chrisbrogan.com - Latest Comments in Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

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Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

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Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

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Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

lou suSi — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:23:36 -0000

amazing post ... your suggestion to consider presentations and talks a means of entertainment remind me of the famous quote from Marshall McLuhan 'Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn't know the first thing about either.'

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

Louis Rosas-Guyon — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:58:14 -0000

As the director for a community theater group, let me also add the following show biz items:

1. Write a script or at least an outline. You don't have to memorize it and repeat it word for word, but you should know what you want to talk about.
2. Rehearse. Practice makes perfect. Try video taping yourself and then watch it afterwards. This will let you spot lots of things you'll want to correct.
3. No happy feet. Move with purpose. Don't let nervous energy make you bounce around on stage.
4. Don't say Ummm or any of the other noises we make when we are thinking.
5. Smile. Look pleasant.

Great post!

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

Tumblemoose — Mon, 18 May 2009 10:15:08 -0000

Chris,

Good tips.

In terms of being an entertainer, I would add: MOVE! At key points, change your position on the stage. If the venue permits, get OFF the stage and move around the audience a bit. That kind of interaction brings you closer to the audience and promotes an atmosphere of real attention-paying.

George

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

Lisa Kelly Zuba — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:01:13 -0000

Chris,
I couldn't stop thinking about this. You were the inspiration for my blog post, I Want to Be a Public Speaker (http://bizzantik.com/?p=94).

Thanks for all you do.

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

Ethan Yarbrough — Sat, 16 May 2009 23:59:08 -0000

"You are an entertainer". So true. If you need evidence of how important the human factor, the entertaining delivery, the animation and inspiration from the speaker is, just look through almost any slide presentation on slideshare.net. There are a lot of pretty slides and many of them imply that they were probably part of a really interesting presentation, but they all just lie flat on the screen, trapped in two dimensions. Thanks for the good advice and reminders Chris.

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

Ari Herzog — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:15:20 -0000

Excellent tips, Chris! Thanks for sharing. I'd like to add another (to the potpourri of ideas in the comments above mine): To paraphrase former Magellan financial wizard Peter Lynch and his sage advice on stock picking, use verbiage in presentations that a 7-year-old child can understand. If the child can't, don't use it. Your topic and audience are second to the language you speak, so speak simply.

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

Krishna De — Sat, 16 May 2009 18:21:57 -0000

Chris - great tips as always from you and your community.

A couple of other things try to remember to do:

- make sure that I customise the content to be highly relevant to the audience with the case studies I use

- try to be around before and after my session - to connect with people and answer their questions

- get out from behind the lectern!

I also find that speaking is a great way to build your reputation - the opportunity to connect with people and them experience you first hand is a great business development practice.

I have also found that using social media platforms is a great way to enhance your skills as a speaker - so look out for podcast interviews or opportunities to do interviews with online video.

One online video interview I did with someone just a week ago and then sharing it with my network has resulted in that person attracting new clients, business partnerships and traditional medai coverage in just a matter of days.

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

Lisa Hickey — Sat, 16 May 2009 16:29:59 -0000

I love how your advice is always so transferable across situations. I walked into a meeting a few hours after reading this post and at the end of the meeting my client said “Great meeting, you gave me three things I can’t wait to put on my to-do list” and I thought to myself, “Ahhh, Chris, you’ve done it again.” Thank you, kindly. :)

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

williamarruda — Sat, 16 May 2009 13:49:00 -0000

Speaking is the best opportunity to build your personal brand because you can deliver a complete commuication and build powerful emotional connections with your audience. And if you delivering a presentation, remember to transfer those real-world personal branding activities into virtual ones: post video clips to YouTube, post your slides to SlideRocket, tweet about your upcoming presentation, list the event on your website, etc. This turns one powerful activitiy into many! I always say be lazy, it's good for your brand.

Thanks Chris for this gem!

Best.
William Arruda
www.williamarruda.com

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

JeffHurt — Sat, 16 May 2009 11:23:21 -0000

Nice advice. Having hired more than 2,500 speakers in the past ten years here's my overview.

As Steve said you need to provide WIIFM and I'll add DIMTY [Do I Matter To You] in the first 60 seconds to 2 minutes or you've lost me. Your presentation is about the audience, the learner, the attendee, not you the speaker, the presenter. The best speakers have learned to focus on their audience and become "The Guide On The Side, Not The Sage On The Stage."

I boil it all down to two main ingredients that you must have: Delivery and Content, with delivery being the most important thing. Everything else falls under those two categories. You can have poor delivery with great content, and you'll fail. You can have great delivery with poor content, and you'll succeed—but not be great. When you have great delivery and great content, (3-5 main points only, anything over five main points and you've lost the audience), then you have the winning combination and you’ll probably be asked to return and speak again.

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

Olivia Mitchell — Sat, 16 May 2009 03:24:57 -0000

Hi Chris, Love most of the points you've made, but I don't agree that most presenters need to speak slower. When people who naturally speak fast, try and slow down it often means that they lose their natural energy and can become boring to listen to.

But with a fast speaker, the audience does need more time to process what the speaker is saying.

Instead of speaking slower, use "chunking". Chunking is talking in chunks of words. Talk at your normal pace, but in small chunks with silence in between the chunks. You’ll be able to speak at your normal speed, which means you’ll be your natural and energetic self. And you’ll also give yourself time to think, and your audience time to process.

Olivia

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

Vik Duggal — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:28:20 -0000

Thank you Chris Brogan! Coming up next week I give my first talk on how to use some of these tool on the Internet to an audience of architects and engineers. Your post is timely for me and I appreciate it.

Having worked for a Fortune 100 company for five years I felt like many of my presentations fit a very defined MOLD for what defined a "stellar" presentation. What I've begin to realize in the last year is that my real voice was masked by the guise of powerpoint, a decent suit, and lots of hand motions. What the hell I was doing? I think it's time I started to tell stories about who I am, why what I'm talking about is important to me, and quickly explain how it's relevant to my audience.

I definitely agree that trimming the preso is good because I'm sure that part of the reason folks are there is to ask some questions and Q&A can definitely open doors to new worlds.

Would love some feedback from you or my readers on my comment.

What's the best presentation you ever did/saw?

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

Jamie Favreau — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:32:39 -0000

Great advice. I gave my first speech a few weeks ago and it was nerve racking. I was told I did well but I wasn't so sure. I did get a screenshot add on for my firefox so I can try and make things more interesting. I am very green but I hope to learn more and be active in this social media community and hopefully land a job. If not I will be giving more presentations and trying to teach someone about this kind of marketing.

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

jlbraaten — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:27:29 -0000

Great post, Chris. Sometimes the urge to drone on just because you have the conch is just too irresistible. :D

I'll definitely refer back to this post for my next presentation.

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

Jon Thomas — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:25:02 -0000

Chris,

Right on brother. I think you hit the nail right on the head. This post is basically the "Secrets of Presenting in 90 Seconds." The most underutilized secret you mentioned was giving takeaways. People need to remember that their presentation is NOT the takeaway. Those are your visuals that support your message. A takeaway is something very different. It can be as simple as a word document. Something they can read and refer back to, weeks, months, even years after you've given your presentation.

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

Narciso Tovar, Big Noise Comm — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:06:43 -0000

GREAT Post, Chris!

I cannot tell you how much I *truly appreciate* how much that you noted the fact that, as a speaker, you are the entertainer. Unlike an actor, who has to help the audience suspend reality and get captivated into the action of the scenes and the play, as a presenter, you have to help the audience get captivated with you and your presentation.

I can't tell you how many presentations I've been thru when it was nothing but a snorefest. And I can honestly tell you that *every* presentation that was memorable had some level of entertainment - be it thru the presenter's
* passion
* sense of humor
* level of engagement
* light show

If you want to be memorable, you've gotta be entertaining.

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

Suzanne Vara — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:17:50 -0000

Great advice. When a speaker is literally reading the slides, I believe it makes them not credible or worthy of seeing speak. I wonder do they really know the information they are speaking on? Did they throw it together the night before and are speaking because they committed to it and just want to get it over with? There is no excitement to the material; no engaging the crowd - just a blank stare with lips moving.

Speaking for some can be difficult. I tell people to prepare the material they want to speak on, call friends and practice in front of them. If that is not an option, practice in front of the mirror.

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

vincestev — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:33:58 -0000

There's some great advice in this blog post. Very useful indeed Chris. Rgds from Vince in London

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

christina_g_smith — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:09:23 -0000

Great tips. It's a basic life skill that most never master.

I always loved the anecdote from James Brady, former Whitehouse Press Secretary, about presenting. He said (of course I'm paraphrasing) never get upset if someone in your audience looks at his watch. But if he starts shaking it because he thinks it's broken, you better wrap things up.

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

shorespeak — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:24:02 -0000

One simple change gets a dramatic effect: remove all the 'me' and 'I' language from your talk and replace with 'you' (or similar audience reference).

p.s. - no success with either Disqus or Facebook Connect login (registered user for both)

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

courtney benson — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:59:38 -0000

Chris and Tom -

Thanks Chris for great advice.
I think presenters are now trying to learn how to deal with people tweeting the presenter while presenting as well as tweeting others during the presentation. This can be a challenge but once you figure it out, you need to go with the flow and use the medium as a tool that benefits all. your thoughts please!

Re: Speaking and Presenting- Your Next Actions

KareAnderson — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:25:16 -0000

One of the best ways to connect with an audience is to know enough about some of them to cite at least 3 - by name - as specific examples of points you are making in your speech. Describe their example, then make your point, then say their name.

As a former WSJ reporter who's been speaking full-time for 8 years I've been thrilled to see a greater variety of people emerging as paid speakers - being fully who they are + demonstrating their expertise...

AND involving the audience is captivating ways to experience the topic together, growing closer, leaving the room ready to explore some more with each other - on that topic