Archive for Delivery
Speakers: Don’t do these 11 Things!
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Read them – Study them – Don’t do them!
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If you’re a speaker there are certain things you should do, and should not do. Here are 11 Definite Don’ts!
- Don’t ”Wing it.”
- Your non-effort will show.
- You’ll embarrass yourself and waste the time of your audience. They came to learn something from your talk.
- It is your responsibility they leave the room knowing more about your subject than they did when they entered.
- Prepare and practice your presentation as if it were very important – because it is!
- It is, and always should be, about the Audience!
- Being Audience Centered is one of the
Laws of Presentation.
Props for Presentations: Seen and UnSeen!
Posted by: | CommentsMake the Invisible – Visible! Sometimes – Not! 
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A prop is something used to support your presentation. Props can be very effective tools for presenters to use.
People have three styles of learning:
- Visual – Learn by seeing.
- Auditory – Learn by hearing.
- Kinesthetic – Learn by doing.
Example:
I used to be in the Coffee Business. If I were speaking about Coffee, I might hold a mug in my hand and talk about different beans, roasts, and brewing equipment. The audience sees the mug. Most of them have probably had a cup or two that day. It reinforces my message about coffee. When I finish talking about coffee, Read More→
Have a ‘Plan B’ Because When the Screen Goes. . .
Posted by: | CommentsBLANK - You’re Going to Need It! - Glad I Had Mine!
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Have you ever changed a tire? (I don’t mean calling the Auto Club and waiting for the service truck to arrive!) I know many of you haven’t. So if you had the misfortune of getting a flat in the middle of nowhere and had a properly inflated tire in your trunk, and all the tools to make that change, you might have to grab your manual and figure how to change that tire – correct?
Having a ‘Plan B’ doesn’t mean implementing it is going to be easy!
Murphy’s Law, if something can go wrong it will go wrong, applies to the world of Public Speaking and Presentations, also.
I always have a ‘Plan B’, and often a ‘Plan C’. But, like having that spare tire, I never really expect to need it.
Successful Speakers Focus on. . .
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The AUDIENCE!
Speakers: It’s not about you!
It’s all about your Audience!
Successful Companies are Customer Centered.
- They focus on the Customer; the needs and challenges their customers have.
They focus on meeting those needs and solving those challenges.
That means:
- The Medical Community is Patient Centered.
- The Educational System is Student Centered.
- The Hospitality Industry is Guest Centered.
To be successful in the Public Speaking / Presentation World we need to be
Audience Centered!
The audience didn’t come to see and hear you. They did come to learn! They came to Read More→
Slideshows Help Them SEE Your Message!
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PowerPoint / Keynote Slide Presentations
Help the Audience GET IT!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. There are three styles of learning.
- Auditory – Learn by hearing.
- Visual – Learn by seeing.
- Kinesthetic - Learn by doing.
For speakers, if more than one of these styles can be addressed to convey your message, the odds they’ll GET IT are dramatically increased. Combining high quality, universally understood images on a screen with you, the speaker providing the “text” is an excellent way to do this.
Unfortunately, the majority of slide shows are designed with lots of text, bullet points, corporate templates and logos. If they include any images, they are often cheap clip art or graphics that have the audience scratching their heads wondering what they are.
Sometimes you wonder why the presenter even showed up! They are standing at the lectern, with their back to the audience, and are reading each and every bit of text to the attendees. Yech! They could just have well emailed their powerpoint presentation to everyone!
So your audience GETS IT! here are better ways to use slides in your presentation:
Use very little text and as few bullet points as possible.
Here’s why: Read More→
PowerPoint and Keynote Slide Presentations
Posted by: | CommentsProfessional PowerPoint and Keynote Slide Presentations.
Because many people are Visual Learners, Professional Slide Presentations can dramatically add to the goal of your audience GETTING IT!
Unfortunately, the majority of slide shows are designed with lots of text, bullet points and the occasional piece of cheap clip art.
Because your presentation is important – talk to me!
Speakers should be Bloggers. Here’s Why!
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I started Blogging almost two years ago. Here is what weekly Posting has brought Me.
It might do the same for You!
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Increased Knowledge.
I learn something every time I write a Post. Each time I pick a subject, I research it and always find information I didn’t know. My expertise on Public Speaking and Presentation Skills continues to grow.
Increased Visibility, Credibility and Brand Awareness.
As I write about the Components, Parts and Elements of a Presentation, all that text is out in the blogosphere for anyone searching those topics to find. Google sees it and my ranking in searches has increased exponentially. The more good Content I place in Posts, the more my readers learn and their perception of me as an EXPERT grows. (We like to work with EXPERTS, don’t we!)
Branding is important and large companies spend a lot of time and money to make sure people know them. “No Sweat!” is in the title of my book and the closing of each Post. It’s become my brand and is getting more recognition all the time! Read More→
Your Master Slide Deck: “Know when to
Show Them and when to Fold Them!
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Every Audience Doesn’t Need to See All your Slides.
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Fred's Master Deck: 9 of 138 Slides
Audiences have different wants and needs. Most presentations have time restraints. Not recognizing either of these can result in a less than stellar performance.
A properly customized presentation connects better with audiences than a one-size-fits-all one. Connecting with an audience increases the odds they’ll GET IT!
A large Master Deck of slides makes this customization easy. Read More→
CBS Radio Interviews Speaker/Author Fred Miller
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NewsRadio KMOX 1120 The Voice of St. Louis!
Host Mark Reardon interviews me about my book,
“No Sweat Public Speaking!”
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With their famous 50,000 watt signal, KMOX is one of the top stations in the country.
Mark Reardon, 30 year radio veteran, interviewed me about Public Speaking and my book.
Following is the transcript. Read More→
Slides: USE TEXT – as little as possible! PLEASE!
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Text and Bullet Points
Do Not reinforce the message!
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Have you ever sat through a presentation where the speaker read, word for word, the bullet pointed text that was on the screen? Terrible, wasn’t it?
Why do speakers do this?
If they want to use notes for their presentation, those details should be placed in the ‘Notes Section’ of the slides, visible only to the presenter using Keynote or PowerPoint in ‘Presenter Mode.’
Placing Text on the screen does not reinforce the presenter’s message with the audience and help them GET IT!
On the contrary, Text and Bullet Points: Read More→
