The Presentations Japan Series

I have the opportunity to give a number of presentations each year.  I video them as well, so I can study where I can improve them further.  What I find very interesting though, is that I am a poor model in some ways for others, who don't have that chance to present publically so often.  I was teaching some presentation skills classes recently and the students are probably a better fit for most pe...

Waffle.  This is the enemy of speakers and presenters.  Ums and Ahs are obvious fillers.  We all recognise them when we hear them and we know we have to do a better job to eliminate them.  The more insidious waffle sneaks into our talks wholly uninvited and assassin like.  The impact on the audience is immediate. They are lunging for phones to escape from you to a better place.  Waffle camouflages...

Trapped in a small screen in the corner of the monitor has become everyone's reality when we have group meetings. I have been holding training sessions online now since March, as well as participating in numerous public webinars.  There are some things that clearly don't work, but here we are about to go into fall and no one seems to be making any significant changes, to up their online game.  It...

We have all grown up in business watching internal presentations at our firms.  It might be a big announcement, a town hall, a shareholder's meeting or just a weekly meeting.  Then we have those cases where we go outside the company and present to clients, industry groups, Chambers of Commerce etc.  The sad thing is that rarely are any of these presenters any good.  How can that be?  None of the t...

"Don't round your back", "Stand up straight", "Pull your shoulders back", are common parental commands when we were growing up.  Kids do tend to have rounded shoulders and don't stand up straight, but so what?  Why are parents worried about their kids deciding to have a rounded rather than straight posture?  The concerns relate to health based on a straighter posture allows better breathing to tak...

We have all migrated back to our homes, waiting for the great pandemic to subside, so that when the coast is clear we can scuttle back to the office in safety.  Or maybe, we have concluded that we don't need to be at the office as much anymore or at all.  The end result is that we have been relegated to a low tech environment, with almost zero tech support.  If we were presenting in a meeting room...

"Don't waste a good crisis" is the sort of advice you don't really wish to receive.  Who wants a crisis at any time?  The pandemic however has certainly created economic and social turmoil.  It has also created instant experts, charlatans, wannabees and plenty of dodgy advice.  I have been watching webinars on how to present online by people so incompetent it is breathtaking.  I admire their pluck...

Maintaining the audiences' attention presumes you actually have their interest in the first place, doesn't it.  Gaining and keeping attention are no simple achievements in this Age of Distraction.  One of the interesting findings of online meeting studies is the miniscule number of people who are attending, who are NOT multitasking in the background.  This means that the content and the delivery a...

In Parts One and Two, we have covered the mentality needed to be a professional presenter, how to structure the talk and how to deal with hostile audience questions.  Now we turn to the delivery components.  In the online world and in person, our voice is such a powerful communication tool.  We hear those deep throated DJs on the radio or actors in the movies and realise we don't have the same ins...

In Part One we looked at the opportunity available for people who want to improve their presentation, persuasion and speaking skills.  We delved into why are we speaking at all and who are we speaking to, which will define the approach we will take. The planning part is an obvious, but usually overlooked, component of the presentations' world Ironically, we begin with designing the end of the spee...

It Is Not Back To Normal As A Presenter – Part One   Gradually people are streaming back to the office, after having been sequestered away at home for many months.  As a presenter, whether you are the boss, one of the troops or representing the company in public, things are not going back to what they were pre-Covid-19.  The chances of making a public speech in front of a live audience are slim to...

Oh Yeah, Another Critical Thing For Both Online and In-Person Presenting Success   So far I have looked at the eye and voice power aspects when presenting, whether you are full form in front of an audience or struggling to get out of that tiny box in the corner of the screen that, Zoom or WebEx or whoever, has relegated you to, when you are online.  What about body language?  Does this remain the...

One More Critical Key For Both Online And In-Person Presenting Success   Previously I talked about the importance of eye contact when presenting, whether online or in the venue with the audience.  Another major element is how presenters use their voice when in front of their audience, be they sojourned in tiny boxes on screen or live in the room, standing right in front of us.  You would think thi...

One Critical Key For Both Online And In-Person Presenting Success   Lockdown has ended in Japan and we are caught in a sort of phony war, where neither online nor in-person has won the ultimate battle for audience attention.  Online is still more prominent at the moment, but the cobwebs are being cleared away and the dust wiped off the "live and in the room with you" presenters.  These two major d...

Today's On-Line Presenters Are Demented One Dimensionals   Webinar and after webinar, I see presenters delivering such substandard efforts that I quiver with fear for the personal brand damage they are doing to themselves.  Once upon a time, they might be showing fifty people they were unprofessional, but now the online meetings can have hundreds in attendance.  Camera up the nose, talking down to...

When Is High Energy Over The Top?   Recently, I was watching a presenter online, teaching others how to do online presentations.  Man, he was really jumping around.  The body language was rocking hard, the voice was powerful, the gestures almost pungent, the facial expressions were on fire and his eyes were blazing.  The thought floated across my mind about how his audience was receiving this advi...

How To Moderate OnLine Meetings   It is a curious word "moderate".  It means "make or become less extreme, intense, rigorous, or violent".  The chances of being responsible for a meeting which became violent or extreme in business, would be a fairly exotic occurrence.  If opinions were charged and opposing, the situation could become intense and the vigorous exchange of opinions might become rigor...

Be Clear With Your On-Line Instructions   When we are immersed in our subject, be it a topic we are speaking on or a work theme we have lived and breathed, we need to be careful about letting familiarity breed confusion.  In the on-line world we are often asking people to go into breakout rooms to discuss various weighty topics and then come back and report.  The host can usually pop into these se...

Confused Or Competent Online Presenting?   The tech factor in online presenting is a juggernaut which sweeps all in its path.  I was finishing up a three hour online Successful Public Speaking class, when one of the participants asked me what I thought was the most difficult aspect of presenting online.  Many issues flooded my mind, but by far the most elusive of a fix, would have to be the techno...

  Dealing With Confrontational Questions In The On-Line World   When we give our presentation on-line we are in full control of the situation.  We know what we are going to say.  When we get to the end, or part way through, and someone asks us a really tough question, this can be difficult to deal with.  Especially, if they are stressed and ask the question in a very aggressive or accusatory manne...

Dead Dog Covid-19 Presenters   When times are good a lot of things are kept muted, hidden, obscured.  As Warren Buffett mentioned about dodgy investments, "It's only when the tide goes out that you discover who's been swimming naked".  It is the same with leaders and their presentation and communication skills.  When things are humming along nicely we can overlook their poor efforts.  Today though...

Zoom Meetings Starts From Hell – Part Two   In Part One, we looked at planning our first impressions on-line, the importance of rehearsing the presentation, dealing with the tech and having an opening which grips audience attention immediately.   The potential damage you can do to your personal brand doesn't evaporate, just because you are now in the virtual meeting world.  No one cuts you any sla...

Zoom Meetings Starts From Hell – Part One   Like a lot of people, I have been searching for the roadmap to determine how to enable my business to survive this lockdown, work from home, brave new world.  I belong to various Chambers of Commerce, mastermind and networking groups.  I also have 24,000 LinkedIn connections, many of whom are pouring copious video meeting stuff into the daily feed.  This...

Getting Your Staff Messaging Right In A Crisis   There are plenty of experts providing insight and recommendations for corporates with their messaging during this Covid-19 crisis, but not so much attention is being paid to our internal messaging.  The public, customers and shareholders need to be fed updates and assurance by the company's PR department.  Funnily enough the PR department rarely get...

Engaging Covid-19 Isolated Audiences   Once upon a time, isolation from our audience meant we were not getting our message through to them.  We were a poor presenter or the quality of the message was sub-par, so the audience wasn't buying into it.  Today, our audiences are in isolation at home, either through Government mandated lockdown or company designated instructions.  Our communication patte...