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Phoenix Public Speaking coaching and workshops

Archive for personal coaching – Page 12

Public Speaking Tip #35: Where to Get PowerPoint Ideas

Sometimes it can be challenging to think of how to convey an idea visually for a PowerPoint slide for your speech or business presentation. One great place I get ideas from is SlideShare.net, which is now part of LinkedIn. As the name suggests, SlideShare.net contains thousand and thousands of slide decks.

On SlideShare.net, you can search for any topic and usually find hundreds if not thousands of slides on that subject that might help your speech or business presentation. While not all of the examples on SlideShare.net are great, there are many gems that just may spark the visual idea you need. You also may find content ideas you haven’t thought of.If you’re in a rut or looking to

If you’re in a rut or looking to take your presentation slides up a notch, SlideShare.net is a good place to spend a few minutes.

Oh, and in case you’re interested, here are my SlideShare.net uploads. I’d love to have you as a follower.

Meanwhile, happy hunting!

 

Public Speaking Tip #34: Use PowerPoint to Enhance

Should you use PowerPoint or other presentation software in public speaking or business presentations? My rule is this: if slides enhance your speech or business presentation, then, by all means, use them.

Sometimes we need a photo, a chart, a graph or some visual representation to better understand a concept or to make an emotional impact. A well-done PowerPoint can help you convey important information. And given that most people are visual learners, it can be a powerful complement to your presentation. But a poorly done PowerPoint can harm your credibility as a public speaker or business presenter.

If you use PowerPoint, it must not become your on-screen presentation outline and you should not simply read bullet points to your audience.

Other Considerations

Another consideration in deciding whether to use PowerPoint or not is the size of the screen your slides will be projected onto. Is the screen too small to make a visual impact? Also, what about the lighting — will you have to turn off some or all of the lights in order to see the screen? You don’t want to be standing in the dark. If you are trying to engage your audience, they’ll likely need to see you.

You’re the Star of Your Presentation

You need to be the star of your own speech or business presentation. PowerPoint and other visual aids should be cast in supporting roles. Sometimes writing on a flip chart or a whiteboard can be more engaging to your audience. Even more engaging is instructing the audience to draw something or asking them to write important information on their own notebooks. You may want to think of something creative, as demonstrated in Public Speaking Tip #32.

The Choice is Yours

You’ll need to make a decision on the pros and cons of using PowerPoint or other presentation software for your speech or business presentation. Don’t automatically think you have to use presentation software. Some of the greatest speeches of all time didn’t use PowerPoint. Consider creative alternatives.Once you’ve thought everything through and weighed all the options, you will emerge with a more effective presentation.

Once you’ve thought everything through and weighed all the options, you will emerge with a more effective presentation. And your audience will thank you.

 

 

Public Speaking Tip #33: Save Visual Aids and Handouts for the End

Visual aids (such as the one described in Public Speaking Tip #32) and handout sheets can be a great enhancement to a speech or a business presentation. But they also can be a giant distraction if they aren’t handled correctly.

Once a visual aid or handout starts going around the room during a presentation, the audience’s attention is diverted to the object or handout. Much of what a speaker is saying will be lost while visual aids and handouts are being passed around.If you do distribute a visual aid, it is usually best to do s0 at the end of your presentation. That way, you won’t distract your audience during your presentation. Once an item is being passed around, all eyes are focused on it and not on the presenter. This is true for handout sheets as well.

It is usually better to distribute visual aids or handouts at the end of your presentation. In the case of a visual aid, you might want to show it to your audience and let them know that it will be available to them after the presentation is over. Here is an example a presenter showing what acupuncture needles look like in the midst of her informative speech. In the case of handout sheets, you might want to announce that they will be available at the end of your talk and briefly describe what’s in them.

However you use them, make sure your visual aids and handout sheets are enhancements to your speech or presentation and not a distraction. By making them available at the end, you will have a better chance of keeping your audience’s attention and delivering a more memorable presentation.

 

Public Speaking Tip #32: Creative Visual Aids

A student in one of my public speaking classes recently gave a persuasive speech about the declining honey bee population. At the end of her presentation, she distributed a straw filled with honey to each member of the audience. Attached to the straw was signage that read “Save the Honeybee.”

The Honey Bee straw was a nice ending to a wonderfully presented speech. It also was a great reminder that in public speaking and business presentations, applying a little creativity in your choice of a visual aid can help you stand out and help make your point more memorable.

Public Speaking Tip 31: Credibility is the Foundation of All Great Presentations

Credibility is the most important characteristic in all communications, especially public speaking and presentation. Without credibility, nothing else you do matters — not the clothes you wear, the words you use, the passion you bring to the presentation, nothing.

This has always been true, but more so now than ever. Thanks to reality TV, YouTube, Facebook Live, Snapchat and a thousand other contributing factors, perceived authenticity and sincerity have risen to the top of the way we evaluate the credibility of all message, including speeches and business presentations. Messages that are not deemed authentic or sincere are immediately dismissed as unimportant by audiences.

In public speaking and business presentations, if you don’t have credibility, you don’t have anything.

Public Speaking Tip 30: The Best Speeches are Stories from the Heart

The best speeches and presentations are stories and the best stories are stories from the heart. Everyone has thousands of stories to tell — unless you’ve been living in a cave your whole life in which case, I want to hear all about the cave!

Despite all the new communication technology we have available to us, face-to-face communication and storytelling are still the most powerful methods we have of communicating, engaging and persuading our audiences. That has been true since the dawn of humans.

Why are stories so powerful? Data makes us think, but stories make us feel. Data is important to bolster credibility but stories create an emotional bond and that is what drives us to get our butts out of our chairs to take action. Supporting data combined with compelling stories are an unstoppable combination.

Telling the stories of your business can have a powerful effect on your customers, employees, shareholders, community leaders and others.

I once saw the Chairman of the Board of a large retail chain move a group of store directors to tears when he told stories of how the company was disappointing customers over and over again due to the poor layout of the stores. He made a solid case for change using data, but it was the storytelling that moved the store directors to embrace the changes and take immediate action.

In another example, I once helped developed employee safety communications for a global mining and manufacturing company. We were able to present lots of data to make the case for following safe work practices, but it was the story a widow told about the tragic accident that took her husband’s life that made the biggest impact on the employees.

In public speaking and business presentations, it is important to remember that data feeds our brain but stories feed our souls. So speak about your passions. If you speak from your heart, they’ll listen with theirs.

 

Public Speaking Tip 29: Handling Questions When You Don’t Know the Answer

So you’ve just given a great presentation and you’ve moved into the Q&A. Someone asks you a question and you don’t know the answer. What should you do?

  1. Make up an answer?
  2. Admit you don’t know but promise to find out the answer?
  3. Throw the question to the audience?

Let’s look at each course of action:

Make up an answer?

Never make up an answer. It’s not ethical and it will catch up with you eventually. Don’t fall into the trap that you have to know everything because you are the speaker. You’ve already proven your expertise in your presentation. Remember: nobody likes a know-it-all. You don’t have anything to prove, except perhaps your humbleness.

Admit you don’t know but promise to find out the answer?

This is an acceptable way to handle the situation but be sure that you do indeed follow up with an answer and that you do so in a timely manner.

Throw the question to the audience?

I believe this is the best of the three choices. It engages the audience and often provides an insightful discussion. You can say something to the effect of “That’s a great question. I don’t have an answer. What do you the rest of you think? How would you handle this?” I sometimes throw questions to the audience even when I do know the answer just to see what others think. “I have an idea but I’d really like to hear what everyone else thinks.”

The Q&A in public speaking and business presentations is a great way to engage your audience and a great opportunity to be inclusive with other ideas and other points of view.

 

 

7 Ways to Engage a Virtual Audience

By Paul Barton

One reason I love public speaking so much is the audience. I draw energy from them and immediately put that energy back into my presentation. I become more animated and in turn, my audience shows more engagement. I see them smiling and their heads nodding in agreement. They take notes, and when I make a great point, they write furiously. When they see a slide that they like, they raise their smartphones to snap a photo of it. I hear them laugh at one of my quips. I see their quizzical facial expressions when they are trying to understand. They sit up straight and lean forward as they are listening intently.

I can react to all of that — unless I am making a virtual presentation.

Virtual Business Presentations

Increasingly, business presentations are being delivered virtually via webinars, podcasts, and telephone conference calls. Virtual presentations have many advantages, not the least of which is that they allow people from all around the world to participate without having to travel. But such meetings can be challenging because you cannot see your audience and that makes it more difficult to determine if your messages are resonating.

Last Friday, Kris Pugsley of ON Semiconductor and I co-presented a webinar hosted by Poppulo about how large companies could communicate more effectively with their employees. There were more than 1,000 corporate communications professionals from around the world who listened to our webinar.

Engaging a Virtual Audience

Here are some of the techniques we employed in an effort to engage our audience:

  • Good Content: We knew our topic was relevant to our audience and that they would be curious about what we had to say. We presented intriguing strategies but we also included many practical examples. Audiences want to hear stimulating thoughts but they also want ideas that they can implement right away.
  • Personal Introductions: In addition to our professional biographies, Kris and I each shared a photo and shared some information about our personal lives. Knowing that Kris underwent brain surgery last year and that I have a 10-year-old son with severe Autism helps humanize us to our audience.
  • Vocal Variety: Kris and I took turns presenting so the audience got to hear the content broken up with a male and a female voice alternating. An extra bonus was the charming Irish accent of our host, Emma Hanley (Poppulo is based in Ireland.)
  • Compelling Graphics: We had visually pleasing graphics with compelling data.
  • Audience Polls: We polled our audience at four different points during the presentation. The audience was able to see the results instantly. Having to determine how to answer, the physical act of clicking on the response, and then waiting to see how their answers compare to the rest of the audience helps keep the audience engaged.
  • Q&A: The audience typed questions into a chatbox as the presentation went along and we responded to their questions in the final 10 minutes.
  • Social Share: Our host publicized a Twitter hashtag for the event so that the audience could engage in conversations before, during and after the webcast.

Judging from the number of questions asked on the webinar, the feedback we received on Twitter and LinkedIn, and the traffic generated to my website following the webcast, our presentation indeed resonated with our audience.

As presenters in the digital age, we have to become more creative to engage our audiences in virtual presentations. Performing public speaking virtually can be a challenge, but it can be done effectively with forethought, a little creativity, and good planning.

Public Speaking Tip #28: Always Face Your Audience

When public speaking or making a business presentation, always face your audience. If you’re writing on a whiteboard or flip chart, don’t turn your back to the audience while you are talking. In other words, don’t talk to the wall! Learn to write sideways while you are talking or write first if it’s something you can do quickly and then turn to face your audience to talk.

Your audience will appreciate being able to see and hear you.

Public Speaking Tip 27: Find Common Ground

Finding common ground with your audience is crucial in public speaking and business presentations, especially when the goal of your talk is to persuade. It is nearly impossible to change the minds of people in your audience without making connections with them and establishing common ground is a great way to build those connections.

The video clip above, from the movie 300, provides a great example of how speakers can establish common ground by positioning themselves as equals with their audience. In this scene, the Spartan Queen, Gorgo, appeals to her audience “not only as your queen” but as a mother, as a wife, and as a Spartan woman.

Common ground can the key to achieving uncommon results.