The most important thing when starting a speech or presentation is to make it clear to the audience where you are taking them. Think about a typical person in your audience. Their mind is full of to-do lists and daydreams; and you walk on stage. They’ve sat through boring presentations in the past and More…
Admit a negative point for persuasive communication
Persuasive communication techniques can be very simple. And effortlessly make a business presentation more engaging. Everybody has made mistakes, failed to achieve goals and been disappointed. So when you admit a negative, it creates a powerful connection with an audience. It also provides instant (temporary) credibility that sets up your persuasive point. Admitting a downside helps More…
Quick tip: Use memory hooks
Think of the listener’s mind as a smooth marble ball. When you speak, most ideas slide off. Your audience may be ‘aware’ of what you are saying, but the information is not sticking. Solution: personalise your examples by connecting with something already in the mind. This will act like a hook for your ideas. Memory hooks More…
Quick tip: Ask (rhetorical) questions of your audience
Why ask questions? (like this one). Because they provoke the mind of your listener. Asking questions during a presentation forces the audience to mentally participate. We use the term ‘rhetorical question’ to mean that you don’t expect a reply. Even though the audience doesn’t answer, their minds are more active when they hear the question format. What’s More…
The Daily Show: The power of Chunking
The July 28 episode of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart had author Peter Tomsen talking about his 900 page(!) book “The Wars of Afghanistan”. Throughout, he summarized his key points using elements of Chunk Theory – for example, the numbering of points before explaining them. In response to one question, he said “there are two More…
Get a method! Rules stop you thinking clearly
Public Speaking courses often focus on ‘Dos and Don’ts’ – a list of things you should always do to be successful. And a (typically long) list of thing you should never do. The core idea behind the Rules approach is that by simply following the rules you will be a great speaker. It doesn’t work. Why? Because rules don’t More…
3 quick tips: Presentation visuals
1. Lights Up Avoid turning the lights down during a presentation. If your visual support requires a darkened room, ensure it’s not long enough for them to take a nap! 2. ‘Be’ the visual… Use your arms and eyes and expression to show us the size of the fish you caught or how quickly your More…
Focus on the gaps, not just your words
I recently attended a conference where two of the speakers raced through their talk without pausing. It was so exhausting. And their ideas seemed less important with the speaker racing through them. We all crave a START and/or an END: The human mind responds instinctively to the start or the end of anything so when More…
Clarity: How to get to the next level
I coached a scientist who was disappointed his pitch for funding wasn’t getting anywhere; when his newly developed technology was groundbreaking. He was a likeable and energetic presenter, but explained the value of his technology in a superficial way – using high level words. His pitch was basically: “Our technology makes it much easier to see More…
PM Gillard ‘Robotic and rehearsed’
An interesting article in The Age newspaper about Prime Minister Julia Gillard which echos what I’ve been saying for some time. While message management and media management are important skills for those in the public eye, you need to throw us some scraps of authentic and natural. The key skill is message management, not gesture More…
