I was talking recently to a group of women at a Her Business (more…)
Archive for the ‘Public Speaking’ Category
It’s that time of the year!
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011Slides as handouts? Two into one won’t go
Sunday, August 28th, 2011
Imagine you are sitting in an audience. There’s quite a complicated presentation going on and you are attempting to follow it. The presenter is using a lot of slides with several sentences on every slide.
What do you do? Keep listening to the speaker and ignore the slides completely, or attempt to read the slides whilst the speaker keeps talking? Neither option works. Either you try to ignore the distraction of the slides and listen – hard to do. Or you can chose the opposite – while you struggle to read the slide, the speaker has moved on to a new topic.
Don’t try to use slides as hand-outs for the audience to take away. They are attending a face-to-face communication, not reading a book. Reading and listening are two completely different forms of communications, using different mental processes. Audiences can’t read slides and listen at the same time. In fact, If you have too much on the slides, they are very hard to read on their own, even without the complication of listening.
I’ve talked previously about how brief good slide content must be. Basically – hardly any words. Let’s face it: If the slides were any use to someone who hadn’t attended the presentation, they probably didn’t communicate well during it!
Garr Reynolds at Presentation Zen has a good example of using speaker notes plus slides for a reasonable compromise on the slide+hand-out front.
Beware of jokes when you present-you’re just not that funny
Friday, August 26th, 2011Why is it people still believe they need to tell a joke or two to make their presentation ‘come alive’.
Very few people are good joke tellers and even worse, presenters who know they are not that interesting (or even down right boring) think if they start their presentation with a joke somehow the speech will go well.
Jokes are a problem Firstly they are usually old . Secondly you can offend your audience if you tell a joke that is sexist,dirty,racist, religious,ageist ,etc. So really there is very little left in the joke cupboard
What works so much better are stories,personal anecdotes that may or may not provoke laughter but will remain in your audiences minds for a lot longer.
How many of you have been to a comedian and laughed throughout but can not remember a single joke next day? It is the same with presentations -we don’t lock in the joke ,what we remember is the story and how it made us feel.
Stories are an essential part of or human condition.We have stored inside us memories of childhood and the stories that are universally shared. These make the best content for a successful presntation.
So next time you are thinking of livening up your presentation leave out the jokes and replace them with your real stories and anecdotes.Then sit back and enjoy the audiences response.
Stepping outside your comfort zone
Monday, July 4th, 2011Gosh things have changed when it comes to giving people information.
Years ago when we started Communicate Consultants we made sure our workshops were interactive with the learning taking place through discussion ,experiential exercises , practical work and not much lecture.
The key was face to face communication over a period of time usually one day. And it still is today.
However I am now embarking on an entirely new (to me ) way of running workshops. Webinars.
Talk about stepping outside your comfort zone and challenging your assumptions on how people can take in information.
Instead of reacting to the participants body language and facial expressions and adjusting the programme accordingly by stopping,asking questions and getting group involvement I am chatting to my laptop.
As much as I like my laptop it isn’t the most responsive of media and doesn’t get my jokes.
So I have had to adjust how I get the message across to the people on ‘the other side’.
It’s a bit like using your voice on the phone to sound excited,enthusiastic and engaging whilst seeing yourself on the camera (like Skype) and looking quite peculiar.
Questions pop up randomly which need answering but I can’t check they have understood or I’ve answered the question correctly.its a case of fingers crossed.
Tomorrow is my second webinar this time on Negotiations to IPENZ
The Institute of Professional Engineers www.ipenz.org.nz
So why do them?
The answer is its an efficient way to get a message across to people scattered over a large geographical area
Its quick -one hour to stimulate your participants to understand some principles and learn some new stuff
And for me it’s the chance to step outside my comfort zone and tackle a new skills-that’s got to be fun!
Using stories to get your message across
Monday, April 4th, 2011Two contrasting events happened in Communicate this week that put the power of stories firmly in mind: I was working with a group of auditors and discussing options for presenting technical auditing issues in an engaging way. Back in the office I picked up an email asking for presentation help for a guy described as a bright guy, very theatrical in his style who enjoys theory and concepts but is too abstract and jumps around ideas too much for people to follow. Obviously he needs to build some stronger audience engagement.
In both cases story telling is the answer. All humans enjoy stories and a good story can turn knowledge into something that really connects with us and can stimulate us to understand and to act. Even something as technical as auditing has human story behind it – stories as to why that rule was developed, what happened when the rule was broken and so on.
Often when I ask people about the best presenter at a recent conference, the answer relates to story telling – the presenter told a story that the listener could relate to and use as the basis for future action.
An example? A new team leader hearing a presenter talk about the issue of sometimes having to make an unpopular decision as a leader. The presenter told about her son falling over that very morning and getting a bad gravel graze. The mother had to inflict pain on the boy to clean out the graze so it could heal well. Who knows how true that small story was, but it lingered with the listener and gave her the confidence to act on some difficult issues she was facing.
Don’t get stuck on the idea that your life is too mundane for stories. You don’t have to have chopped off your arm with a multi-tool to escape from being trapped under a rock! Often the most powerful and long-lasting stories are built from very simple accessible material – as in the grazed knee example. With this type of story, an audience can think: ‘Ah ha! Yes, I get that. This is familiar’, then they have the basis for understanding or action.
A while ago I worked with a group young army recruitment personnel. Some of them had coped with some very dramatic situations during their overseas service, but the most compelling story came from a woman who talked about how joining the army had enabled her to find a route out of a very negative and limited background. The audience could relate to the story and use it as a message for action. So, just look at your ordinary daily life for compelling content. If you want an example, take a look at Carmen Agra Deedy telling the story of taking her mother to the shopping mall. Okay, she’s a brilliant story teller and has really worked on this one, but the source of the content is very simple:
So look around your life for some real stories, then when you have some ideas or concepts that are difficult to get across, ask yourself: ‘What else in my life is similar to this concept or has the same kinds of elements? Who knows how your life might be compelling for someone else.
Some other useful resources:
- One of our favourite books: ‘Made to Stick’ by Chip and Dan Heath covers story telling for presenters very well and…
- for some extra practical tips look at: Ten tips for using stories and case studies
Get with it when you prepare slides for a presentation
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011This presentation uses a very funky approach to slides whilst giving you some great pointers on preparing your presentation. Take a look and let me know what you think!
Most Presentations Stink! – Connect4 – EP
View more presentations from Empowered Presentations, Presentation Design Firm – Honolulu, HI
Posture makes perfect
Thursday, January 27th, 2011Psychologists have long believed that how you stand makes a huge difference to how you feel about yourself and your situation. The Power of Posture, Economist January 13, is an interesting article reporting on research that supports that belief. Scientists at North Western University, Illinois found that research participants who sat in an expansive posture had a stronger sense of their own power than those who sat in a constricted position. The expansive sitters were also more likely to choose the more active option in situations such as speaking first in a debate, deciding to leave a plane crash to seek help, and joining a fight for justice.
Interestingly, the expansive participants’ higher levels of self-confidence occurred regardless of the status of their position.
‘Expansive’ posture? Just like your mother always said – of course! Head up, shoulders back, legs spread wide (oh dear!) and arms reaching outwards. It’s all about enhancing your appearance of size.
Constricted posture? Shoulders hunched, hands under your thighs, legs together. The word ‘fetal’ comes to mind!
If you want to build on this prompt, take a look at: Ten ways to instantly build self-confidence
A great brief reminder for using PowerPoint effectively
Monday, October 18th, 2010Do you need to communicate complex ideas in your presentation? My son is working on a presentation on progress so far on his Masters thesis and we are doing battle about keeping it simple. To make the point to him and hopefully to be useful to you: Ellen Finklestein has a very useful and brief
online video presentation on keeping PowerPoint simple and visual. In 2.39 minutes she gives a very accessible lesson on why you need to keep slides simple and visual. She includes a before and after sample of the difference.
Ignore the irritating teacherly voice because the content is good. She is using an interesting new technology called BrainShark to share the presentation.
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