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Simplicity Sells

Published on in Create Your Connection and produce your message. Closed Tags: , , , .
Simplicity Sells

Simplicity Sells

With the rise of the over 50s as a demographic that marketers would like to target, finally we have computer makers designing a computer for people who are not comfortable negotiating a complex file management system or a desktop full of icons.

Simplicity Computers have introduced a computer with a simple navigation interface (Square One – couldn’t they have found a better name?) and built-in video tutorials that are clear and easy-to-understand.

This got me thinking that designing a good message for a presentation is all about simplicity. Being simple is not easy. And being concise can take a lot of preparation.  The next time you prepare a presentation, ask yourself, “What is my message?” Is it concise? Could someone over 50 or under 10 years of age understand it?

Simplicity means cutting out the jargon, and acronyms.  Simplicity is about reducing a concept to its simpliest terms (without being patronising).  Simple messages are easy to transfer.

David Pogue – an advocate for simple design – also has a speech called “Simplicity Sells” delivered at TED Talks.

How can you improve your attention span?

Published on in Attention spans and You the Presenter. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .
Meditation can improve your concentration

Meditation can improve your concentration

With the need to multi-task and sift through a never-ending flow of information, we have adapted – with the help of technology – to become more skillful at darting our attention spans from point to point.  From an email, to the mobile phone, to a web site, to a download, to a conversation. And so on.

While this adaption is an important part of being productive in a digital information age, it also impacts our ability to focus on one thing for a long period of time. Switching attention between tasks reduces effectiveness and hampers our ability to get things done in one sitting.

I recently attending a workshop and received a 25 minute meditation recording which I use at the end of the day to relax, unwind and calm my mind.  One thing that surprised me was how difficult it is to focus for the complete 25 minutes. While listening to the guided meditation (basically someone’s voice), I noticed that my mind was drifting onto other thoughts.  Even after pulling my attention back to the recording, my mind kept darting onto other topics.

Gradually, the more I meditate with the recording the longer I am able to focus my attention entirely.  As we continue to plough through life with our numerous distractions, it’s good to remember that we can also “work out” our concentration and focus from time to time. Turn off the devices and just relax for 25 minutes. Your mind and attention span will appreciate it.

Do you hate rehearsing?

Published on in Finish on Time. Closed Tags: , , , .
Rehearsal or Repitition?

Rehearsal or Repitition?

In my experience of coaching and training executives in multinational companies, the one major deficit that I find is the lack of proper rehearsal.  People are just not interested in putting in the time to rehearse their material.

If you have been involved in a sports team or theater then you will know that most of your time is spent practicing drills.  A sports team will spend most of the time working specific drills day-in, day-out before they get ready to work on their game practice.

More worryingly, I find that younger professionals are even more averse to rehearsal. Perhaps its the consumer, must-have the next new thing that influence this opinion.  Most success is hard work. And most hard work is spent mastering mundane tasks.

In presenting, effective rehearsing needs as a foundation a mastery of the content to be delivered. Most presenters don’t even reach this level. This is one reason why they struggle to deliver with confidence. It’s hard to deliver with style while you are still trying to recall the next sentence you need to deliver.

So where do people spend their time? Mostly making PowerPoint slides. A completely  inefficient use of time. A slidedeck is simply a tool to support your message and add visually memorable ways to recall your key messages. It is not the presentation.

A proven way to speed up the process of reaching a message is to “stand-and-deliver” the speech as soon as you have a basic outline. Record these early rehearsals five minutes at a time. Then immediately listen to the recording and note which areas sounded strong and flowed well. Make a note of them on your outline (or write it into a script if you prefer). Keep cycling through your presentation in this way until you have solid message that flows well through the presentation.  Once you have got to this stage you can work on refining the transitions and think about adding visual aids and slidedecks.

When it comes to rehearsing a voice recorder is your best friend.

Anecdote to Long PowerPoint Presentations : Ignite

Published on in Attention spans, digital natives, Events and Visual presentations. Closed Tags: , , , .
5 minute presentations

5 minute presentations

I am sure you have all sat through many teeth-grindingly long presentations with 89 PowerPoint slides. But what if the presentation was only 5 minutes long, with 20 slides and each slide automatically rotated after 15 seconds. Sounds great!

There are a number of new events springing up which ‘force’ presenters to be concise. I think this is a great thing. It is much harder to be concise and still remain compelling, but the philosophy of The One Minute Presenter is just this. With today’s short-attention span audiences, it is becoming more and more important to be concise.

If you cannot get along to one of Ignite’s events (Wiki page) – try this method when you are preparing for your next presentation. It will help you deliver a to-the-point message and finish on time.