I’m a stickler for having a “speaker intro” as part of your professional tool kit. This tool is not just reserved for celebrities or professional speakers who get paid for speeches. It is an essential marketing tool for professionals who give presentations as part of their job….whether for internal meetings, organizational events, industry conferences, community [read more]
INTERRUPTING: Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Is it a communication misdemeanor, or a clever strategy to dominate the conversation? Does it foster productive conversations, or does it lead to arguments, distrust, and disrespect? We’ve certainly seen a lot of interrupting lately in the Presidential debate series. The Vice Presidential debate held on October 4th was also [read more]
People often ask me if it’s possible to over-prepare for a speech or presentation. They worry that they’ll come off canned, too scripted, too stiff, or that they might lose some of their spontaneous charisma. How do I answer their concerns? I tell them that preparation is essential to any successful presentation, especially if it’s [read more]
With current workplace trends in casual dress and working remotely, it’s sometimes difficult to pull yourself together in a more professional way. For example, right now, I’m wearing summer shorts, a Stanford University tank top, I’m barefoot, my hair is a mess, and I’m wearing absolutely no makeup. I feel great, and I’m being productive in my [read more]
It was a close one. I almost tripped and fell into a presentation pitfall. I knew about this pitfall, having written about it in a blog article in 2011. Yet I walked blindly toward it. What was I thinking? Here’s the back story: I was preparing materials for an upcoming half-day workshop on advanced networking skills for [read more]
Last week I had the pleasure of working with talented engineering and financial professionals from Sikorsky Aircraft in West Palm Beach, Florida. While the weather station warned us continuously of the potential hazards looming from Hurricane Hermine, we were tucked away in a cozy hotel conference room trying to reduce the risks of death by PowerPoint, and to learn better [read more]
It takes courage to ask a question in a public forum. Whether it’s at a large conference, a town hall meeting, a classroom, or a business presentation, it takes guts to ask a question in a public forum. But asking questions is what turns the presentation from a lecture into a meaningful conversation. Questions make presentations much more [read more]
Podiums can pose quite a dilemma for public speakers. They can lead to the dreaded…. On the one hand, podiums can be helpful: a place to put your notes, provide a place to stand, and add some formality to your presentation. On the other hand, podiums can become a crutch: a place to hide behind, a [read more]
I have many clients who struggle with the job requirement of giving someone else’s presentation. In some cases, it is a capabilities presentation to a potential new client. In other cases, it is a product/service presentation that has been “compliance-approved.” In other situations, clients have to give a senior management or board update that someone else has [read more]
This is the fourth and final post in my four-part blog series exploring the many ways in which you can close your presentations with greater impact. My goal is to motivate you to be more creative and experimental with how you close out your presentations. We’ll look at video examples from TED.com and YouTube to see how other [read more]
