Tag Archive for: public speaking

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Free PowerPoint Twitter tools

Here is a site where you can download tools to add twitter to your presentations ...

Ever wanted to make presentations a more interactive, Web 2.0 experience?
The PowerPoint Twitter Tools prototypes are now available.
Get ahead of the backchannel! Put in feedback slides at regular intervals throughout your presentation, so you’re not the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on!
Tempted, but worried about what people might say? No problem – the tools include the ability to include a moderated feed

How to listen so that you handle the Q&A session effectively

In this excellent article, John Zimmer looks at the question and answer period in terms of listening.  He comes up with 9 excellent ways to handle this sometimes difficult part of a presentation, and covers listening as well.

An important aspect of public speaking occurs, paradoxically, when it the speaker’s turn to stop talking and listen to questions or comments from the audience.  These moments are to be welcomed.  They show that the audience members are engaged and they afford the speaker an opportunity to interact more closely with them.  To make the most of these moments, a speaker must listen actively.

Listen

Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Active listening means listening for the meaning and feeling of what the other person is saying.  It means paying attention to what is being said and thinking carefully about how to respond.  This might seem like common sense, but as Mark Twain once said, “Common sense isn’t so common.”  So how we listen actively? Here are some points:

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Every speaker must respect the power of a potato

A potato?  Jim writes ...

Bored audiences will get up and walk out of your speeches. How would you keep the attention of 400+ engineers who were attending an industry dinner event that they didn’t really want to be at on a weekday evening? I recently had the opportunity to be the master of ceremonies at such an event – great gig, tough crowd.

OK so how was a potato of use here?   Read the article for an example of how Jim used creativity and how it works so well in successful public speaking assignments

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Five Rules for Better Presentations

From Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson ...

I often think the presenter would be more compelling if he would ditch the presentation software and just speak. Because of this, I’ve even thought of outlawing presentation software in our company. But alas, It has become a staple of corporate life. It is the ubiquitous prop that attends every presentation.

So if we can’t outlaw presentation software, at least we can regulate it and, hopefully, try to improve it. Here are my five rules for making more effective presentations.

Ten Fatal flaws of public speaking

In this article, Ten Fatal Flaws Frequently Found from the Podium, Sandra Schrift lists 10 basics to success in public speaking.  They may seem obvious, and yet in the focus on writing and delivering a speech, they can be overloooked.  Well worth a look - just to be reminded!

How will you handle your Q & A?

You’ve just wrapped up your presentation, and you’re confident that you’ve conveyed your points clearly and persuasively.  Now, it’s time for the Q&A.

If you’re like many speakers, you view Q&As in one of two ways: you dread them, worried about being caught off guard, or you breeze through them, thinking that the “real work” is behind you. Wrong and wrong, and here’s why Q&A is often the most valuable part of any presentation — it invites dialogue, provides feedback, and, when properly handled, allows you to conclude on an energetic and powerful note.

Q&A is definitely not something to fear; it’s an opportunity to interact with your audience, and it can teach you a lot. But don’t make the mistake of treating Q&A lightly. To take full advantage of its power, consider the following:

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Create your key message in a snap

Olivia Mitchell has written a great post on "How to craft a memorable key message in 10 minutes".  Her post is an excellent model of how this works.  It gives us 9 ways that the key message can be created - all incredibly relevant and useful.   Sometimes it's good to be reminded, like this, to stay focussed.

Effective reading for your presentations

Rich Hopkins has a great new blog post that should have us all using reading aloud far more effectively ...

There are times when reading during your speech is appropriate and necessary:

A. Letters, memos, and reports that must be heard in there entirety
B. Quotes, short and long
C. Poetry, lyrics, short excerpts from books
D. Manuals
E. Religious readings

Reading the written word effectively can be a daunting task. We've spent our lives listening to others read out loud in school, church, and the workplace, and it is often so excruciatingly bad, we fear our own reading will be heard with the same critical ears.

Read the whole post here

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The single most powerful way to increase your charisma–and audience connection

Nick Morgan writing at his best ...

What is the single most powerful way to increase your persuasive connection with an audience – and your charisma at the same time?


Listening.

When you listen with your whole body, using your intuition or unconscious to read the emotions of those with whom you’re communicating, the result is a connection with the other people in the room that they experience as engaging, fascinating, and indeed charismatic

There is so much more to this amazing post that you'll want to read it all ...

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Public Speaking – what should I do with my hands?

“What do I do with my hands when I’m speaking?” is a common question that I hear when I’m teaching public speaking. Your hands form an important part of your non-verbal communication, or body language, and can help you convey confidence and communicate more effectively to your audience.

Here are 5 tips for what to do with your hands: