I heard a great presentation this morning in Southampton. I was attending the 4N Networking group and had the pleasure of hearing local accountant David Anderson give a ten minute insight slot on how to use tour financial reports to improve your business.

So what was it that made Davids talk stand out?

He had a great opening : “How would you like to make an extra £2000 this year?”  -

He kept his content simple: He focused in on 4 key ratios  that help to asses business health

His delivery was engaging: Despite using a script, he made excellent eye contact with us all, used appropriate gestures and vocal variety and he responded well to audience comments and questions

He had a strong memorable conclusion: He summarised to reinforce his key messages and he rewarded us with a fantastic cup cake made by his wife!

In short he implemented many of the suggestions I had made when I delivered my own 4sight speech at the Winchester group a couple of weeks earlier.   well done David.

A  recent comment to one of my earlier posts by Stephen Hendren prompted me to review some of the research on positivity and performance.
Thanks to his post, I found a great video interview by Positivity researcher Barbara Fredrickson.  I thought you might like it so I have included it in this post.  Dr Fredrickson’s key message is that there is a proven 3:1 “positivity ratio” needed to generate the positive emotions required to enhance self esteem and personal performance.

The other day I went into the studio to record some short video clips for my website. As part of the process I wrote three scripts and emailed them to the videographer so that they were loaded onto an auto-cue ready for the shoot.

I don’t know about you but, despite having given thousands of speeches and presentations, I have never used an auto-cue before and I was a bit nervous.

In front of the camera there was a sloping glass screen upon which my words magically appeared, scrolling up the page as I spoke.

To be honest I had some reservations about using the auto cue. I feared that it might make me sound robotic and flat but thankfully this wasn’t the case and I was very pleased with the end result.

I learned a lot in the process so I thought I’d share my top tips for getting the most out of using an auto cue.

1) Prepare and rehearse your scrips well in advance. Spoken English is quite different from written English so it’s important that your scrips are natural and authentic.   Rehearsing and editing the script so that it flows naturally will help you when it comes to using the auto-cue live.

2) Practice! The more you practice your script the more natural and comfortable you will sound. If you happen to have an iPad there is a great auto cue app called teleprompt that turns your device into an auto cue.

3) Don’t be a slave to the auto cue.  Despite having edited and rehearsed your presentation before you go live, you may still feel the need to tweak the words you use on the fly. Changing the odd word is fine but don’t deviate big time otherwise you will lose your place and the auto cue operator will blow a fuse!

4) Get to know the person operating the auto cue in advance. They will be controlling the speed at which the text flows up the screen and building a rapport with them is vital if you want a stress free speech. If they are on your side they will pay clops attention to your speed of speech, pauses etc and will speed up, slow down or pause your script as you speed to keep the words that you are saying in the centre of the screen.

5) my fifth and last tip is relax and enjoy it. If you are in front of a live audience, remember that they are your focus not the technology. If you are in a studio, imagine your audience behind the technology. Your aim is to connect with them ins naturals and authentic a manner as possible.

I used to think that an auto-cue was an unnecessary crutch for poorly prepared presenters but now I realise that it has it’s place.

Like anything else you still need to prepare and practice if you are going to make the most of it.

Gavin Meikle
The Presentation Doctor.

In September, my local Toastmasters club is running it’s annual humorous speech contest and I am planning to enter. The problem is I find writing humorous speeches a real challenge. I can often weave a bit of humour into a serious speech without too much difficulty but for some reason, writing a deliberately humorous speech seems much harder.

Last year I entered the competition for the first time and wasn’t very successful. I basically researched a load of numerous stories via the web and attempted to string them together into a speech. Whilst I did get a few laughs, the whole thing was disjointed and contrived.

I think the main reasons for this were:

A) The stories I used weren’t mine

B) There wasn’t a strong storyline linking these various anecdotes together in any logical way

C) I was trying too hard to be funny

When I went to the Division H competition (SE England) to see and hear the area winners I was enthralled with their skills.  The  winner, Chris Billington, gave a hilarious speech without a single joke.   All he did was tell a story related to  a student job he had as a life guard.

In his tale, he described, in delightful detail, the unusual and sometimes bizarre behaviours of men and women in a mixed swimming pool. You had to be there honest!

What I learned from him was:

A) Don’t tell jokes, tell stories instead.

B) Tell your own stories rather than pulling them from the Internet. You will be much more convincing and congruent if you do

C) Don’t be afraid to exaggerate. Some of the funniest comedians on the planet don’t tell jokes They have us in stitches simply by exaggerating the things that real people do and say. So become an observer of people and look for things that make you smile.

D) keep a notebook handy and capture these little moments so that you can use them later on in a speech. Don’t rely on your memory.

So this year I have put together a humorous speech based on the above lessons. I have given it once already and it went down well. I did however get some really useful feedback that the beginning was a bit slow and so I am tightening it up so that I get hook the audiences attention and get them laughing from the start.

Wish me luck for our competition night on 21st September and I’ll let you know how I get on. I might even post a video of the speech and let you give me feedback too.

Let your voice be heard!

Gavin Meikle
The Presentation Doctor

I recently had an inquiry from a reader regarding the embedding of my avoiding death by PowerPoint video. This got me thinking. I quite often use video clips within a presentation for a number of reasons.

• They are great for demonstrating a particular technique. Ever tried to explain how do do something using only words? It’s very difficult and a short demo video does the job much more effectively.

• They can be used to compare different things. I use video clips of Steve Balmer and Steve Jobs to illustrate how different presentation styles can and are equally effective. It’s a case of finding your own authentic style rather than trying to be something or someone you are not,

• As a presentation skills trainer and coach I sometimes use a short video of an unknown speaker as a primer for analysing and feeding back. Rather than ask participants to comment on each other initially I show them a video of an average speaker and ask them to comment on what the speaker did well, what the speaker didn’t do well and finally what they could do to improve.

You are probably getting the picture by now that there are lots of uses for video in a presentation. I would however counsel against over use of video. I have listed three of the most common pitfalls below:

• Too many video clips. Less is more is always my mantra. Ask yourself, do I really need a video clip here? Remember you are your own best visual aid and anything else should add value.

• Clips are too long. I find that about three minutes is the upper limit if used within a presentation.

• Use of irrelevant clips. Sometimes I have seen people use funny video clips as energisers or mood changers during a workshop. These can work well but if they are seen as being irrelevant to the main content of the presentation you risk alienating your audience pretty quickly.

In conclusion, video can be extremely powerful and is very easy to embed within a PowerPoint, Keynote or Sliderocket slide deck. Just use them sparingly and think first.

Have a great weekend

Gavin Meikle
The Presentation Doctor