Archive for the 'Speaking' Category

As a speaker or presenter, how do you really reach an audience? I’ve seen many different approaches in my years as a Toastmaster, but I had the chance last night to sit in on an amazing presentation. One that reached almost everyone in the audience in an informed and engaged manner for over 90 minutes.

The presenter was Sheryl Roush, one of only four women in the world that has reached the coveted Accredited Speaker designation by Toastmasters International. Sheryl was speaking to a diverse audience of educators, toastmasters, and professional business people at the school district where I work.

Sheryl’s presentation was entitled “Sparkling Secrets Of Speaking Success,” and was directed to those who want to connect better with their audience. Her  approach was centered around the theory of Multiple Intelligences put forth by Howard Gardner. This theory includes 7 different personal styles that include…

1. Linguistic: People that like to work with words and stories
2. Mathematical-Logical: People that like numbers, systems and statistics
3. Visual-Spatial: Visual people that like pictures, charts, graphs and video
4. Musical: People that enjoy music and can remember tunes and lyrics
5. Kinesthetic-Physical: People that learn by doing, a hands-on approach
6. Inter-personal: Interaction with other people, team activities.
7. Intra-personal: The need for quiet working atmosphere and introspection

Right from the start, Sheryl’s presentation was focused on individual members of the audience. When you walked into the room before the presentation you noticed upbeat music playing in the background. If you were a musical person you instantly had focus. And if you were a linguistic person, her “sparkling” title on the screen was sure to engage you.

As you walked in you were handed a multi-page handout with an interesting cover font and graphics. The kinesthetic’s had something in their hands to work on, while the visual people had an interesting font and graphics. The Math-logicals were sure to notice the numbered test on page two.

As Sheryl was introduced, her Mac based Keynote presentation started slide by slide in the background, reinforcing what the person introducing her was saying. The music faded out and all eyes were on her.

Sheryl engaged the audience and let everyone know that we would be working individually on projects included in the handout and then we would share our results as a group. This let the intra-personal people know that they would have a quiet work space for a few minutes and also engaged the inter-personal folks with a group activity.

The first activity was a Multiple intelligence test. We all turned to page two on the handout and she led us question by question through a numbered list of 28 items segregated into 7 columns. As we finished up she had us add up the columns and find out what our highest scores were. I scored highest in the linguistic, kinesthetic, and visual categories.

This was a lot of fun and as we finished up the test she went around the room and had different people share their different styles. Everyone was engaged at this point. Over the course of the next hour she led us through a mind-map activity and a very engaging keynote (Powerpoint style) presentation.

Her keynote slides all had an engaging title for the linguistics, pictures for the visuals and had numbered points for the math people. She also included very animated transitions between slides which added additional visual interest.

As she went along she used amazing vocal variety and even sang a few bars of a song to bring in the musical types. This was a hands-on, visual and audio masterpiece.

When she finished up after 90 minutes, I felt like it had only been a half hour or so. The crowd reaction was amazing and she took questions and answers to finish up the night.

Overall I was struck by how effective her presentation was. She engaged everyone in the room and definitely reached out to all of the intelligences. I learned SO much by just watching the interaction of the event that this list of 7 styles will definitely become a CHECKLIST for my next presentation.

Sheryl is also a published author of numerous books that inspire and motivate. One of her newest is entitled Heart of a Mother, a heart warming and engaging book that is the perfect gift for mothers day.

Heart of a Mother by Sheryl L. Roush Read more about this book…

As a speaker I’ve always had a fascination with Powerpoint, flipcharts, overheads and other visual media. As a kinesthetic-visual learner I always do better with a subject if I can SEE what is going on. Show me a picture, and I will learn better and remember more of what you said.

While I like visual media, I have struggled with it greatly. As a speaker, using any one of the mediums tends to distract me and draw my attention away from the audience and focus it instead on the visual media source. I have found that it takes a lot of practice to present well and communicate with the media smoothly.

I have had some blundering failures with visual media and also some amazing successes. Here are five things I’ve learned by trial and ERROR that have helped me move further into the success column and stay out of Powerpoint Hell!.

1. Be Prepared: If it can go wrong… it will… when presenting. I have made a new rule for myself and that is to arrive an hour early for any visual presentation in unfamiliar surroundings. Having an hour will give you the time needed to overcome the worst technical problems. Here are some of the common things I’ve run into…

• The projector doesn’t work
• My laptop won’t sync with the projector
• A cable is not available to connect the laptop to the projector
• The overhead projector’s bulb is burned out
• There is no electricity to hook up the projector or overhead
• A flipchart is NOT available
• There is no adapter available to hook up my Mac laptop

These are just a few of the things I’ve run into that can be show stoppers. The audience does not want to see you fiddling with a projector or cables. Giving yourself an hour of prep time will help immensely in overcoming them. The other thing that will help is to …

2. Develop A Presenters Toolbox: This is a collection of gadgets, wires and other items that will save the day. Mine has morphed over the years as technology has changed but here are a few of the common items that are now priceless.

• Memory Stick to carry a copy of your presentation on
• Presenters handheld slide changer/laser pointer for Powerpoint
• A long and short extension cord and duct tape to secure it to the floor
• A VGA cable to connect a laptop to a projector
• Batteries of all types: AAA, AA, and 9 volt are a must
• A burned CD of your presentation in case the computer doesn’t have a USB port available (this one has saved me multiple times)
• A copy of the free Powerpoint 2007 viewer program (saved on CD)
• If you use a Mac laptop, there are two common VGA adapters that are priceless. Make sure you have both types. (Apple doesn’t ship them with the laptop)
• A portable flip chart easel that you can store in your trunk

3. Keep It Simple: While many things can be visually presented, your overwhelming amount of data should be put in a handout… not on your slides. If possible, limit your slides to one point and one graphic per slide.

Lots of bullet points will distract your viewer and have them reading the screen. Remember… you are the focus of your presentation… not your slides. The slides should reinforce and enhance what you are saying. They should not be a reading script.

Using the notes feature of Powerpoint will help you keep your slides simple but quickly be able to see your notes by printing them out or using the presenter’s view in Powerpoint.

4. Practice, Practice, Practice: Get familiar with the media source (laptop, overhead etc) before you give your presentation. Go through the entire presentation at least once to make sure there are no glitches or technology problems and that the presentation flows properly.

Arriving early will give you a chance to use the equipment provided and make sure that everything works together. It will also give you a chance to visually check the room for blind spots and distractions.

One of the big things is to test any wireless devices (microphones-pointers etc) and make sure they work consistently at the distance you will be presenting. If your audience can’t hear you, they will let you know!

Use the slide sorter in Powerpoint to re-order and fine tune your presentation for maximum impact. Make sure you have enough handouts for your expected audience and that you have printed your slides in handout view (6 or 9 per page) so you can refer to them throughout the presentation without looking at the screen.

5. Set Up The Room: If you have a meeting room that is configurable, you can enhance your presentation by following a few simple steps. For Powerpoint, set the projector and screen to your right (as you face the audience) and put the laptop or other computer source on a table facing you.

 

This will allow you to use Presenter’s mode in Powerpoint where you can preview your slides and see any notes as you face the audience. This will prompt your memory slide by slide and help keep your attention on your viewers. It will also keep you from turning your back to the audience and reading the screen.

Putting the screen to your right (audiences left) will help place your slides in your viewer’s Visual Remembered Mode. Researchers have found that people tend to look up and to their left when recalling things from memory. If you place your screen or flipchart in this position (upper left as the audience sees it), they will remember more of your presentation. It also puts you center stage where you are the primary focus of attention.

It’s also a good idea to have someone sit in the back row and listen to you. Can they hear you without a microphone? Try raising your voice slightly a few times until you reach a comfortable range for your listener. As you are presenting, focus from time to on time someone sitting in the back row and direct your voice to them. This will help you remember to keep you voice at a proper level for everyone to hear you.

Wrap Up: These are just a few of the things I’ve encountered when using Visual Media. A great place to practice in front of a live audience is Toastmasters. Many Toastmaster clubs have visual media tools available, where you can practice your Powerpoint or Flipchart presentations in front of a supportive audience.

Further Reading: There are some great books that will help you create and fine tune an amazing Powerpoint presentation… here are three of the best…enjoy!

Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire by Cliff Atkinson Read more about this book…

Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter) by Garr Reynolds Read more about this book…

Presenting Magically: Transforming Your Stage Presence with NLP by Tad James, David Shephard Read more about this book…

When you meet people for the first time it’s always nice to make eye contact and smile. It’s a simple courtesy and leads to a relaxed conversation. If you tend to be a shy person, this may be somewhat difficult for you. You may tend to look down or away when greeting someone. This can break the conversation right away.

In his book, How To Connect In Business In 90 Seconds Or Less, Nicholas Boothman offers a really simple solution to the problem. When you meet or greet someone for the first time, just make a mental note of their eye color. This simple technique is amazingly effective. If you are looking for their eye color you’ll automatically make eye contact for a second or two.

I have found this works well one on one and is also effective in small groups. It really helps build rapport when giving a speech or presentation as it lets the audience member know that you are paying attention to them.

I speak quite often to groups of 10-20 people in Toastmasters. When I use this technique to make eye contact as I scan the room, I pause just long enough to build rapport with each audience member.

When you first try this you may find yourself saying blue, green, brown, etc in your mind, but you’ll find it soon becomes natural and is an easy habit to develop. It’s a simple exercise but you’ll notice the difference right away.

Try it in your next small group speech or presentation. Instead of an impersonal gaze over the room, if you make eye contact, you’ll find that you’ll build almost instant rapport with your audience. They will pay better attention to what you are saying and it may keep them awake after that long lunch.

It is the early 1960’s and Boeing is ready to launch a new building effort to create a new plane. The managers need to create a compelling goal that will resonate with thousands of employees and contractors. They need to create a vision that will stick. They have a choice of strategies… they can take a conceptual route or they can take a more concrete approach.

The conceptual vision is simple… Build the best passenger plane in the world. These 8 words would be included in all documentation and preached to all groups from the corporate pulpit.

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The second approach is much more concrete. Lay out three compelling milestones that must be reached to have a successful plane. Each of these objectives is clear and focused.

The 727 must seat 131 passengers, fly nonstop from Miami to New York City, and land on runway 4-22 at La Guardia

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Put yourself in the audience and pretend you are an engineer hearing this message for the first time. Which message would stick in your mind? Which message would help you get to work quickly on the goal?

While the first message is somewhat lofty and motivational, the second, more concrete message, will get you to work much quicker than the first.

After all… what does the best passenger plane in the world look like? How big is it? How far will it fly? How much fuel will it carry?

The second message is much more definable.

To get a plane to carry 131 passengers it must be a certain size, but not too large or it will not be able to land on the short 4-22 runway at La Guardia. It must be able to carry enough fuel to make the flight from Miami to New York.

In the early 60’s, these 3 concrete goals helped thousands of different contractors and engineers to come together quickly and put together a workable design and implementation plan. The 727 came to market in a timely fashion and was a huge success.

When you put together a Powerpoint presentation, think about your audience. What do you want them to come away with? If you want them to take action you’ll need to give them some concrete steps to take. In their landmark book, Made To Stick, authors Chip & Dan Heath devote a whole chapter to Concreteness.They give many examples and their book will make a great addition to your presentation library.

So what makes something concrete? Chip & Dan explain…

If you can examine something with your senses, it’s concrete.

A V8 engine is concrete. “High Performance” is abstract.

Look at the following two slides…

A bicycle is concrete

It has handle bars, seat, pedals, and wheels with spokes. It is instantly recognizable and will easily stick in the minds of your audience.

Self Esteem is abstract

What is self esteem? How do you describe it? It may mean different things to different people. Abstract concepts can be very hard for people to remember.

When you put together your presentation, put yourself in the audience and ask the question… Do I understand what is being presented?

Make sure to add enough concrete to get your message to stick!

Technorati Tags: Powerpoint, Presentations

I just got back from lunch and the thought of sitting through a Powerpoint presentation was not high on my list. As I sat down I noticed the speaker adjusting his laptop and making final preparations. The screen was black and I settled in for what I perceived to be an hour of torture. The combination of a large lunch and a boring presentation usually equated to one thing… a nap.

The torture part came in by trying to stay awake and not nod off in front of the group of administrators. I had been here before and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. As the clock rolled around to 1 pm the speaker got up and introduced himself and started with slide one.

The five bullet points almost guaranteed that I would be nodding quickly. As he moved through the slides, the stock Powerpoint background droned on and the bullet points became a blur. I nodded once… but caught myself in time.

Right then something totally unexpected happened. As he clicked to slide number 6, a slide with a picture and amazing numbers came up. I sat up in my chair and I found myself actually paying attention. I hadn’t expected the numbers to be so high.

The following slides built his case and soon he had my undivided attention. Even though the speaker had made many of the common Powerpoint mistakes, his one unforeseen slide had redeemed him.

It was the power of the unexpected that drew me in.

It was the questions that suddenly popped in my head… How could this be? How could the numbers be so high?

It was like a sudden plot twist in a movie… I needed to know what was going to happen.

This is the power of unexpectedness. As Chip & Dan Heath describe in their new book, Made to Stick, the need to find out What will happen next? and How will it turn out? are powerful motivators.

They cite a study by behavioral scientist, George Loewenstein, of Carnegie Mellon University on situational interest. The study found that curiosity happens when we feel a gap in our knowledge.

These gaps cause pain.

When we want to know something but don’t, it’s like having an itch we need to scratch. To take away the pain we need to fill in the knowledge gap.

This simple reality can cause your audience to sit on the edge of their seats.

This can be a simple fact, an inflated number, or possibly an unexpected picture.

Find something unexpected and include it in your presentation.

Remember this simple fact…

Expected = Sleep

Unexpected = Attention

Technorati Tags: Powerpoint, Presentations

The slide was simple but compelling. The story was clear and I was amazed that the simple contrast worked so well. Leave it to Seth Godin to come up with another brilliant business concept. In his visual yet simple  Powerpoint presentation given in July of 2000, Seth used the idea of emotion to sell his ideas.

Many of the slides used in the presentation had a black background with a contrasting white font. This standout contrast was used along with compelling pictures to convey his topics. Each slide presented a different idea.

The whole presentation was revolutionary for its time.

Many wondered…

• How could slides without bullet points work?
• Why only put one idea on a slide at a time when you could list 4 or 5?
• Why use black and white when we have all these colors available?

What has become known as the Godin method is based on this Powerpoint and the concept of using emotion to appeal to the right side of the brain.

What I like about these slides is the simple effect of contrast. White text on black is powerful and adding an appropriate picture creates a compelling slide that tells a story. I have used this technique in many of my Powerpoint presentations and they work very well.

I put together some simple slide backgrounds that you can download and test out this concept for yourself. The set consists of 6 Black & White Powerpoint backgrounds in 1024×768 format. They are setup in 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 styles with both right and left formats for each.

Here are the instructions for use.

• Download the Contrast Backgrounds zip file and save it on your computer.
• Unzip the files and save them in a folder.
• Open up PowerPoint and choose blank presentation.
• Right click on the slide and choose Background
• The background dialog box will open.
• Click on the down arrow and choose Fill Effects.
• Click on the Picture tab.
• Click on select picture and find the background file you want to use.
• Click on OK.
• Click on Apply to apply to the current slide you are on or Apply to All to apply to all of your slides in your show.
• Your new contrast background will be added.

Now you can add contrasting text by opening a text box and adding the appropriate words or sentences. Use a good sized non-serif font such as Ariel or Gill Sans and choose a contrasting color.

You can also easily add graphics/stock photos to the white side of the slide and format them to fit using the crop tool in the picture format toolbar.

Try some contrasting slides in your next presentation. I think you will be surprised how effective they can be.

Be sure to check out our other Powerpoint posts

Powerpoint Made Simple

Powerpoint that Sticks

Five Must Have Tools For Powerpoint

Do You Make These Mistakes With Powerpoint?

5 Quick Tips To a Better Powerpoint Presentation

Technorati Tags: Powerpoint, Presentations,