Archive for the 'Finish on Time' Category

Product Launch like an Executive - Memorable product launches Part 3

preparing-rehearsal-video-camera-and-man1In part three of this three part look at product launches, we will build on “Less is More” as featured in Part 1 here and Taglines in Part 2.

Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse

One of the most overlooked part of a presentation preparation is the rehearsal. Most presenters think making a slide deck is enough. Or silently clicking through slides. While others may deliver it out aloud while alone in the office. Any rehearsal is good rehearsal, but the best type is putting yourself in the actual same situation that you will face on the day.

Jobs is a role model as he conducts live on-stage rehearsals to ensure every aspect is thought through from start until finish. He is known for putting in hours at a time in the days leading up to the big day. This has helped create a culture of presentation prowess in Apple that showed in the launches that were given by Job’s colleagues in his absence due to surgery. Are you a role-model for presenting in your company?

Allocate one whole day before your next big presentation and spend the day rehearsing in a live environment with your slides, projector, and clicker ideally on the actually stage that you will deliver the product launch. If there is a question and answer section in your presentation, rehearse that too by inviting your team members to fire questions at you from the floor. Time spent in live rehearsal will show when you deliver with style on the day.
Make sure you don’t sell your next product short by cutting corners on the big presentation launch. Investing time to deliver a visually stimulating, tagline-rich message will allow all your stakeholders to walk away with an easy-to-remember message. A good presentation can then be passed onto your sales team to use in front of key accounts and helps your marketing team push a consistent powerful message through your usual marketing channels. An added benefit will be that your high standards of presentation preparation will trickle down to your team members.

RESOURCE BOX

Warwick John Fahy is the international executive speech coach for senior executives, business leaders and entrepreneurs who need to influence clients, investors, shareholders and team members. His highly practical approach and deep cross cultural intelligence have made him a sought-after business presentation coach throughout the world.

Warwick is the author of the acclaimed book, The One Minute Presenter - 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world. For free executive speaking tips visit http://www.oneminutepresenter.com/blog

To arrange presentation skills training or coaching to build your executive presence visit this web site.

For a media interview call +86 1391 786 7502.

Copyright 2010 Warwick John Fahy All rights reserved.

Do you hate rehearsing?

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.

60 Second Idea to Improve the World

In a world of short attention spans, expressing your ideas in a concise memorable way is essential.  Here is an excellent BBC show which asks guests to do just that. In 60 seconds they have to express their idea and then that idea is evaluated. Ideas include, “No TV for teenageers” and “It’s never to late to apologise”. The total show lasts 6 minutes - perfect for even rushed executives.  I download them to my ipod and listen while travelling.
Download these podcasts at the BBC’s web site here.

Time is money

It’s an old cliche but “time is money” when it comes to business resources, especially in tough times. The One Minute Presenter is all about helping people become more concise and compelling speakers.  Most formal presentations are delivered in business meetings. But are you aware of how much your meetings are costing you? Here is a quick tool for you to use. How about projecting it on the wall during your meetings!? It would really help you everyone on track.