Archive for presentation skills
Speakers: Instructions For Your Audience Are. . .
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Wouldn’t It Be Nice If. . .
Before your presentation, your Audience had specific instructions and training on how to be a Good Audience?
An audience can make or break a presentation.
A good, enthusiastic group gives the speaker responses and energy that lead to a better presentation.
Audiences with individuals who have their own agendas and don’t respect the speaker’s efforts, can disrupt an otherwise, good presentation. This can lead to, frustration for the presenter, a less than stellar performance, and the audience not GETTING the speaker’s message.
If the speaker has developed and practiced a speech, the audience should follow certain “Guidelines” that give the presenter an opportunity to deliver their message so the audience GETS IT! They don’t have to agree with all of it. They don’t have to agree with any of it. However, unless they GET IT! there can’t be a significant discussion going forward.
To help the speaker, and the audience, I’ve compiled a set of:
Audience Instructions
- Arrive well before the scheduled event.
- Arriving after an event has started and finding a seat is disruptive to everyone.
- If you can meet the presenter before their presentation, be Read More→
Have a Spare Tire in Case Murphy Shows Up!
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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 on a USB flash drive. Because I use a mac, my slideshows are made with iWork Keynote software. I export copies to PowerPoint and convert, also, to PDFs. The PDF conversion is done because they work when versions of PowerPoint and Keynote are not the versions on a backup computer.
I also print a copy of my slideshow in Light Table view, which allows Read More→
The Elevator Speech Booklet – CLICK to Open!
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Your Elevator Speech is a Mini-Presentation
CLICK to Open Booklet
Use this as a Template for Your Elevator Speech!
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 should be delivered “by the floor.”
At each stop, the verbal and/or nonverbal signal to look for is, “Tell me more.”
Everyone doesn’t want to go to the Top Floor with you. Some don’t want to leave the lobby! There is no need to waste time and energy taking them all the way up.
The Elevator Speech can be a good tool for Qualifying and DisQualifying prospects.
The Elevator Speech starts simple. As interest and time permit, it is expanded.
Again, not everyone wants to go with you to the Top Floor and you don’t want to take everyone there.
Let’s get in the Elevator and start going up!
1st Floor - Describes Who You Are
Hello! My Name is Fred Miller.
That may be all someone wants to know about you – Your Name.
2nd Floor - Describes What You Do
I’m a Speaker, a Coach and an Author.
That’s what I do.
Hopefully, they want to know: Read More→
Remember: NonVerbal Communication Trumps. . .
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Verbal Communication
Have you ever watched a Professional Mime? They speak no words, but communicate very well, don’t they!
If they were to use their voice, their NonVerbal Communication: eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, posture, and body movements, would outweigh their spoken words.
Our NonVerbal Communication carries more weight than the words we say and how we say them.
Example: The speaker on the podium says, “I’m very excited to be speaking to this group today.” At the same time, he is yawning, not giving eye contact to anyone in the audience, and continually looking at his watch. What’s the message he’s sending?
Everything in the Delivery of our presentation must be in sync, else the audience will believe what they “See.”
While we can consciously use our NonVerbal Communication Skills to emphasize parts of our presentation, it’s important to remember that we exhibit involuntary NonVerbal Communication, also. Read More→
Speakers: Brand Yourself with – “No Sweat!”
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“If it’s Sunday, it’s Meet the Press.”
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This is how David Gregory, the moderator of the the longest-running television series in American broadcasting, signs off each Sunday morning.
Tim Russert, the previous host, and all hosts before him, signed off with the same words. It’s part of this weekly television news/interview program’s Branding.
Branding yourself and company in several ways, so others know who you are and what you do, should be part of your marketing strategy. Using it in your Closing can be particularly effective. This is because of the Law of Primacy and Recency which says, “The last thing the audience sees and hears will be the first thing they will remember.”
If you’re a fan of the great motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, you know his presentations always closed with his Branded Tag Line, “I will see You - At The Top!”
My good friend and internet marketing expert Russ Henneberry blogs on the site,
Tiny Business, Mighty Profits. He closes and Brands his presentations with the statement, “Starting tomorrow, do the things we worked on today, and Your Tiny Business will have - Mighty Profits!”
If you hear the phrase, “It just works!” you associate it with Steve Jobs. Another of his favorites was, “And one more thing!” Combine those statements with a black turtleneck sweater, blue jeans, and white sneakers and you have the Brand, Steve Jobs!
That Brand was, and will forever be, associated with the bigger Brand, Apple.
I’ve worked very hard on my “No Sweat!” Brand: Read More→
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.
The Five Laws of Presentation
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To be successful in anything, there are Very Specific Laws that apply. These are not suggestions! The Public Speaking / Presentation World is no exception.
The following Five Laws of Presentation are essential if a high quality presentation is the goal.
Read them – Study them – Apply them!
- Know your “Stuff!”
- Really know your material.
- Continually study and keep abreast of the latest information.
- Read books and blogs on the subject.
- Set up google alerts for specifics that will help you stay up to date.
- Be proficient with all the Components, Parts and Elements of a great presentation.
- Have great content and use all the verbal and nonverbal communication skills available to deliver your presentation.
- Remember: Delivery trumps Content – NonVerbal Communication trumps Verbal Communication and Everything must be in sync!
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→
The Worst Speech You’ll Ever Give,
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That’s worth repeating:
“The worst speech you’ll ever give,
will be far better than the one you never give!”
Many are held back from speaking because of the
Fear of Public Speaking.
They mistakenly think:
- They have to be perfect.
- They’ll make a fool of themselves.
- The audience won’t like them.
- They’ll forget something.
- The previous speaker was so much better!
- The audience knows more than they do about the subject.
- They have nothing worthwhile to say.
Often, we want to make our feelings know to others so that, perhaps, action can be taken.
Some grab the opportunity. Many opt to pass. Some pass, unfortunately, because of the above reasons for the Fear of Public Speaking.
Watch This Video of a young lady, who hates public speaking, but is so passionate
about keeping her library off the budget cutting block in Toronto, she had to speak.
She makes the essential “emotional connection” with her audience.
The Magic of the Rule of Three
Read It – Understand It – Use It!
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Three has always been Magical!
• The Three Wise Men.
• Three Strikes You’re out!
• Rock, Paper, Scissors.
It is also one of the best techniques presenters can use for ensuring their audience GETS IT!
Andrew Dlugan sums the Rule of Three up like this:
“Using the Rule of Three allows you to express concepts more completely, emphasize your points, and increase the memorability of your message.”
In his book, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer, Roy Peter Clark provides insights to the Magic of the Number Three:
- Use One for power.
- Use Two for comparison, contrast.
(right – wrong, black – white, up – down, hot – cold) - Use Three for completeness, wholeness, roundness.
- Use Four or more to list, inventory, compile, and expand.
Make use of the Rule of Three in your presentations with the proper, inflection, cadence, and pauses, and I guarantee better speaking!
I’ve taken Dugan’s and Clark’s advice to heart and incorporated it into my presentations. What follows are examples from my Keynote Presentation, “No Sweat Public Speaking!”
Read them with the Rule of Three in mind. You’ll understand and remember more than if I had written them without using the Rule of Three! Read More→
