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@bradjward
Thanks for your insight.
I always start with what I'm NOT gonna do.
(I'm not gonna try to convince you to...) then I tell everyone
what my objectives are...I'm want you to...
Thanks again for posting. I enjoy your thoughts.
Keep the faith and keep being YOU!
~Ronald
TrueBeliever & HopeDealer
I do, because I often use video and visuals.
If you do, make sure it's a supplement to your talk and not a crutch to lean on. Engage your audience. Move away from the lectern and into the crowd as much as possible. And heed Chris's suggestions above.
Another great performance speaker to analyze is Malcolm Gladwell - he has his own unique way of bringing it all home.
One school of thought is that you are on a stage and will impart to the audience the same mechanics and delivery if it was one or ten thousand. Another school of thought would compel you to read the audience in real time as you go through the presentation and interact or extemporaneously strike off in a direction of their choosing by reading the crowd. Accommodating both schools would make for an interesting deck and/or set of talking points.
One thing I blatantly copy is the teachers in my life. I try to throw in a little bit of the crazy science teacher that blew stuff up to get us to pay attention in class. When I know there is a very very dry area of a given topic, I try the visualization methods of a calculus professor to make it easier to get it -- or suffer through it with some modicum of entertainment value.
More than anything, I think the process is one of distilling a given topic into a potent residual memory. Just like a stiff drink, you want them to remember it. So, my real question by way of a drinking analogy boils down to this:
Does the audience want it straight up or on the rocks with a splash of mixer? Or, can the time you share with them be a variety of concoctions that are able to please a variety of temperaments and palates? Are their rules for rounds?
Have you ever read anything about rhetorics? Quintilian, Cicero and Aristotle have written excellent stuff on the topic you're touching. Maybe it's an nice idea to blog about what we can learn from those classic teachers, when giving a presentation.
Excellent points. What I sometimes do at the end of a presentation is dictating their agenda for the next day. What can they do in what amount of time the next day? For instance:
9 am - Get coffee and check this presentation on slideshare again
9.30 am - Make a Flickr account and start uploading some photos
etc..
Hope to see you this thursday, we'll both be speaking on the same Social Media event in Utrecht!
I think there is one huge element not included in your Blog post: "what type of presentation is it?" If you're invited to give a quick 45-minute keynote or a half-day seminar (or a full-day), those are three very different types of presentations and within them are many permutations. I think the most important question is: "is this presentation tactical, motivational, informational, etc..." From there, you can figure out how you should structure your talk.
The reason I use the word "structure" is because that and the content is EVERYTHING. The reason I do not improv is because sometimes improv is awesome, sometimes it's terrible but it's certainly not predictable. If someone is paying me to speak, they deserve both content and structure that works and will work for their audience (unless they are happy to pay for improv). That is not to say that you shouldn't customize and optimize your content for the audience, but you should know how it begins and ends and so should the audience.
Before even thinking of presenting, I'd recommend that anyone interested in speaking read through these three books:
1. Give Your Speech, Change The World - Nick Morgan.
2. Presentation Zen - Garr Reynolds.
3. Slideology - Nancy Duarte.
In the book, the authors talk about key elements of SUCCESs: Simple, Unexpected, Credible, Concrete, Emotional, Story. If you want people to actually DO something, the message needs to stick. The website (http://www.madetostick.com/) is also full of great info, including some focused on presentations. I'm being asked to do more and more presentations and I ALWAYS go back to this acronym as a checklist.
@isfan
One thing I learned this weekend at Podcamp Toronto was how Mark Blevis looks at pacing and attention. He does a refresh, so to speak, about every thee to five minutes- changing tempo, speed, or topic. It keeps the audience with you and keeps their attention focused. This, along with some pacing advice I got from an Ira Glass presentation about how he puts together This American Life, has me rethinking how I edit my audio and how I pace my writing. It's building my house of ideas, so the sum of the parts is cohesive, but the individual elements still shine and have their place in the overall structure without getting lost.
I've got a presentation coming up this weekend and this was a great refresher course as I attempt to sit down and hash out my material.
Keep at it,
-Chase
Taiwan
In essence, you are selling. And one of the best ways to be successful in selling is to not sell a product, sell your LOVE for the product.
Cheers
George
This was really helpful.
I have at least two presentations a month and when you do something so often, you kinda make a pattern that you follow every time. The thing is, this pattern is not always that good and you have to re-evaluate it every now and then :)
I really liked your point about the framework. I usually build my framework depending on on my public. Different audiences have different interests and, most importantly, value time differently. You should always have that in mind :)
Thanks for the good article!
Regards,
Phil
I've had the pleasure of attending lots of meetings because of our business and because my husband serves on a school board. Most speakers are either boring or so nervous, that's it's pure pain to listen to them. It makes you wonder why they agreed to speak.
I've also heard great speakers like Dr Ben Carson. He held the room in awe. He is a great storyteller. He connected with the audience. He is a soft spoken man, but his message is loud and clear.
I'd much rather see Cirque De Soliel than the old, boring style circus. You're right Chris, think of your audience as viewers or readers. Perform and always
strive to improve.
I'm wondering if you could add anything about using visuals to help aid a speech. There are obviously pros and cons to using these, but I think this may help people as well.
Thanks for another informative post!
--James
When I'm writing a speech, I always start with this:
1. Meet them where they are
2. Remind them what they already know
3. Take them where they want to go
Jeff Korhan
I had my first opportunity to attend a CB session at Podcamp Toronto ,,
Walking into a standing room only classroom .. was already giving the room a buzz ,,,
Before beginning his session he actively encouraged people to leave and attend another presenters session ,, not many left ...
Chris was interactive , he kept the crowd entertained , he gave away books ,
he spoke very easily ... and kicking Microphone stands ,,
His discussion lead to many hands up in the air , he took questions readily .. but he asks for input ,,,
When the swearing started ... he had the room laughing ..
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience ,,
John Piercy
Thank you very much.
Love the tips - am definitely bookmarking this one for later reference.
Thanks!!
This is all great advice. And by focusing on giving value to your audience, you take the pressure off yourself so for those of you who are uncomfortable speaking publicly, this is a great way to reduce the stress.
And remember, when speaking publicly, turn that event into multiple personal branding opportunities. For example, get video clips of your presentation so you can post them online, post a pdf of your slides on your web site, send out a press release announcing your presentation, etc.
Best.
William
www.williamarruda.com
I use them to illustrate my talk, and keep me on track. I can bore you to death with all the reasons why this is a good idea, including how the brain processes language inputs- but at the heart of it, think of the slides as pictures in a book, and you are providing the captions and stories than link the pictures together into a unfied whole. The closing is the "and the moral of the story is:" when you hit people with the take home points. This also gives you free license to modify your presentation on the fly for the audience, change up your stories, but keep a structure, because you know what the "moral of the story" is supposed to be by the end.
I enjoyed the different frameworks you mentioned instead of the regular 'go to' methods. I will definitely be taking your advice in some of my future presentations to come!
Since the information I present to my audiences often shakes up their perceptions and makes them refocus and look at things differently, audiences can be a bit overwhelmed. I'm sure many people who read this blog and teach social media run into this from time to time.
I always open by making sure folks know that - this presentation will be available online, any notes related to this presentation are there too! Hold the audiences hand and reassure them that you will take good care of them.
It's important to know who is in the audience. Be sure to chat informally with folks and find out what kind of business people are engaged in and think about how the information you are going to present will be relevant. I often get ah ha moments that provide great insight just prior to going on stage. These discussions or questions to the audience help you understand where folks are and where they need to go.
Never ever confuse keynote or ppt slides with speaking notes or the notes you need to leave with folks. Only use slides for effect, to amplify your ideas and spark emotion with the audience. Colour, form and design matter - words, not so much, unless you use them like Larry Lessig. - Go watch!! He rocks the stage.
Always finish with - Now What? and give some concrete examples of actions that individuals in the room can take. Bounce back to the folks whose business you know and help them bridge the digital divide.
This stuff is important, it matters and helping folks bridge the digital divide is important work. Giving Great presentations helps.
bonus note: ask yourself what you can do to bring in other audiences? How can you capture the moment and ENGAGE folks in real time from outside the room.... think about how you can share the slides, audio or video of your presentation beyond the presentation moment. Great ideas need to be shared.
I was recently inspired by a board room presentation given my "Don Draper" of the TV show Mad Men. His talk about product value got me interested but I was blown away by his presentation: *very* personal, nice timing, and the faded in music is TV all the way. Sure, it's TV but there are lessons there too.
http://www.outsideincredible.com/blog/wp-trackb...
Tom @tomwgibson
Hope you enjoyed the Cirque shows!!
Katie - Internet Marketing Manager at Cirque du Soleil ;)
1. I always begin a technical presentation by finding out how much the audience already knows, via a few questions and 'show of hands', etc. Then I adjust the level and content accordingly. I am amazed at how often the event organizer insists that attendees need an "advanced" seminar, and within 60 seconds I know that they don't even grasp the basics yet.
2. Use a handheld microphone and hold it close. Most people hold the mic at their chest or wear a lavalier mic; by holding the mic closer to your mouth you can instantly be 50% louder than the previous presenter, which wakes people up and grabs their attention. Presentations that are difficult to hear invite people to tune out. Try this when you are awarded the coveted 'after lunch' speaking slot!
It works...from "What is your goal" to "always check feedback- strive to improve."
Thank you.
Sheila
Yet another great blog post! You can sense thru your writing, your passion, and I love that! This is not just for big presentations but useful for one on one's too. Your coaching is inspiring to even those who may not present in person but also in writing. I will bookmark this and RT for all to read.
Thank you Chris!
svalskis
Yes, I have PowerPoint presentations, but they're mostly to promote my speaking on slideshare.net. People are more interested in what's real and in the moment. That's why your presentation at SOBCon was such a hit last May, Chris.
You surprised us by showing pictures of people in the room as you talked and the call to hack and make pirates only added to the allure. Every speaker should read this post - and see you speak.
@wiredprworks on twitter.com
Great stuff, as usual.
Did you catch the post from Olivia Mitchell about how audience Twittering might impact the "spontaneity" of a presentation and possibly enable you to give the audience greater value on the fly?
How to Present While People are Twittering
I enjoy using live internet in presentations to find examples in response to live questions and the suggestion to put up a live twitter stream sounds fun!
Tom
As Obama teaches, pausing is not bad and can make you look careful, which is how you should be when you are presenting. Good stuff.
There are three segments of any presentation: Sender, Audience and Message. Chris, you deal nicely with Sender and Message. I challenge you to consider the Audience part. A great presentor does all three well.
Speakers who are too Sender-focused tend to be "showmen." We've all seen them (and maybe enjoyed them). But, as you say in your post, the audience may walk away with nothing. Speakers who are too audience-focused tend to be "shrinks." There are fewer of these kinds of speakers. Speakers who are too message focused tend to be the "university professors." We've all suffered through the drone.
That's my two-cents!
One of the best resources for storytelling and your presenations is from Andy Goodman - Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes.
This post nails the whole issue with presentations. I became rather agitated and downright offended, while at Sony Systems Engineering, to attend engineering design review meetings for new broadcast television systems design customers, and the presenter would place his PowerPoint slide-show on the projector screen, and the count was: Slide # 1 of 150 slides!
A collective groan would emanate from my peer engineers as well as the customers! It would take this two hour, winding tour of the proposed system design, with way too much detail, and served to confuse the customer rather than engage and motivate the customer to respond.
It was truly mind-numbing behaviour.
Your approach is much more memorable, as I cannot recall any memorable ones from Sony in the five years I worked there, excepting my presentation to the elite management that contained fifteen (15!) slides, and covered only the essential information required. It took ten minutes, and I saved more time for questions than my presentation's duration.
If only companies and presenters followed your lead, this method of sharing information would be more efficient, timely and not frustrate your customer.
Respectfully,
Nicholas Chase
www.twitter.com/nachase
Great points. You obviously speak from experience. Appreciate your humility as well (i.e., my audience doesn't seem to like it as much). Been there.
I would add that there's an attention curve when you have the greatest % of your audience's attention: at the beginning and end. If a presentation is going to be judged as effective, it will be due in large part to a strong opening and closing.
Best,
Steve
I also really appreciate your humility in admitting that you are learning as you are thinking.
Really great post - as others have said.
I especially appreciated your humility in acknowledging where your audience were not digging your improv.
The value of putting other people first can never be underestimated (unless you subscribe to the 48 laws of power!).
Thanks again,
Peace, W
Insightful post - thanks for sharing!
I can see how I've applied many of the tips you describe, however with 90% of our presentations being done via Web conference, what kind of barometer can you use to measure effectiveness, and/or what tips do you have to help read a room of people you can't really see?
While mine is a unique example to introduce into this discussion, I do see Web conferencing becoming more widely used/accepted mainly because cutting down air travel is good for the environment and makes for good fiscal policy for businesses operating in a tough economy.
I'd appreciate any insights you may have on the subject.
Thanks Chris!
Joseph
Is it dramtic...yes. Effective....no.
I'm in business for myself and have been involved with my TM club for 4 years now. We have over 30 members, most of them business people, and all of them will tell you that joining Toastmasters has been the best decision they've made to help grow their business. Find the Toastmasters club nearest you by going to the TMInternational website, http://www.toastmasters.org/find/.
Priscilla Wyeth, ACB, ALB
President, Hudson Rise 'n Shine Toastmasters
May I point you all over to Andy Bounds>>http://www.andybounds.com/
He has some superb free info, and has written an excellent book called the Jelly Effect.
I've been fortunate enough to meet Andy a couple of times, business and social, and he always impresses and helps me.
@AxelS
Good...
Regards,
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