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Recently I have been looking at a couple of free on-line alternatives to Powerpoint for producing attractive and effective visual aids to support a presentation.   There are now a whole host  and how many will survive  only time will tell.  Thankfully  this morning I found a great post that gives you links to 13 great looking alternatives.

So far I have only really played with Sliderocket and I have to say I really like it.   If you have tried any of the others, how about posting a comment here and sharing your experience with your fellow presenters.

I read a great post today from Coachlisab on what to do at the end of a presentation and how we shouldn’t be too self critical.   I also noticed a comment from one of Lisa’s readers saying this was not so easy to do in practice.   So many people seem to be programmed to only look at what didn’t go well.   I’ve seen some great presentations where, after it was all over, the presenter could only talk about the fact that they forgot to mention one piece of information tell one little story.

I am not saying that we need to put on the rose tinted glasses and ignore our mistakes (although maybe that might not be such a bad idea to try and redress the balance for some people I have coached.)   What I am saying is that we do a balanced analysis of our performance.

Here’s a thought.  Next time you complete a presentation,  Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle.   At the top of one column right the words “Things I did well”   and at the top of the other “Things I could improve on”

Now take a moment to review your performance making sure that you give at least equal attention to both columns and aim to write more things in the did well column than the could improve on column.   be objective, and remember that what you write down doesn’t need to be a major thing.

• if you actually showed up for the presentation despite your nerves, that’s a positive!
• If you got to the end without drying up, that’s a positive.
• if you communicated more than half of your main messages that’s a positive.
• If somebody congratulated you at the end, that’s a positive

In terms of the “Things to improve” column I recommend that you limit it to a maximum of three things you could possibly do better.  Pick the ones you think would make the biggest impact.

Now finally, look at the positives again and ponder which of those strengths can help you the improve the most if you do more of them?

Be an equal opportunities employer of your own behaviour and learn to deliberately notice what went well as well as what could be improved on.   It’s only being fair!

Why is it that so many business presentations are dry, dull and innefective? Well it could be the presenter’s delivery style or it could be the tedious and wordy powerpoint slides they insist on using but I think there is an even more dangerous principle at work here.

I think that most business presenters think that emotions are left at the door when one walks into the office. People want facts right? Disspassionate, rational arguements supported by lots of data right?

NO! No! No!
It is impossible for us to check our emotions in at the door. Human beings are by definition emotional and therefore no matter how logical we like to think we are, emotions are at the heart of our decision making strategies. If you want to “motivate” your audience to do something as a result of your presentation then you have to engage their “emotional brain”.as well as their logical and analytical side.

Sometimes these emotions will be positive and you can have them imagine what it will feel like when they are experiencing the benefits of your recommended course of action.

And, as I have commented before in earlier posts, sometimes you need to arouse negative emotions such as fear or discomfort. “Imagine what will happen to the company if we don’t adapt to the recent technological changes sweeping our specialism?” “Will we still have a business in two years time if we don’t act now?”

So, realting all this to your own presentations in the future. Think how great you will feel when you can clearly see that your audience are following your arguments and you can tell from the smiles on their faces and the nooding heads, that they are ready and indeed eager to implement your suggestions as soon as they get back to their desks.

Of course you could just keep on doing things the way you have always done them, relying on cold hard facts to do the job on their own. But can you afford the failure rate that such a one sided strategy will inevitably bring? Sure it will work sometimes but is that really good enough in todays tough business climate? Only you can make the call.

I heard my good friend Jim Culverwell use the phrase “pitching beyond the room” last night whilst discussing his approach at networking meetings like BNI and Peer Group Learning.  I loved the phrase  because it sums up a truth that most people who network seem to completely ignore and I had to share it with you.

Many people join networking groups because they just want to sell to the other people in the room.  The challenge is that most groups are full of other people in the same position and in truth, few either need or can afford your services.   So should you give up on networking?  Absolutely not.   What you need to do is remember one simple fact.

Understand that everyone in the room has a huge  network of their own consisting of friends, family, neighbours, colleagues, clients, ex colleagues, social club members, sporting partners and almost certainly some of those people would love what you do and could afford to pay for it if they knew what you did and how you could help them.   In order to capitalise on this inescapable truth , you need to design your pitch to  be attractive to those people who are not in the room but who are connected to those that are.   You also need to help your audience to make the connection in their heads between you and their friend, colleague or client.

How can you do this?  Well one classic way is to verbally paint a picture of the type of person you would like to connect with.  For example I might ask the audience to think of anybody who they know has recently been promoted to a position where they have to stand up on their hind legs and speak in public.   Perhaps they have a friend or neighbour who has been complaining to them about how uncomfortable they feel having to fulfil this new responsibility.   If they have someone like that in mind then II ask them if perhaps they would do both of us a favour by simply making an introduction.   Think of the goodwill that helping a  colleague or client will bring you and all you need to do is put me in touch with them.

So that’s what I mean by pitching outside the room.   Firstly you need to make the mindset shift and realise that the people in the room are not your prospects however they can become your gateway to the type of people you really want to connect with.

Secondly you need to structure your presentation so that you help them to identify potential people who might genuinely benefit from what you do.   It’s all just common sense really but I see people ignoring it every day and I know that their short sightedness and inflexibility is costing them dearly!

Thanks Jim for the timely reminder

Have you ever had the need to jump to a live website whilst in the middle of a Powerpoint presentation?   It is possible by inserting a hyperling to the site you want, within a slide or image.   The problem is that doing so results in you having to come out of Powerpoint and into your web browser and then you have to close the web browser to return to Powerpoint.

There is however a much easier and neater way.   Checkout the liveweb add in for powerpoint

All you need to do is download the appropriate version of this clever little visual basic add in and it will allow you to display a live website within a powerpoint slide.    I just tried it out and it works a treat!

My thanks go to Jerry Kidd and his excellent makeuseof.com blog for drawing this great little tool to my attention.

This video clip serves four purposes for students of presentation and public speaking skills:

1. It demonstrates the value of a clearly structured message
2. It shows how things like eye contact, body language and vocal variety engage the audience
3. It shows how simple visual aids with well chosen images add to the presentation
4. It contains a valuable message that we all should learn and take heed of.

Enjoy