As many of you know, I primarily work with professionals to not only improve their presentation skills but also their ability to simplify the complex for their audiences. My mission to simplify complex messages aligns me with technical professionals in engineering, construction, technology, law, medicine, and other highly-educated professions. That is why this Washington Post article about a recent finding by Google really hit home. In short, Google evaluated their hiring practices and was shocked to find that the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) skills were not the reason they hired or promoted someone. Out of the eight most important qualities Google measured, STEM skills actually came in last place. The top seven qualities were actually soft skills: being a good coach, communicating and listening well, possessing insights into others, having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues, being a good critical thinker and problem solver, and being able to make
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What do you do when you have to deliver an old presentation? You can’t just wing it and hope you remember it, you have to prepare your presentation again. Next week my husband is presenting a presentation he did back in January and he asked me what is the best way to deliver an old presentation. I told him to prepare for the presentation like he normally prepares for a new presentation starting with his outline. This time his preparations will be expedited because he does not have to redo many of the steps. He already did the right steps to prepare his presentation the first time: creating a thesis, brainstorming ideas, narrowing down the topic, creating an outline, developing his visual aid, and practicing his presentation until he was comfortable with it. His challenge was the natural evolution a presentation takes as you go through preparation steps; the presentation
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You’re probably doing this annoying public speaking habit and do not even realize it — pacing. I’ve spoken about how many speakers pace to “work the stage” and it forces your audience to follow you back and forth like watching a tennis ball at a tennis match. As always, I try to build on my experience of doing over 1,000 presentations and coaching hundreds more and research why pacing is so annoying for audiences. Why do Speakers Pace Anyway? Think That is What the Pros Do – Many presenters see professional speakers that get paid a lot of money to deliver keynote addresses pace, but there is a big difference between working the stage and pacing, I’ll explain below. Engage the Audience – Other speakers think pacing back and forth allows them to engage their audience, instead, it does the opposite. Anxiety – Some speakers bounce back and forth because they are nervous and
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A presentation blog interviewed me the other day, and the interviewer asked me my favorite presentation trick, hack, or technique. (Don’t fret, I’ll share the interview once it is published.) I told him my favorite, most powerful presentation trick is simple, free, and oddly, seldmonly used — it is the black screen. The black screen does multiple things: It surprises the audience (in a good way) and everyone perks up wondering what is about to happen All eyes go to the presenter (because the visual aid isn’t stealing the spotlight anymore) You can dive into something deeply personal or important while having the entire audience’s attention This presentation technique dovetails my post from a few weeks ago, The Power of Speaking without a PowerPoint. Best yet, this powerful presentation trick is free! You can use the black screen presentation technique in two ways: Some presentation remotes have a button to turn
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I was talking with a client the other day who was interested, and a bit nervous, about starting to do webinars. He asked me if I had any tips on presenting great webinars. I simply said, “Sit at the edge of your seat.” He thought I was joking and replied, “That is your big tip on presenting webinars, to ‘sit at the edge of my seat’?” If you’ve read my blog posts about giving webinars or downloaded my guide about presenting webinars, you may have heard this tip about how to sit before. Since he was so dumbfounded by it, I thought I’d share my explanation to him why sitting at the edge of your seat is so important for webinars. Your Body Langauge Adds Excitement – Even if your audience can’t see you sitting at the edge of your seat, they can hear it. Much like the old adage that
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Occasionally I get calls from prospective clients that want to give me a loose idea of what they’re thinking about for a presentation along with a few vague parameters, and they want me to send them a completed PowerPoint slide deck and accompanying script in a few days. I inform them that I don’t write presentations for other speakers, but I will guide them and educate them through the entire presentation preparation process, and here is why. 10 Reasons Why I Don’t Write Presentations for My Clients I’m Not the Subject Matter Expert – Yes, I can interview someone and ghostwrite a presentation, but it is best for the expert to share their own thoughts in the presentation because that is what the audience wants and needs. The expert’s viewpoint and expertise is why audiences attend a presentation, not to hear someone recite something; they can read what someone else wrote.
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Many new presenters shy away from speaking because they are nervous presenting and it may bore them. You have to learn how to overcome your fears and how to have fun presenting. Luckily, you can overcome the fear of public speaking and actually have fun presenting with the same three steps. 3 Ways to Have Fun Presenting Outline Your Presentation – Many beginner speakers make the mistake of scripting out their presentation and tediously review every word with excruciating detail. When presenting, trying to remember that perfect phrasing and word choice makes speakers more nervous and causes them to make more mistakes. Instead, determine your goals, brainstorm your ideas, and create an outline of your presentation. Know that your word selection will vary and improve each time you practice your presentation. Having an outline will free yourself from worrying about what you plan to say and allow you interact with your audience instead
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Over the Thanksgiving Day break last week, I pondered about all that I’m thankful for, much like I assume many of you did. I am truly blessed to have a wonderful family, to do what I’m passionate about, and to help my clients succeed with their presentations. I also got thinking about giving thanks during presentations and about the three naive ways presenters sabotage themselves by merely saying “thank you” the wrong way. I’m sure these will surprise you, and I hope they get you thinking. 3 Ways “Thank You” Sabotages Your Presentation Over Thanking during the Intro – When you are introduced, it is okay to thank the person introducing you, however, you don’t want to make a big deal it. You also don’t want to thank the conference or association hosting your presentation, your friend in the front row, and the audience for allowing you to speak. You need
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Many speakers’ goal for a presentation is to get more work or to make money. When coaching presentations, I advise my clients to take a step back and think about the audience, to be audience-centric. As a presenter, you are not there to sell anything, even in bid presentations. You want to educate your audience about something. In bid presentations, you’re educating the selection committee about the best way to select a vendor for their project that happens to align with your best characteristics and differentiation. Especially in content marketing (thought leadership) presentations, you want to make sure you have a clear next step, otherwise known as presentation calls to action. For some of you, presentation calls to action, or CTAs as marketers will call them, are old hat, and it is second nature for you to include them. I bring this topic to your attention because my husband recently attended four presentations
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If you’ve followed my blog or read my book, Speak Simple, you know that I’m a huge proponent of being prepared to speak. Most presenters mess up because they did not prepare enough and you can overcome the majority of your stage fright with proper preparation. That means spending more than an hour to prep and you should absolutely never “wing” a presentation! My suggested preparation time is 10:1, meaning you spend 10 hours preparing for a 1-hour presentation. Yes, that is a lot of time, but you have a lot at risk when presenting and a lot of potential benefits too. So what is the ROI for presentations? Your ROI (Return On Investment) depends on a lot of factors including the type of presentation, your business, your role, and how large is the audience. I’ve coached many bid presentations where winning the project will change the company, and millions of
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