Archive for presentation skills
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→
PowerPoint and Keynote Slide Presentations
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Professional 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!
Build a Three-Legged Stool to be an EXPERT!
Posted by: | CommentsWe like to work with EXPERTS – Don’t we?
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Naturally, we want people to perceive us as an EXPERT. Perception is reality, and people like to work with EXPERTS - Correct?
Being perceived as an EXPERT grows your:
1. Business
2. Career
3. Leadership Opportunities
EXPERTS also get paid more for the products and services they provide.
You can accomplish this by standing on a Special Three-Legged Stool that you build!
Here is what those Special Legs are: 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→
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→
The Magic Pill that Makes You a Great Presenter!
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Not!
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Sorry, It Doesn’t Exist!
I wish it did. Maybe it, and the one that gets rid of the Fear of Public Speaking, are in clinical trials somewhere. I haven’t found either.
If you have them, or know where they can be purchased, please let me know!
Until then, there’s no easy way to get rid of the Fear of Public Speaking and become a Great Presenter.
Don’t Despair!
Public Speaking is a skill that can be learned. Read More→
Fox News interviews Speaker/Author, Fred E. Miller
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John Pertzborn, co-anchor of Fox News AM Show in St. Louis, interviews me.
Special thanks to Jim Grandone, www.grandone.com
Transcript of Interview Read More→
Non-Verbal Communication Speaks
Louder than Words
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The Non-Verbal Communication you deliver will trump
What you say and How you say it – EVERY TIME!
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For instance, if I say, “I really am enjoying being here at your event,” but continually look at my watch and have an expression on my face that says “I’m bored and wish I were somewhere else,” what is the message I am sending?
The audience, if they’re paying attention to your physical presentation, will not believe the words you just spoke. Read More→
Corporate Templates
Can Undermine a Slide Presentation
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Guest Post: John Zimmer, Manner of Speaking
Many companies unwittingly hinder the effectiveness of their employees’ presentations because of policies that mandate the use of corporate templates on every PowerPoint
or Keynote slide.
Without question, a well-designed template can make a slide presentation look
professional and polished. And, it is understandable that companies want to display
their brand name and logo as often as they can. However, the focus on brand promotion can have unintended negative consequences.
Consider the slide below.
Written Post + Audio Post =
BETTER POST and SPEAKING!
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Ever read your Post several days after publishing and . . . Oops!
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I have done it more times than I’ll admit. However, I’m writing this Post to give a solution for catching those errors and greatly improving my Posts! If you are a blogger, writer, or speaker, it might be something you will want to do, also.
I borrowed the idea from my good friend and internet marketing expert, Russ Henneberry, Tiny Business, Mighty Profits. Russ puts the audio of his Posts at the beginning of each Post. The first time I noticed this, I clicked on the icon and started reading along with his reading the Post. It was so easy to listen to his rendition of his own Post, that I quickly stopped reading. Read More→
