I was at a local business conference this morning and happened to be introduced to one of the speakers prior to the start of the meeting.

During our chat we discussed his presentation and he said that he had been told to remove the pictures from his slides and replace them with words because this was a “business” meeting.

Just because most people use bullet-point laden slides doesn’t make it ok!

The evidence shows that when you remove most of the words from your slides and replace them with appropriate images and simple, easy to understand charts and diagrams recall goes up by 28%! What’s even more powerful is that knowledge transfer, i.e. your audience’s ability to understand and apply the content of your presentation goes up by almost 80%!

Come on all you “business” people out there. When will you learn that its time to change the way you present information.

Gavin Meikle
The Presentation Doctor.

Last week one of the members at Solent Speakers, the local Toastmasters club which I belong to,
gave a very powerful speech on the subject of hope. Afterwards many people commented on how the speech had touched them personally. Why was this? Well partly it was the speaker’s measured delivery, beautiful word picture painting and great use of pauses but there was more to it than that.

What really made the difference was the fact that he dared to share a personal story about how a member of his family had suffered from mental illness and how this had effected him and other members of the family.

This story was powerful and personal and it helped the audience to feel the emotions that he was feeling. Sharing personal stories such as this are not appropriate for every presentation but they are part of the presenters toolkit. All of the best presenters I know make a habit of collecting true stories of the things that happen to them and those close to them. Such snippets can then be used to bring their subjects to life.

My challenge to you is to become a story collector as well as a story teller and also to dare to share some of the more personal and poignant stories from your life in order to help you connect with your audience.

Have a great weekend

Gavin
The Presentation Doctor.

In have been living with my iPad for almost a month now and I thought you might be interested in my early experiences with this much hyped bit of gadgetry. I have used it at home and on the road and have performed a number of common tasks including checking and writing emails, reading books, mind mapping ideas, surfing the net, taking notes, running a presentation, managing my todo list, and watching videos. In this post I’ll focus only on using the iPad for presenting slides. Look out for future posts relating to my experiences in relation to other tasks.

Running presentation slides via a projector:
You cannot plug a projector directly into the iPad but you can buy a VGA adapter that a will allow you to show slides. Unfortunately there are some limitations. You cannot show the iPad home screen and the output of most apps. Only certain apps such as Apple’s own keynote iPad will send output to the VGA dongle.

Remote control:
Currently you cannot Control a keynote presentation with any form of remote control. There is no USB port to plug in a remote and the external keyboard does not allow advancement of slides. The only way to advance the slides by tapping on the iPad screen. This is a major drawback if you are the sort of presenter like me who likes to move around and get in amongst your audience.

Simultaneous charging:
You cannot charge the iPad at the same time as you are connected to the via adaptor as both use the same connector. This shouldn’t be a problem if you remember to charge up your iPad every night and give relatively short presentation. The ipads battery life is very good but running a presentation is quite power hungry.

Presenter view:
You can’t get see your slides simultaneously on the iPad and the screen. There is currently no “presenter view” like there is in PowerPoint.

There isn’t a PowerPoint app for the ipad as yet so you have to convert your PowerPoint slides to keynote to show on the iPad. So far this hasn’t been a major problem but the conversion process does change some fonts and may need some tidying up before your perfect PowerPoint presentation is good enough to display via the iPad. Apparently Mac owners running the full version of keynote will also have some conversion issues if showing their slideshows on the iPa

Portability:
This is where the iPad scores highly. It is light and much easier to carry around than a laptop or net book.

In summary:
The iPad is a fantastic tool and it’s uses are developing all the time. I love it for note taking, planning, organising and mind mapping but it’s not quite there yet as a full blown presentation tool. no doubt most, if not all, of my gripes will be sorted over the coming months as the Keynote app gets upgraded and new apps appear however, if you are looking to use it as a full blown replacement for your laptop or net book, think again.

Gavin Meikle
The presentation Doctor

When I ask the people who attend my workshops what is the difference that makes the difference between and average speaker and a great speaker they often come up “presence”.
When I go on to ask them to be a bit more specific about what they mean by presence, they tend to struggle.

So what exactly is presence? And more importantly how can anyone develop this quality in themselves? Well I am not sure I know all the answers but I have some ideas to get you thinking.

Presence is the label we give to someone who displays a number of distinct qualities:

Confidence in themselves
Being comfortable in their own skin and in the location
Charisma
A sense of deep connection with thier audience
A relaxed but focused approach
Being fully present I.e. Grounded in the present moment
The ability to flow with whatever is happening

I am sure you could add your own labels.

Presence is undoubtedly very important but is it something that can be learned? I think it can and in the next article I will be exploring some initial thoughts on how to cultivate it. I would also love to hear from you.
What does presence mean to you?
What behaviours create a perception of presence?
What sort of mind set is needed to allow someone to demonstrate presence?

Go on, don’t be shy, your opinions and ideas are valid and other people would love to read them so post your comments below.

Gavin Meikle
The Presentation Doctor.

This morning I attended a networking meeting in Winchester with members of 4Networking, it was a great event with some really great people and I was particularly impressed by the communication skills of some of the group members. They spoke with confidence, authority, humour and engagement.

One member had volunteered to give a 10 minute educational slot on the legal profession and how to get the most out of it. He wasn’t selling his firm, he was helping to broaden our knowledge and in doing so he help build his own brand in our minds.

So many networkers complain that they don’t get a return on their networking investments and yet they do the minimum possible in the meetings. They stumble through their 1 minute elevator pitch, and they run a mile when given the opportunity to speak for longer. How crazy is that. Who in their right mind would avoid a direct opportunity to establish their credibility and expertise?

I appreciate that public speaking is a major fear for many people but that is no excuse. Given the impact that developing this skill can have on your business, career and income, isn’t it worth learning how to do it properly! Practice in conjunction with constructive feedback is the single most effective way I know to overcome your fear and develop this immensely valuable skill.

Hats of to the people who take the plunge and as for the rest of you…

What will it take to make you change your mind. There is a great communicator in every one of you. If you can’t find it in you on your own, don’t hesitate to ask for help!

Gavin Meikle,
The Presentation Doctor.