Presentation Skills
Presentation Slide Design – Stop Animations Spoiling Your Presentation
PowerPoint, Keynote, and Skyrocket can create some excellent visual aids. Sadly, many presenters have never been taught the principles of presentation slide design. In this post, I’d like to focus on one element of presentation slide design called animation. Animation refers to the ability to control how the words and images on your slide appear. It allows you to…
Read MoreEffective Hand Gestures for Better Presentations
Way back in May 2008 I wrote a post to answer the question posed by many nervous presenters – “What do I do with my hands?” In it, I focussed on a comfortable resting place for your hands when not gesturing. In this new article, I want to take things a step forward and look…
Read MoreBecome More Persuasive – Start Where Your Audience Are At
I was moved to write this post about how to become more persuasive as a result of a recent set of experiences. I have a friend who, due to personal circumstances, has become incredibly passionate about healthy eating. He has started expressing his zeal in many ways including multiple social media posts and a hard-hitting…
Read MorePublic Speaking Tips – How to Make a Dull Subject Interesting
Sometimes we have to speak about topics that our audience may initially find boring or dull. Our challenge is how to make a dull subject interesting, relevant and memorable. Recently I heard a presentation on IT for small business owners that pushed all the right buttons. Afterwards, I thought I would share some of the…
Read More4 Powerful Tips for Speaking “Off The Cuff”
*POST UPDATED JAN 2017* If there is one thing that some people fear even more than public speaking, it is speaking off the cuff. Impromptu speaking can turn confident presenters into gibbering wrecks. We’ve all been there. You are sitting quietly in a meeting minding your own business, when your boss suddenly, turns to you…
Read MoreAvoid These Common Elevator Pitch Pitfalls, and See Your Business Grow
I’ve been a regular Networker for almost 14 years, and I dread to think how many elevator pitches I’ve sat through. Sadly most just seem to drone in through one ear and out the other without making any impact.
This morning I was at another such event and, as I listened to 29 elevator pitches, I got the inspiration for this post. I spotted a number of common speaking mistakes. So here they are, along with some simple suggestions to end them…
Read MoreWhat Makes a Great Presentation?
“What makes a great presentation?” First of all you have to ask yourself, who is qualified to decide whether a presentation is “great” or not. Is it the experts like me? Or is it the audience for that particular presentation? Ultimately every presentation is a unique communication between the presenter and his or her audience.…
Read MoreDeliberate Practice – The Key to Improving Presentation Skill
We have all heard the phrase “practice makes perfect” but is it really true? Practice is a key part of any new skill acquisition, but there’s more to it than simple, mindless repetition. They way we practice is as important as whether we practice when it comes to improving presentation skill. The aim of this…
Read MoreA New Way to Become Fearless?
Recently I heard pop star Jessie J interviewed on BBC Radio 4. During the interview she talked about how the key to success was being fearless. She then went on to define what that meant for her. She explained that fearlessness was the acceptance that , making mistakes, getting things wrong, or being criticised by others were just…
Read MoreHow to Come Across as Credible With Your Audience
One of the most common fears associated with presentations and speaking in public is the fear of not being taken seriously. Whether you are presenting in front of a few colleagues at an internal team meeting, or standing up in front of thousands at a major conference, credibility is essential if you are to influence…
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