Posts Tagged 'Presentations'

Never how you planned it

People often try to complain to me that their presentation wasn’t how they planned it.

They forgot a point/story/clever thingy, or something.

If you’re doing it well,  it should never be exactly how you planned it.

If a presentation is exactly how you planned it, you’re working from a script and aren’t responding to the people in front of you.

This is the Presentations As Classical Music paradigm: presentations are a piece of Mozart (yuh – you should be so lucky) that need rehearsing and rehearsing and rehearsing until you remember the whole ‘script’. You can tell someone from this school as they talk about ‘writing a speech’.

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Using a microphone in presentations

Ever wonder what to do with a microphone?

Lisa B Marshall does it again – everything you need to know about using a microphone.

Check it.

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Chris Says It Better

Real Leaders Don't Do PowerPointOk, I’m never writing about presentations EVER again.

Because Chris Witt says it better.

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I finally got around to buying Chris’s book Real Leaders Don’t Do PowerPoint.

Loved it.

Not being a presentation skills specialist any more.

Here’s why.

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First off, Chris chooses some great quotes…

“Safety first has been the motto of the human race for half a million years but it has never been the motto of leaders. Leaders must face danger. They take the risk and the blame, and the brunt of the storm.” Herbert N Casson.

“Information consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” Herbert Simon, recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.

“A confused mind always says no. ” Len Torres, Primus Design

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Then he says so much that’s true, in a pithy way.

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Here’s Chris…

On leaders

Here’s the paradox:  Leaders have to be themselves at all times and yet, when they speak, they speak not for themselves, but for their organizations.

Leaders speak to make a difference, and unsettled times are when their words can have the greatest impact.

Their value to the organization isn’t in what they know; it’s in their ability to present what they know to people in a variety of fields in a way that can be understood and acted upon.

Leaders either stand with, stand for or stand against.

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How to use graphs in presentations

Do you use graphs in your presentations?

Bar Graph

Seth Godin recently expressed some opinions I agree with (it’s not the first time…).

One point that stands out from his article is to use your graph to tell a story.

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Helping the presentation gods to reduce the dread

We really do ask a lot of  the presentation gods.

They really want to help sprinkle their magic, smooth out the rough edges, supply us with a great answer to a question or an unexpectedly hilarious yet apt anecdote…  and then we get it in their way.

I was coaching a friend the other night for a presentation she’s delivering today. Presenting some papers at some huge event with the whole of her industry attending.

You know, no pressure.

I found myself giving her this advice:

Remember: it’s never as bad as you fear, and rarely quite as excellent as you hope.

Continue reading ‘Helping the presentation gods to reduce the dread’

Where do objections come from?

For a long time I have talked about becoming conscious of what’s going on in the minds of the people you’re communicating with – what attitudes, objections, concerns, questions, prejudices might people have towards what you’re saying.

It seems to me that you must always be respectful of people’s positions – to work out how their response is the logical one bearing in mind the experiences they have had and the data they possess.

[Update - The initial way I described the following was an oversimplification - and I knew it - Sharon Drew gave me here most current description of this point, so I've updated it - her words are in italics, just to be totally clear)

The book that’s rocking my world at the moment (there’s always one) is Sharon Drew Morgen‘s Selling With Integrity. In it she posits a totally respectful  way of selling – looking at the sales person (and that’s you, whether you think it is or not) as the servant of the buyer (of your product, your ideas, your recommendations). Their (your, our) job is to manage the internal, off line decisions they need to make to help them all buy in to a new solution, or to change.

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The importance of energy in presentations

How alive are your listeners?

meerkat on guard

Smart presentation choice four: pitch your energy 5% above where the group is

The brilliant Michael Breen taught me that you should leave people more alive than when you started.

As the speaker it’s your job to be the most awake person in the room.

Pitching your energy at 50% above where they group is is too much, unless you have ambitions to be a cheesy motivational speaker, in which case you need a recording of ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ and a big dark stage to run up on to.

The natural direction of closed systems is entropy. That means its your job to guard against the natural sleepy pull of sitting in a group.

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Looking after your voice

Whiny and nasal bad. Warm and smooth good. Muffled bad. Clear good. Strained bad (for you). Sustainable good (for you and us).

Looking after my voice is something I (guiltily) have never really paid much attention to.

I was catching up on my podcast listening and the smart and lovely Lisa B Marshall put out this out the other week. It’s a comprehensive introduction to warming up and looking after your voice. Extremely practical and yet still thorough. Crashes a few urban myths too.

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Speaking It Real – A Challenge For Professional Speakers

How important is authenticity for speakers?

On Tuesday night, I was asked to speak to the members of Asia Professional Speakers  – Singapore. (Here’s the blurb, if you’re interested – pdf - scroll down…). It was (bizarrely) my first meeting as a member – they turn out to be a lovely bunch of people!
I chose to speak about authenticity as I’m increasingly aware that rehearsed, polished talks aren’t necessarily the way to go.
Here are my thoughts – in ascending (decending?) order of weirdness.

(Bear in mind these thoughts were aimed at people who make a living at speaking – I tend to hold them to a higher standard as they are being paid for their speaking expertise. And this isn’t a transcript of what I said – no script, see? – but the same thoughts expressed again.)

If you really want to make a difference, is a talk the best way?

I am pretty strong about focusing on behavioural outcomes – specifying in advance what you want people able and motivated to do as a result of your communication. Most professional speakers declare that they are in it to make a real difference in the world, but I’m not sure if delivering a speech is the most effective way of doing that.

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Structure your presentation to answer their questions

Do you wonder how to structure your presentation? What sequence to use? If you’re dealing with contentious issues, you might find this useful….

Answer their unspoken questions

Smart presentation choice three: Answer their (unspoken) questions about how your recommendations solve their urgent problems

(This is part of a series of posts about how to develop presentation superpowers by making eight smart choices. This is choice number three.)

Developing Tech Presentation Superpowers @ RealSmartNow.netThere aren’t that many problems with presentation structure that this choice doesn’t answer. Done well, people won’t notice that this is the process you’re using. You’ll just come across as clear and relevant.

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