Archive for Speaking Strategies
Better than Text
It never ceases to amaze me that I will be sitting in an audience listening to a speaker and people are either texting, reading their e-mail, or surfing the net on their cell phones. It happens at my Rotary Club all the time, and I think it’s rude. That being said, there are three realities [...]
PowerPointer #3 Don’t Suck the Life Out of the Room
Want to suck the life out of a crowded room that is waiting to hear you speak?
All you have to do is start your presentation by clicking on the projector. Hopefully, masks will drop from the ceiling and your audience can be revived!
If you MUST use PowerPoint, then open your presentation without the slides. Don’t [...]
Biggest Mistakes Made with PowerPoint ® Slides
The Biggest Mistakes Made with Slides:
Reading the text to your audience. Don’t insult them; they know how to read.
Not fully understanding your presentation because you thought you could skate through the slides.
Not checking to see if the equipment works before your presentation.
Not having a back up plan in case it fails.
Too much text, [...]
Q & A Basics #2 - Repeat and Confirm
How many times have you heard a speaker in a Q & A session NOT repeat the question from the audience? Too many times for me. The speaker normally has a microphone; the audience almost never does. Do yourself (as a presenter) and most importantly your audience a favor. Repeat questions from your audience so [...]
Speaking to Influence Video Lesson 1 - WIIFM
Record Your Presentations
Self-awareness is an important thing in business and life…
When I coached high school basketball, we video recorded every game. The coaching staff would always watch it to learn what the team did well and what it didn’t do well. Often, I would have the players watch. My favorite phrase to them was, “The video never [...]
PowerPointer #2 - Images Say 1000 Words
Please, please do your audience a favor. Don’t fill up your Power Point ® slides with text. Even if you don’t read it to them (see PowerPointer #1), there’s nothing more boring than a bunch of text.
Just like stories are critical in speeches, images are also important to conveying your message. If you have images [...]
Success…Not Perfection
Lat week I drove down to Portland to meet a friend and colleague. I’m not overly familiar with downtown Portland, so I brought my trusty friend Maggie to guide me. Maggie is my Magellan GPS.
As we approached the final exit that would take me to my destination, Maggie exclaimed that I should take the St. [...]
PowerPointer #1 - Stop Reading
Last Saturday, I had to go to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for my daughter who got the flu. The tech at the window showed me the box and said, “The pharmacist will be right with you to go over the instructions.” I glanced at the box and it said - Take 2x [...]
Questions and Answers Strategy
I gave a 60-minute presentation this morning for the Nursing Management students at Olympic College in Bremerton. One of the questions was on dealing with questions and answers in a presentation. Here are a few strategies to consider…
- Never end with Q&A. I know you see it about 98% of the time, but it’s wrong. [...]
