich pulled off a superb virtue tactic at last night’s GOP debate. Fully prepared for the first question, Gingrich declared himself to be “appalled.” He got a standing ovation and, probably, a bunch more votes in tomorrow’s South Carolina primary. Why? Because he fought virtue (the rhetorical kind, not to be confused with the real kind) with virtue (ditto). The moderator, CNN reporter John King, began by asking about a former wife’s revelation that Gingrich asked for an open marriage. Gingrich responded by attacking King. I am appalled that you would… -
Figaro's Favorite Campaign Ad
13 Jan 2012 | 2:13 pmThe ad—brought to you by Newt Gingrich’s “Take that, Bain Boy”superpac—accuses Mitt Romney of being (a) from Massachusetts and (b) French. You know, like John Kerry. The voiceover employs a dirimens copulatio, the but-wait there’s more figure. (Here’s an explanation and pronunciation.) You see the device a lot on infomercials: But that’s not all! This thing not only slices and dices, it speaks French! Quibblers might say that the clip actually proves that Mitt actually can’t speak French. He mouths third-grade Frog with an… -
LOL Punditcats
10 Jan 2012 | 1:53 pmMeghan McCain, daughter of a former presidential candidate and hapless political commentator, pulled off a marvelous malapropism on MSBC. The Obamas, she said, deserve “an emoticon of privacy.” OMG! They absolutely do!!! malapropism (MAL-a-prop-ism) or acyrologia(a-keer-o-LO-gia), the fortunate mix-up. The malapropism is an eponym named for the addlebrained literary character, Mrs. Malaprop. But credit the Greeks for coining the figure two and a half millennia before. The acyrologia (“unauthorized speech”) swaps a word with a…
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'No Sweat' Public Speaking!
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The “F” Word – Speakers Should. . .
26 Jan 2012 | 12:01 amTEmbrace It! I’m going to use the “F” Word today. I know I’ve already made some of you uncomfortable. You don’t like that word directed at you. If you direct it to others, it’s not well received. The Truth: Failure Gets a Bad Rap! We learn far more from our failures than things we do correctly the first time. This certainly applies to Public Speaking and Presenting. One of my mantras is: “Speaking Opportunities are Business, Career, and Leadership Opportunities.” No one has everchallenged me on it. Many agree they should take and make as… -
The Fear of Public Speaking – KSDK Interviews. . .
18 Jan 2012 | 12:01 amK Me! St. Louis (KSDK) - It could be a wedding toast or a class assignment in high school or college. Most of us get anxious when we’re asked to talk to an audience. It’s the number one phobia, called glossophobia. When it comes to talking the talk, many people would rather get a root canal or an IRS audit than make a speech. Click the video player above to watch the report. Fred Miller’s book is No Sweat Public Speaking!, and among his tips: people remember the first and last thing you tell them, so Have a strong opening and a strong close to your speech, have confident… -
Have a Spare Tire in Case Murphy Shows Up!
12 Jan 2012 | 12:01 amH Murphy, of Murphy’s Law, always seems to be lurking around the corner, waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting victim. That casualty could be you! Always be prepared for anything and everything you can control. If the computer crashes, projector dies, or sound system goes silent, you must still present your material! There are people in the audience who came to learn something. It’s your presentation and your responsibility they don’t leave disappointed. Be sure your “trunk” is well equipped for all contingencies. If I’m using slides, I backup my presentation… -
The Elevator Speech Booklet – CLICK to Open!
5 Jan 2012 | 12:01 amYourYour Elevator Speech is a Mini-Presentation CLICK to Open Booklet Use this as a Template for Your Elevator Speech! An Elevator Speech is what we deliver when introducing ourselves at networking events, business meetings, or when meeting anyone for the first time. The term, Elevator Speech, implies it’s something that won’t take very long to deliver. If someone’s only going to be in an elevator with you till the next floor, it may be less than a minute. It’s not an exercise to take casually. Just as an Elevator goes up one floor at a time, the Elevator Speech… -
Speakers, My 2012 New Year’s Resolutions are. . .
29 Dec 2011 | 12:01 am2012It’s That Time of the Year! Here are My 2012 Resolutions. What are Yours? #1. Prepare and Practice for each Presentation even if I’ve given it 100+ times. It might be the umpteenth time I’ve delivered it, but it’s the first time most of the audience have heard it. The size of the audience doesn’t matter. I should always give my best. “Practice makes perfect.” No! “Perfect Practice makes Perfect.” – No such thing! The one I subscribe to is: “The road to perfection never ends!” #2. Regularly Refresh and…
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PowerPoint and Presenting Blog
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Animated Slide: Valentine Mobiles
27 Jan 2012 | 10:00 pmThese Valentine mobiles are suspended from a rope, and are freely moving pendulum-like in the air with random speeds and directions. All the heart mobiles you see are Theme aware so that their fills change when you apply a new Theme. In addition, we used animation sparingly, yet effectively to create this effect – the entire slide uses just the Spin animation and nothing else! And while this entire animated slide was created in PowerPoint 2010, it should work just fine in PowerPoint 2007 for Windows and PowerPoint 2008/2011 for Mac. All animations are set to repeat indefinitely so that the… -
Speaking Practically: Conversation with Kelly Vandever
26 Jan 2012 | 10:00 pmIn an attention-deficient, entertain-me-now, wait-while-I-post-that-on-my-Facebook-page kind of world, the typical business presentation is lame. Professional speaker, trainer, coach, tweeter and blogger Kelly Vandever works with organizations who want to take their strategic business presentations from Lame to Fame! An award winning speaker herself, Kelly helps organizations crank up their content to connect and interact with their audiences using old school and hi-tech techniques all while annihilating bullet points and making this world a better place for business audiences everywhere. You… -
Learn PowerPoint 2011 for Mac: Edit Points for Shapes
26 Jan 2012 | 9:30 pmWhen you insert any of the shapes available in PowerPoint, you are not limited to what their default appearance looks like. You can change a rectangle to a rhombus, or even edit a curved or freeform line differently. You can do this by using the Edit Points option -- this almost makes PowerPoint a drawing program that provides you the option to play with vertexes (points), handles, etc. -- very similar to what you would do in Adobe Illustrator. A vertex is a point within the outline of any shape that can be dragged or edited to change the appearance of the shape.Learn how to edit the… -
Learn PowerPoint 2010: Slide Transition Effect Options
25 Jan 2012 | 9:45 pmBy default, no transitions are applied to any slide. However, once you apply transitions to your slides, you can tweak them aplenty. You can adjust the duration and timing of any transition, and even add a sound that will play while the slide transition happens. Further, each transition effect may or may not provide Effect Options. Effect Options enable you to have more control over the transition style applied to the slide -- follow these steps to explore Effect Options for slide transitions in PowerPoint 2010.Explore slide transition Effect Options in PowerPoint 2010.Categories:… -
Podium: The Indezine Review
24 Jan 2012 | 10:00 pmPodium is a PowerPoint add-in which enables you to do quite a bit with your slide content. You can manage your PowerPoint presentations, and you can use provided tools to enhance your presentations. You can also create a new presentation from scratch. Podium provides a huge library of media elements such as images, vector drawings, ready-to-use backgrounds, 3D clip art and shapes, embellishments, etc. All these elements are royalty free, and most of these can also be individually customized to match the look of your slides. Once installed, Podium creates a new tab on PowerPoint's Ribbon.Learn…
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Business Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen Shapiro
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Lessons of Pawn Stars
23 Jan 2012 | 11:24 amBusiness Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen ShapiroYes, you read that correctly. PAWN Stars. This reality television show on The History Channel chronicles a pawn shop outside of Las Vegas. I enjoy the show because of the history associated with the pieces that are brought in for sale. In addition to rifles from the revolutionary war and antique political documents, people bring [...] -
One Small Step for Your Business, One Giant Leap for Success
13 Jan 2012 | 6:00 amBusiness Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen ShapiroQuite a few books and studies recently have touted the power of incremental change. Small actions can have a huge impact on long-term business growth. The appropriate degree of change needed for innovating within organizations is, in general, a 45-degree change, consistent but not too radical. That tends to be more effective than a 5-degree change (purely [...] -
My 2012 Themes Revealed
12 Jan 2012 | 6:00 amBusiness Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen ShapiroAnyone who follows this blog knows that the New Year is my favorite time for reflecting on the past and creating the future. If you have not read my article on “Making Resolutions That Work,” please do so. Or, if you prefer, you can read the variant of this article that appeared in the Wall [...] -
My Favorite Blog Posts of 2011
11 Jan 2012 | 6:00 amBusiness Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen ShapiroGiven that we are in a new year, I thought it might be nice to reflect on the past year. So today I want to share with you my favorite blog entries from 2011. I chose my top 10 for three categories: 1)innovation & creativity, 2) general business, and 3) life and happiness. Admittedly, the articles I [...] -
“Best Practices Are Stupid” Named Best Innovation & Creativity Book of 2011
10 Jan 2012 | 3:53 pmBusiness Innovation Speaker and Consultant Stephen ShapiroI am excited and honored to announce that my book, “Best Practices Are Stupid: 40 Ways to Out-Innovate the Competition,” was just named the best “innovation and creativity” book of 2011 by 800-CEO-READ. Winners in other categories include Jim Collins, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Eric Ries. You can see the entire list here on the 800-CEO-READ website. [...]
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Great Public Speaking
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Speaking Training: Presenting Like a Pro
23 Jan 2012 | 8:26 amhttp://www.AmazingPublicSpeaking.comIf you want to get paid for your public speaking engagements then youneed to know what professional speakers know.Over 450 public and professional speaking videos. -
Public Speaking Gags - He Tripped Me!
20 Jan 2012 | 9:54 amAnd now for the ultimate audience gag. Drum roll, please. I do an old, old banquet gag that I recycled for the 90s.I call it Cuss Your Lunch which stands for Cuss(tomer) Service Your Lunch.Through my practical joke company, I have done literally hundreds of performances as the Clumsy Waiter at banquets, luncheons, and wedding receptions. These performances were done mainly for fun and they are not messy unless, of course, you want them to be. When I started speaking more and more to business audiences I wanted to find a way to incorporate this outrageous routine. Now Cuss Your Lunch is a live… -
Attention Public Speakers: I Don't Know How She Did It...
18 Jan 2012 | 9:57 amand I don't care...If you've known me for a while, you probably have heard me talkabout the fact I wanted the "Ka-ching" sound on my cell phoneas my ring tone. I gave up trying to figure it out myself knowingit would take me all day.A young, geeky girl in the office heard me complaining aboutthis. She took the phone and came back in five minutes with theKa-ching sound on the phone.Do I know how she did it?.....NODo I care how she did it?.....NOWas the job done quickly without any hassle on my part? .....YES!This same geeky girl edited a video for me that has made me Iwould estimate at least 5… -
Corinne Gregory's Testimonial For The "Ultimate Guide To Professional Speaking"
16 Jan 2012 | 8:59 amhttp://www.antion.com/ultimateguideSpeaker Corinne Gregory talks about how Tom Antion's Utimate Guide gave her great money making tips. -
Presentations in Non-Hotel Venues
13 Jan 2012 | 8:19 amWhen you are speaking at an event that is NOT in a hotel setting, you must pay particular attention to making sure you have everything you need to make a smooth event.Here's a brief checklist of things that may not be available if you aren't in a hotel:*Projection Screen*Flip Chart*Extension cords*Power strips*Ice*Refreshments, coffee, juice, water, etc.*Lunch*Cups*Napkins*Pens*Pencils*Microphone and sound system*Adapters*Signage*CopiesAdd to the above list any items particular to your event that the hotel usually supplies. Pay close attention to every detail because there may be no time to…
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Max Atkinson's Blog
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Speaking of the moon: Gingrich v. Kennedy
26 Jan 2012 | 12:43 pmRepublican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has told us that, by the end of his second term (about 2 minutes into the above), there would be Americans living on the moon. With enough of them there, they'd even be able to become a state of the USA.And why not? After all, in 1961, President Kennedy had made the first of two famous speeches about American plans to send a man to the moon. The first was to Congress (below), followed up a year later by his "We choose to go to the moon" speech at Rice University (HERE).So if Kennedy could get away with such an ambitious goal, why not Gingrich?Er,… -
Obama's State of the Union speech: (2) Enhanced by PowerPoint?
25 Jan 2012 | 12:20 pmWhen I first started watching the version of President Obama's State of the Union speech posted on YouTube by the White House, I wondered what the blue rectangle on the right hand side was for.But all quickly became clear: it was for PowerPoint style slides and they, presumably, were what transformed it into an 'enhanced version'.So we got to see a picture and the wordds MORE THAN 1 MILLION AMERICAN TROOPS SERVED IN IRAQ BETWEEN 2003-2011Then a wanted poster for Osama bin Laden with a big red cross through it.Then more pictures of US troops followed numbers of how many of them had fought in… -
Obama's State of the Union speech: (1) Behind the scenes with the speechwriters
25 Jan 2012 | 11:46 amFew British political speechwriters though there may be, anyone who writes any kind of speech is likely to be interested not only in this film but also by the fact that it had nearly 400,000 views on YouTube within 24 hours of being posted there.A cunning part of team Obama's communication strategy perhaps, but there's something very refreshing about a top politician openly admitting that he gets help with his speeches and being willing to give a public platform to those who help him. So far, I've only watched it once and found the most annoying part was the awful background musak - but the… -
Birdsong: open-mouthed acting by a male of the species
23 Jan 2012 | 4:27 amLast night, Mary Ann Sieghart (@MASieghart) tweeted 'Does this actor in #Birdsong have any look other than a long meaningful one?I knew exactly what she was referring to, as last night's hero (Eddie Redmayne) had already reminded me of a question I'd asked back in 2009: Is there an open-mouthed school of acting?'...I don’t know if it’s just me (and the small, unrepresentative sample of people I’ve consulted so far), but it does seem that film and television actresses are spending more and more time with their mouths open – both when there’s no dialogue and when they’re listening… -
Is it wise for Ed Miliband to play snakes and ladders with Jon Snow?
17 Jan 2012 | 2:48 pmI'm grateful to Neill Harvey-Smith (@nhs999) for drawing my attention to this fascinating video clip via Twitter, where he tweeted "From the Ed Miliband treasure trove, media training lesson #24: don't do this."The board had already been set up for the game by Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls with his Fabian Society speech and related interviews over the weekend (HERE) and now, three days later, his leader lands on this whopping snake - posted on YouTube very soon after the end of the Channel 4 News on which it appeared (as for what I mean by 'snakes and ladders', see HERE).It vividly demonstrates…
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SpeakerSue Says...
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4 Ideas to Kick Start 2012
5 Jan 2012 | 12:05 pmIdeas to make this year your best ever: Update yourself. 1. If you aren’t yet, become involved with Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Twitter isn’t about what you had for breakfast and yes, sometimes people do tweet about it. Get over it. There is more brilliant, real time research posted on Twitter each day that it will make your head spin. Start by following people you respect, check out who they follow and who follows them. Give yourself up to 15 minutes a day to read what others are saying (maybe a great recipe for their breakfast treat or maybe neuromarketing research that… -
How to be a more happy person in 2012 and beyond!
2 Jan 2012 | 5:53 pmI was rushing home New Year’s Eve day and remembered that my toe polish was chipped. I mean, truly, could there be a worse omen with which to start the new year? I pulled into a random nail shop on my way home (I’d have to make an appointment at my place and who had time?) and was greeted by a sign on the door that said, “Please do NOT ask for a nail technician by name. You will be assigned one.” Really? I was going to leave right then and there until I remembered that I didn’t know a technician there to ask for by name. I got my toe polish changed but more than… -
Are you a professional sales person?
30 Nov 2011 | 8:10 amJeffrey Gitomer is one of the most brilliant sales people I know. He has created an empire by providing smart selling strategies and packaging them in a no nonsense, direct and clever way. Who couldn’t respect the authenticity of a logo that states exactly what he wants “BuyGitomer!” Time and again he reminds sales pros to focus on the professional part of their title instead of on the selling part (actually, I just made them up and I really, really like it). Gitomer is a friend (disclaimer) and he posted another great article today. To a point. The New Cold Call –… -
Change your words and change your world
13 Nov 2011 | 1:24 pmAs much as I’d like to jump on the bandwagon about Rick Perry, I’m going to try to take the high road and tell you that unless he stops thinking and saying that he “is not any good at debates,” he will continue to stink at them. It’s all about what we say to ourselves. Well, not completely. We can tell ourselves that we’re good at debates, cooking, presenting, running, golfing, parenting, communicating, dancing, card playing, gardening, cold calling, writing, networking or whatever, and still not be great at it. But here is my truth: If you tell yourself… -
How NOT to write an “I’ll get back to you” email
1 Nov 2011 | 3:49 pmMany organizations today require their sales teams to respond within some arbitrary amount of time to RFPs. Instead of asking a simple question on the RFP or on the phone, the sales person is taught to say, “And, I’ll have that for you within 24 hours” (or whatever). Then, because the sales person is slammed (a good thing), she throws together a proposal, adds the words personalized just for you, and gets “points” for responding in a timely manner. The question is, who is she getting the points from? Not from the customer! (It’s a bad thing for the…
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Professionally Speaking
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Relevant Resources: Books to Kick Off 2012
27 Jan 2012 | 5:16 pmI help edit SPEAKER Magazine for the National Speakers Association (NSA). Each month I curate the Relevant Resources column – a list of time-saving tools and technologies. The January/February edition lists books recommended by NSA members as inspiration for the New Year. Go Ahead and Laugh: A Serious Guide to Speaking with Humor, by Rich [...] -
Manufacturing Industry: China will win, hands down
16 Jan 2012 | 8:11 amI download podcasts and listen to them on my drive to work. Today, driving my 16-year-old car which has any number of replacement auto parts keeping it on the road, listening to a 3-year-old Apple iPod, I heard two stories which described how electronics and auto parts are manufactured in China and America. Apart a [...] -
Guest Posting: Worst Brand Name Award of 2011, by Alexandra Watkins
13 Jan 2012 | 8:36 amAlexandra Watkins is the Founder & Chief Innovation Officer at Eat My Words, a San Francisco based creative naming agency known for creating unforgettable brand names. The following post originally appeared in her blog and is reposted here with her express permission. Announcing the most frightful brand name of 2011… the Head Scratcher of the [...] -
Interview: Larry Dodd – Change Agent
11 Jan 2012 | 10:44 amLarry Dodd is a proven financial leader, consultant and trainer who applies an innovative, people-centered approach that helps the teams that he serves turn problems into business opportunities. His professional career includes CFO roles with Robert Half’s CFO Services (consulting); Signature Properties and Meritage Homes. His client experience ranges from startups to established companies with [...] -
Revealed! The Productivity Secrets of Laura Stack
9 Jan 2012 | 2:39 pmLaura Stack is a personal productivity expert, author, and professional speaker. Her mission is to build high-performance productivity cultures in organizations by creating Maximum Results in Minimum Time®. She is the president of The Productivity Pro®, Inc., a time management training firm, specializing in productivity improvement in high-stress organizations as well as the current president [...]
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Sticky Slides
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Zapping double Keynote shadows
26 Jan 2012 | 9:30 pmUsually I blog about grander things than software tricks. Today is an exception with a help-desk-type post. This thing drove me crazy in Keynote: a double drop shadow that just did not want to go away in the data labels of a chart. If I am struggling to find it, there must be a few other people out there getting annoyed by this. Here is a video that explains how to get rid of these ghost shadows. The fonts button at the top right of the screen has some hidden options. -
Movement without animation
25 Jan 2012 | 9:30 pmI am not a big fan of animation. It distracts the audience, can sometimes look funny instead of serious, and is not visible when you send people a PDF file, the new standard with the proliferation of platforms (PowerPoint, Keynote, mobile devices). Here is an option to give a sense of movement in your slide without using animations. When filling a box, select the gradient option and let one side fade out to 100% transparent or 0% opaque. The chart below is a sanitized version for a client that is right in the center of some pretty major transformations that are going on now, so if you… -
Presenting a mobile demo
24 Jan 2012 | 9:30 pmPassing a device with your demo app around the audience is not enough, even for a small group of people: Screens are small and do not make a big impression People do not know what to do in order to see the best of the app So the point of passing the device around is mainly to prove that your app exists. It should be supported by very large screen shots on the projector screen that tell the story behind the app, with the right sequence of features. Preferably with different levels of zoom: a user holding the device, the opening screen with the device around it, and then zooming even… -
Projecting black
23 Jan 2012 | 9:30 pmWhen a screen projector projects the color black, it projects nothing. Think about this when designing slides. If you have an image with an aspect ratio that is different from a regular slide (4:3, 16:9) and it is not possible to crop it without damaging its visual impact, make the bits of the slide that are not covered black instead of the default slide background color you are using. Once on screen, the black border will blend in with the area outside of the projection screen. -
Two industrial narrow (free) fonts
22 Jan 2012 | 9:30 pmBeebas Neue and League Gothic are my favorite narrow fonts that can fit a lot of text in a headline, and give that industrial modern look to a slide. And best of all, they are open source.
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Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing
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Conflict and how to manage it
9 Jan 2012 | 8:29 amDoes your business or at least some areas of it suffer from moaning, bitching & complaining? If it does, these are all symptoms of low level conflict and they could be costing your business dearly. Think about it for a moment. What are the consequences of such behaviour – Poor customer service, low productivity, poor quality, and low staff morale to name but a few. So what is the cause of such conflict and what can you do about it? The underlying [...]Conflict and how to manage it is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing -
The secrets of successful seminars
22 Nov 2011 | 3:00 amSeminars are a powerful business building strategy when done right. They are a great way to strengthen relationships with existing clients and showcase your expertise to new ones. If done well you can also create an environment where existing happy customers “sell” your services to prospective customers naturally and unobtrusively. Recently I was privileged to attend such an event run by one of my clients, a large accountancy firm. I had been helping one of the partners put together [...]The secrets of successful seminars is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing -
Storytelling in speeches and presentations
9 Aug 2011 | 10:00 amStories are at the heart of communication. Ever since humans developed language we have used stories as a powerful method transfering knowledge. We teach our children through stories. We build relationships and bonds through sharing stories. We are entertained by stories. I would argue that we spend much of our non-work time storytelling. Socially we understand that the best stories are engaging, entertaining, and memorable. Yet when it comes to business communications we have a tendency to throw all our experience [...]Storytelling in speeches and presentations is a post from:… -
Do we need a new sales vocabulary?
18 Jul 2011 | 6:58 amRecently I was having a conversation with a fellow sales trainer about why some people find selling such a challenge. One reason we agreed on was that the words “sales” and “selling” have a ton of unhelpful mental baggage associated with them. Just test this out for yourself right now. Grab a piece of paper and a pen and write down or draw all the associations that spring to mind when you think of the words sales or selling. What words come [...]Do we need a new sales vocabulary? is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing -
Is your presentation losing you business?
16 Jul 2011 | 11:02 amIf you pitch for a specific piece of work and don’t get it that dissapointing but at least you know that you lost it and you can try and do something about it before the next pitch. But what about when you give a presentation to a group of potential clients with the hope of generating new leads. What happens if your presentation turns your audience off rather than on? You could be losing sales because they won’t even invite you [...]Is your presentation losing you business? is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing
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MANIACTIVE
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Three vital presentation lessons learned…from a walk in the woods
11 Jan 2012 | 10:43 amFor close to two decades, I take an almost-daily walk near my office. It helps the creative process to get out and clear my head. My office is located in an old forest. A creek runs through it, creating a sizable gully. I’ve seen deer, coyotes, rabbits, and all sorts of birds on my constitutional. As one of the more civilized creatures, I walk on the sidewalk that cuts through the forest. No sense muddying my shoes on the way to and from work. A few weeks ago, something new caught my eye on my daily walk. Someone had crawled down into the depths of the gully to place a red sign on a… -
Ask yourself: what does your audience really want?
8 Nov 2011 | 2:22 pmGoogle Plus opened its doors for business pages yesterday. Far out, right? Boom! I’m suddenly getting swamped with requests to follow new G+ business pages. So let’s say you’re a business communicator. And you’re posting the exact same content to your Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus pages today. Oh, uh! You’re being redundant. Think about your audience. Let’s say I’m one of your most rabid brand fans. I follow you EVERYWHERE: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and now — Google Plus. Now — let’s also say I publicly ask the question: where you would like me to follow… -
What shouldn’t you wear?
8 Sep 2011 | 12:34 pm“What should I wear?” I asked the event organizer. We just agreed that I would speak at her winter event. She glanced up and down at me. “What you’re wearing now is fine. We’re a very casual business.” I was wearing dark jeans, fitted t-shirt, and blazer. So was she. In the olden days, an oft-repeated business maxim was always to dress professionally for a professional engagement. Suit, tie, button-down shirt. Well, you can throw out this rule, pronto. Fellow presenter Rich Hopkins of Speak and Deliver fame wondered in a Facebook comment today if the days of wearing suits are… -
How else will mobile phones ruin your life?
2 Sep 2011 | 1:52 pmI’ve owned a cell phone since 1999. I even had a bag phone circa 1995. Over 80% of American adults now use some kind of mobile phone. In my experience, I see cell phones as a tool that helps us avoid making plans and sticking to them. Cell phones give people an excuse to be late. Today, it’s more popular to say “I’ll just text and say I’m running late,” than it is to actually show up at a previously agreed upon time and place. If I decide to travel without my cell phone, etiquette-wise, I’m the one who’s in the wrong. “Didn’t you get my text 15 minutes ago telling you that… -
Tsk! Some people do nothing but criticize…
21 Jul 2011 | 4:43 pm“Waah! Some people just sit back + criticize when we try to do good for our community,” pout legions of wannabe activists. Many passive-aggressive dimwits have gotten it into their puny brains that thoughtful, articulate criticism is the equivalent of “do-nothing”. That critics “sit back” while criticizing. That criticism is a nobler, fancier word for “bitching”. Or that a critic is slothful at best and damaging at worst. photo credit: Rhys Asplundh Here’s a five-step self-help program designed for those who whine about the perceived ease…
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Humor Power
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Observational Humor — Case Study #76
26 Jan 2012 | 10:36 amHere’s another Observational Humor monologue presented at the end of a meeting. Ten other club members presented a total of 20 observational lines before I presented my monologue. They came up with observations that never occurred to me, yet they didn’t duplicate any of the lines planned for my monologue. The lesson is that the supply of humorous observations is almost limitless…you only have to be looking for them. THE SET-UP (What happened and what was said during the meeting before the monologue was presented.) 1. Scott suggested that Dana was looking for someone… -
Cartoon Caption Contest Results
22 Jan 2012 | 8:38 pmIt’s time for the results of our January Cartoon Caption Contest featuring the artwork of professional cartoonist Dan Rosandich. New Cartoon Caption Contests are announced at the start of the month (alternating months). New Joke Contests are announced at the start of the month (alternating months). The next Joke Contest is February 1, 2012. Here are the top captions for this month’s contest: ** FIRST PLACE ** Perhaps you should have saved the 500 page novel you just finished writing before turning off the computer. Tom Nee, Oak Lawn, Illinois ** SECOND PLACE ** Allow… -
Gervais Humor at Golden Globes
16 Jan 2012 | 1:01 pmWhen a comedian hosts an awards show, you can expect some roast-style humor. That’s why they hire the comic. A roast structure creates a vehicle to ensure the success of the jokes which follow. Before you start firing jokes at people in the audience, you need permission. This is usually received by making fun of yourself, which gives you permission to make fun of the boss or authority figures, which gives you permission to make fun of the honored guests. Last night Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globe Awards for the third year. Some people were surprised he was chosen as this… -
A Positive Perpective
7 Jan 2012 | 7:16 amSeven years ago I was bothered by barking dogs. My neighbors on BOTH sides had dogs that barked every time I stepped into my own backyard. They barked if a car pulled up in front of the house. They barked for almost any reason. It took some time, but I eventually came up with a perspective which allowed me to overlook the barking: If prowlers were checking out my backyard, the dogs would bark. The last thing prowlers would want is something announcing their presence. At night, if the dogs were not barking, my backyard was secure. Free guard dogs! They were part of my… -
New Cartoon Caption Contest
1 Jan 2012 | 2:58 amIt’s time for our Cartoon Caption Contest for the month of January. We feature the art of professional cartoonist Dan Rosandich. New Cartoon Caption Contests are announced at the start of the month (alternating months). New Joke Contests are announced at the start of the month (alternating months). The next Joke Contest is February 1, 2012. Here is the cartoon: Write as many captions as you can. Then select your best three captions and submit them. You can submit more than three lines, the extra lines will be eligible for honorable mention. Only your first three lines will be…
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Pivotal Public Speaking
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Victory …
26 Jan 2012 | 5:22 pmThe virtue of all achievement is victory over oneself. Those who know this can never know defeat. A. J. Cronin It’s been a long time since I read A.J. Cronin. Nice to see this quote just in memory of enjoying his books. Regarding this particular piece – I certainly believe it applies to achieving mastery and certainly mastery of public speaking. We overcome nerves, we develop “muscle memory” through rehearsal, we learn to interact with an audience rather than just speak at them, and so much more. What has been your greatest victory over yourself in becoming a… -
Dealing with interruptions … as an artist
25 Jan 2012 | 3:35 pm[Note: the links to Perfect phrases for Executive Presentations has now been fixed!!] I know we would all like to feel the mastery that this performer has achieved with his violin. I also know that we would all hope to be able to deal with interruptions just as masterfully – with grace and humour!! Yes that’s a Nokia ring tone! -
Great Openings. Use a Pertinent Activity
25 Jan 2012 | 5:08 amUsing a pertinent activity as an opening gets the audience’s attention because it makes them active. It gives them the opportunity to move physically which makes them more alert and comfortable. It lets them learn and participate with one another. Finally, it put you in charge. That’s right, when you cede temporary authority to your audience you get larger in their minds. => http://bit.ly/w3bOZG -
Perfect Phrases for Executive Presentations
22 Jan 2012 | 1:16 amHundreds of Ready-to-Use Phrases to Use to Communicate Your Strategy and Vision When the Stakes Are High by Alan M Perlman Any successful leader will tell you: Giving a strong presentation is the most immediate and powerful way to set goals, form strategies, and sell your vision-to both internal and external audiences. Perfect Phrases for Executive Presentations not only tells you how to plan and deliver your address, but also provides phrases for every part of the speech or presentation. => http://bit.ly/z76FV8 -
Misuse words and build mystery
18 Jan 2012 | 3:59 am“Vague and mysterious forms of speech, and abuse of language, have so long passed for mysteries of science; and hard or misapplied words with little or no meaning have, by prescription, such a right to be mistaken for deep learning and height of specu” John Locke quotes
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Knockout Presentations Blog
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Is Your Speaker Introduction As Good As Your Speech?
26 Jan 2012 | 3:27 pmA client recently asked me to help with a speaker introduction. As director of a non-profit, it was important to go beyond describing the organization. This executive wanted to be perceived as knowledgeable and credible, instead of a talking head. So she found some information about the speaker’s topic from a scientific journal and delivered that as a lead-in to the presentation topic. The challenge was to take a scientific topic and to make it interesting. Too often public speaking introductions are written for the eye and not the ear. What reads well on paper may not sound… -
Video Marketing-The New Interview Presentation
24 Jan 2012 | 10:27 amHow do you make your job interview stand out in a crowded interview? In a previous post I blogged about a woman who was getting ready to pitch her boss for a promotion. To make her and her presentation memorable we decided to create a short video. Why? Because I see a change in the market. Youtube.com is the number two search engine after google. Video creates that personal touch and ups the trust factor in presentation marketing. Well, now it seems that interviewers are catching on. Is the resume becoming passe? Probably not. But a video presentation can sell you better than any… -
Why Aren’t More Famous Actors Better Public Speakers?
19 Jan 2012 | 7:45 am“Um, um, um” was how Madonna opened her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes. It may be comforting to know that a major celebrity also uses non-words when she speaks in public but even famous people don’t get a pass. Um is Not an Opening Line It’s always amazed me how many award winning actors are inadequate when speaking in public. I first realized this years ago when I was a stand up trainer. A former actor came through our presentation skills seminar. To my surprise, he wasn’t that good even though he had all that stage training. Why are acceptance speeches so bad? Why aren’t… -
Speaking to a Grieving Audience
9 Jan 2012 | 8:01 amThe other evening I was preparing for my next Confidence Class for eighth grade girls in my community when an email came across my desk. A mother warned me that the principal of the school died yesterday afternoon suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack. She alerted me that the girls were shocked and broken up by the news and she wasn’t sure how responsive they would be in the class. I thanked her for letting me know and planned my strategy. I recalled a professional speaker who spoke before an audience that was not responding. No matter what he did he couldn’t get a reaction. They… -
The Five Letter Word that Kills Telemarketing Presentations Every Time
8 Jan 2012 | 6:49 pmThis morning the phone rang. It was a recorded message. It’s rare that I listen to one of these recordings. My knee jerk response is to hangup. But there was a reason I kept listening. The offer was something I wanted. And the sales presentation was surprisingly excellent. The recording had a strong, clear, energetic voiceover and the brief message got to the point quickly. The ending had a strong call to action and a sense of urgency. You could press 1 and speak to a representative or you could press 2 to disconnect and give your competitor the opportunity for a one person per…
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Breaking Murphy's Law
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Overheard on Twitter: Critical event planners
24 Jan 2012 | 10:26 pmHave had technical/av problems today - not good for an audience of critical event planners #tse2012— KathyPhelps (@KathyPhelps) January 24, 2012 Sharing: del.icio.us Twitter Categories: Problems with Equipment Tags: #tse2012, event planners -
PowerPoint Ninja: “Emergency Preparedness for PowerPoint”
29 Dec 2011 | 7:20 pmBrent Dykes, The PowerPoint Ninja, strikes at the dark heart of a potential presentation disaster with this story of uncooperative hardware and a decidedly nonsupportive support person: What I didn’t anticipate was that the presentation remote would only work with the desktop computer in the auditorium. No problem. I had all of the presentations also loaded on to a USB flash drive so I could transfer the files on to the desktop. However, in its infinite wisdom, the university’s IT group blocked any files from being installed on the desktop including a font file that one of the teams… -
Overheard on Twitter: Never trust the venue!
14 Dec 2011 | 10:06 pm#presentations tip: never trust the venue! :)Take your own kit as far as poss. That way you know it works AND how to work it— Simon Raybould (@presentations) November 22, 2011 Sharing: del.icio.us Twitter Categories: Overheard on Twitter, Problems with Venue Tags: -
Playing keep away…
28 Nov 2011 | 7:31 amKeep the cup of coffee away from the equipment. Keep the welcome reception away from the speaker’s slide review session. Keep the speaker’s flight time away from the meeting’s start time. Keep the USB drive with your presentation on it away from the washing machine. Keep the social media apps with potentially indiscreet popups away from your show laptop. Sharing: del.icio.us Twitter Categories: Uncategorized Tags: -
A classic post from James Feudo’s Overnight Sensation
27 Nov 2011 | 9:38 pmTen Things That Will Guarantee Your Speech Will Bomb. My favorite bit: 7: Don’t check your equipment: If you’re using PowerPoint, make sure you test the computer, projector and cables you’ll be using – you don’t want any last minute technical troubles. If you need internet access, bring along an aircard just in case the network is down in the building you’re in. Sharing: del.icio.us Twitter Categories: Problems with Equipment Tags: equipment, James Feudo, Overnight Sensation
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TEDTalks (video)
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TED: Gayle Tzemach Lemmon: Women entrepreneurs, example not exception - Gayle Tzemach Lemmon (2011)
27 Jan 2012 | 10:06 amWomen aren’t micro--so why do they only get micro-loans? At TEDxWomen reporter Gayle Tzemach Lemmon argues that women running all types of firms-- from home businesses to major factories-- are the overlooked key to economic development. -
TED: Ariel Garten: Know thyself, with a brain scanner - Ariel Garten (2011)
26 Jan 2012 | 10:08 amImagine playing a video game controlled by your mind. Now imagine that game also teaches you about your own patterns of stress, relaxation and focus. At TEDxToronto Ariel Garten shows how looking at our own brain activity gives new meaning to the ancient dictum "know thyself." -
TED: Brian Goldman: Doctors make mistakes. Can we talk about that? - Brian Goldman (2011)
25 Jan 2012 | 10:50 amEvery doctor makes mistakes. But, says physician Brian Goldman, medicine's culture of denial (and shame) keeps doctors from ever talking about those mistakes, or using them to learn and improve. Telling stories from his own long practice, he calls on doctors to start talking about being wrong. -
TED: Diana Nyad: Extreme swimming with the world's most dangerous jellyfish - Diana Nyad (2011)
24 Jan 2012 | 10:23 amIn the 1970s, Diana Nyad set long-distance swim records that are still unbroken. Thirty years later, at 60, she attempted her longest swim yet, from Cuba to Florida. In this funny, powerful talk at TEDMED, she talks about how to prepare mentally to achieve an extreme dream, and asks: What will YOU do with your wild, precious life? -
TED: Lisa Harouni: A primer on 3D printing - Lisa Harouni (2011)
23 Jan 2012 | 10:17 am2012 may be the year of 3D printing, when this three-decade-old technology finally becomes accessible and even commonplace. Lisa Harouni gives a useful introduction to this fascinating way of making things -- including intricate objects once impossible to create.
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Why I Love This Job
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There's Nothing Old-Fashioned About Having Good Manners
19 Jan 2012 | 7:16 pmSometimes I'm amazed at what people will say in an email. Things that they'd never say if they were standing in front of me. Sometimes it's a poorly worded joke, but often it's just someone being a little quick on the draw when deciding whether to write down some angry, insulting, or critical words. I suppose after all these years of increasingly text-based communications, I shouldn't be surprised anymore. Shameless optimist that I am. So I continue to be amazed that some folks find it so easy to be rude, mean, angry, or disrespectful,… -
More, More, More!
28 Jun 2011 | 5:44 pmWow, it's been a while since I had a second to post something! We are on fire over here at Keynote, and are currently interviewing for at least three open positions. Yay, I love opportunities for new ideas, fresh faces, and a chance to grow in a positive direction! Between needing more qualified personnel, and lots and lots of bookings, the annual IASB Convention (congrats to myself, I was just elected a Governor of IASB, the International Association of Speakers Bureaus!) held in San Diego this year, the phenomenal popularity of some of Keynote's speakers (Guy Kawasaki… -
To Book Great Speakers
23 Mar 2011 | 7:33 pmWhy do I work here? And how do I succeed? Important questions indeed. For me, as it turns out, the answers are simple. Hard to execute, but simple to understand. The reason for today's particular rant is the result of the latest newletter "Perspectives", from the Northern California Chapter of MPI. By way of introduction, the Northern California chapter of Meeting Professionals International is the largest chapter in the country. And as you'd suspect, the high quality of the companies located here in San Francisco Bay Area means the… -
What's New These Days: Part One
3 Dec 2010 | 6:00 pmCouple of quick updates for you today, regarding some speakers with a lot going on right now. Please forgive the random sizing of the book cover images; I was having trouble making the images all the same size. I'll get better at it next time, I promise. So here we go: Mark Thompson and Brian Tracy: New book "Now...Build a Great Business!" Dick Hardwick: Received an honorary degree from Westfield University. -
Someone to add to your "Favorite Speakers" list: Louis Zamperini
19 Nov 2010 | 2:10 pmI have a new person on my "favorite speakers" list: Louis Zamperini. Wow. I think Louis qualifies as both the luckiest, and the unluckiest, person on the planet. His life is an amazing combination of incredibly lucky saves, amazing personal strength, and remarkable occurances and coincidences, both good and bad. Reasons he's the unluckiest: Survived near death, and near destruction of airplane, after attack by enemy planes, while an airman in the Pacific theater during WWII. One of only three survivors from a plane shot down by enemy forces…
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speakfearlessly.net
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Change How You Are, Not Who You Are
28 Jan 2012 | 4:18 amEditor's Note: This is a guest post by BrillianceInc. Change for Good As an Executive Coach, my job is to help people change for good. Not everyone is ready for such a project. Some people just want everyone around them to change instead. And others worry that if they change their behaviors, they’ll come off as inauthentic—a fake. Truth is, if you’re unable to adapt your approach to people and situations, your relationships will suffer and your career will hit a wall. Authenticity Misunderstood Authenticity is about being real…not rigid. That is, it’s not about stubbornly… -
Is it finally time to ditch PowerPoint?
28 Jan 2012 | 3:54 amI came across this post at Presentation Zen – Garr Reynold's awesome blog. The post is from 2007 and the article was suggesting that the disappearance of PowerPoint might be upon us but here on the dawn of 2012, it's still going strong. Last week an article appearing in The Sydney Morning Herald entitled Researcher points finger at PowerPoint generated quite a stir. The article highlighted findings by researchers from the University of New South Wales, including John Sweller who developed the Cognitive Load Theory back in the '80s. One of the findings mentioned in the… -
Flex Your Do-Gooder Muscles
7 Dec 2011 | 7:00 amEditor's Note: This is a guest post by our partners, BrillianceInc Dr. Jekyll Most of us like to think we’re good people and that, if put in an unethical or dangerous situation, we’d do the right, noble thing. We claim assuredly that if given power, we’d wield it fairly; or that we’d call the police if we saw someone getting abused. Perhaps. But study after troubling study shows that the majority of us, when put in certain difficult circumstances, would act in ways we’d later be ashamed of. The truth is, while on the fringes of society we can talk about saints and sociopaths,… -
Public Speaking: Two Lesbians Raised A Baby
5 Dec 2011 | 2:35 pmI usually stay away from politics in this blog. However, I was immediately impressed with the presentation skills of Zach Wahls speaking about his family. Zach Wahls, a 19-year-old University of Iowa student spoke about the strength of his family during a public forum on House Joint Resolution 6 in the Iowa House of Representatives. Wahls has two mothers, and came to oppose House Joint Resolution 6 which would end civil unions in Iowa. -
The Power of the Delivery is Crucial to Success
14 Nov 2011 | 4:33 pmOnce a quarter The Henderson Group holds "By Invitation Only" workshops in San Francisco, led by our VP of Services, Terry Gault. Upcoming Dates: Executive Communicator Dec. 8 – 9, 2011 in San Francisco Jan. 26 – 27, 2012 in San Mateo Participants learn: Executive Presence – How To: Make the right first impression Empathize with functional executives according to their diverse business drivers Establish rapport with superiors and their superiors Executive Communication – How To: Assess group dynamics quickly and cultivate support Modify dialog style according to each…
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Successful Speeches Blog
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Analysis: 2012 State of the Union Address
25 Jan 2012 | 11:16 amLast night, President Obama delivered what could be his last “State of the Union” address. As I stated in my last blog post, I’m not going to express my feelings about his policies or discuss politics. My goal is to analyze the elements within the speech. Here are my observations: Length: Let’s get this one [...] -
My Challenge to Professional Communicators
24 Jan 2012 | 7:23 amI have a challenge for my colleagues who proudly use the title “Professional Communicator” to describe their occupation. Tonight, as you’re watching the State of the Union address, put your personal and political feelings aside and do a professional critique. Can you do that? I’m issuing this challenge because I’m tired of reading the bull [...] -
Herman Cain: In Search of Ethos
30 Nov 2011 | 10:34 amAs the plot thickens for Herman Cain, his credibility grows thinner. Each new allegation brings a slip in the polls and makes it less likely he’ll be able to win the Republican nomination. His “ethos” is shot. Aristotle argued that there are three forms of persuasion when using the spoken word: Ethos – the character [...] -
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
16 Nov 2011 | 10:36 amEven though the holidays are just around the corner, that’s not what I’m referring to when I mention the most wonderful time of the year. Truth is, what I’m most excited about doesn’t happen every year. What am I talking about? I’m talking about election time. With the debates now in full swing, I’m licking [...] -
Speechwriters Roundtable Launches 11-11-11
10 Nov 2011 | 1:35 pmEvery now and again, I have one of those brilliant ideas that I don’t do anything about. Have you ever had one of those? Then there are other times when I have a brilliant idea and start to work on it, but I manage to not finish doing it. I’m constantly reminded of this when [...]
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Rhett's Laubach Authenticity Rules Blog
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Preparation IQ: Part 3
7 Jan 2012 | 12:32 pmPart three of the Preparation IQ Series will examine our upcoming Oklahoma FFA Stand and Deliver speech training conferences. Details 3-hours, 50-150 high school FFA members, purpose is to train them on how to write, research, practice, deliver and answer questions for competitive FFA speech contests. Prep Techniques - This is our 11th year to run these conferences, so we have the basic content, flow and techniques well developed. We start by reviewing the detailed notes we have gathered over the past few years. However, we sharpen the material every year by adding in new lessons we've… -
Preparation IQ: Part 2
5 Jan 2012 | 10:31 pmPart two in our Presentation IQ Series focuses on a banquet speech I delivered tonight. Details 30 adults, kick-off banquet for community leadership program, second time I have presented for group, most audience members hadn't heard me before, purpose was to be light-hearted and provide leadership inspiration. Prep Techniques - The most important element for banquet talks is to provide a simple formula or outline for the audience to follow. Keep it light. Nobody wants to "work" thoughtfully at a meal event. Therefore, I chose my Impact Model as the outline: Influence, Spirit, Class, Legacy. -
Preparation IQ: Part 1
3 Jan 2012 | 10:52 pmMy goal for this blog for 2012 is to provide insight into how I prepare for my programs with a new series titled Preparation IQ. Over the past 20 years, I have delivered thousands of keynotes, workshops and coaching sessions. This experience has provided me a wealth of secrets, strategies and formulas for preparing for presentation success. This year on this blog the secrets will be revealed. Each time I will briefly overview the program details (audience members, content expectations, length, etc.) and then provide a few preparation techniques. I won't blog on each presentation (I have seven… -
How Are You Fueling The Fire?
18 Dec 2011 | 9:22 pmWe had a traditional, old-school, masonry fireplace put in our new home and I love it. We have it lit all the time. My three primary fuel sources are great metaphors for the fuel sources we have at our disposal as presenters, teachers and trainers to set our audiences on fire: firewood, Duraflame logs and cardboard. If you want to have your group begging for more, make sure you have a good mix of all three. Firewood - The long-lasting, primary fuel source that is the meat and potatoes of the fireplace fuel. A fire without firewood would be weak, quick or… -
The Packaging Makes a Difference
30 Sep 2011 | 1:25 pmApple is known for its remarkable packaging. The shipping boxes are perfect (minimal, simple, etc.), but its product boxes are the best - stylish, eco-friendly, cool. I have kept many Apple product boxes and repurposed them because of their design and weight. Yet, I don't buy Apple products because of the box. I buy them because they are awesome. However, when it comes to your work (speaking/training), the packaging does make a big difference. Case in point, I recently keynoted a massive student leadership conference. Thousands of students flooded into the…
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Public Speaking Library
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Focus on a few
27 Jan 2012 | 10:42 amFellow speaker,If you find you are getting nervous in front of the audience, focus on a few. Pick out a few people in the audience and focus on them, not paying attention to the rest of the audience. This will help you calm down and center yourself. Later, as you feel more comfortable, you can increase your focus to include more and more of the audience.Focused,Tim -
Let go and let humor
26 Jan 2012 | 10:36 amFellow speaker,Sometimes humor comes best when you aren't working on it. Write out a few ideas, keep them in the back of your mind, take a walk...and then something happens.Happening,Tim -
The vent
25 Jan 2012 | 10:31 amFellow speaker,Humor is a way to vent frustration, anger, and other strong emotions. Using humor allows the audience to "blow off" their frustrations and worries safely and funly.Funly,Tim -
Frustrated
24 Jan 2012 | 10:26 amFellow speaker,Humor can come from frustration. Find your frustrations: find your humor. And if you want to connect with your audience's frustrations, just ask them, "What bugs ya?"Frustratedly,Tim -
Heartfelt humor
23 Jan 2012 | 10:22 amFellow speaker,When you are doing humor, do it "from the heart". If you are simply throwing in a few jokes and trying to make them laugh, you might get some response from the audience. But if you do humor from your heart about the things that are most important to you, it really connects with the audience.Heartfelt,Tim
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Overnight Sensation - Public Speaking, Communication and Personal Development
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Throwing Spaghetti at the Wall
28 Jan 2012 | 5:55 amA while back, I read “How to Sell Anything to Anybody” by Joe Girard and one concept that stuck in my head was his point about throwing spaghetti at a wall. Joe says “if you throw enough spaghetti against a wall, some of it will stick.” He used this point to describe his philosophy on cold calling – if you call enough people, someone will eventually listen to you. The concept can be used in other areas of business such as sales, pitching ideas and even looking for a job – if you contact enough people, you’ll eventually find someone who is interested in what… -
Weathering the Storm
27 Jan 2012 | 4:48 amFor the past several years, we’ve all been subjected to the grim economic outlook that most media outlets are focused on. Even when a good report comes out, it’s often followed by more of the bad news thus neutralizing any positive effects. While it makes great news, it would be much better if instead of making it worse by constantly focusing on it, they instead reported on people who have learned to deal with it. Since they won’t do it, I guess we’ll just have to discuss how to stay focused on your goals while the rest of the world is screaming that the sky is… -
Top Mobile Apps For Entrepreneurs
26 Jan 2012 | 4:25 amMashable, which is one of my favorite web sites, recently posted an article on the top 10 mobile apps for entrepreneurs. Surprisingly, I found their list to not be very helpful for two reasons. The first is that many were iPhone only, and I have an Android phone. But more importantly, I just saw their list of apps to have little value to me as an entrepreneur. The apps sounded cool, but few of them were what I would have considered a “must have” or even something that could benefit entrepreneurs in particular. So I decided to come up with my own list of what I felt were apps that… -
Don’t Waste Your Time Seeking Approval
25 Jan 2012 | 5:16 amIf you ever want to kill your mood or quickly go into depression, then spend your life seeking approval from others. When you look to others for a way to feel good, you’ll find yourself doing things to impress them in the hopes that they’ll complement you. At the same time, you’re handing the power to control your feelings over to them and taking it away from yourself. I have people in my life that will always nitpick what I do. I could be elected president of the United States and their reaction would still be something like “well, Reagan won 49 states.”…
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Speak to Lead
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Humor techniques of 22 prominent U.S. politicians
8 Jan 2012 | 9:26 pmAs the 2012 U.S. presidential primaries begin, humorist John Kinde has analyzed the key humor techniques of 22 current and former candidates. Here, with his permission, are his findings: With the caucus and primary events coming soon, let’s reflect on... -
Go behind-the-scenes with award-winning TV reporter
12 Dec 2011 | 8:23 amSee how good you are at counting the number of segments needed for this 2-minute story. Then go behind-the-scenes with the reporter to see how many takes were required to get the final piece. Michelle Michael is an award-winning "one-man-band"... -
Persuasive Messages: How 4 words opened the door to the Presidency
7 Sep 2011 | 1:53 pmAs I was searching my hard drive for a manuscript, I came across the following description of how 4 words helped transform Dwight D. Eisenhower from an outsider to the presidential nominee at the Republican Convention in 1952. It may... -
Public Speaking: Audience research lesson from Speaker Hall of Fame Herb True CPAE
17 Aug 2011 | 12:28 pmEarly in my speaking career, I had the privilege of appearing on the same program as Herb True, a member of the National Speakers Association's Hall of Fame. Since most of you reading this post may never have heard of... -
Political Debates: Post Iowa debate Republicans need to heed advice given to Nixon
15 Aug 2011 | 10:31 pmRichard Nixon in 1967, a Washingtonian Magazine article in 1984, and an experience with political bloggers in 2009, all came into alignment as I was thinking back on last week's Iowa Republican Debate. The hardest lesson for Republicans to embrace...
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Nick Morgan, Public Words
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#5: 5 Blogs. 5 Days. 5 Quick Takes for Improving Your Speaking in 2012.
27 Jan 2012 | 8:49 amWhat are the 5 most important quick ideas for improving your public speaking? I’m going to go for broke this week and blog on 5 quick takes in 5 days. Put them together and you should have a good ‘cheat sheet’ for fulfilling your resolution to improve your public speaking in 2012. 5. Make your speaking personal – talk to individuals. Many people have been told to talk the foreheads of the audience, or look just over their heads. That’s the wrong approach. But don’t just make eye contact. When trying to use that advice, most people find their eyes darting all over… -
#4: 5 Blogs. 5 Days. 5 Quick Takes for Improving Your Speaking in 2012.
26 Jan 2012 | 6:30 amWhat are the 5 most important quick ideas for improving your public speaking? I’m going to go for broke this week and blog on 5 quick takes in 5 days. Put them together and you should have a good ‘cheat sheet’ for fulfilling your resolution to improve your public speaking in 2012. 4. In delivery, don’t fall into the Power Point Triangle of Death. I have seen so many speakers, even confident, highly paid speakers, talk to their slides instead of the audience. It’s a dead giveaway that the speaker is using the slides as speaker notes, and it’s a nearly unforgiveable… -
#3: 5 Blogs. 5 Days. 5 Quick Takes for Improving Your Speaking in 2012
25 Jan 2012 | 5:49 amWhat are the 5 most important quick ideas for improving your public speaking? I’m going to go for broke this week and blog on 5 quick takes in 5 days. Put them together and you should have a good ‘cheat sheet’ for fulfilling your resolution to improve your public speaking in 2012. 3. Don’t start with Power Point. Most people create a presentation by sifting through the collection of slides they’ve accumulated – and maybe a few from Ed down the hall – and grabbing the ones that seem vaguely relevant to the talk. Then, a little shuffling around, and maybe a few new… -
#2: 5 Blogs. 5 Days. 5 Quick Takes for Improving Your Speaking in 2012.
24 Jan 2012 | 6:14 amWhat are the 5 most important quick ideas for improving your public speaking? I’m going to go for broke this week and blog on 5 quick takes in 5 days. Put them together and you should have a good ‘cheat sheet’ for fulfilling your resolution to improve your public speaking in 2012. 2. Don’t do Q and A at the end. Most people who have an hour speaking slot talk for 45 minutes or so and then take questions. Here’s the problem with that. People’s attention spans last about 20 minutes, by most measures, so by 45 minutes, you’ve taken your audience through 2 attention… -
5 Blogs. 5 Days. 5 Quick Takes for Improving Your Speaking in 2012.
23 Jan 2012 | 8:28 amWhat are the 5 most important quick ideas for improving your public speaking? I’m going to go for broke this week and blog on 5 quick takes for fast quality enhancement in 5 days. Put them together and you should have a good ‘cheat sheet’ for fulfilling your resolution to improve your public speaking in 2012. 1. Think of your job as persuading the audience. Most people think of speaking as dumping information on the audience. And there are lots of schemata that tell you some speeches are persuasive, some are informational, some are ceremonial, and so on. But it’s…
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The Eloquent Woman
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Famous Speech Friday: Margaret Edson's 2008 Smith College commencement address
27 Jan 2012 | 4:45 amFolks who work at universities have heard more commencement speeches than the rest of us--that's part of the job. So when reader Kathy Schuetz, a communicator at the University of Maryland, wrote to suggest Margaret Edson's 2008 commencement speech at Smith College and called it "remarkable," I took notice. Edson, a public school teacher in Atlanta, also is the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of the play Wit, about a scholar of English literature who is in the hospital and dying of ovarian cancer. (There's a current production of the play on Broadway at this writing.) Edson, herself a Smith… -
What's the big idea? What those TED-like talks are looking for
25 Jan 2012 | 4:45 amYou want to give one of those big talks someday, maybe soon. An Ignite talk, a Moth presentation, a TEDx or TED talk--that kind of big talk. And there's just one thing standing between you and that goal: One big idea. That's because if you're going to make the most of those 3- or 5- or 15- or 20-minute opportunities, you need to narrow your focus down to one big idea. To stay in the minds of the live audience and get liked and shared by the online audience, just one idea will do. Not 50, not 15, not even three, but one. And that's the tripping point for many would-be givers of big talks. -
Preparing a speech for a friend who's dying: 7 ideas & resources
23 Jan 2012 | 4:45 amIt's always instructive for a speaking coach when the shoe is on the other foot and she needs to ask for help with a speech. When a reader who also is a speaker coach wrote to ask "How do I help a dying friend with a speech about her life and illness?", she added that she was willing to cast a wide net and see whether The Eloquent Woman community had any tips or ideas to help her. "My sadness and our attachment are blocking my ability to think clearly about how to help her prepare - let alone write the script. I'll find a way to ensure my feelings don't overshadow our prep for this… -
Famous Speech Friday: Jane Fonda's TEDxWomen talk on "Life's Third Act"
20 Jan 2012 | 4:45 am"We're living, on average today, 34 years longer than our great-grandparents did. Think about that," Fonda told the TEDxWomen event in 2011. "That's an entire second adult lifetime that's been added to our lifespan." She uses her talk to discuss her current passion: How we use that "third act," the last three decades of your life, not only to improve your life, but to create a cultural shift. The talk is based on a theme carried through in her book, Prime Time: Love, health, sex, fitness, friendship, spirit--making the most of all of your life. Fonda--now 74 herself--emphasizes in this… -
It's 2012, and women are still having trouble getting on the program as speakers
19 Jan 2012 | 4:45 amForget a seat at the table, for the moment. I'm seeing plenty of evidence, still, that women are having trouble getting a place on the podium, as speakers at public gatherings, professional conferences and other forums. The most notable example right now is in Israel. At a conference on gynecology, women were barred from speaking--or as feminist writer Katha Pollitt put it, "Men discuss vaginas while women can only watch." Eight speakers reportedly cancelled their appearances. The ban was prompted by ultra-Orthodox Jews, who follow rules that forbid women from speaking public or sitting…
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Executive Speech Coach - Business Presentations
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Presentation Tip #52 - Open with a Success Story
27 Jan 2012 | 5:18 amOpen Your Presentation With a Success StoryWhen you deliver a sales presentation, leadership speech or motivational talk - open with a success story.Why?It grabs attention.It offers hope.It enhances your credibility.It's more memorable.Success Grabs AttentionTo capture attention at the beginning of your presentation deliver a success story. More people will listen because people prefer to hear from winners - not losers. Success creates positive attraction. If you start negative you will repel them.Success Offers HopeStart with success and you offer hope to your listeners. Hope is the… -
Can We Really Trust Your Conference Speakers to Stay on Time
25 Jan 2012 | 12:55 pmIf you are organizing a conference, convention or corporate meeting this is the most difficult thing to do. Keep your speakers on time. Every speaker believes that they need more time than you allot them. Every speaker believes that the audience loves them and wants to hear more.Most of the time, you, the conference or meeting organizer, can not trust your speaker to stay on time – especially if your speaker is a non-professional. Perhaps you invited an industry expert or company spokesperson to speak because the price was right. They speak for free. That might satisfy your budget but will… -
How to Present to City Council: Steve Jobs Video
23 Jan 2012 | 4:18 amWhen you need to speak to city council watch this video first. This is Steve Jobs speaking to Cupertino City Council about Apple's plans for a new office building.Steve Jobs had many things in his favor going into this presentation in 2011 - and he still prepared and did the right things to ensure his success. I have presented to city council and watched many others do the same. Most of those presenters could learn much from this video.He was personal and transparent. He started with a personal story about his admiration for HP and the founders of that company. He expressed his excitment… -
How to Ask, Answer and Anticipate Questions In Your Presentation
22 Jan 2012 | 1:18 pmFree Audio ClassIn this program you will discover• The two hidden laws of answering questions• The over-used word that negates your answer• Three unasked questions that you need to address for your audience• Damaging lies that many of us were taught about answering questions• Constructive phrases to use when you don’t get the answer you wanted• How to convey more confidence when answering questions• How to structure your presentation to follow the persuasive question sequence• How to deal with tough and hostile questions without losing credibility• How to ask questions… -
Come on. Speed it Up!
18 Jan 2012 | 2:22 pmWhat does that really mean? Imagine that you are speaking to a group. You are speaking slowly because you want to be understood. You are using pauses because you learned that that is an effective way to create drama in your presentation.You think that you are doing well with your presentation. Then someone says, “Hey! Can you speed this up?” And you notice a few other people nodding their heads in agreement.You might feel temped to speak faster. Don’t do that. That is not what that person was asking for.Most likely, what they are really saying is, “I get it. I’m with you. Now…
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Jane Atkinson, Speaker Launcher Blog, Speaker Coach, Presentation Skills, Speakers Bureaus
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My Biggest Blunders of 2011
19 Jan 2012 | 10:29 amI think it’s healthy to learn from your mistakes, don’t you? And in this situation, by sharing, I might help you avoid some of my biggies. So let’s get right to it: FIRE, BEFORE READY AND AIM You know I have people coming to me every day who want to book more speeches (Fire) when they aren’t really clear on what they are selling (Ready). So it surprised me when I did the same thing! Mid way through the year, I decided I wanted to put on The Wealthy Speaker Masters event. I would bring in some smart people for a weekend and we’d have a great time. I got all the… -
What’s Your Game Changer?
9 Jan 2012 | 11:41 amMovies, stand up comedy and even pizza are seeing evolutions in their business models that are game changers. Here in Canada (home of the overpriced pizza) Little Caesars developed the $5 hot and ready pizza. Total game changer. Why pay $20 when you can pick one up for $5? Comedian Louie CK offered up his latest live video on his website without any restrictions for a $5 immediate download. Unheard of since pirates could have a field day, but he did it fearlessly and created a game changer. He also made a bundle. http://ow.ly/8m4fu In his latest movie, Newlyweds, Indy film producer Ed Burns… -
Two Quick Tips to Minimize Distractions
21 Dec 2011 | 1:05 pmEven for people who don’t celebrate, the holidays are a busy time of the year. I thought this would be a good time to re-visit my strategy around moving through distractions. Here’s Video Blog (vlog) #2 Happy holidays to all and I look forward to helping you grow your business in 2012. PS: In 2012, what will you do to ensure that you are moving your business forward every single month? If you need help with this, you might consider The Wealthy Speaker University. Our Masters program is full, but there are still spots left in the Bachelors. http://wealthyspeakeru.com/ -
Move Your Business Forward in 2012
19 Dec 2011 | 2:43 pmIn the year 2012, how many times do you intend to stop working “in” your business, long enough to work “on” your business, i.e: move your strategy forward? What if you could have an expert in your corner to help you avoid time consuming and costly mistakes? The Wealthy Speaker University was created to offer you a systemized approach to moving your business forward every single month. http://wealthyspeakeru.com/ There are 3 separate programs to choose from: Self Study: For the individual who wants a low cost option and can work through the program on their own. -
Are Your Expanding Your Empire?
8 Dec 2011 | 10:40 amFor years I’ve been talking about how speaking is just one of the ways we distribute our knowledge. We write books, consult, coach and a whole host of other things that help drive revenue. Since the economy keeps shifting, the days of the $15,000 speaker doing 50-70 gigs a year might be behind us. We must distribute our knowledge in other ways. For instance, the first time the economy dipped a few years back, it hit my coaching business pretty hard. That was when I developed the “club” idea. I thought “okay, if people can’t afford private coaching any more, then…
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The Presenter's Coach
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1 Jan 2012 | 10:17 am
1 Jan 2012 | 10:17 amI've moved! Please join me at http://www.mgtperformance.com/blog.html . Thanks! -
"Borrow" Presentation Skills from Others
21 Dec 2011 | 11:56 amIf you haven't discovered www.ted.com by now, I urge you to watch some of these presentations. At least 90% are excellent. Think about the characteristics that make these people good presenters and "borrow" the ones that work for you. I'm not suggesting that you become someone else when presenting (authenticity is paramount)...just pick up on some of their best practices. http://www.ted.com/ -
Are You Diluting Your Message?
23 May 2011 | 8:06 amMany presenters take a good two-minute idea and dilute it with a sixty-minute vocabulary. -
Your Presentation Must Have A Goal
9 Mar 2011 | 5:44 pmI just attended another boring presentation that went nowhere. Although I liked the presenter, his presentation was just another information dump that had no meaning. The first thing to do when preparing a presentation is to clearly define your goal. In other words, what do you want your audience to think, feel, or do differently after your presentation? Then, wrap everything around that goal! "Goals allow you to control the direction of change in your favor."- Brian Tracy "Most people are drowning in information and thirsty for meaning."- Mark Tamer -
The End
31 Jan 2011 | 4:31 pmPeople crave closure. We like books and movies that wrap things up and say "The End." At the conclusion of your presentation, your audience wants you to wrap up the loose ends and bring everything into perspective. Most mediocre presenters close their presentations by saying something like this, “Well, that’s it. Are there any questions?” There may be a question or two, then, realizing she is out time (or past her time), the presenter say’s, “It looks like we are out of time. Thanks for coming." There is nothing wrong with that type of closing. It is an acceptable and mediocre…
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Excellence in Presentations
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Presentations that Work
26 Jan 2012 | 2:17 pmMy book “Presentations that Work” is now available in paper form. You can purchase it here for $12.95 (free shipment). The electronic version in PDF is available for $7.95. The paper version will soon be available in Amazon.com as well. -
Bad stage ettiquette
15 Jan 2012 | 6:33 amAt the same conference that I was in, one of the keynote speakers was an executive from London. Someone must have told him it was good practice to speak amongst the audience (about 200 persons) by walking around. And it is a good practice. Much better than standing behind a lectern. But his chap took it to the extreme. He was darting around the room like a headless chicken and getting right into the person space of the audience. He made the audience very uncomfortable by getting very close to some people’s faces. And then he made the fatal mistake. He went over his allotted one-hour… -
A really bad slide
10 Jan 2012 | 7:25 amI was at a conference yesterday and a speaker presented this slide and he immediately said:”I know you can’t read this….”. So why would anyone in this right mind show the audience a slide that he KNOW to be unreadable? The funny part was that half of the audience was straining to read the tiny little numbers on the slides and paid absolutely no attention to the speaker. -
See how our brains respond to external stimuli ….
18 Dec 2011 | 11:01 amI came across this post in LinkedIn by Dr. Preeti Vats – a psychologist and public speaker in the New York area. In her post, she offers some insights on how our brains work and how they are stimulated by external forces – such as your presentations. Very interesting article. Here is her post in its entirety and unedited. _______________________________________________ The brain, as I like to describe it, is an incredibly complex series of neural networks. Specific regions and structures—many of which perform multiple functions—are interconnected to (if you will pardon the… -
This is what runs through the mind of a typical person in the audience…..
18 Dec 2011 | 10:37 amOh dear God – why is he showing me 10 bullet points on a single slide that I can barely read? Why is he speaking in this monotone? Why did he put the entire book on the screen? Am I supposed to read it? Why is he standing in front of the screen and reading every bloody bullet point out loud to himself? Why is he trying to tell the entire history of western civilization in 45 minutes? Why is he speaking so fast? What are all those acronyms? Is he presenting the whole thing in Greek? Where did he get those cheesy clip arts? My 4-year old child would love them. Is that a three dimensional…
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Ethos3 - A Presentation Design Agency
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Curious George and Presentations
12 Jan 2012 | 11:11 amWho doesn’t love that naughty monkey? Sure he causes havoc everywhere he goes but he’s never boring. Unburdened by consequences, he just goes for it, grabbing that kite string and sailing through the air without looking back. Through the books, the movies, and the animated series on PBS, Curious George has much to teach us about creating exciting presentations. Be Curious That’s obvious, right? But how many of us have repressed our natural curiosity for the sake of getting by? When preparing a presentation, approach your topic with George-like curiosity to uncover fresh… -
Jeff Bezos’ 3 S’s of Presenting
11 Jan 2012 | 12:33 pmWhile competitors, critics and consumers have been anxiously awaiting the unveiling of the Kindle Fire for months now, its arrival has been hampered by less-than-glowing reviews and reports of bad behavior involving ill-placed power buttons, lack of volume controls, a hard-to-maneuver touch screen and difficult to read fonts. However, as I sit down to write this, the Kindle Fire is the biggest selling single item on Amazon and some tech pundits are predicting it will be the biggest-selling gadget Amazon has come up with yet. While its difficulties are clearly the antithesis of Apple’s… -
How to Boost Your Empathy
5 Jan 2012 | 5:19 pmAs the nation’s Baby Boomers enter their golden years, they will invariably begin to experience the disabilities associated with advanced age. Two recent articles got us thinking about how older members of our population encounter the world and how we can adapt our presentations to their needs. According to Discover Magazine, researchers at MIT have developed a so-called “Age Suit”–AGNES, or the Age Gain Now Empathy System–which helps wearers feel the effects of old age through “braces that make your arms stiff, a helmet that makes your spine curve uncomfortably, and… -
Sherlock Holmes and the Perfect Presentation
22 Dec 2011 | 7:59 pmWith Guy Ritchie’s latest installment of his Sherlock Holmes reboot coming to the big screen, we were anxious to see how it would keep up with the pace of its rock ‘em, sock ‘em prequel. Ritchie’s first Sherlock film was notable for being both a period costume mystery as well as an amped up action flick. This second story features a head-to-head collision between Holmes and his arch nemesis Professor Moriarty. If anything it has more intense sequences and even bigger action moments than the first film. The plot twists kept us guessing and the stunt sequences were… -
Twilight Tips for Presenters
2 Dec 2011 | 1:28 pmMovies can be a great teaching tool for learning how to build the perfect pres. A good movie has: a gripping story, great performances, a well organized structure. Seeing how a successful film does its magic can lend a lot of insight to your next presentation. One of the most popular movies in the country offers up great lessons in presenting. The first part of the final chapter of a centuries-sweeping epic, Twilight: Breaking Dawn offers important tips for all presenters whether you’re a vampire a werewolf or just a regular old person. Evolution Although the eternal sameness of an…
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Great Speaking Coach
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Why Speeches Should Be Like Football Games
26 Jan 2012 | 9:34 amFootball grabs and keeps us, week after week, season after season. Why is that? 1) Teams play for the crowd. Every player thinks about the fans and plays hard to please them. 2) It is exciting and unpredictable. Teams with strong or weak records can upset other teams from time to time--and you never know until the game is over! 3) No matter how many drills or practices the teams hold during the week, they really never know how their opponent, the weather and the crowd are going to affect them. Each game requires unique applications of well-honed skills and we get to watch. -
Get Connected to Your Customers
18 Jan 2012 | 2:14 pmSpeaking and presenting are known success-builders for everyone who has customers and clients. You invest in and deliver a presentation that improves their performance and they respond by trusting you to help them further. Time is always in short supply and confusion, lack of confidence and an avalanche of "rules' make people shy away from investing in presentations. However successful people always make time for what is important, so I'm going to help you overcome the confusion, lack of confidence and the avalanche of 'rules'. How? By showing you in under 3 minutes… -
You Can Prepare for Every Possible Speaking Disaster
12 Jan 2012 | 11:05 amHow much more would your audiences appreciate you if you were so prepared that you could handle every disaster that could possibly happen? My point is not that disasters will happen many times, but that preparation to that level will make you an amazing speaker. Amazing--more than confident, definitely not memorized or perfect, just really really comfortable in your own skin and therefore in front of the audience. Comfortable in your own skin and in front of the audience. Your favorite speakers feel this way about themselves and that's why they are your favorites. If you watched 5 of… -
Speaking is a Competition So Be Sure To Up Your Game
3 Jan 2012 | 8:26 amCompetitions lead to winners and losers. The most focused and skilled people come out on top. And they have become focused and skilled because they practice, practice,practice. How is speaking a competition? You, the speaker, are competing for a professional win--enhancing your reputation, elevating your status, getting a promotion, inspiring your teams to better results. You're also competing against every other obligation or temptation your audience could pay attention to instead of you. Think about how often your mind, and perhaps your fingers, strays to the electronic device in… -
Don't Make Your Audiences Pay for Your Desire for Immediate Rewards
28 Dec 2011 | 8:30 amWill you practice your speech or presentation standing up and out loud or go to another meeting to talk about sales, technology or innovation? About 75% of you will pick the meeting over the practice. This is what behavioral researchers call "hyperbolic discounting" or, for us mortals, preferring immediate rewards over long-term gains. You expect an immediate result from the meeting, while if you spend that time practicing, you'll have to wait until you give the speech to find out if the audience likes it. A client recenly told me with awe and amazement in his voice that…
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TJWALKER INTERACTIVE
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Obama and Arizona governor have tense exchange: How respected is President Obama?
26 Jan 2012 | 3:55 pmMike Bako on Headline News Radio -
Newt Gingrich Unleashes New Attack On Mitt Romney. Republican Debate Preview
26 Jan 2012 | 3:39 pmTJ Walker on Headline News Radio -
New Bain Attack Ad Against Mitt Romney to Air in Florida
26 Jan 2012 | 12:47 pmNEW YORK CITY-AmericanLP, a Democratic Super PAC, just released a new 60 second TV ad attacking Mitt Romney for his role in Bain Capital. The ”Romney/Bain” TV ad vividly tells the story of how Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital took over 5 separate companies, (including the Florida based Dade Behring company) plunged them into debt, pulled [...] -
Grading Obama’s State of the Union Address: Mike Bako on Wall Street Jouranl Radio
25 Jan 2012 | 4:34 pmPresident Obama’s 2012 State of the Union speech could easily have been billed as his rebuttal to the beating he has been taking over the last two months from his would-be Republican challengers on the campaign trail and during their numerous debates. Obama’s State of The Union speech was his attempt to bring back to [...] -
Statement from the Founder of AmericanLP: What the Hell is Going on with the Republican Party?
25 Jan 2012 | 3:58 pmTo Democrats, moderates, progressives, liberals and independents, i.e. 60% of America; it is, indeed, a confusing political time. While many of us want Obama to win re-election, most of us concede that any incumbent President running for re-election with 8.5% unemployment is highly vulnerable and likely to be defeated. So it just seems weird that [...]
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The Accidental Communicator
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Stop! Public Speakers Need To Step Away From The PowerPoint…
24 Jan 2012 | 3:00 amImage CreditSometimes using PowerPoint is the wrong decision to make… When somebody asks you to give a speech do you start thinking about the PowerPoint (or Keynote for you Mac users) slides that you’ll have to create? Do you ask the person how long the speech needs to be just in order to determine how many slides that you’ll need to make? Stop! Maybe it’s time that we all take a step back from the keyboard and those books about PowerPoint presentation tips and instead spend a moment thinking about when it’s appropriate to use PowerPoint – and when it’s not! -
Learn How To Get Over Your Fear Of Pecha Kucha
17 Jan 2012 | 3:00 amImage Credit Don't let the strange name keep you away from this presentation style… So how hip and cool are you? If you are both hip and cool, then I don’t even have to tell you what “Pecha Kucha” is because you already know. If, however, you are like the rest of us, then you might be scratching your head right about now and saying something like “I’ve never heard of it and, by the way, how do you even pronounce that?” I’ll answer your questions in reverse order. It’s pronounced “Paw-Chalk-Ahh-Cha”. Now what it is will take… -
Learn To Write Better Speeches In 5 Simple Steps
10 Jan 2012 | 3:00 amImage CreditUse these tips to get your ideas across to your audience You’ve just had the best idea that you’ve ever had for a great speech. You can see it in your mind’s eye so very, very clearly. Now if only you could write a speech that would allow you to get this idea across to your audience as clearly as you see it. Hmm, perhaps there is a way. I’ve got 5 speech writing tips for you that just might help you turn your idea into your audience’s idea… Don’t Change The Way That You Speak When we go to write a speech, we often change both the vocabulary… -
5 Secrets To Writing A Better Speech
3 Jan 2012 | 3:00 amImage Credit Before you can give a great speech, you have to write it We’d all like to be seen as being great speakers. We imagine ourselves as the next Tony Robbins, standing in the middle of a huge stage with a large audience hanging on our every word. I fully support your dream, but perhaps we need to have a talk about how you are going to go about achieving it. Before you can give a great speech, you are going to have to learn how to write a great speech. Keep It Short! The first rule that you’re going to have to both learn and live will be to change how you write your… -
Dr. Jim Anderson To Be Featured On Iowa NPR Radio Show “The Exchange”
2 Jan 2012 | 8:22 pmIowa NPR Show The Exchange - "Inspirational Presidential Speeches" On the day of the 2012 Republican National party’s caucus in the state of Iowa, Dr. Jim Anderson will be participating in a discussion of political speeches, past and present. Here’s how the Iowa NPR radio station describes the discussion: Do inspirational words of the past fit into the politics of today? We attempt to answer that question by examining some of the most influential presidential campaign speeches of the 20th century. Ben’s guest is Michael Cohen, whose book Live from the…
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The Campaign Spot
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Obama Laments That We're 'Consumed by Personal Ambition'
27 Jan 2012 | 10:09 amJonah looks closely at Obama’s salute to the Navy Seals. “At a time when too many of our institutions have let us down, they exceed all expectations. They’re not consumed with personal ambition. They don’t obsess over their differences. They focus on the mission at hand. They work together. Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example. Think about the America within our reach.”Keep reading this post . . . -
Mitt Corleone?
27 Jan 2012 | 9:14 amThe Morning Jolt, yesterday: “I believe in America”? That’s what you’re going with this cycle, governor? I’m sorry, you don’t get to quote “The Godfather” unless you’ve killed a bunch of your enemies while attending a baptism.Keep reading this post . . . -
Grim Poll Numbers for GOP, Awful Ones for Gingrich
27 Jan 2012 | 8:39 amDemocratic pollster Peter D. Hart and Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conduct the NBC/Wall Street Journal survey, were just on with Chuck Todd on MSNBC’s Daily Rundown. They noted that in their latest poll, Barack Obama carries rural women — traditionally a Republican-leaning demographic — over Newt Gingrich. South Carolina Republican women may be comfortable with Gingrich, but women elsewhere are not, it would seem.Keep reading this post . . . -
The Grand Finale Florida Debate?
27 Jan 2012 | 6:54 amIn the last Morning Jolt of the week . . . The Last Debate for a Month? Do You Promise?Keep reading this post . . . -
Remember When This Primary Was Boring & Predictable?
27 Jan 2012 | 6:50 amThis morning, Quinnipiac tells us that Newt’s lead in Florida can fall apart as quickly as Mitt Romney’s lead in South Carolina: Just four days before the nation’s first big-state presidential primary, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney opens up a 38 – 29 percent lead over former House Speaker Newt Gingrich among Republican likely voters in Florida, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Only 6 percent are undecided, but 32 percent say they might change their mind by Tuesday. This compares to results of a January 25 survey by the independent…
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George F. Will: Most Recent Articles and Archives
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Obama to the nation: Onward civilian soldiers
27 Jan 2012 | 6:14 pmWar, said James Madison, is “the true nurse of executive aggrandizement.” Randolph Bourne, the radical essayist killed by the influenza unleashed by World War I, warned, “War is the health of the state.” Hence Barack Obama’s State of the Union hymn: Onward civilian soldiers, marching as to war. Read full article >> -
Can Romney the turnaround artist do it again?
23 Jan 2012 | 1:24 pmAn Illinois lawyer who had a way with words once characterized a particular argument as weaker than soup made from the shadow of a pigeon that died of starvation. The argument for Mitt Romney benefiting from South Carolina’s voting is almost as weak as Lincoln’s soup, but here it is: Read full article >> -
A Supreme Obamacare test
20 Jan 2012 | 6:44 pmThe Supreme Court can pack large portents in small details. When in late March it considers the constitutionality of Obamacare, there will be 51 2 hours of oral argument — the most in almost half a century. This is because the individual mandate (Does Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce extend to punishing the inactivity of not buying insurance?) is just one of the law’s constitutionally dubious features. Read full article >> -
A snapshot of our times
18 Jan 2012 | 6:50 pmLOS ANGELES Shawn Nee, 35, works in television but hopes to publish a book of photographs. Shane Quentin, 31, repairs bicycles but enjoys photographing industrial scenes at night. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department probably wishes that both would find other hobbies. Herewith a story of today’s inevitable friction between people exercising, and others protecting, freedom. Read full article >> -
Clogging our ports with rules
13 Jan 2012 | 6:49 pmCHARLESTON, S.C. Thanks to globalization, and to containerized shipping that began in 1956 and makes globalization work, commodities swiftly move vast distances around the planet. Wal-Mart alone imports 400,000 containers a year. Trade flows can, however, be deflected or even defeated by a distance of just five feet. Herewith a story of the high costs of a few feet and of too many years required for our nation’s increasingly sluggish public processes to move. Read full article >>
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Speakers Bureau for Motivational Keynote Speakers - The Speakers Group » Blog
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“…the first time we filled every seat…” – A Client’s Experience with Chip Eichelberger
26 Jan 2012 | 12:08 pmThe TSG blog has been quiet lately, but that will soon change (been hard at work behind the scenes!)… For now, I wanted to share an email we received from a client this week, following their engagement with Chip Eichelberger last week: “Just wanted to drop you a note to say what a great job [...] -
Want Engaged, Motivated Employees? Create Destination: Work! – by Harry Paul, a.k.a. The FISH Guy
30 Aug 2011 | 5:11 pmA Guest Post by Harry Paul, aka Harry the Fish Guy Coauthor of FISH! A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results and Instant Turnaround! Getting People Excited About Coming to Work and Working Hard It’s scary out there. Every time I think about it, it sends chills up and down my spine. Everyday we [...] -
The Power of an Outside Voice – by Jon Gordon
22 Aug 2011 | 10:00 amWhy do you bring speakers to your events? You have smart people on your team. Wise people. Why not feature them as your keynote speakers? Jon Gordon, author of The Energy Bus, Training Camp, and several other books — most recently, The Seed — has the answer in today’s guest post. “Jon, never underestimate the power [...] -
Little Bets Yield Big Ideas – Interview with Peter Sims
12 Apr 2011 | 11:42 amAre great ideas created or discovered? That’s the theme of my recent interview with Peter Sims, author of the new book, Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries, and you can listen here: If you’d like a hint about the answer to the opening question, consider how how Google began: The founders didn’t set out [...] -
Don’t Let Your Awards Banquet Bomb
1 Mar 2011 | 2:03 pmA guest post from corporate comedy speaker Judy Carter Last night, as I watched the 2011 Academy Awards hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway, it became clear that actors can’t do what comics do best: be funny. The show was a lackluster, boring bomb! Last week I sat through a similar event: a corporate awards [...]
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The Public Speaker's Quick and Dirty Tips for Improving Your Communication Skills
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032 TPS Mr. Monotone or Mr. Vibrato?
19 Jan 2012 | 5:05 pmQuestions go to publicspeaker@quickanddirtytips.com or 206-350-7970. Like what you hear? Help us out by writing a review at iTunes! -
141 TPS How to Hire the Right Employee Every Time (Part 1)
12 Jan 2012 | 5:05 pm3 tips on improving your hiring process. -
140 TPS Communication Lessons From the Philadelphia 76ers
5 Jan 2012 | 5:05 pmA communication success story. -
063 TPS How To Add Humor To Talks
29 Dec 2011 | 5:05 pmQuestions go to publicspeaker@quickanddirtytips.com or 206-350-7970. Like what you hear? Help us out by writing a review at iTunes! -
139 TPS How Not to Communicate
22 Dec 2011 | 5:05 pmLearn how to improve customer service through better communication.
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Matt Eventoff
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Do You Know The ABC’s? A Manifesto…
25 Jan 2012 | 2:35 pmWhat do Lincoln, Kennedy and Churchill have to do with communicating in 2012? Everything! We are a little over three weeks into 2012, with myriad communication disasters, from major crisis communication errors to communication errors that have directly resulted in a crisis. Why? Failure to remember the ABC’s of effective communication. I am excited to announce that I have written a manifesto, published today by ChangeThis, entitled “It Really Is As Simple As ABC: What Leaders Can Learn From Masterful Orators of The Past.” Change This, owned and operated by… -
Motivate Your Team – 12 Presentation Lessons
13 Dec 2011 | 1:37 pm“How can I motivate my team when I speak?” “How can you motivate your team more effectively?” “How can I be more inspirational when I present?” I am asked some semblance of these questions on a regular basis. I see hundreds of motivational speeches every year. Very few warrant a second look, even fewer a third. I have watched this speech over thirty times in the past week. The first 3:30 of this speech should be a staple in classrooms. This is not an orthodox speech. The delivery would not work in the boardroom. Much of the presentation… -
Legal Crises: Preparing & Dealing with the Unexpected
6 Dec 2011 | 7:00 pmEvery active attorney licensed in New Jersey must complete 24 hours of Continuing Legal Education courses every two years. The Supreme Court of New Jersey’s Board of Continuing Legal Education approves and accredits courses, and has approved “Legal Crises: Preparing & Dealing with the Unexpected” (NJ CLE Credit 2.00) for 2 CLE credits. I will be teaching the class along with Kevin O’Toole, Managing Partner of leading legal crisis management law firm O’Toole Fernandez Weiner Van Lieu, Tom Scrivo, Partner, McElroy, Deutsch and insurance expert Anthony… -
4 Engineering Communication Tips
6 Dec 2011 | 2:38 pmHaving worked with technical professionals (engineering communication) ranging from top IT executives to Ivy League scientists to internationally ranked engineers, I fancy myself a cocktail party technologist – I understand enough about a wide spectrum of technical disciplines to discuss them for a minute or two, but can barely hook up Wi-Fi in my own house. The reality is that there are a lot of people like me in every organization, and engineers rarely work in a vacuum – there are other divisions and departments to interface with, and key business decisions are often… -
How To End A Speech or Presentation, Pt. II
21 Nov 2011 | 9:29 amWhether taking a company public, introducing a new product to market, delivering a new lecture or simply leading a team meeting, the conclusion is crucial to the success of any presentation. It is the final impression to you will leave your audience with. Last week we went over three ways to effectively end a speech. So what are other effective ways to close a speech or presentation? Here are three more of my favorites: 1. Vision - Illustrate a vision of what your call to action will result in. Dr. Martin Luther King illustrated this with the final words of his epic…
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Mike Pulsifer Photography
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Thomas Reynolds Is A Douche
20 Jan 2012 | 2:20 pmIf you're reading this on thomasreynolds.us, then what you're reading is stolen content. I've already asked him to stop taking my content for use on his blog. More than two weeks have passed and he has yet to honor my request. -
Productive Photo Walk Today
4 Sep 2011 | 8:21 pmYeah, it's been quiet on this blog. That doesn't mean I haven't been productive. In fact, as I'm writing this, I'm posting more of my most recent work from this morning's stroll through Martinsburg, WV. To see everything I'm putting out there, just hop over to my flickr page. To see what I consider to be my best work, follow the link below to my little home on 500px. mikepulsifer on 500px -
500px
16 Jul 2011 | 10:35 amLately, there's been a lot of noise in the photography community around 500px.com. This is another free (with upgrades available to those willing to pay) social photo sharing site that sort of fits between flickr and Smugmug. The big differentiator (at least for now) is the quality. This site seems to attract more quality photographers and photographs than other sites I've visited, especially flickr. To check it out and see my work there, check the link below: mikepulsifer on 500px -
Accepted To A Juried Exhibit!
7 Jul 2011 | 7:58 am{EAV_BLOG_VER:21fd5f1059fe41be} I've had the good fortune of having a couple of my photographs accepted to a juried exhibit! They're currently on display at the Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center in Frederick, Maryland until the 24th of July. -
Farquhar Press
5 Mar 2011 | 12:18 pmThis is one of those objects I often drive by but never got around to shooting. Well, today I went out there and went to town. See more at http://www.flickr.com/photos/wvmikep/sets/72157626076363725/with/5499959020/.
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Professionally Speaking...
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C-Level Presentation Tip #3: Expect and Be Happy About Interruptions
18 Jan 2012 | 8:00 amQuestion: What's the relationship between sky diving and making executive presentations? Answer: Apart from the metaphorical comparisons of being at high altitudes, both activities routinely strike fear into the hearts of the people daring to attempt them. Soaring through your presentations in the C-Suite is certainly possible, but not without focus on some key strategies. This series of tips will help you avoid any nose dives. TIP #3: EXPECT AND BE HAPPY ABOUT INTERRUPTIONS When you get interrupted during your presetation it means either you’ve sparked an idea that the audience wants to… -
C-Level Presentation Tip #2: Link to Business Issues
5 Jan 2012 | 3:03 pmExecutive level presentations can seem like swimming in shark-infested seas, even for the intrepid business presenter. Stakes and visibility are both high. This series of tips will help you make a few tweaks to your presentation practices so you can successfully navigate any C-Suite waters. TIP #2: LINK TO BUSINESS ISSUES Do some homework before the presentation and explore the over-arching business issues and challenges facing the executives you'll be speaking to. Every audience, no matter how senior, asks themselves the WIIFM (“What’s in it for me?”) questions. Why should I listen? -
Twelve Presentation Gifts For You
19 Dec 2011 | 11:01 am[Sing along to the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas, if you must!] On the first day of Christmas dear Santa gives to you…A clear and succinct messageOn the second day of Christmas dear Santa gives to you…No bullet pointsOn the third day of Christmas dear Santa gives to you…Powerful wordsOn the fourth day of Christmas dear Santa gives to you…Strong eye contactOn the fifth day of Christmas dear Santa gives to you…Crisp PowerPoint slidesOn the sixth day of Christmas dear Santa gives to you…Engaging storiesOn the seventh day of Christmas dear Santa gives to you…Rhetorical… -
C-Level Presentation Tip #1: Start with Conclusions
18 Nov 2011 | 2:38 pmExecutive level presentations can strike fear into the hearts of even the most courageous business presenters. Both stakes and visibility are high. This series of tips will help you make a few tweaks to your presentation practices so you can navigate successfully in the C-Suite. TIP #1: START WITH CONCLUSIONS C-Level audiences are results focused. So play to this by starting your presentation with the conclusion. Don't keep them in suspense or you'll lose them. Tell them up front what the problem is, what you recommend or what you're asking for. And then support that conclusion with the… -
Remembering the Presentation Brilliance of Steve Jobs
6 Oct 2011 | 9:39 amThe world lost a visionary, Apple lost a leader and the public speaking world lost a role model with the death yesterday of Steve Jobs. Jobs' ability to captivate an audience, the elegance of his "one big idea", his passion, his focus on the visual and his rehearsal ethic are all worthy of imitation. Over the next days, weeks and perhaps months, the media will offer an abundance of clips and excerpts from Jobs' many presentations. Listen. Watch. Learn. Steve Jobs R.I.P. "Good-night, sweet prince. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest." * Hamlet, Act V, Scene II Photo Credit:flickr/COG…
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Presentation Advisors
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10 Lessons Learned from “Every Presentation Ever”
25 Jan 2012 | 8:07 amI came across a fantastic video recently entitled, Every Presentation Ever. This parody, brought to you by Growing Leaders Inc. and Habitudes for Communicators, includes nearly every blunder and annoyance that creeps its way into 99% of presentations (just my educated guess). I posted it on the Presentation Advisors Facebook page a few days ago. Watching it made me cringe, knowing that these mistakes aren’t a product of PowerPoint or the content, but because the presenter doesn’t know the very basics of effective presentation design and delivery. However, I didn’t want… -
20 Best PowerPoint Presentation Design Posts for 2012
1 Jan 2012 | 7:31 pmIn order to create an amazing PowerPoint presentation, you have to learn the process of effective presentation design. After four years of blogging, I’ve written a number of posts designed to help you create better, visually engaging and effective PowerPoint presentations. As all blogs posts do, some resonated better than others and often provided great discussion in the comments. Instead of forcing you to sift through my site, page after page, or trying to search my site with keywords just to find the best posts, I have aggregated 20 of my best blog posts, including the 5 most viewed… -
Dance vs. PowerPoint as a Visual Aid
12 Dec 2011 | 8:50 amThanks to a tweet from fellow presentation designer and visual communicator Tony Ramos, I came across this impressive TEDx talk by John Bohannon, biologist and journalist, entitled, “Dance vs PowerPoint: A Modest Proposal.” Just hearing the title, I was intrigued. I’m no stranger to the numerous arguments against PowerPoint, but I’d never heard of dance as an alternative. Take 11 minutes out of your day to watch this video and I’ll give you my thoughts after the jump. I’m not sure how you saw it, but it seemed his presentation was divided into two distinct… -
What The Long Tail Has To Do With Effective PowerPoint Design
5 Dec 2011 | 10:59 pmRecently I was sitting at a conference with the keynote speaker as he prepared for his afternoon keynote. He admitted to me that his PowerPoint skills were “basic at best,” as if that meant it was impossible for him to create an effective, enjoyable presentation. I told him, “If you can import a picture, you can create an effective PowerPoint.” He smiled and went back to making his last minute edits, but it left me thinking about the general (mis)perception of what it takes to design effective PowerPoint presentations. You don’t need to know as many PowerPoint… -
Building Your Personal Brand with PowerPoint
28 Nov 2011 | 8:10 amI was recently browsing twitter and saw a tweet from my friend Kyle Lacy (Founder/CEO of BrandSwag) about a presentation he and his firm had created and placed on SlideShare called “Building Your Personal Brand.” I wanted to share this presentation with you for a number of reasons that I’ll outline below, but particularly because I truly believe that one of the most valuable yet underutilized uses for PowerPoint is developing your personal brand. Building Your Personal Brand What the internet, particularly social media, has done over the last 15 years is to level the…
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Dahle Communication
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3 Years and 150 plus posts
5 Jan 2012 | 8:50 am3 years ago I decided to start sharing my thoughts and ideas on communication - both in how people need to become better speakers, how people in the public eye use communication and how we all use communication. It's been a lot of fun and hopefully 3 years from now I'll have another 150 plus posts! I just wanted to thank everyone for their thoughts and for taking the time to read my random thoughts that I have from time to time. There will be more to come for sure. Travis -
Ron Paul Twitter Post backfires
4 Jan 2012 | 8:34 amEver had that one idea. It's a great idea. Almost epic! Of course, the next morning you wake up and think - wow, that was a really, really bad idea - next time, probably not going to challenge the bikers at the biker bar to a fight. This is probably what Ron Paul is thinking this morning after the following was posted on his twitter account: @JonHuntsman we found your one Iowa voter, he's in Linn precinct 5 you might want to call him and say thanks Now, I think that is funny - for someone probably not running for President. This tweet is an example of what probably seems like a… -
Dr Pepper Ten - is it manly or offending?
28 Nov 2011 | 9:54 amMaybe its because I'm the only guy in a house with 3 other women or I'm just secure enough of a man, but I just don't get the whole "manly" advertising of some companies. The latest attempt at advertising directly to men is Dr. Pepper Ten. When I first saw this commercial it just made me laugh. The overt machoism and sexism is way over the top. Which I guess is what Dr. Pepper is going for. But what are they really communicating with this ad? First off, they are saying that most men are so insecure about being a man that they can't drink diet pop because its too… -
How early is too early for Christmas Music?
16 Nov 2011 | 9:42 amOne thing I like about co-working with everyone at Meso is the relaxed, yet get your work done, atmosphere. What I have learned over the past couple of months is that it has the relaxed feel of a coffee shop, but the people here all have things to do and are not here just to get coffee and chat. Its the perfect mix of coming to work, yet being able to banter from time to time. Part of that relaxed atmosphere is the music we decided to play. Its not the typical 92.5 music (Sioux Falls people will know, for those of you not in Sioux Falls, think light pop music from the 80's, 90's and… -
Tim Tebow and Messaging
7 Nov 2011 | 8:34 amBeing a Denver Broncos fan means that I've seen a lot in my life. I was 6 years old when they drafted John Elway and watch him lead the Broncos to five Super Bowls, winning his last two. Since that time, the Broncos have been good, then bad, then horribly bad - but I have never seen anything quite like the Tim Tebow phenomenon. While there have been multiple posts, articles, interviews and commentaries about Tim Tebow and if he will or won't be an effective NFL Quarterback, I wanted to look at something different. Why is Tim Tebow so popular? He was a tremendous college quarterback and is a…
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Speaking Pro Central
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Talbots: Remember when we Hillary Clinton pant suit mid-level professionals shopped there?
27 Jan 2012 | 5:17 pmRetailer Talbots had cast a spell on us Baby Boomer women. We were the first generation to climb the corporate ladder. And shopping here for professional clothes and the casual outfits we needed for those company retreats was always mistake-proof. Yeah, back then we were Hillary Clinton kind of women.Brought to you by: Speaking Pro Central -
Relevant Resources: Books to Kick Off 2012
27 Jan 2012 | 5:16 pmI help edit SPEAKER Magazine for the National Speakers Association (NSA). Each month I curate the Relevant Resources column – a list of time-saving tools and technologies. The January/February edition lists books recommended by NSA members as inspiration for the New Year. Go Ahead and Laugh: A Serious Guide to Speaking with Humor, by Rich [.].Brought to you by: Speaking Pro Central -
How to Write Potent Headlines | Content for Biz
27 Jan 2012 | 2:00 pmLessons on writing headlines from legendary ad man David Ogilvy are relevant to writers of blogs, websites, articles and social media posts. Written by Joanne Costin. think advertising man David Ogilvy would have enjoyed online marketing for the instantaneous feedback it provides. Rule No. 1: “The headline is the ticket on the meat.”. Rule No.Brought to you by: Speaking Pro Central -
How is a speaker like a cinnamon roll cake?
27 Jan 2012 | 1:11 pmKathy Shields' cinnamon roll cake at Savoy Cafe Yesterday I met a friend for an afternoon treat at one of my favorite Santa Barbara eateries: Savoy Cafe and Deli. Hubby and I have known the owners, Paul and Kathy Shields, for many years, and we love to support our friends and local businesses. It made me think (of course) of what we do as speakers.Brought to you by: Speaking Pro Central -
How to Make Google Reader Your Content Marketing Partner
27 Jan 2012 | 10:10 amA Great Video Points the Way to Effective Use of RSS. Written by Paul Mosensen. An overview on Google Reader, and how to manage RSS feeds, folders, share buttons, and integrate with LinkedIn, Google Alerts, Google+, and Twitter…… Via www.youtube.com.Brought to you by: Speaking Pro Central
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Twitter / JohnCMaxwell
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JohnCMaxwell: Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you're alive, it isn't. -Richard Bach
28 Jan 2012 | 7:01 amJohnCMaxwell: Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you're alive, it isn't. -Richard Bach -
JohnCMaxwell: Today's Minute with Maxwell is on Happiness: http://t.co/5QiXPJy2
27 Jan 2012 | 10:01 amJohnCMaxwell: Today's Minute with Maxwell is on Happiness: http://t.co/5QiXPJy2 -
JohnCMaxwell: There are 2 primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist or to accept the responsibility for changing them. -Denis Waitley
27 Jan 2012 | 7:01 amJohnCMaxwell: There are 2 primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist or to accept the responsibility for changing them. -Denis Waitley -
JohnCMaxwell: Today's Minute with Maxwell is on Pursuit: http://t.co/V5bO2TYP
26 Jan 2012 | 10:01 amJohnCMaxwell: Today's Minute with Maxwell is on Pursuit: http://t.co/V5bO2TYP -
JohnCMaxwell: Curiosity is one of the permanent & certain characteristics of a vigorous mind. -Samuel Johnson
26 Jan 2012 | 7:00 amJohnCMaxwell: Curiosity is one of the permanent & certain characteristics of a vigorous mind. -Samuel Johnson
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Twitter / MachenMacDonald
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MachenMacDonald: Hey Coaches, What is the best online business tool you have found you just can't live with out when it comes to...: http://t.co/Va4B2VXq
20 Jan 2012 | 8:17 pmMachenMacDonald: Hey Coaches, What is the best online business tool you have found you just can't live with out when it comes to...: http://t.co/Va4B2VXq -
MachenMacDonald: What is the best online tool or resource you know of that can help business owners and sales professionals be more...: http://t.co/KnJ7hXyM
20 Jan 2012 | 8:03 pmMachenMacDonald: What is the best online tool or resource you know of that can help business owners and sales professionals be more...: http://t.co/KnJ7hXyM -
MachenMacDonald: As a manager what is the best online tool or resource that you or your agents can't live with out?: http://t.co/fTIvjjMF
20 Jan 2012 | 7:57 pmMachenMacDonald: As a manager what is the best online tool or resource that you or your agents can't live with out?: http://t.co/fTIvjjMF -
MachenMacDonald: What is the best online business tool you know of to help an advisor build and manage their practice?: http://t.co/V6GmXemi
20 Jan 2012 | 7:44 pmMachenMacDonald: What is the best online business tool you know of to help an advisor build and manage their practice?: http://t.co/V6GmXemi -
MachenMacDonald: What online business tool or resource have you found to be indispensable in your practice?: http://t.co/6B5qCEKK
20 Jan 2012 | 7:38 pmMachenMacDonald: What online business tool or resource have you found to be indispensable in your practice?: http://t.co/6B5qCEKK
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Twitter / AndrewWindham
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AndrewWindham: Bama up 6-0, will it be enough this time?
9 Jan 2012 | 8:33 pmAndrewWindham: Bama up 6-0, will it be enough this time? -
AndrewWindham: Good Jefferson isn't wearing #2, might make bama nervous #Flashback
9 Jan 2012 | 7:56 pmAndrewWindham: Good Jefferson isn't wearing #2, might make bama nervous #Flashback -
AndrewWindham: By hook or by crook? Nope, by the grace of God @TimTebow silences his critics yet again with humble execution #teamwork #leadfromwithin
8 Jan 2012 | 7:30 pmAndrewWindham: By hook or by crook? Nope, by the grace of God @TimTebow silences his critics yet again with humble execution #teamwork #leadfromwithin -
AndrewWindham: Like it or not Tebow was a leader among men again tonight, THROUGH THE AIR, despite the many critics #teamwork #leadfromwithin
8 Jan 2012 | 7:22 pmAndrewWindham: Like it or not Tebow was a leader among men again tonight, THROUGH THE AIR, despite the many critics #teamwork #leadfromwithin -
AndrewWindham: Falcons performance was embarrassing, beat in basically every facet of the game from strategy and coaching right down to execution and heart
8 Jan 2012 | 3:06 pmAndrewWindham: Falcons performance was embarrassing, beat in basically every facet of the game from strategy and coaching right down to execution and heart
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Twitter / tonyrobbins
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tonyrobbins: My dear & brilliant friend Mark Benioff's Salesforce.com just picked by Fortune - top corp. 2work for- great article http://t.co/v9zxAJzf
27 Jan 2012 | 5:18 pmtonyrobbins: My dear & brilliant friend Mark Benioff's Salesforce.com just picked by Fortune - top corp. 2work for- great article http://t.co/v9zxAJzf -
tonyrobbins: RT @AriahRastegar: @BillGates @tonyrobbins There are no limitations except those we acknowledge. Both poverty and riches are the offspri ...
27 Jan 2012 | 3:09 pmtonyrobbins: RT @AriahRastegar: @BillGates @tonyrobbins There are no limitations except those we acknowledge. Both poverty and riches are the offspri ... -
tonyrobbins: RT @VictoryInLove: @tonyrobbins Real difficulties can be overcome, it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable.~Theodore N. Vail
27 Jan 2012 | 3:06 pmtonyrobbins: RT @VictoryInLove: @tonyrobbins Real difficulties can be overcome, it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable.~Theodore N. Vail -
tonyrobbins: The Kobe System does not tolerate interruptions! USA TODAY ..watch: http://t.co/vlkHJijy
27 Jan 2012 | 3:03 pmtonyrobbins: The Kobe System does not tolerate interruptions! USA TODAY ..watch: http://t.co/vlkHJijy -
tonyrobbins: Apple has a quality problem.. what to do with 98 Billion Dollars in cash!!! http://t.co/ktJknBHP
26 Jan 2012 | 3:05 pmtonyrobbins: Apple has a quality problem.. what to do with 98 Billion Dollars in cash!!! http://t.co/ktJknBHP
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Twitter / KevinEikenberry
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KevinEikenberry: My pleasure - and right back at you! RT @wallybock: @KevinEikenberry Thanks for the all-star follow, Kevin
28 Jan 2012 | 7:29 amKevinEikenberry: My pleasure - and right back at you! RT @wallybock: @KevinEikenberry Thanks for the all-star follow, Kevin -
KevinEikenberry: Remarkable leaders prioritize based on the biggest goals and most precious values. #leadership
28 Jan 2012 | 7:24 amKevinEikenberry: Remarkable leaders prioritize based on the biggest goals and most precious values. #leadership -
KevinEikenberry: Remarkable leaders achieve their goals faster through the help of their ever-expanding network. #leadership
28 Jan 2012 | 6:42 amKevinEikenberry: Remarkable leaders achieve their goals faster through the help of their ever-expanding network. #leadership -
KevinEikenberry: Remarkable leaders are network builders. #leadership
28 Jan 2012 | 5:58 amKevinEikenberry: Remarkable leaders are network builders. #leadership -
KevinEikenberry: Thinkers/Leaders for #ff @stelzner @HRFishbowl @leadtheteam @SteveBoese @Figliuolo @MPFriedman
28 Jan 2012 | 5:15 amKevinEikenberry: Thinkers/Leaders for #ff @stelzner @HRFishbowl @leadtheteam @SteveBoese @Figliuolo @MPFriedman
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Les Posen's Presentation Magic
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Two thoughts on the Apple’s Education Event in NYC: Its presentation software, Keynote is alive and well and expected to prosper, and Android-based tablets are dead in the water in the K-12 education domain.
20 Jan 2012 | 7:41 amThis morning I woke early early to attend the Channel 7 Melbourne studios for an interview on its morning program, Sunrise. The topic was the virtual site, Second Life, which had apparently been mentioned in the midst of some controversy in a Sydney-based morning radio show. As so often happens, television picked up on it and I was rung by a producer to offer comments as a media psychologist. You can read something about what happened at this link here from the Metaverse Journal website. A video of my interview is below: After that breakfast, a brutal workshop with a personal trainer (2012… -
Was it Steve Jobs’ literally dying wish to upend another lazy industry – science and academic publishing? We’ll know more this Thursday
17 Jan 2012 | 1:08 amWith Macworld just around the corner, I am tweaking my workshop presentation for January 25. By that time, we will know more about Apple’s publishing keynote to be held this Thursday and whether yet another industry – publishing, especially academic and scholarly – will be disrupted by Apple technologies. Some time back I wrote about this possibility here on this blog: Click on the screenshot to go to the blog entry Notice, will you, the date of this entry: January 7, 2010. The iPad 1 keynote was held on January 27, almost three weeks later, so at the time of writing we were… -
Effects I showed the Keynote engineering team in the hope they would be incorporated into the next version: Can you work out how I used Keynote 5 to achieve them?
5 Jan 2012 | 9:01 amStimulated by the interested shown in the solving of the Final Cut Pro X sneak peek keynote build effect, I’ve raced ahead and included two more Keynote files, this time of my own making. In the first, I feature something I spend some time on in Presentation Magic workshops, especially for scientists and academics, and that is the use of data visualization or good old graphs and charts. (I cite Edward Tufte and Stephen Few’s work richly, as well as Florence Nightingale. Huh? You’ll have to attend to understand why!) Keynote is very rich in ways to graphically illustrate… -
A new build feature discovered in Keynote 12 or just some really smart Keynote authors working at Apple?
3 Jan 2012 | 1:13 pmWelcome to the first blog post of 2012! In the lead up to my two presentations at Macworld in a few weeks time, I’m creating some Keynote effects which I hope will tantalise and enchant my intended audience. Since there will be more people reading this blog than will attend, I thought I’d use you as a guinea pig to beta test some of my ideas. I’m going to put up some Keynote effects over the course of the next few weeks until I depart for San Francisco. The challenge will be if you can work out how I did it – and whether you think they are effects worth demonstrating… -
The vacuum left in presenting on things technology now that Steve Jobs has gone. Can All Things Digital’s Kara Swisher fill the gap? Um, er, No.
21 Dec 2011 | 11:05 pmMy preparations for Macworld 2012 are well and truly underway with flights booked, special guests invited, prizes being organised for attendees and reviewing my syllabus. One of the things I’ve been doing in Presentation Magic workshops in 2011 is showing presentations by others and asking attendees to offer up a critical analysis of what they’re witnessing, based on the presentation principles so far addressed. One of the primary sources for high quality presentations across a variety of styles and subjects has been the official TED website. Here, we’ve seen an increasing…
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PowerPoint Tips Blog
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Get the best price on technology purchases, clothing — and anything else!
17 Jan 2012 | 1:50 pmDo you buy electronics and more on Amazon, Newegg, or other sites? If so, I’d like to introduce you to a new, free service that will help you get the lowest price. Many people don’t realize that prices fluctuate constantly, particularly on websites like Amazon, which allow third party vendors to continually undercut one another. For example, consider the price variations for a Samsung 59-Inch 1080p 3D Plasma HDTV over three months (Jul 10 to Oct 10, 2011): $1,850, 2,251, 1,920, 2,000, 2,251, 2,145, 2,218, 2,225, 2,145, 2,200 You could have spent as much as $2,251 — or as little as… -
A quick way to design better photo slides–the 3-side rule
16 Jan 2012 | 7:46 pmHere’s a quick way to improve the design of slides that include some text and a photo. This type of slide is very common. But it doesn’t look very striking. Here’s the principle: Make the photo touch 3 sides of the slide. When you do this, your slide will look bolder and clearer. The impact will increase. And it will simply look better. There are 3 ways to make this photo touch at least 3 sides of the slide: 1. A vertical image covering 1/2 of the slide 2. A horizontal image covering most of the slide 3. A horizontal image covering the entire slide Try making over your… -
Create cool, Zen-style PowerPoint backgrounds with Background Styles
10 Jan 2012 | 2:57 pmPowerPoint 2007 introduced background styles, which are solid or subtle gradient backgrounds based on some of the colors in your theme colors. They can create a cool, Zen-style look. You can use them alone, or in conjunction with your theme. Use background styles on their own Open PowerPoint 2007 or 2010 and you’ll see the default theme, which uses the default Office theme colors. Click the Design tab and choose Background Styles to see the options. Now, click the Colors button to expand the list of colors. You’ll see that the Built-In Office set of theme colors is highlighted. -
Discover 3 reasons most presentations fail and 3 easy ways to fix them
9 Jan 2012 | 8:36 pmI did a webinar for Brainshark.com and mybrainshark.com, a presentation-sharing website. It was called “3 reasons most presentations fail and 3 ways to fix them.” Over 500 people attended! The 1-hour webinar included makeovers of slides that attendees submitted. You can watch the presentation for free here. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment! Ellen Finkelstein can train you or the presenters in your organization to create high-impact, engaging, professional presentations for training, sales, business, or education. For more information, please click here. -
4 keys to successfully teaching a complex subject
26 Dec 2011 | 10:15 pmMany people present to teach or train and sometimes the topic is complex. It may be technical, have many parts, or just be difficult. What can you do to help your audience understand and remember what you say? I think there are four steps you can use to get the best results. Simplify The more complex the subject, the more you need to simplify. This sounds impossible, but what it means is that you must break down the information into smaller pieces. Even rocket science is made up of small principles that are simple. Yes, when you put them together, they’re complicated, but if you start…
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All About Presentations
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3 years of All About Presentations
18 Jan 2012 | 8:31 amOn January 14, 2012 All About Presentations completed three years of existence. I had started the blog after I quit my job and decided to become a full time communications consultant. My business plan was to help companies and people make better presentations. While the consultant thing did not work out, the blog rolls on. These three years have been great for me. This blog was started out as a means to increase my own understanding of presentations and share what I knew with my readers. The objective has been fulfilled. Before starting the blog, I was good at presentations but I did not… -
Survey on Presentations: Your 2 minutes will help
17 Jan 2012 | 8:26 amI am conducting a workshop on 'making awesome presentations' and need you to answer just 8 questions. These will give me good inputs for my upcoming workshop. The results of the survey will be shared in a week's time. Thanks in advance. Here is the link Click here -
Logo Contest: Design & win a Mac Book Pro
11 Jan 2012 | 2:26 amMicromax Mobiles, India's 3rd largest mobile phone maker, is inviting entries for designing a new logo for the brand. You need to upload your logo in JPG format by February 6, 2012. For more rules, terms and conditions click here. The brief is as follows: The logo must have the following: "The brand – Micromax mobile with more weightage on micromax the tagline – nothing like anything. Creating a new entity ‘m’ – which can also be used without the rest of the logo to communicate the brand is ideal. The Nike swoosh or the Mc Donald’s golden arch are good examples to think about… -
PowerPoint Disaster: Sample Slides
8 Jan 2012 | 8:46 amA few days back I received a PPT from a leading market research agency in India. Being a presentations blogger, I critically evaluate every presentation I get. This is part of my job you can say. This PPT had so many drawbacks that it merits a dedicated blog post. "How not to make your slides." The problem was with the slides. The look and feel of it. How easy was it to understand and how 'polished' it looked. I am not commenting on the message and text. If senior managers in India's top research agencies are making such slides, I am concerned how are other people faring. This needs to… -
Attention Designers: The 10 Collection is here
5 Jan 2012 | 10:40 amfotolia, a stock images website, is coming up with an innovative concept. It is called 10 Collection. It is meant for designers (amateur or professional) who use Adobe Photoshop. I use Photoshop for image editing and anyone who has ever dabbled in Photoshop should find it useful. What is 10 Collection? As per fotolia, "The ten collection is a unique and original project that promotes digital art to the design community with an emphasis on education. Designers will be able to download a free PSD layers file, allowing them a rare and deep look into the techniques of a top digital…
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Speak & Deliver - A Public Speaking Blog For the Speaking Public
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Toastmasters Friday: Speak the Movie - A Review
20 Jan 2012 | 11:35 amImagine having open heart surgery, without any draping, on the 50 yard line of the Dallas Cowboys Stadium, in front of a packed house, with you on the big, BIG screen. That's what it was like for me watching the movie "Speak" last night. My innermost thoughts, my most personal life events, naked and open to the public. That's what happens when you let a camera crew follow you everywhere. "Speak" is a documentary about public speaking from Paul Galicia and Brian Weidling and their company Tumbleweed Entertainment. As they researched their movie, they investigated Toastmasters, and then the… -
Starting Your Speech in the Middle
17 Jan 2012 | 11:35 amJaakko Iisalo - the enemy of your presentation.... You've only got a few seconds. If you don't grab their attention with something that matters, the audience will turn you off before you can say "Angry Birds". There are several ways to get their attention - from asking an opening question to starting with a startling statistic to saying something controversial or shocking. I covered these in 2010, in "Grabbing the Audience's Attention: Myth or Method". I still stand by those methods. Today's strategy can work with those, or on it's own: Starting Your Speech in the Middle. The middle of… -
Toastmasters Friday the 13th: PR Ideas That Never Die
13 Jan 2012 | 12:53 pmIf Jason can survive, so can your club. Last Saturday morning, from 8 am til 1 pm, District 26 held its "Denver" TLI (Toastmasters Leadership Institute) training for officers and members of the organization. This is my third TLI here in Denver, and I'm always impressed with what they put together - essentially a mini-conference. Over 300 Toastmasters showed up, and they still have training coming up in at least two other population centers in our District.They brought back local golden boy and 2000 World Champion of Public Speaking Ed Tate to keynote the event, as well as offer a general… -
Are You Creating Followers?
12 Jan 2012 | 11:44 amThe Original Facebook. Over the past five years I've watched Facebook, Linked In, and Twitter take over the world with a simple formula: let people talk to each other. This written form of communication offers valuable insight into the speaking world, as well. Typically, we start out with a small group of people we communicate with - our friends and family. Some never move beyond that point. Others start to expand outside their immediate circle of influence, to people in their industry. Most of my friends on Facebook are fellow speakers I've never met. Beyond that, you can grow your network… -
200 Bricks.
4 Jan 2012 | 12:26 pmWill Smith tells a story about his father tearing down a wall in front of his business, and telling his two young boys they had to rebuild it. The young kids thought it was an impossible task, but in about a year and a half, they succeeded. The former Fresh Prince said the key was focusing not on the wall they had to build, but laying the perfect brick, one brick at a time. When I set out to start Speak & Deliver, I had this simple goal in mind, as seen in my first post, Sept. 15, 2009: "Speak & Deliver will cover both sides of the issue, as we strive to marry the best of Method and…
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Manner of Speaking
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What We Can Learn From Josh and Grace
26 Jan 2012 | 2:18 pmEvery once in a while, you come across a simple story that brings a smile to your face and a tear to your eye; a story that makes you realize what is important and gives you hope for the future. Today I discovered once such story on Facebook from two young fellow Canadians, Josh and Grace. Josh is 18 years old and has Down Syndrome. Grace is his older sister and best friend. They have a message that they would like to share. They need no help from me. Everything is eloquently explained in the two-minute video below. It’s hard to imagine anyone not being touched after seeing this. In… -
Rhetorical Devices: Hypophora
24 Jan 2012 | 11:38 pmThis post is part of a series on rhetoric and rhetorical devices. For other posts in the series, please click this link. Device: Hypophora Origin: From the Greek ὑπόϕορά (ipofora), meaning “carrying under” or “putting under”. In plain English: Asking a question and immediately answering it. Effect: There is a sense that the speaker is having a dialogue with the audience. The speaker asks a question (usually one that is on the minds of his listeners) and then answers it. Asking the question arouses the curiosity of the audience about the answer. Thus, a… -
Quotes for Public Speakers (No. 114)
24 Jan 2012 | 6:49 am“The effectiveness of rhetorical questions in argument comes from their dramatic quality. They suggest dialogue, especially when the speaker both asks and answers them himself, as if he were playing two parts on the stage. They are not always impassioned; they may be mildly ironical or merely argumentative: but they are always to some extent dramatic, and, if used to excess, they tend to give one’s style a theatrical air.” — John Hays Gardiner and George Lyman Kittredge -
Speakers: It’s About Time (and How to Manage It)
22 Jan 2012 | 6:18 amA while back, I wrote a post about why speakers should stay on time when giving a speech or presentation, and how failing to do so is a sign of disrespect. I encouraged speakers to finish on time or, if possible, before their allotted time is up. In recent months, a few presentations that I attended ran over time (in one case, significantly over time). So I thought that I would revisit the issue. After reflecting on the matter, I have put together the following list of ideas to help you manage your time when speaking in public. 1. Practice with a timer. This is the best way to know if your… -
Quotes for Public Speakers (No. 113)
17 Jan 2012 | 12:07 amSteve Jobs (1955-2011) American Businessman and Co-Founder of Apple Inc. “We make progress by eliminating things, by removing the superfluous — Steve Jobs Photo courtesy of Kazuhiro Shiozawa / Flickr
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Effective Presentations and Presentation Design - Blog from ReThink Presentations
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Speech Goals (Guest article by Leon from “Effective Public Speaking Tips”)
22 Jan 2012 | 6:57 amI regularly let guest bloggers write an article here. This time it’s Leon from effective-public-speaking-tips.com. If you want to have your article on this blog, just write to mail@rethinkpresentations.com. My grandma was fond of the radio (called the “wire-less” where I was from), and sitting in her chair by the window in her small beach house, she used to listen to a lot of public speakers in the evening. But often afterwards, she was left fazed: “He was talking all over the place,” she used to say, “I feel like walking up to him and asking exactly WHAT he wanted say and why… -
5 Effective Presentation Mediums for 2012 (Guest Post by Angela Taylor)
13 Jan 2012 | 6:30 amTools for creating engaging two-way presentations It’s 2012! The days of presenting on boring graph paper or via a leaf-through booklet are over! Today, you need to engage your audience by creating a two-way method of communication that will keep them invested in what you have to say. Check out my picks for the top 5 effective presentation mediums in 2012: 1. Interactive glass whiteboards: These smooth, durable surfaces are like traditional whiteboards except that they are made with glass. Also, compatible with bright-colored dry erase markers, the glass whiteboard can be used to display… -
Keeping Presentation slides free from clutter
21 Aug 2011 | 1:42 pmThis is a guest post By M.S.Ramgopal from www.presentation-process.com The attention span of your business audience is limited. The success of your presentation depends on how well you channelize this limited attention to the core message of your presentation. There are however, certain elements on your slide that steal your audience attention and reduce the effectiveness of your message. They are called clutter elements. What is clutter? Any element on your slide that can be removed without losing information is called clutter. What causes clutter on a slide? Unlike what most people think,… -
Story First, Slides later
30 May 2011 | 5:46 pmOne of the first traps that I have difficulties getting out of (it still happens sometimes), is the slides-first approach. Though it might seem really effective to start with the introduction slide (”Hey look, slide nr. 1 is done!”) it might cause the presentation to become much less effective - and in many cases it will take you even more time to create the presentation if you start off this way. In some of my best presentations, creating the slides took me less than 25% of the preparation time. My (ideal) approach: I would first think about what the main message I want to convey… -
The Death of Boring PowerPoint Presentations (Guest Post)
6 Apr 2011 | 2:47 pmThis is guest contribution from fellow presenter Tiffany in the United States. I like to get different opinions on presentations and thus also welcome guest bloggers / presenters to tell their story. If you want to write an article, let me know at mail@rethinkpresentations.com. Enjoy reading! We’ve all sat in those long meetings or had to endure those presentations that seem to go on forever. A lot of people misuse PowerPoint and use it as a way to drone on and on, even though they’ve already put all of their information up for everyone to see. Don’t continue the trend. Seth Godin,…
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Fast Track Tools by Ken Revenaugh
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Communicate to Win: 012 – Big Rule #1: The Magic Number Seven Rule
24 Jan 2012 | 10:13 amHoward Schultz grew Starbucks from a Seattle boutique into the global mega-brand we all know today. At one time, he left Starbucks, but agreed to come back in 2008. In his first letter to employees upon his return, he said the company must shift its focus away from “bureaucracy” and back to customers. He wanted to focus on “Big Rules,” such as customer service, instead of checking boxes on the forms created to run the business. Schultz’s story demonstrates that at the core of effective communication is your audience of listeners and how their mind works. In fact, one of my secrets… -
Communicate to Win: 011 – RACI Matrix
17 Jan 2012 | 8:50 pmAs I have noted in my last few posts, the problem solving process requires a lot of effort. Research at each of the four steps is very involved. Here, I take a look at the RACI matrix, which is a responsibility chart to help assign resources to action items. You can use this tool not only as part of this problem-solving process, but also to assign responsibilities connected to any set of tasks within your organization. While you are conducting your research and analysis to solve the problem, you will likely need to rely on other people. A responsibility chart, such as a RACI matrix, can help… -
Free PowerPoint-Tastic Templates – #089: Play in the Sandbox
11 Jan 2012 | 6:30 amEach week, the Fast Track Tools training company and the Cubicle Ninjas design firm work together to publish a template that makes it easier for you to communicate your ideas. This week, we bring you a template to illustrate the demand on resources. This template will help you illustrate everyone who wants to play in your sandbox. It’s not uncommon in any organization for resources to be pulled in many directions. This template allows you to list those demands with a fun metaphor. As you can see in the free, down-loadable template below, this tough topic is easy to communicate with each…
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Managing Information and Communication Overload
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Absorb Information and Applying It
19 Jan 2012 | 11:14 amInformation can only become knowledge when it's applied. Before you can absorb and apply yesterday's intake, however, the explosion of new information floods your receptive capacity.Such constant exposure to the daily information and media shower leaves each of us incapable of ingesting, synthesizing, or applying the data before tomorrow's shower.The eruption of information renders us over-stimulated. The more information you try to ingest, the faster the "clock races," and your sense of breathing space is strained.As yet, few people are wise information consumers. Curiously, there is only… -
Step out of the Information Shower
12 Jan 2012 | 12:49 pmAs writer Kevin Donahue observes: The managing editor of MensHealth.com, a married father of two whose job requires him to be plugged in 24-7, began weaning himself from his cell phone. Davids Swink's goal was to leave office stress in the office. “Make your smartphone work for you, rather than be at its mercy,” recommended Swink, chief creative officer of Strategic Interactions.He suggested putting the phone in a drawer, turning off the ringer, and setting up a regular time every couple of hours to check and answer e-mail for 5 minutes.After doing Swink concluded, “I needed more like… -
"Better" TVs, Less Exercise
11 Jan 2012 | 11:15 amCNN reports that TVs in 2012 will get brighter, thinner, more social.Do we need this? With an already an obese, often mentally unhealthy populace, will whiz bang TVs do anything about that? -
When Information Deceives
8 Jan 2012 | 4:44 pmCourtroom attorneys are now employing forensic animation to illustrate to jury members in less than a minute what traditionally could have required days on end of experts, explanation, and testimony. Judges, meanwhile, are predisposed to allowing any evidence deemed reliable if it shortens the length of a trial.While such costly and impactful forensics DVDs can aid in illuminating the facts in a case, there is an inherent danger when lawyers act as “film” producers. By altering lighting, camera angles, color, or visual tone, the jury can be lead in one direction or completely in another. -
When Rules Last Forever
5 Jan 2012 | 1:29 pmOnce a rule gets in place it's very difficult to eliminate it even though the original reasons for its generation are long gone, according to author Roger von Oech. His prime example:In the 1870s the leading manufacturer of typewriters at the time received complaints that too many of the typewriter keys were sticking together if the operator went too fast. In response to this, the company produced the QWERTY type keyboard -- a configuration standard on all keyboards -- to slow down operators so that the keys wouldn't jam together. Today, technology permits us to produce typewriter keyboards…
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Presentation Advisors
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10 Lessons Learned from “Every Presentation Ever”
25 Jan 2012 | 8:07 amI came across a fantastic video recently entitled, Every Presentation Ever. This parody, brought to you by Growing Leaders Inc. and Habitudes for Communicators, includes nearly every blunder and annoyance that creeps its way into 99% of presentations (just my educated guess). I posted it on the Presentation Advisors Facebook page a few days ago. Watching it made me cringe, knowing that these mistakes aren’t a product of PowerPoint or the content, but because the presenter doesn’t know the very basics of effective presentation design and delivery. However, I didn’t want… -
20 Best PowerPoint Presentation Design Posts for 2012
1 Jan 2012 | 7:31 pmIn order to create an amazing PowerPoint presentation, you have to learn the process of effective presentation design. After four years of blogging, I’ve written a number of posts designed to help you create better, visually engaging and effective PowerPoint presentations. As all blogs posts do, some resonated better than others and often provided great discussion in the comments. Instead of forcing you to sift through my site, page after page, or trying to search my site with keywords just to find the best posts, I have aggregated 20 of my best blog posts, including the 5 most viewed… -
Dance vs. PowerPoint as a Visual Aid
12 Dec 2011 | 8:50 amThanks to a tweet from fellow presentation designer and visual communicator Tony Ramos, I came across this impressive TEDx talk by John Bohannon, biologist and journalist, entitled, “Dance vs PowerPoint: A Modest Proposal.” Just hearing the title, I was intrigued. I’m no stranger to the numerous arguments against PowerPoint, but I’d never heard of dance as an alternative. Take 11 minutes out of your day to watch this video and I’ll give you my thoughts after the jump. I’m not sure how you saw it, but it seemed his presentation was divided into two distinct… -
What The Long Tail Has To Do With Effective PowerPoint Design
5 Dec 2011 | 10:59 pmRecently I was sitting at a conference with the keynote speaker as he prepared for his afternoon keynote. He admitted to me that his PowerPoint skills were “basic at best,” as if that meant it was impossible for him to create an effective, enjoyable presentation. I told him, “If you can import a picture, you can create an effective PowerPoint.” He smiled and went back to making his last minute edits, but it left me thinking about the general (mis)perception of what it takes to design effective PowerPoint presentations. You don’t need to know as many PowerPoint… -
Building Your Personal Brand with PowerPoint
28 Nov 2011 | 8:10 amI was recently browsing twitter and saw a tweet from my friend Kyle Lacy (Founder/CEO of BrandSwag) about a presentation he and his firm had created and placed on SlideShare called “Building Your Personal Brand.” I wanted to share this presentation with you for a number of reasons that I’ll outline below, but particularly because I truly believe that one of the most valuable yet underutilized uses for PowerPoint is developing your personal brand. Building Your Personal Brand What the internet, particularly social media, has done over the last 15 years is to level the…
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Blogs
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How Woody Allen Creates
24 Jan 2012 | 11:26 amFirst Things First, Last Things Last By Jerry Weissman In a prior post on the art of developing your story, you read that Federico Fellini, the legendary Italian cinema director noted for his imaginative stories, approached the creative process with an open mind; considering any and all ideas fair game for his films. The equivalent of Mr. Fellini’s method in presentations is brainstorming, a step most presenters skip in their rush to prepare their next pitch. Instead, they begin by shuffling existing slides, and often at the last minute. They do this because, as results-driven people,… -
Look Ma, No Hands!
18 Jan 2012 | 10:29 am"Doin' What Comes Natur'lly" Jerry Weissman The most frequently asked question of presentation coaches is “What do I do with my hands?” In a previous post, I cautioned against choreography; I’ve seen far too many presenters attempt to illustrate their narrative with specific gestures and wind up tying themselves into pretzel knots. Instead, use your hands and arms as you do naturally, to illustrate what you are saying. However, I do recommend one gesture: to extend your hand and arm periodically, bridging the gap between you and your audience (as AT&T… -
John Doerr's “Chalk” Talks
3 Jan 2012 | 6:02 pm3 Best Practicesfrom a Top Venture Capitalist by Jerry Weissman John Doerr, a partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), is in great demand as a speaker. His repute is attributed to his diverse and successful involvements in for-profit companies (Google, Groupon, Zynga, Amazon), not-for-profit organizations (NewSchools Venture Fund,), and public policy (The President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness). Mr. Doerr is often invited to share his experiences, insights, and best practices, and he does so in an unorthodox way: rather than… -
Meaningful Words
13 Dec 2011 | 12:28 pmWords that Inspire Confidence by Jerry Weissman In response to a prior blog about meaningless words, commenter Brett wrote, “It would be interesting to see those words and phrases that do inspire confidence and trust. That would be a great follow up.” Here you go, Brett (and Aggressive Reader, who seconded Brett’s suggestion). This discussion of meaningful words is primarily about replacements for weak, meaningless ones, while the prior discussion was about the complete elimination of condescending, insulting or self-deprecating ones. Attorneys have long cautioned officers… -
The Patronizing Paraphrase
15 Nov 2011 | 11:39 amTrying to Channel Bill Clinton by Jerry Weissman Scenario #1: Silicon Valley, an Executive Briefing Center at a major IT company. One of the company’s product managers finishes a presentation about a product upgrade to a group of existing customers and then opens the floor to questions. The first question comes from the CIO of a large financial institution: “We’ve spent millions of dollars on the first version of your solution and it gave us nothing but problems—crashes, down time, glitches, and endless repairs—and now you want us to upgrade to a new…
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The Rhetorical Journey
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Jim Collins on the Writing Process
28 Jan 2012 | 5:04 amMy favourite business books include Jim Collin's "Good to Great". It is easy to read, simple but clear about the hard decisions that differentiate the great companies from the mediocre. His new book, "Great by Choice" is out now. Jim Collins is renowned as someone who has intense discipline in his life. I loved when I found this text he wrote about his own process of writing: Jim Collins on the Writing Process Jim Collins "When I first embarked on a career that required writing, I devoured dozens of books about the process of writing. I soon realized that each… -
Leadership = Do the Next Right Thing
23 Jan 2012 | 5:56 amMichael asks "What should you do when you don't know what to do?" In the times when he felt lost, out of his depth, uncertain, unsure whether he was the right person in the role... All the great moments of self-doubt that I know I share... His mentor's answer? "Do the next right thing." The full post at Michael Hyatt's Intentional Leadership blog: "What to do when you don't know what to do". I think it goes further than that. This is not a recipe for rare moments of doubt. This is a powerful framing of leadership. There is a time for Managers, and a time for… -
Productivity, Using 5 minute gaps
17 Jan 2012 | 9:27 amI remember watching the "Last Lecture" of Professor Randy Pausch (video embedded below). One of his messages was "show me your calendar and I will show you where you are wasting time". He spoke of one difference between productive and non-productive people: How you use the small gaps. Using the 5 Minute Gaps The productive people have learnt to make good use of the 5, 10, 15 minute gaps in their schedule. The non-productive people go and have a coffee, say "what can I really get done in 5 minutes, I'll do it later when I have 2 hours." Productive people get all the admin tasks out… -
Speakers: Text on Slides is not a Visual Aid
10 Jan 2012 | 1:00 pmIn my 8 years as a management consultant at Accenture, preparing a presentation was synonymous with preparing the Powerpoint slides. "Hey Neill! Proposal presentation this Friday..." - I immediately opened Powerpoint and started creating slides... A lot of powerpoint is not Great Powerpoint. Great Powerpoint can be a powerful addition to a great speech. As the saying goes, a picture is worth 1,000 words. Strong photos can powerfully impact an audience with a message. Finding great photos is easier today than ever before. Sites like Flickr.com or Google… -
3 types of Dangerous People
7 Jan 2012 | 12:47 pmIf you want to improve quality of life, stay away from people that reduce your joy. photo: Avital Pinnick Micheal Maddock writes about 3 types of people to fire immediately. This applies beyond the world of entrepreneurs and work teams. It applies in all of life. The 3 types of Dangerous People Victims - they want the problems. Critics - they won't and they don't want you to either. Know-it-Alls - they refuse to learn. Question: In the case that it is impossible to get away from someone of type 1, 2 or 3 do you have any ideas for antidotes?
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Executive Speech Coach Presentations Training - NJ NY Manhattan
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Stage Fright: Nervous about not being nervous
24 Jan 2012 | 6:59 amLast week I woke up in the middle of the night nervous that I was not nervous about a speech I had to make. The thought that I was giving a speech in a few hours floated between my ears and in an instant I fell into a hole of nervousness because I was not nervous. It was as if I had tried to step over a crack in the sidewalk, but as I stepped, the crack widened and became a hole. And in I went, heart pounding. I had to get out of bed and labor over the speech, beginning to end. My wife Sharon had the same experience teaching her first class of the semester at a college where she is a new… -
Adjust your level of detail
17 Jan 2012 | 8:30 amYou’re preparing a presentation and the question comes up, “How much detail should I include?” The answer is, “Just enough,” and that’s not a cop out, because there are so many different circumstances, audiences, and types of presentation. For instance, when trying to convince an FDA Advisory Board that your drug is not more likely to cause adverse events in a particular population (say, African-Americans, or Asian-Americans) because the data seem to be suggesting just such an effect, you better be prepared to drill down into outcomes in those groups. That’s a whole lot of… -
Develop your voice and speech
10 Jan 2012 | 7:02 amWe all know that clay can be molded: clay can be bricks, or pots, plates or pitchers. It is a malleable substance. The body can be molded: resistance-training turns 90 pound weaklings into incredible hulks, and fatsos reveal their inner Adonis when they change their diet and exercise. Your voice and speech can also be shaped. If your voice is nasal, you can learn to shape your mouth to create a more blended sound. If your diction is fuzzy, you can become articulate by strengthening your tongue and lips. If you speak too quickly, you can learn to speak more slowly, and create a stronger, more… -
Losing your power to PowerPoint
3 Jan 2012 | 9:15 amDon’t think that your slides are your presentation. They’re not. Your slides are like beads lying on a table in a big messy pile until you assemble them into a coherent order and string them into a beautiful necklace. I like to watch Law and Order. There are a certain number of scenes in episodes of Law and Order, and if they are not arranged in the right sequence, there is no drama, no message, no clarity, no meaning! This is pretty obvious, and I imagine you’re good at arranging the scenes of your show into marching order. But what do you say to the audience when… -
Presence and substance in public speaking
5 Dec 2011 | 12:00 pmI have a speaking assignment coming up and I want to do something new. I have been working hard on strategy and messaging for my talks. I have defined what I want my listeners to do as a result of my talk. I have crafted a few simple messages to convince them that what I want them to do is important to them and possible, and then give them guidance on how to get it done. But last night I had a dream about the presence of a speaker. I dreamed about a speaker, faceless and nameless (although he might have been the Dalai Lama) who was radiant with optimism and confidence. He was…
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John Sadowsky - Leadership & Storytelling
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Leaders, brands, and heroic journeys
27 Jan 2012 | 2:57 amThis past week, I did a book signing in the town where I grew up—Worcester, Massachusetts. It was interesting, and great fun. Two old friends organized the event, and several people I had not seen in many years were in attendance. The crowd was an interesting mix of ages and origins, an engaged and lively group. After I spent a few minutes talking about how the best leaders and the best brands communicate by telling their personal stories of identity, a few members of the audience asked questions related to this concept. These queries got me thinking again about the mythical… -
Storytelling that can engage an employee community, align an organization, and lead to change
20 Jan 2012 | 2:14 amThe other day with a group of students, we launched into a discussion of the role storytelling in an organizational setting. One of my core beliefs is that it is story that defines the culture of any community. In fact, one might define a community as a collection of individuals who share the same stories and draw meaning from those stories. Preserving any culture—corporate or otherwise—is about preserving its stories. In a similar vein, changing any group’s culture must be about changing its stories. For any organizational change or turnaround to be successful, leaders must… -
Thoughts on our life experience, and on attitude:
13 Jan 2012 | 3:12 amYesterday began with a quick stop for coffee in one of my favorite cafés in Grenoble. When I arrived, the morning regulars were discussing the role of luck in life. Why is it that some people attract good fortune while others are constantly fighting bad times, or does it just seem that way? The conversation soon turned to an individual’s response to life’s events. Why do two people respond so differently in the face of adversity, some reacting with hope and optimism where others lament their fate and dwell on the negatives? I thought of an example from my environment. My colleague… -
At Scotiabank in El Salvador
6 Jan 2012 | 4:55 amOn a visit to El Salvador during my recent tour with Harvard Business Review in Latin America, had a conference stop in the capital city of San Salvador, where I also did a private talk for Scotiabank. The bank invited me to an employee-client breakfast, and they asked me to prepare a one-hour speech about “Leadership in times of crisis”. The topic of leadership and crisis caused me to reflect, as it is a general theme that I approach with some caution, and with mixed emotions. On the one hand, I have seen over the years that outstanding leaders and companies do not change much in… -
A small change in focus and a new book
30 Dec 2011 | 3:27 pmAs I wrote last week, I see some changes in my priorities for 2012. In 2012, much of my focus will return to leadership and leadership coaching. Of course, I will continue to give seminars, workshops and conferences about my work with e-marketing and around the book Email, social marketing, and the art of storytelling. I will continue to blog about the interesting issues I see in social media, and about storytelling and building brand communities. However, my new writing and research will mostly be in the realm of coaching and teaching leadership self-expression. In fact, for much of…
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Refuse to be Boring
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Webinars: watering down the wine
13 Jan 2012 | 6:38 pmI wonder how much water you would add to a glass of wine before you couldn’t taste the wine anymore. I expect that if you have a big, bold red wine it would take more water than if you have a lighter white wine. This analogy can be applied to webinars and presentations. In my opinion, webinars are watered down versions of presentations. Many of the important nuances of human communication are missing in a webinar, like body language, facial expression, the interactions between audience members and even the discussions at the coffee break. The presenter cannot gauge the audience’s… -
Take Sir Richard’s Advice
3 Jan 2012 | 7:28 amI recently read Sir Richard Branson’s new book Screw Business as Usual. http://tinyurl.com/cpuwfjr The book is about a form of capitalism based on the (old) concept of corporate social responsibility. Sir Richard takes it to a new level and calls it Capitalism 24902 (the circumference of the earth is 24,902 miles). This new model for business focuses on putting people and the planet first, and that giving away expertise and opportunity (not just money) to people/groups in need is good for business. In the book he quotes Wafic Saïd (a benefactor of the Saïd Business School at… -
Is your presentation a futon?
12 Dec 2011 | 11:51 amA couple of years ago I was explaining two of our medical imaging products to a hospital administrator. I mentioned that one was a “dedicated” system for specific procedures and the other one was a “multipurpose” system. She immediately commented on the multipurpose system, “Oh I see, it’s like a futon!” I asked her what she meant and she said it’s in-between, like a futon, “Not really a couch and not really a bed.” A lot of presentations visuals that I see are like futons - not really a document (not enough detail) but not really presentation visuals (too much… -
Sometimes it’s like climbing Mt. Everest
14 Nov 2011 | 5:02 pmSometimes I struggle with designing a presentation. It happened to me last week when I decided I needed to do an “overview” presentation on one of our products. Maybe the problem was that we had initially proposed too many options, so I felt I had to re-explain everything, or maybe it was the fact that I did not know this particular group of customers very well. Regardless, designing this presentation was like climbing Mt. Everest; slogging uphill all the way. I changed the main message 5 or 6 times, going back and forth between a couple of ideas. I also changed the opening visuals… -
Learning slide design while you drive! End of the line.
6 Nov 2011 | 10:35 amAs I said in part one of this series, you can learn a lot about slide design from roadside billboards and the mini-billboards you see in airports. 10 Rules for Billboard Design were outlined in an article on billboard design by BPS Outdoor Media (www.bpsoutdoor.com). Here are the last 4 rules with some more Refuse to be Boring (RTBB) editorial comments Billboard Rule #7 - Getting attention is the most important thing your ad needs to do so it won’t be overlooked. You can get attention in several ways, but the best advice I can give you is to be creative and do something out of the…
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Think Inc - Motivational Tid-bits
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Simple and Direct Language
6 Jan 2012 | 11:55 pmFurther to our much appreciated series of ‘Indianisms’ concluding in the December 2011 issue, Think Tip’s new series brings you suggestions with examples of how to simplify your language. We spend a great deal of time in written correspondence, whether through letters or emails. A good aid to write crisp and clear language is by eliminating unnecessary words and phrases which we have unconsciously been using. Our suggested substitution is not merely simple and plain. It is direct and powerful: more effective therefore. Try it! Simple substitutes for words and phrases which… -
You Can’t Change Anyone, Unless You Change Yourself First
6 Jan 2012 | 11:52 pmYou cannot change anyone. You can’t change your father, mother, wife, brother, sister, son, daughter, not even your boss! Only person you can change in this world is yourself! This is my “R&D”! I got inspired by: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I can. And the wisdom to know the difference.” Years ago, I read in the Minneapolis Tribune that quite often we change our jobs, friends and spouses instead of ourselves. Let us take the case of changing jobs. Many of us are not happy in our jobs or our businesses. It is… -
5 Activities For Spending Quality Time With Your Child
6 Jan 2012 | 11:49 pmChildren, no matter how noisy or troublesome they are, all parents feel that they grow up too soon and go their own way seeking their fortune. As long as they are small and with you, make the most of their childhood. Make their childhood memorable by actively participating in activities with them, around them. It is important to select an activity based on your child’s developmental level, temperament and inclination, instead of your own! While some parents are lucky to have extra-curricular talents, that is not essential. Everybody is good at something. Here are five simple activities you… -
Pandit Brijmohan Nath Mishra
6 Jan 2012 | 11:44 pmAn artist is one who has mastery over his body and mind – where the body obeys the mind. Practicing classical art forms is an all-round development of the faculties of our mind. It lays immense emphasis on discipline patience and continuous self-improvement. The finest aspect of this education is the development of the feelings and emotions within the person and its correct, balanced and regulated expression. It is not always true that talent alone makes an artist. Neither is it flawless technique. In reality, it is the uncountable years of perseverance and dedication to the art that… -
Living Happily, Living Long – 10 Inspiring Thoughts From Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara
5 Jan 2012 | 4:09 amDoctor Shigeaki Hinohara of Japan, who turned 100 on 4th October 2011, is world’s longest serving physician. Starting from 1941, his service has entered the eighth decade. His power of healing and giving mankind a better life is extra-ordinary. His career marked by kindness, perseverance, and a positive vision dedicated to make people’s life happy and healthy. His life and work is an inspiration and a lesson in living well. Here are ten inspiring lessons from the life and experiences shared by Doctor Hinohara to live with renewed vigor and spirit as you usher in the New Year 2012. …
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Presentation Dynamics
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Listen to Me
10 Jan 2012 | 1:00 amAs you focus on these words, you feel yourself getting sleepy,…..… sleeeepy,………..….sleeeeeeeepy. No? Does hypnosis even work? Can I really make you squawk and dance like a chicken? At its most basic level, there is nothing magical or mystical about hypnosis. It’s not mind control. You can’t make anyone do anything they don’t want to do. It is simply the focusing of the mind and the quieting of the mental chatter that tends to rattle around our heads most of the time, allowing us to gain access to the deeper, more primal, levels of the consciousness. It’s… -
Those Who CAN, Teach
30 Dec 2011 | 7:10 pmI’ve always hated that old saying, “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” I hate it not only because it is demeaning to teachers, but because it’s absolutely not true. Some of the worst teachers I have had in my life were very successful in their fields. They may have been highly acclaimed for their knowledge and skill, but they certainly didn’t have any idea how to convey what they knew and did to others. Whenever we speak, we are teaching, and teaching is a skill unto itself. There is a lot more to it than just being good at something. A good teacher or speaker needs,… -
Numa Numa Charisma
19 Dec 2011 | 11:23 amA recent David Pogue column in the New York Times, on viral internet memes, gave me a bit of a jolt and made me rethink the fundamental meaning of the word “Charisma” The post, “Internet Memes 101: A Guide to Online Wackiness” is a list of some of the classic viral videos from YouTube, as well as some recent hits, that have taken on a life of their own and become a part of the culture. One of the videos Pogue mentions is “Numa Numa”, an early webcam video of a chunky, young man, named Gary Brolsma, lip syncing to an obscure Romanian pop song. What struck me, in addition to the… -
Write Tightly and Speak Loosely
10 Dec 2011 | 10:39 pmCongratulations! You’ve been granted 15 minutes to argue your case. All you need to do now is write and deliver a persuasive presentation. Fortunately, writing a presentation is easy. All you have to do is think about your subject and write down the words that come to mind, start a new paragraph for each new point and stop when you reach the end of your thoughts. When you finish typing 15 minutes worth, for most people around 1800-2000 words, you’re done. You’ve reached the level of the average speaker; even surpassed the many that don’t bother to write anything down at all. Writing a… -
A Natural-Born Star
4 Dec 2011 | 12:08 amThe last two posts I’ve put up, about speakers that fly by the seat of their pants (Coulda / Woulda / Shoulda) and grinders who memorize every word and gesture (The Uncanny Valley), represent the two extremes of preparing speeches and presentations, but there is a better way that takes the best of the two approaches. I had a roommate in university, named Rich, who wanted to be a veterinarian. It’s even tougher to get into veterinary school than medical school, so Rich needed to get straight A’s to even have a chance. When final exams came around in his freshman year, and all of his…
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The Presentation Agency
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Science Explains Why We’re Hardwired for Stories
14 Jan 2012 | 9:32 amThe best presentations usually come in the form of stories in disguise, but what is it about narrative that attracts us? Cognitive Neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga has been studying hemispheric function in the right and left brain since the sixties, and he believes a desire for narrative is hardwired in a left brain construct called The [...] -
Present Now Helps Presenters Generate Qualified Leads
10 Jan 2012 | 8:32 amA presentation startup built to help presenters make more connections with their audience hit the news feeds last week, catching my attention. Called Present Now, the company promises to reduce the cost of customer acquisition and increase the ROI of speaking events through a smartphone form process. As the site’s slogan goes: Your Presentation + [...] -
Most Popular Presentation Agency Blog Posts of 2011
3 Jan 2012 | 10:48 amAs New York City livens with people returning to work, we take a quick pause to review the most read Presentation Agency posts of 2011. The posts that gained the most readership are indicative of presentation trends at large, it’s safe to say that 2011 was the year when presenters adopted iPads. In 2012 we [...] -
The Verdict is In: Corporate Presenters Find Flaws in PowerPoint
21 Nov 2011 | 4:58 pmThe Anti-PowerPoint Party taught us there are more than a few people who despise PowerPoint as a presentation software, but what about professional presenters? Do they hate the tool as much as the 2,700 people who have signed a formal petition against PowerPoint? Here at Sales Graphics we were determined to find out so we [...] -
Survey Data Reveals How Presenters Spend Their Time
26 Oct 2011 | 9:10 amWe all know a solid presentation deck can be the difference between a productive meeting and an absolute snooze, but what does this mean in terms of time investment? We conducted a survey with a number of employees at a premium-subscription channel to discover exactly how they prepare for presentations. What were their headaches and [...]
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Communication Studies
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Powerful People Are Shorter Than They Think [Study]
27 Jan 2012 | 4:17 pmYou often hear about “the little people,” even when actual height is not discussed. Often times, it is people who converse with upcoming celebrities, telling them not to forget “the little people.” A research study from the authors of a new paper published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, found that there is some psychological truth to these kinds of statements. Though non-celebrities are often normal heights, they may actually feel smaller then what they are when compared to a celebrity. The study suggests that people… -
Child Raised ‘Gender Neutral’ to Avoid Stereotyping
27 Jan 2012 | 12:47 pmA British couple who kept their child’s gender a secret for five years have revealed that the child is male. Beck Laxton and Kieran Cooper say that they kept their son’s sex under wraps because they wanted him to grow up free from society’s preconceived ideas about what constitutes gender-appropriate behavior. The couple, who asked their midwives to withhold information even from them about the child’s gender for a half-hour after his birth, named their child Sasha and referred to him as “the infant,” rather than using gender-specific pronouns. Until recently, even most of… -
Job Dissatisfaction Stems From Unmet Employee Needs [Study]
26 Jan 2012 | 3:02 pmA new study has linked employee satisfaction to both management style and corporate attitudes towards employees. In an article published in Springer’s Journal of Business and Psychology, researchers from the Universite Francois Rabelais in Tours, France, revealed new evidence that meeting employees’ basic needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness leads to improved job satisfaction. According to Dr. Nicolas Gillet, when employers use the threat of punishment as motivation and give employees the impression that their contributions are not valued, employee well-being goes down. Past… -
Stereotype Busted! Women Are Not Worse At Math Than Men [Study]
25 Jan 2012 | 1:53 pm“Math is hard!” cries Teen Talk Barbie. Those words made Matel revamp the doll so that she did not say she found math hard after protesters insisted that it was degrading to women. It turns out that they were right according to a study researched at the University of Missouri. According to the study titled, “Can stereotype threat explain the sex gap in mathematics performance and achievement?” there is no gender difference when it comes to math skills. Many people believe that women are worse at quantitative reasoning then men. In fact, it has become a theory so widely… -
The Technology of Storytelling
23 Jan 2012 | 2:26 pm“The art of storytelling has remained unchanged and for the most part stories are recycled, but the way that humans tell the stories has always evolved with pure consistent novelty,” says iPad storyteller Joe Sabia. From cave walls to books, opera to vaudeville, radio to radio theater, silent films and now 3D movies, we are constantly embracing new technologies that help enhance our stories. Through a story of his own filled with music, video, and pictures all delivered over his iPad, Sabia gives us some insight into the history how stories have evolved over the years. And while…
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Janice Tomich | Presentation Collaboration and Coaching
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The Best Public Speakers Are Good Listeners
22 Jan 2012 | 5:47 pmDo you want to be an excellent public speaker? Then you must be a good listener as well as a powerful and articulate speaker. Not only before and after your presentation but during as well. You must be a human antenna attuned to your audience at every stage of your presentation from content development, while presenting, and post speaking. Julian explains the elements of a good listener: How can you put Julian’s insight into practice as a public speaker? During the content development stage you must know your audience or you will be a lecturer not a public speaker. Know your audience… -
Failure to deliver ~ Public Speaking Fail
8 Jan 2012 | 5:55 pmThis blog post has been difficult for me to write. It has been mulling around in my mind since last week. I don’t take lightly negatively critiquing public speakers. It takes confidence and a leap of faith to be front and centre and I am a champion for everyone who makes the leap. Here’s the but – When a speaker commits to the lectern they have a responsibility to deliver to the best of their ability and also to realize that every bum in a seat has invested time being there. Each attendee believes that a speaker will deliver insightful and valuable information. Last week I… -
Leonard Cohen ~ A Great Public Speaker
20 Nov 2011 | 7:35 pmThe Three Rules of Great Public Speaking Leonard Cohen has had an illustrious career. He has taken us on a long journey of introspection and poetic musings like no other. Watch and listen to his acceptance speech at The Prince of Asturias Awards and then dive in and unravel my critique below. Click here to view the embedded video. Cohen has been a performer for many years and knows how, in his Montrealish savvy way, to have us eating out of his hands. If we watch and listen closely we can hone in on what it takes to bring an audience from not knowing to thinking “what if?”. -
Trust ~ Can’t Be a Public Speaker Without It
12 Oct 2011 | 4:07 pmVia my Twitter friend @Billy2373 – thank you – a brilliant TEDGlobal presentation on the necessity of trust. In public speaking it means we must trust ourselves that we know of what we speak and we are the best person to communicate our message. We must also trust that our audience wants us to succeed and is open to sharing our ideas and inspiration. To Your Voice, Janice -
Persuasion – Dragon’s Den – Arlene Dickinson
18 Sep 2011 | 8:58 pmWhy are you presenting and honing your skills as a public speaker? To persuade. Not the disingenuous type of salesmanship where you bought in and later feel duped. I’m just into Arlene Dickinson’s new book “Persuasion” and her words although written for those who are learning the in’s and out’s of business acumen, apply nicely to the presentation arena. Dickinson says, ” If I can’t understand what you are talking about, I can’t trust you. Real expertise involves the ability to take a complex subject and distill it to the point where…
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CreativityWorks
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Why Ed Miliband’s Speeches Need More Heart
17 Jan 2012 | 10:18 amEd Miliband continues to have trouble getting his message across, and he knows it. In the wake of a poor conference speech and a 2011 beset with difficulties he attempted to stop the rot by appointing a new chief-of-staff and speechwriter. However, on the evidence of last week’s speech on the economy, things are going from bad to worse. It was billed as the relaunch speech that wasn’t a relaunch, which is just as well as it appears to have sunk without trace. My fellow speechwriter, and friend, Max Atkinson questioned whether it was even accurate to describe Miliband’s address as a… -
Festive Greetings!
15 Dec 2011 | 5:24 amHere’s my Christmas cartoon – hope you enjoy it! How we celebrate Christmas now... We wish you a very happy festive season, and all the very best for 2012. Cheers, Martin and Martha PS For those who would like a taster of our speechwriting training, we’re running a half-day intensive seminar “The Nuts and Bolts of Speechwriting’ on February 22nd at the Institute for Government in London. The UK Speechwriters’ Guild Conference takes place the following day at the same venue. If you’d like to attend both you can book them together at a reduced rate. -
Ed Miliband’s bargain basement speech
3 Oct 2011 | 5:37 amBarack Obama’s greatest speeches are full of images and stories. Ed Miliband’s effort on Tuesday was piled with abstractions and cliches, taking us into the bargain basement of oratory. “We need a new bargain…the big challenge of building a new bargain…the Tories aren’t building a new bargain” – how on earth do you build a bargain? In a speech criticising our materialistic society, the choice of language showed a tin ear. “Bargain” conjures up images of Poundland, not of an optimistic future. At the heart of every great speech is a proposition: a clear and strong statement… -
How to be an outstanding communicator
16 May 2011 | 9:15 amThe message from recruitment agencies, employer surveys and the like is familiar, loud and clear: you must be an outstanding communicator if you want to get to the top of your profession. Technical audit skills and practical experience are, of course, essential, but they will only take you so far up the greasy pole; to make it those extra few slippery feet to the very top you’re going to have to find a way of transforming yourself from a good communicator into an outstanding one. Keep it simple Outstanding communicators distinguish themselves by the way they use language. The first… -
This metaphor ain’t dead, it’s just restin’
16 Nov 2010 | 8:13 amJudging from a list of the ‘most annoying clichés’ in the English language compiled by the Plain English Campaign – one of the greatest examples of modern oratory might never have seen the light of day, if they’d had anything to do with it. For the most part their ‘most annoying clichés’ list is unexceptionable. It contains many of the usual linguistic suspects: words that are misunderstood and misused; words and phrases that are used as fillers to bulk up the vacuous and trivial – like literally and the fact of the matter is; euphemisms – like to be perfectly honest and I…
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Digital Coach
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It’s About Simple Things Done Better and Better
26 Jan 2012 | 2:04 pmIt was the opening 5-minutes of my third keynote… and I felt it was important to create a “moment”. Not because I understood the mechanics of doing that but because in a recent... Podcasts from Distinction Communication -
The Final Word on Storytelling and the Art of Presenting?
26 Aug 2011 | 10:52 amWedged in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern half of Tennessee is the two-century-old town of Jonesborough. As small towns go, this one is relatively rich in history but its greatest claim to... Podcasts from Distinction Communication -
3 Special Olympians – Courage, Caring & Compassion
18 Jul 2011 | 6:39 pmMeet some friends of mine… I actually just met them last weekend but they have already become heroes of mine. They were Special Olympic athletes and their dads (and brother) who were... Podcasts from Distinction Communication -
Our 2010 Presentation Impact Survey at a Glance…
6 Apr 2011 | 12:10 pmAs we recapped in our an overview to our December 2010 survey this year (Insight from Distinction’s 2010 Presentation Impact Survey), there were some areas that hardly wavered from our 2009 results,... Podcasts from Distinction Communication -
A Morning with the Emerging Leaders for Oregon…
31 Mar 2011 | 2:27 pmA week ago I spoke to a gathering of young adults who you just might be hearing more about in the years ahead… The Emerging Leaders for Oregon are a group of young business... Podcasts from Distinction Communication
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American Speaker
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Well ‘uhm …’ it looks like ‘ah …’
26 Jan 2012 | 8:30 amBy Kendall Martin As someone with a fear of public speaking, I can easily relate to speakers who slip up and use filler words such as “ah” or “uhm” when searching for their next sentence. And unless you are an experienced public speaker or a graduate of Toastmasters, you have likely encountered that very situation. Follow these tips to minimize your use of crutch words: Focus on your breath. When you reach a point in the presentation where you are unsure of your next sentence, take a deep breath. You will avoid using a crutch word and gain time to recall the next sentence. Use the… -
Revisions and rewrites are the secrets to a great speech
19 Jan 2012 | 9:00 amBy Betty Hintch Even a winning topic and a brilliant speaking style won’t overcome lackluster word choice and disorganized ideas. That’s why it’s critical to strive for a flawless script. Famous orators of the past offer some excellent examples of the critical eye needed to revise and rewrite. Abraham Lincoln created five drafts of the Gettysburg Address before he settled on his legendary speech. According to a New Yorker article, Dwight Eisenhower wrote 29 revisions of his Farewell Speech before he gave his groundbreaking talk that predicted the technology age and an emphasis on… -
Will you hire backup dancers for your next presentation?
12 Jan 2012 | 8:30 amThis TED talk from John Bohannon was too good not to share: In case you don’t have time to watch it right this second, the gist is this: Bohannon, in the style of Jonathan Swift, makes his own “modest proposal” to replace all PowerPoint presentations with dancers. Sound completely impractical? Maybe it is, but it’s still an idea worth exploring. Bohannon is obviously being a little facetious when he says that “bad PowerPoint presentations are a serious threat to the global economy.” I doubt that he really believes we should throw out every single slide show or that dance is always… -
Take time to practice
5 Jan 2012 | 8:30 amBy Betty Hintch, editor of American Speaker Rushing has become an epidemic. We take shortcuts to accomplish more with the same or fewer resources at work, at home and in our communities. Perhaps that experience is fresh in your minds after having just experienced the “Holiday Rush.” It’s no small achievement to buy gifts, complete year-end deadlines and prepare holiday celebrations in time to gather with friends and family. But speeches and presentations need time to ripen. You can squeeze in a few additional tasks by trimming a practice sessions. However, you probably won’t be happy… -
Make 2012 your Year of Speaking Fearlessly
22 Dec 2011 | 8:30 amHappy Holidays from The American Speaker Blog! I unofficially dubbed 2011 my “Year of Living Fearlessly,” and today I propose that we all make 2012 our Year of Speaking Fearlessly. Here are some tips for making that a reality: Fake it ‘til you make it. You’ve probably heard that the act of smiling can actually make you feel happier. It’s also been shown that pretending to be an academic—even for just a few minutes—can make students score higher on standardized tests. Trick yourself into being a fearless speaker by acting fearless. Adopt the posture and air of a confident…
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VoiceGig.com Latest Speeches
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National Cyber Security Alliance: Data Privacy Day - Julie Brill, US Federal Trade Commissioner
27 Jan 2012 | 1:06 pmConsumers should not have to give up control over their most sensitive data as the toll to enter the information superhighway. The disclosure of personal information such as health, finances, and location can, in some instances, have disturbing consequences. And exacting such a toll is just bad business: no market can function if consumers feel unsafe participating in it—if they believe they have no decisions about how their information is used, or their decisions about what information to share and what to keep private are not respected. -
Remarks at the World Economic Forum, Davos - George Soros, Chairman Soros Foundation
27 Jan 2012 | 12:58 pmGeorge Soros: The measures introduced by the European Central Bank in December, including the LTRO, have relieved the liquidity problems of European banks but they did not cure the financing disadvantage from which the highly indebted member states suffer. Since the high risk premiums on Italian and Spanish bonds endanger the capital adequacy of the banks which hold those bonds, half a solution is not enough. It leaves the weaker members of the eurozone relegated to the status of third world countries that became highly indebted in a foreign currency -
Canada's Economic Outlook - Stephen Harper, Prime Minister, Canada
27 Jan 2012 | 6:55 amStephen Harper: more Canadians are now working than before the downturn. How was this achieved? We made historic investments in infrastructure. We encouraged businesses to invest and helped them to avoid layoffs. We put substantial funding into skills training. And we extended support for workers who lost their jobs. These things we did on a timely, targeted and temporary basis. We did not create permanent new programs or government bureaucracy. As a consequence, our deficit is now falling, our debt-GDP ratio has already peaked and we do not need to raise taxes. I should add, we also did not… -
Speech to text - davispolk
27 Jan 2012 | 5:51 amSpeech to textdavispolk Speech to text http : / / www.amitbhawani.com / blog / how - to - convert - text - into - an - audio - clip / http : / / www.techsupportalert.com / free - books - audio http : / / www.makeuseof.com / tag / easy - listening - pleasures - 10 - websites - free - audio - book - downloads / http : / / www.correctmytext.com / text / 2862 / page1 http : / / www.uploadingmymusic.com / http : / / blog.bandcamp.com / 2011 / 12 / 26 / album - of - the - week - s - p - t - a -... -
Address to Resolution Foundation - Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister, UK
26 Jan 2012 | 6:37 amNick Clegg: we must also rebalance our economy: ending our overreliance on financial services and the South East; Shifting from consumption to investment; From debt-driven bubbles to sustainable growth. And there is another element of rebalancing. Rebalancing our tax and benefits system, because both need to be rebuilt with work at their heart, restoring some sense to the assistance and rewards the state provides.
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m62
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Presentation Language
26 Jan 2012 | 10:05 amMany presenters spend a lot of energy (and money!) focusing on body language in a presentation, but a far more important area to focus on is actually your spoken language. The words you use can have a big impact on your audiences – far more than the way you hold your hands. These tips follow areas presenters should make sure to address in a sales presentation, as they can have a big impact on the way you get across your message and whether or not your audience buys from you. Consider these aspects when presenting, and you are more likely to close the sale. Avoid Jargon Language is the… -
Improve Your Presentation in Thirty Minutes
26 Jan 2012 | 8:16 amYou’ve got a presentation tomorrow, and you’ve just looked at your slides and realised they look terrible. You really want to look credible and create a great impression, but you really don’t have time to start over, or engage with a presentation designer. So what methods can you use to improve your slide deck when you only have a very limited amount of time? In any presentation, the rationale for using PowerPoint is to display information, and to help convey information in a simplified way. Too often our PowerPoint presentations appear too complicated and end up giving the audience… -
Microphone Headsets: Review
26 Jan 2012 | 7:11 amEven though most of us don’t like hearing the sound of our own voice, some devices can make it more bearable than others. Here at m62 everyone does more than their fair share of VOIP, Skype, Brainshark and narration-recording on a day-by-day basis, so we thought it was about time to do a roundup of some of the most popular low-to-mid-price headsets on the market that our staff are using. Plantronics .Audio 326 – Amazon price $13.03 One of the lowest-priced stereo headsets available, this is a surprisingly competent piece of kit that delivers clear and well-balanced audio through the… -
UK Map PowerPoint Slides
20 Dec 2011 | 6:46 amThese UK Map PowerPoint slides are fully editable, allowing you to customise them as you wish. Change the colours, move the pins, select different counties or countries, and really make these slides your own. The map slides include separate objects for England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Island and the Republic of Ireland, so you can feature the countries separately or as a whole. The United Kingdom Map slides are useful for indicating your company location and areas covered by your services, or for class projects. Download for free for use in your own presentations. Download UK Map PowerPoint… -
US Map PowerPoint Slides
7 Dec 2011 | 7:45 amThese US Map PowerPoint Slides feature fully editable maps of the United States of America, complete with individual state sections. Change the colour of different states, or use the included pushpins to indicate locations. All aspects of the slide can be edited, so you can change the colours to fit in with your company brand. The US Map slides could be used to indicate the locations of your offices, or to show distribution levels across different states. Download for free and use at work, school, or any other place you wish! Download US Map PowerPoint Slides All our PowerPoint slides are…
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Hampshire Presentation Skills & Public Speaking Trainer
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Using facts and figures to win hearts and minds
25 Jan 2012 | 1:24 pmTwo speakers. Both equally credible, both equally charming, both suitably polished in the delivery of their presentation. One supports his argument with anecdotal evidence, the opinions of friends and a lot of cheesy jokes. The second presents facts, figures and examples from history, information from a variety of sources and from both sides of the [...] -
Ditch The Slides & Speak – Alternatives to Powerpoint
16 Jan 2012 | 3:51 amFor many of us, when we are asked to give a speech, lecture or presentation, our first thought is always ‘what will the Powerpoint look like?’. The way in which we have taken Powerpoint to our hearts (and in more recent times, Prezi) has caused us to forget that for thousands of years, public speakers [...] -
Two emerging methods of persuasive speaking
5 Dec 2011 | 3:01 pmDespite there being many different ways of forming and delivering a persuasive argument when public speaking, in the many speeches that I have witnessed in the past fortnight there has seemed to be two core ‘styles’ emerging. I am going to describe them below, with a few thoughts on when each might be most effective. [...] -
Writing a persuasive speech – Aristotle style
14 Nov 2011 | 1:44 pmI had to have a long and painful call with a call centre operator to persuade them to restore my Internet connection in my new home so that I could start blogging again. As a result, I thought I would make my first post back all about the very beginnings of persuasion in public speaking [...] -
Preparing for a presentation or speech – Part 2
17 Oct 2011 | 3:36 amThis article is the continuation of my guide to preparing for a presentation or speech. Part 1 covered what you should be doing in the weeks leading up to your public speaking assignment, this part focuses on what you should be doing in the days leading up to your speech or presentation as well as [...]
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Jim Harvey
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How interesting are you?- find great anecdotes, facts and figures for your speeches- Private Eye
22 Jan 2012 | 1:34 pmI work with some great speakers in my day to day existence. People who lead businesses and do great things, and the last thing they need from me is coaching on the ‘how’ to deliver a relevant, focused message. They know how. They tend to use me as a source of stories, anecdotes, facts and figures that they can use for the tricky bits of their speeches. They just know that those ‘frills’ are the things that help their message stand out at conferences, meetings and sales pitches. They want great attention grabbers at the start, memorable ‘funnies’ that make a… -
One text message saves hundreds of lives- Marketing as a force for good
19 Jan 2012 | 5:42 amIt made me laugh out loud. In a profession where certainty is so rare, here’s a case where a marketing text message saved hundreds of innocent, Russian lives on New Year’s Eve 2011. Give the marketing guy a medal please Mr Putin. Black Widow attempted New Year Moscow attack but blew herself up by mistake – Telegraph. The gist of the story is as follows- Security sources believe a spam message from her mobile phone operator wishing her a happy new year received just hours before the planned attack triggered her suicide belt, killing her but nobody else. On this occasion, it… -
And the winners of 2011’s corporate bullshit awards are… – FT.com
9 Jan 2012 | 6:15 amJournalists tend to be a pompous bunch when it comes to language and ‘corporate speak’. They seldom do anything that entails real responsibility, are often the most scathing when they suspect evasion and artful vaguery in others. Add the fact that journalists never have to deal with the cynicism and venality of other journalists – other than in the office and the bar- and you can see a total lack of understanding of what a senior corporate type is trying to say when s/he stands up to speak. Nothing. So when the CEO of Ford says- “Going forward, we are focused on… -
Why does pole-dancing pay better than consulting? Easy…
6 Jan 2012 | 4:24 pmNigel tended to take the hints and tips part of the blog a little too literally... I had a great chat with a colleague today. She’s an ex-investment banker. One of the UK’s ’40 people in investment banking under 40 to watch out for in 2011′. She’s smart, funny and worth listening to. As we chatted about clients and business development, networking and lots of other things, she told me a great story about one of her friends who’d supplemented her student loans while at University, by pole-dancing in a ‘high-end’ place in London. Laura said… -
Great liars make great presenters-
4 Jan 2012 | 5:25 pmMing may have been merciless, but the audience was worse Oscar Wilde made a good point when he said that- ”Playwrights tell lies to make a general truth” And as presenters we often have to do the same thing. We have a point to make and we want to make it powerfully and well. And if we have any soul we’ll realise that we’re not actually speaking the truth, but a twisted version of it to help us advance our argument, and to help the people in the plastic seats to be more successful at whatever they do. So making a lie seem like a palusible truth is a skill that great…
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Communication Skills Tips
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Build Your Speech One Block at a Time
6 Jan 2012 | 2:38 pmToo often, speakers try and write out their whole speech all at once. However, the task of writing out an entire speech can be daunting to most speakers. Instead, I suggest you build your speech one block at a time. Create a quick mind-map of all the stories you want to tell and the points that you want to make in your speech. Then, work on one story/idea each day. Write out one block the first, the next block the second day. Once you’ve finished writing all the blocks, you can focus on perfecting each block at a time – which is a far easier task than perfecting the entire speech… -
If You Only Read One Thing Today, Read This: Guaranteed Inspiration
31 Dec 2011 | 12:57 pmHappy New Year! Hugs for the ladies, handshakes for the gentlemen. P.S. If you are reading this via email, please click here to check out the AWESOME, inspirational photo below Photo Credit: Holstee Manifesto Get Email Updates (it’s FREE) Enter Your Email Address Below -
Speech (NEW: Part 4) The Delete Button
31 Dec 2011 | 11:53 amThank you for all the comments you’ve left on my blog and sent to me via email. I’m reading through them and promise to get back to you personally. Thank you for your contribution =) In case you’re seeing this for the first time: This is an exciting new project where I put my speeches up online. You tear them down. Go ahead and give me your feedback…I dare you Since this is the very first draft on my speech, I would appreciate your input and feedback in making this better. PART 1: The Sting Have you ever been stung by a scorpion? Six years ago, I experienced a deadly… -
Speech (NEW): Part 3
29 Dec 2011 | 11:41 amThank you for all the comments you’ve left on my blog and sent to me via email. I’m reading through them and promise to get back to you personally. Thank you for your contribution =) In case you’re seeing this for the first time: This is an exciting new project where I put my speeches up online. You tear them down. Go ahead and give me your feedback…I dare you Since this is the very first draft on my speech, I would appreciate your input and feedback in making this better. PART 1: The Sting Have you ever been stung by a scorpion? Six years ago, I experienced a deadly… -
Speech (NEW: Part 2)
28 Dec 2011 | 11:27 amAn exciting new project where I put my speeches up online. You tear them down. Go ahead and give me your feedback…I dare you Since this is the very first draft on my speech, I would appreciate your input and feedback in making this better =) PART 1 Have you ever been stung by a scorpion? Six years ago, I experienced a deadly sting that left me screaming, “Help!” Scorpions are dangerous little critters. They slip quietly, almost invisibly, through the smallest cracks, from the darkest of places. The sting hurts, but it’s the poison that does the damage. On June 17,…
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The Presenters' Blog
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Retiring the retirement speech
16 Jan 2012 | 12:54 pmRetirement speeches are due for retirement. A blend of good luck and bad means that retirement is becoming a thing of the past. The good luck is that we live longer, fitter lives. The bad luck is that retirement funds haven’t kept up with us. Today we more often work a series of downsize careers before finally retiring after a period of part-time employment. With classical retirement on the way out, the appropriate speech therefore needs rewriting. Most examples found on the internet will either insult someone who sees themselves as having working years to give, or depress someone who… -
One year from Tahrir
9 Jan 2012 | 4:55 pmOne year ago this month the Arab Spring arrived in Egypt as Tahrir Square crowds toppled a regime. Tahrir Square demonstrated that when people find their voice, nothing is impossible. 2011 saw people-power protests ranging from the Arab Spring through to Occupy Wall Street and the Internet campaigns that led banks to abandon unfair customer charges. It might sound odd or even offensive to equate such diverse movements, especially when the heroic protests of Tahrir Square saw people lay down their lives. There is a connection though, and as with so much in life today, it’s a technology… -
Iowa Caucuses: Battles won, Wars lost
2 Jan 2012 | 4:01 pmHere come the caucuses, and I don’t mean the mountain range between Europe and Asia. This is the process by which the US Republican Party will choose the individual who faces-off against President Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election. The past months have seen candidates spreading their message like farmers spreading silage in the Fall; generously, fragrantly, and in every direction. Wednesday January 3rd will yield the first results in the form of the Iowa caucus. For the Presenters’ Blog, it’s too much of an opportunity to pass-up. Every so often between now and… -
New year, new clothes
2 Jan 2012 | 10:59 amGuess what happens when old clothes are within easy reach. We wear them. Old clothes don’t look good on stage unless retro fundamentally links with our image, and then the clothes had better be retro, not merely old! New Year pre-disposes us toward clearing stuff out. Out go the decorations. Out go those special holiday food items that yet again we bought and that yet again no one consumed. De-cluttering everything from the rooms to the refrigerator puts us into a new-broom mindset. De-cluttering invigorates. It releases space and energy for other things. Carry the process right through to… -
Enjoying the Journey
19 Dec 2011 | 3:49 pmThere is a parallel between enjoying presenting and enjoying the Holidays. Every Christmas I have a melt-down. I enter the festive season resolving “This time I will not be a stress-demon by Christmas Eve.” Unfortunately though, year after year, I find a certain amount of difficulty in measuring up to the goal, and I know I’m not alone! Why is it so many of us go nuclear the night before Christmas, and why is there a parallel to the world of presenting? There comes a time when we become responsible for delivering The Holidays. Be it Hanukkah, Christmas, or Eid, we wind-up in that…
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Jazz Presentation
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8 Amazing Free and Premium Birthday Templates for your Presentation
11 Jan 2012 | 11:54 amPowerPoint presentations are a common thing nowadays at birthday parties, whether it is for your kids, parents or company Anniversaries. Birthdays are a time of celebration and fun but sadly most of us still use some very plain and boring PowerPoint templates. We at JazzPresentation know it’s a very special day for your loved ones. [ Read More ] -
Teach Spelling of words to Kids using Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
8 Jan 2012 | 10:59 amLearning spelling by proper methods is very important in elementary school education. In this tutorial we will be using an innovative method of teaching the spelling of fruits using Microsoft PowerPoint as teaching aid. The challenge that most kids face while learning spelling of English words is that most of these words contradicts with local [ Read More ] -
File Name Extension in Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
31 Dec 2011 | 4:25 amIn this article we will take a look at the different File name extension with which PowerPoint documents can be created. There are 26 different formats in which the Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 files can be saved and created. The Microsoft Office 2007 system introduced a new file format based on XML called Open XML Formats [ Read More ] -
How to Display and Hide Objects Using a macro in Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
13 Dec 2011 | 10:51 amIn this tutorial we will teach you on how to Write a Macro to enable and disable image objects (show and hide) in Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 by writing few lines of macro code using Visual basic editor. We have also created a few slides and a small example in PowerPoint to illustrate this tutorial. We [ Read More ] -
Steps to Write a Macro in Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
7 Dec 2011 | 7:57 amIn this Tutorial we will teach you on how to Write a Macro in PowerPoint Presentation, A Macro in a PowerPoint can help you to automate frequently done tasks and do wonders. A macro is a few line program which allows you to automate tasks and add functionality. In this tutorial we will [ Read More ]
