Archive for the 'interaction' Category

The Engaging Speaker is aware of the changing energy in the room

Published on in Attention spans, Deliver with Style and interaction. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

Surviving an Ironman race needs control of your energy

I’ve completed the grueling Ironman Triathlon which is a race involving a 3.8km open water swim, 180km bike ride and finishes with a marathon, back to back all on the same day. The race has a cut off time of 17 hours and I finished my last one in around 12 hours 30 mins. Needless to say, it’s a long day and your energy levels change throughout the day. Nervous excitement before the swim. Steady rhythmic effort to complete the swim. A burst of energy on the bike before settling into a long ride with ups and downs, trying to hold on to your pace in the final 60km while holding back enough for the run. The marathon starts at a lively pace. It’s the final segment and if everything falls apart, you can always walk. You hold a pace, keep it ticking over. Everything seems good until half way through, muscles start to cramp, pain comes. Your pace drops a bit, you fight it to keep going. From 30-38km, you’re in complete pain, you think about quitting or walking. Somehow you keep your body moving forward quietly encouraging yourself and feeding off the energy of the crowd’s cheers. Finally you hit 38km, you realize that in 2km it’s only 2km to go. You perk up. Your pace rises. You find a new wind. You’re going to finish. The final one kilometer, you’re hitting euphoric levels as your endorphins kick in. You finish the marathon practically sprinting, fall over the line and break down into a heap. Before standing up with a warm painful glow of completion. Success.

 

Energy levels change through a presentation

The Engaging Speaker is aware that energy levels change through a presentation. Shorter presentations are easier to plan. Longer full day sessions require more detailed mapping. Remember people are fresh in the morning so get right into the content. Keep things moving along. Set the tone for starting and ending breaks on time. Plan your afternoons particularly carefully. Participants energy levels tend to dip around an hour to two after lunch, especially if they’ve had a big hotel buffet lunch. During this time period, move towards more physical exercises. Add higher impact team activities. Move things around. Shift venues. Keep things moving, changing and adapting. Finish strong. Have a clear conclusion to the day. Keep a couple of short energizers in your pocket in case the energy plunges. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Ask the participants what they’d like to do to pick up the energy.

 

Be aware that you create the energy in the room, not the audience

If you looked at your last talk or upcoming presentation in terms of creating energy, what would your energy chart look like? Would it be high at the start and then gradually falling away to nothing? Would it be low at the beginning, peak in the middle and drift off? Or would it look like a read out of a healthy heart with regular peaks and troughs. A good presentation should start and finish strong but should allow time to reflect, time to pick things up and a time for interaction.

 

What energy map are you creating?

Map your presentation’s energy chart. Is it in line with your message? A rallying sales meeting will start high and finish higher. A senior management crisis talk will have moments of low before building up momentum towards the end. The Engaging Speaker sets the tone for the talk and creates the energy, the enthusiasm, the experience for the audience.

Speech Analysis by The One Minute Presenter on Sir Ken Robinson’s Feb 2010 TED speech: Bring on the learning revolution

Published on in Create Your Connection, Deliver with Style, interaction, Memory, produce your message and Resources. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , .

In this follow up to his famous 2006 TED talk, Sir Ken Robinson makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning — creating conditions where kids’ natural talents can flourish.

Sir Ken Robinson is a creativity expert and in this talks asks the question, “Why don’t we get the best out of people?” He argues that it’s because we’ve been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies — far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity — are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. “We are educating people out of their creativity,” Robinson says. [Source: TED.com]

Here is my breakdown of the speech. The things that are great about the speech are:

  • Metaphors help make your big ideas easier to grasp

  • Crafting taglines is a discipline in finding simplicity in your (complex) ideas

  • Telling a story that engages is an advanced skill

  • Closing quote can make your message stick

The areas that could be improved include:

  • Making humour work is a funny thing

  • Do you lose credibility if you use shaky facts?

  • Audience interaction is not only about a show of hands

Type of presentation

This is a follow up talk from his highly acclaimed 2006 TED speech and as such the expectations are higher. While well received by the audience, it is hard to imagine that this talk will have as much impact, as the message is lost among the jokes. Well written taglines are the highlight and although the closing quotation is beautifully chosen and delivered it is not exactly related to the idea of creating a learning revolution.

Metaphors help make your big ideas easier to grasp

Robinson uses three major metaphors in this talk, and they all work well.

1. Compares crisis in natural resource with the crisis in human resources (starts 02:30)

although the set up to this metaphor was not accurately made. Robinson says there is a “second climate crisis” when he actually means “ a second crisis”.

This metaphor is followed up later by saying “Human resource like natural resources are buried deep, you have to go looking for them” (04:15). Good analogy.

2. Comparing the education system with fast food. Results are a similar depleting of spirits and energies as fast food depletes the body. (13:00). This really hits home it’s point.

3. Education is like manufacturing (conformity and batching people) (14:35)

What we need now is one based on agriculture … an “organic process” (14:55)

This is a nice comparison and one that is not only easily understood it catches the zeitgeist as organic food is becoming a growing trend, especially among the typical TED talks viewer.

Warwick’s coaching tip: Finding a metaphor or model to frame your ideas on can be an excellent way to convey your message. Vivid metaphors will help the audience remember your big ideas and overall message.

Crafting taglines is a discipline in finding simplicity in your (complex) ideas

Warwick’s coaching tip: Robinson is a thoughtful speaker (in between the jokes) and this reflects the deeper thinking he has done on his topic. A good tip for every speaker is to leave the audience with the feeling that you know a lot more on your subject that you could possibly cover in your talk.

This depth is shown in the clarity and concisely of his taglines or sound bites. Robinson has helped the audience do the thinking by making the complex really rather simple to understand – a significant asset for everyone who wishes to be influential.

Good examples of taglines include:

“this is not a crisis of natural resources…but a crisis of human resources” (02:23)

“we make very poor use of our talents” (02:30)

“that’s simply improving a broken model” (04:40)

“what we need is not an evolution, but a revolution in education. This has to be transformed into something else.” (04:50)

“it’s a single function device” (when talking about a watch) (08:15)

“life is not linear, it’s organic” (08:55)

“we are obsessed about getting people to college\” (09:15)

“human communities depend upon a diversity of talent, not a singular conception of ability” (10:50)

“college begins in kindergarten….[pause]… no it doesn’t” (11:15)

“a friend of mine once said a 3 year old is not half a six year old” (11:40)

“we have built our education system on the model of fast food” (12:45)

Telling a story that engages is an advanced skill

The fireman story (starts 09:20 – 10:40) makes a strong point on the value of having diverse talent in a community.

The example of three year old children being interviewed by “unimpressed panels” with resumes (12:00) hilariously brings out the ludicrous nature of how competitive early education has become.

Warwick’s coaching tip: When selecting appropriate stories and anecdotes ask yourself does the impact part (memorable) of the story align with the main message you want the audience to takeaway.

Closing quote can make your message stick

Choosing a quotation that sums up your message can be powerful technique. Like every tool, it can be misused. The trick is to find as close a match as possible to the quotation’s message and your overall speech message. Robinson chose a WB Yeats quotation (starts 16:40) which was beautifully connected to a powerful closing thought of “tread softly on our children’s dreams”. While a lovely closing, it is a little out of synch with the message of creating a learning revolution.

Overall this was a well received presentation, but there were a few areas which could have been improved.

Making humour work is a funny thing

While some of these jokes got an audience reaction, I did not like them as I felt they were often a shallow attempt at humour that did not develop or carry his ideas forward. Toward the end of the talk, the reaction from the audience dropped.

Example: ‘there is a hunger for videos of me’ (01:00) got a good laugh but really is too self indulgent for my tastes, especially when the set up used shaky facts (see below).

“I only had 18 minutes frankly..” – audience did not react, perhaps because all speakers have 18 minutes. (01:38)

“so as I was saying” (01:40)- again the audience laughed but it comes across as a little self-indulgent when being invited back to TED was an honour not made to many other speakers.

“if you don’t believe there is a major climate crisis, you should get out more” – audience did not react perhaps because the point is not really clear (01:50)

“I divide the world into two groups” (02:55) – while this got a good laugh, his follow up point did not come out so clearly. His point was that there are two groups of people in the world, those that “endure” and those that “enjoy” (03:30)

The joke about American history not being taught in Britain (05:50) while getting a laugh does not really add any impact to this message. And the set up referring to his lack of knowledge of what was happening in American at that time could have been cut out.

“it’s difficult to know what it is you take for granted. And the reason is you take it for granted” (07:10). Not that funny.

The anecdote about receiving his first guitar at the same time that Eric Clapton did worked well, “…it wouldn’t work no matter how hard I blew into it” (13:30)

This uses the element of surprise, self-deprecating humour and exaggeration to get a good audience response.

Do you lose credibility if you use shaky facts?

In the opening to the talk, Robinson explained that 4 million downloads of his 2006 talk had been made, so if you multiply that by 20 you get the number of people who had seen his previous talk. It seems hard to believe that such large groups of people are sitting around watching online TED videos. This multiplier is a rule of thumb often applied to print media which for example if a newspaper or magazine is placed in a library or office would be read multiple times by different people. I am not so convinced it applies to a world of individual downloads.

Warwick’s coaching tip: The opening of a speech should be about building credibility, and Robinson was doing this by sharing how many people had seen his previous talk. Instead of his comment “there is a hunger for videos of me” which seems bizarre, perhaps a better retort would have been to express surprise, shock or amazement. By bringing in some humbleness he would have come across as credible and not self-aggrandizing.

Audience interaction is not only about a show of hands

In this attempt at audience interaction – always a tricky part to navigate in any large conference talk – Robinson uses the “put your hands up” technique. A trusted – if rather overused staple of conference speakers. The problem with this type of interaction is that it comes across as superficial and many people don’t like engaging in this type of interaction due to its overuse.

The interaction starts by asking who was over the age of 25, and wearing a wristwatch. (07:20). The underlying premise is that people under 25 won’t wear a watch because it is a “single function device” [great tagline] and that everyone over 25 wears a watch to tell the time. But do they? Personally I don’t always wear a watch but when I do its more because I like the feeling of being “dressed up” and other people will wear watches for aesthetic reasons or – if you have spent thousands of dollars on a luxury watch– as a status statement. People over the age of 25 wear watches for many different reasons.

Warwick’s coaching tip: A better approach would have been to ask the audience what they thought his daughter called a watch. The answer of a “single function device” would have got a good laugh (as it did when he used it after this interaction) and would have made a clear point on how younger people view the world differently.

Conclusion

This was a well delivered and generally well received talk. While there are very strong aspects to the talk notably the metaphors and taglines used, a greater impact could have been made by making the big idea more visible. What is the learning revolution that is needed? Besides from being organic, how can it be created? Even high level, inspirational speeches need to suggest a direction for the audience to go following the talk. Not as impactful as the 2006 talk. I think this was a 5 out of 10.

To see Warwick’s analysis of Sir Ken Robinson’s 2006 TED Talk speech, click here.

About the Author

Warwick J Fahy

“Warwick helps C-level executives, working in multinational companies based in Greater China, who struggle to get their point across and influence their key stakeholders. Warwick helps the executive project their message with confidence allowing them to express their opinions powerfully and gain respect from senior managers even when under pressure.”  Learn more about who I help here.

Warwick is the author of “The One Minute Presenter: 8 steps to successful business presentations in a short attention span world”.

Now available on Amazon.com.

Sign up to “52 Tips to more confident public speaking” newsletter at www.warwickjohnfahy.com

You don’t need to be a King to work on your speech!

Published on in Create Your Connection, executive presence, interaction and produce your message. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

The highly acclaimed King’s Speech has been attracting a lot of attention recently. It was an entertaining film, especially for some of the bizarre treatments used to treat stutterers in the 1930s. It reminded me of the elocution lessons I took when I was about five years old to fix a slight problem I had in speaking certain words. Luckily I didn’t need to fill my mouth with marbles.

I was thinking whether this was a good film for my profession or not. Certainly, by showing a sometimes moving story of a person who worked incredibly hard at improving his skills for the new era of radio and public speeches, it is certainly a good role model for how we should all learn.  On the flip side, the eccentric nature of the practitioners (speech therapists) in the film gave me mixed feelings. From their bizarre suggestions that smoking is good for your lungs to the amateur dramatics actors lurking beneath the surface, they seemed to fall into the usual clichés of how public speakers are regarded.

In today’s busy, distracted and short attention span world, I think we do need to be not only great speakers, but also engaging storytellers.

Being an effective presenter is less about the mechanics of public speaking and more about the engagement skills you need to connect with your audiences. So while breathing and measuring the distance to the microphone are nice touches, they are the cherries on the cake.  They are useful only after a solid foundation has been put in place. Business professionals need to engage in so many different ways that most of their presentations are of the informal nature. Conference calls, one-on-one meetings, quick pep talks with their team, business events with regulators. Often they need to be just as persuasive without taking the stage.

So should we all have a speech coach? While I don’t think we need a speech therapist as depicted in the film, there is certainly a need for upgrading of business presentation skills across the board. Visit any company and speak with executives and you will pick up the frustration of long, dull meetings with long, dull data-heavy presentation slides. Or how long it takes to persuade a team that change is needed. Or inability to connect with younger colleagues. Or senior executives from a different country.

Most presentations are forgettable, do not have a clear message, are not delivered with passion, avoid all techniques that might make a message memorable (like story-telling and metaphor creation). Added to this most executives underestimate the amount of preparation that is needed for presenting a message.

A recent coaching engagement brought this out. A senior finance executive was frustrating his direct managers: the country CEO and also a global CFO based overseas. They had frequently asked the executive to be briefer and more concise in their one-on-one meetings which often over-ran by 30 or 60 minutes on a regular basis. Only after two or three coaching sessions where we worked on how to form a concise message, how to use structure to arrange ideas and how to think through the material by using scanning and drilling questions did the executive realise that “ this takes a long time to prepare” .  At first, like any new skill, it will take longer. But with practice, various techniques can be learned that dramatically reduce the time taken by the executive to prepare and deliver his points. When you think about how much it costs your organisation to have three or four senior level people in a meeting, this added productivity is a cost saver. In addition, the improvement in the relations between the executives helps enormously get things done in future projects.

So if you haven’t seen The King’s Speech yet, it is an entertaining view and if it does inspire you to think about improving your public speaking or presentation skills, then please do contact us. We specialise in executive communication and have specific coaching packages to help senior executives become more productive through their communication and also for particular events like conference speaking.

How engaging is your presenting?
Here are a few questions to check before you deliver:

  1. Do you have an overall message for your speech which you could express in under 10 words?
  2. Do you have a good metaphor for your presentation?  (A quest, a battle, an exploration)
  3. Could you create a single visual image that would express your main idea?
  4. Will anyone remember your presentation? On a scale from 1 to 10, how memorable do you think your presentation will be? Will anyone remember it in a month’s time? Three months?
  5. Have you drawn your key points into catchy sound-bites, questions, powerful statements or eye-catching visuals that will help the audience engage with your main message?

If you can answer “yes!” to all five questions then you are well on your way to creating a great presentation. Make sure you then spend as much time as you can in rehearsal. For a 20 minute presentation, you should be spending 2 -3 hours in stand-up, speak-out-aloud rehearsal.

List of famous stutterers here.

So what now?

If you are ready to take a step up in your career, and want to learn how to be a more powerful communicator, then visit our web site below and download a free chapter on how The One Minute Presenter system works to help you develop more executive presence.

Warwick John Fahy works with high-potential senior finance executives who struggle to get their point across and influence their key stakeholders. Warwick helps the executive gain respect by quickly and powerfully expressing their opinions. Clients hire Warwick for his highly practical approach. For free executive speaking tips http://www.oneminutepresenter.com/blog

To arrange presentation skills coaching visit http://www.warwickjohnfahy.com. For a media interview call +86 1391 786 7502.

Way of the Future? How to cure short attention spans!

Published on in Attention spans, digital natives and interaction. Closed Tags: , , , .

An article worth reading if you are interested in how technology is being applied to help overcome short attention spans.

Now all you have to do is convince your audiences to wear them!

How are you using technology to engage with your audiences?

iPad product launch: What Makes Steve Jobs a Great Presenter?

Published on in Create Your Connection, Deliver with Style, Events, interaction, presenter, produce your message, rapport and Visual presentations. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .
ipad
The new iPad
by Rebecca Hong

Steve Jobs is my favorite presenter for his ability to get his message across so clearly and effectively. I love listening to his commencement speech in Stanford University entitled “Stay Hungry Stay Foolish”. This morning I listened to Steve’s iPad product launch presentation. Steve Jobs proves himself to be a great presenter again. I would like to evaluate his presentation from a presentation skills perspective. I won’t touch upon the technical side even though I am fully sold that iPad is a phenomenal gadget.

Let me tell you why I think Steve Jobs is a great presenter.

1. Well-designed Structure/Organization

A great presentation starts by having a well designed structure/organization. So let’s first look at the structure of his presentation; the opening, body and closing. Please pay special attention to some very good transitions in between points.

Opening

Steve Jobs first overviewed of the company status-mainly good news about product sales and the large customer base. Then he threw out a question: “Is there a 3rd category device between a smart phone and a laptop?” The answer is: iPad.

Body

  1. Overview of what iPad can do.

Transition: “So that gives you a little overview of what the iPad can do, but it’s nothing like seeing it. So I’d like to show it to you now.”

Demo of what iPad can do.

– web surfing: New York Times, Buy movie tickets, National Geography

– emails

– photos

– calendar

– address book

– maps: Google Map

– video: Youtube, TV, movies,

II. Hardware features of iPad

III. 3rd party software features of iPad: App Store (presented by Scott Forstall, Apple Senior VP of iPod Software)

Demo of online game

Demos from several 3rd party software developers/content providers

IV. New App: iBooks (Steve Jobs back to present)

Overview

Demo

Transition: “Now, something very exciting: the iWork.”

V. App: iWork for iPad (presented by Phil Schiller, Sr VP Product Marketing)

Overview

Demo

– Keynote

– Pages

– Numbers

VI. Sync with iTunes (Steve Jobs back to present)

VII. Wireless networking in US and internationally

VIII. Pricing

First gave the product benefits: what iPad can do, Apps, iBook App, iWork App.

Then gave a price in pundits’ opinion: $999

Then shows the actual price: $499 and the more expensive models with higher capacity

IX. 3 Accessories

– a dock to view photos

– a key board dock

– a case for protection and serves as stand

X. Video of iPad

Closing

Echo the opening

Call for action: get your hands on it to feel it.

2. Subtle Salesmanship

Steve Jobs utilized this product launch opportunity not only to introduce the new product but also to persuade the audience to own it by adding many salesmanship lines. Let’s see how he made his sales pitch subtle but effective.

Example 1. After the demo of what the iPad can do, Steve said, “I have to say, though, watching it is nothing like getting it in your hands and feeling it right underneath your fingers.” This is to tell the audience that you need to own this gadget to really feel its charm.

Example 2. When it’s time to unveil the price of iPad, Steve first recapped the product benefits: what iPad can do, Apps, iBook App, iWork App. Then he didn’t tell the price right away. But to build some suspense and also contrast, he gave a price in pundits’ opinion: $999. Of course, the actual price is much lower: $499 for the most basic model and higher prices for other more advanced models. Here Steve used two skills. The first one is to mention benefits before the price so that buyers are reminded of the wonderful benefits of this product first and then are more likely to accept the price. The second skill Steve used is to give a higher price first and then the real lower price. This contrast of prices naturally makes the buyer feel the actual price is really low and it’s a great deal to get it at this price.

Example 3. At the end of the speech, Steve called for action to own this product. “So we’ve got a hands-on area next door, we’d like to get you to get your hands on an iPad because when you feel all this power, and this much fun and the internet in your hands, you will never want to go back.” This call to action is effective because it is not a hard sale. Rather it appeals to the emotions: the desire to feel, to have fun, and the need to try something cutting-edge.

3. Echo between the Opening and the Closing

When you first listen to the opening of the presentation, you might think that it seems a bit irrelevant to the main topic of this presentation, the iPad launch. But when you listen to the closing of the presentation, you will realize that actually the opening is well structured to serve as a set up for the closing. The opening’s main message of Apple having a massive customer base links to the closing message that this massive customer base is exactly the customer foundation for iPad and why iPad will take off strong in the market.

Let’s have a close look of how the opening and the closing echo with each other.

  1. Opening: “Everybody uses a laptop or smart phone… Is there a room for the 3rd category of device in the middle? Something between a laptop and a smart phone?”

Closing: “So let’s go back to the beginning. Do we have what it takes to establish a 3rd category product, an awesome product that’s in between a laptop and a smart phone…We think we got the goods. We think we’ve done it.”

  1. Opening: “A few weeks ago, we have sold our 25millionth iPod.”

Closing: “Because we’ve shipped over 75million iPhones and iTouchs, there are over 75 million people already know how to use the iPad.”

  1. Opening: “A few weeks ago, we announced that a user downloaded the 3 billionth application from the App Store.”

Closing: “Users have downloaded 12 billion products from these stores (iTune, iApps and iBooks), so we are at scale and we are ready for the iPad.”

  1. Opening: “We’d like to kick off 2010 by introducing a truly magical and revolutionary product today.”

Closing: “Now the iPad, if you can sum it up, is our most advanced technology in a magical & revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.”

4. A Strong Tagline

A good speech, no matter how long or short it is, should be able to be crystallized into a sentence or even a phrase, which we call a tagline. Steve Jobs gave this iPad a clear and strong tagline:

“iPad is a truly magical and revolutionary product.”

(Short version, used in the opening)

“iPad our most advanced technology in a magical & revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.”

(Longer version, used in the closing)

This longer version tagline perfectly crystallized the features of iPad: advanced technology, magical, revolutionary and the affordable price.

However, I do have some recommendation to make this tagline stronger. The problem with the current tagline is that it puts the focus on the most advanced technology, which is too technical oriented. I would recommend to change it to focus on its emotional appeal:

“iPad is a truly magical & revolutionary device with our most advanced technology at an unbelievable price.”

(recommended tagline)

The changed version puts the emotional appeal of “a truly magical & revolutionary device” as the focus in this tagline to make it more user oriented rather than technology oriented.

5. Well Paced Speed and Great Use of Pauses

If there is one thing that differentiates Steve Jobs from other great speakers, it is his speaking speed. Steve’s speaking speed is about 100-120 words per minute while a normal English speaker’s speed is about 210 words per minute. This means Steve is 50% slower when he speaks. Why does Steve Jobs speak slowly? Because he enunciates each word clearly and he takes time to emphasize the key words and messages. The effect of his slow pace is that audience will feel very comfortable following him without being rushed or missing anything he said. As a result he gets his message across successfully.

Here is an example of how he uses pauses effectively. When he made the statement that “Now the iPad, if you can sum it up, is our most advanced technology in a magical & revolutionary device at an unbelievable price”, Steve puts three pauses in this sentence to let the audience hear and get the three features clearly:

“Now the iPad, if you can sum it up, is our most advanced technology [pause] in a magical & revolutionary device [pause] at an unbelievable price [pause].”

6. Beautiful Selection of Words

Listening to a speech with beautiful words is like listening to a masterpiece of music. Steve Jobs is one of the speakers who carefully selects his use of words. He uses many adjectives in his presentations and metaphors to create mental pictures in audience minds.

Example 1. “This is around 18 months since its inception, 3 billion applications from App Store.”

Example 2. “The e-book app. Amazon has done a great job of pioneering this functionality with Kindle and we are going to stand on their shoulders and go a little further.”

7. Show of Emotions

A good presenter connects with the audience on a personal level by expressing his own emotions. Steve Jobs is such a presenter. Here is a good example: “We just ended our holiday quarter, our 1st fiscal quarter of 2010, with $15.6 billions of revenue. I don’t even believe that!”

8. Repetition of Key Lines

Steve Jobs knows the power of repetition to strike his main messages in the audience minds. Here are two examples:

Example 1. “By revenue, Apple is the biggest mobile device company in the world now… Apple is the #1 mobile device company in the world.”

Example 2. “Now the iPad, if you can sum it up, is our most advanced technology in a magical & revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.” (repeated once)

9. One Message per Slide

In all Apple’s presentations, you will see what it means to have one message per slide. Besides, the most important message is put in bigger font while narratives in smaller font. Here is one example:

Sample slide:

50,000,000

Visitors last quarter

10. Never Forget to Promote the Company/Brand

Steve Jobs smartly utilized the product launch opportunity to promote the company and build up its Apple brand. Here are two examples.

Example 1. In the beginning of the presentation, Steve Jobs gave a positioning to Apple: “Apple is a mobile devices company. That’s what we do.” If you think Apple is just a digital appliance company, then after listening to this speech, you know that to be specific, Apple is a mobile devices company.

Example 2. At the end of the presentation, Steve Jobs reiterated the competitive advantage of Apple: “We’ve always tried to be at the crossroad of technology and liberal arts, to be able to get the best of the both.” This is what differentiates Apple from other technical companies.

So the above ten skills were demonstrated by Steve Jobs in his 1.5 hour iPad product launch presentation. Steve is a role model as a highly effective technical presenter. But only seeing is believing. So go to www.apple.com to see it with your own eyes and listen with your own ears.

Don’t present like your audience has unlimited time, attention or energy

Published on in Attention spans, interaction and Memory. Closed Tags: , , , .

time-attention-energyOne thing you can be sure about when you are delivering your next presentation.  Your audience wish you would finish it quicker, get to the point sooner and wrap it up faster.  Your audience don’t have unlimited time, attention or energy. So don’t present like they do.

If you see people’s eyes glazing over, notice sighs and hear yawns, you are in the “dead energy zone” from which no memories emerge. Your audience is switched off and waiting for you to finish. Those who are less polite will walk out.

To become a better presenter, you need to understand how memory works.  One technique to learn is called spaced learning.  Advocated by Dr John Medina in his book Brain Rules and put into practice in a school in the UK, spaced learning stops trying to force information on the brain. Instead it aligns with how memories are actually formed.

Spaced learning uses intense learning periods of 20 minutes, interspersed with 10 minute intervals of physical exercise that requires hand-eye coordination, such as juggling, basketball and plate spinning. Sounds barmy right? But the results are amazing.  Students who took a 90 minute class on biology had a 58% pass rate. A year late taking another science subject and this time four months of conventional class study the pass rate went up to only 68%.

The technique is fast and uses “hooks” and visual cues to stimulate the learning points. How can you introduce gaps in your presentations where the audience can take abreak, move around and then be ready for a quick review when they return.  You need different versions of your presentations. Insert “check slides” which have gaps in the key messages and ask the audience to fill in the missing words.  Have handouts that ask key questions about the messages. Insert more five minute breaks (keep it to exactly 5 minutes though!) and don’t be afraid to go back to skim through your slides.  Above all, dump your text-based slides for visuals that use pictures and slogans. Make your slides resemble billboards.

Are your presentations interactive enough?

Published on in interaction. Closed Tags: , , , , .

interaction

Buddhists perceive life, death and rebirth as a continuous cycle.  Communication seems to follow  similar pattern. Once was a time when all communication was interactive. People sat around camp-fires and took time to share and swop stories.  As an engaging form of communication, we haven’t surpassed this art form yet (until virtual reality gets bit better!).

As the world progressed, communication methods started getting more efficient. Town Criers went from town to town delivering the latest news and gossip. This started the trend towards mass communications which took off as technology did. Mass publishing of newspapers, radio and then television put more and more emphasis on one message for all. Even today mass communications is (probably on balance) the most effective delivery method. Especially when in China you have the national broadcaster CCTV (got to love the honesty in the name!) beaming out to more than a billion people…guaranteed. Potent stuff.

But interactive communication never went away, we still love stories after all. In the 1970s the CB Radios were the precursor to internet chat rooms.

Pagers, mobile phones, inter-web, chat rooms, instant chat,  tweets, have all revitalised the more intimate forms of communication albeit with the ability to leverage it to many people.   Today, people need interactivity more than ever.  When you post on your Facebook page that you had a fight with your boyfriend, you are extending your emotional space out towards your friends and when they reply with comfort (your female friends) and advice (your male friends), this cycle of interactivity is complete. On a much more powerful, personal and deeper level than any type of one-way, mass market communication. Pop Idol is so popular, I think, because the general public voting has a chance to engage and pull everyone into the show. Now you have a vested interest because you voted, joined a fan page of your favourite singer and talked about it with your friends at work.

Against this backdrop, what are you doing to increase the interactivity of your presentations? Are you still wondering why your audience looks bored? Why no one can remember your last presentation.  Kick your one-way delivery out the window.  Learn from Pop Idol and put feedback panels into your presentations, allow voting, request devil advocate opinions, ask for buy-in from your audience. Take your presentation into the realm of  interactions, personalisation and emotions.

Create Your Connection: How can a mirror help?

Published on in interaction. Closed

Create your ConnectionStep 4 of The One Minute Presenter’s journey is “Create Your Connection.

A quick tip to create and maintain a connection during your speech is to use a mirroring technique.  These works in two ways: verbal and physical.

Verbal mirroring means you use the language, terms and jargon that your audience is familiar.  This requires preparation and research ahead of time until you are comfortable with the language your target audience members use.

For example, does your audience say “client”, “customer” or “consumer”.  Make sure you follow in-step with their preferences.

Listen carefully for the way that your key decision makers describe an issue, write down the key words exactly the same way.  Then use them during your speech.  Verbal mirroring makes your audience feel comfortable that you are like them and that you understand them. This is essential for maintaining rapport and building relationships.

Physical mirroring means that you use your body’s position to make a connection with your audience. Basically it is about getting in synch with the members of your audience. People who have rapport with each other will tend to have similar body positions and gestures. This can work whether you deliver your presentation sitting down or standing up.   Look to make eye contact with each audience member (where practical) and holding the eye contact for two to three seconds.  Move naturally around the room making sure that you include all audience members. Be aware of your “blind spots” which could be people near the front or back or sometimes on one side of the room.

This verbal and physical mirroring will maintain rapport and keep a connection throughout your presentation.  What other techniques are you using to create a connection with your audience?