tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675055917752502992024-02-19T03:56:24.274+00:00Jim Harvey's Presentation BlogI'm a sales & marketing type of man. Bad suit, nice teeth, hair straight out of a bottle who has always wondered how great presenters became so. This blog is my start at answering the question. I don't think there's one right way to present or sell, it's too complex a subject to be so certain, but I hope you find ideas here that you can use. I'd love it if you let me know how you get on.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-46974168504330981162011-08-07T13:22:00.001+01:002011-08-07T13:22:10.322+01:00I've moved to www.jim-harvey.comDear all,<br />
<br />
I've moved my blog to www.jim-harvey.com hope you like the new look. Thanks for your loyalty here.<br />
<br />
JimUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-10341346223929128912009-12-06T19:07:00.002+00:002009-12-06T19:16:34.449+00:00It’s all about you-<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQByTJxIIjABDeexcw60SeDrCQH7YUmQYhz7gZv-pYxClOdaO0mUjjMa-cVWkWMGpzfcPU19YmpVhzSWmdFQpfU2ilFDZpmQ7tN2I3PA7YbfRB7zM-zUN9ZpCH7Em7awlrTupqUXoIBvyM/s1600-h/Soap+Salesman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" er="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQByTJxIIjABDeexcw60SeDrCQH7YUmQYhz7gZv-pYxClOdaO0mUjjMa-cVWkWMGpzfcPU19YmpVhzSWmdFQpfU2ilFDZpmQ7tN2I3PA7YbfRB7zM-zUN9ZpCH7Em7awlrTupqUXoIBvyM/s320/Soap+Salesman.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>There’s a word for it. It’s called ‘a tell’. It’s when a speaker ‘tells’ the audience about something without saying anything. There are congruent tells, where the subtle message reinforces the real one, like smiling sincerely and saying 'I'm really happy to be here'; and such congruence makes for a powerful message. Then there’s the incongruent tell which (you won’t be surprised to hear) does the opposite and makes for some exquisitely awful moments.<br />
<br />
I think that they’re funny actually because, like that old saying that no matter how hard you try to convince someone of something, the harder you try, the more they think the opposite (eeeeek).<br />
<br />
For me there’s a number of phrases that are more often than not, a sign of an incongruent ‘tell’. Here they are-<br />
<br />
1. This is all about you.... Often as the speaker points to himself like Simon Cowell, meaning it's always' all about me...<br />
<br />
2. I have your best interests at heart... Accompanied by a psychotic smile and glacial eye contact- start looking for the door. Ruuuun!<br />
<br />
3. Trust me... - Obvious question- Why would anyone ask that of anyone else?<br />
<br />
4. Maybe I’m a terrible person but... Translation- Obviously they are, just agree and walk away.<br />
<br />
5. My primary concern is about making this right for you... Request- Well stop stabbing me in the back then<br />
<br />
6. Our most important asset is our people... Translation- And we're selling as many of them as we can because we can't melt them down for candles.<br />
<br />
Why would a speaker say any of these things unless he was nervous about displaying the truth? Watch out for these phrases and see if you think the person really means what they’re saying or is simply saying something that she thinks we want to hear. Tells are always telling.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-19694009591312137222009-10-29T17:50:00.004+00:002009-12-06T19:16:12.047+00:00George Orwell - suitable subject for a tattoo?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmxxpJJYdLxiEVSs9eBzTZMZZGhBZi8csPEQ9yMbWHhaJxKgLxumnnqlNknKx9t_RRtxgr7tyMqtn4D8kXA1bW_WstMMSm97YkyTolHKdkYhypSEza-VCvso1Vp28LCU4neLZzKn6bTSl6/s1600-h/foot+in+mouth.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmxxpJJYdLxiEVSs9eBzTZMZZGhBZi8csPEQ9yMbWHhaJxKgLxumnnqlNknKx9t_RRtxgr7tyMqtn4D8kXA1bW_WstMMSm97YkyTolHKdkYhypSEza-VCvso1Vp28LCU4neLZzKn6bTSl6/s320/foot+in+mouth.JPG" vr="true" /></a><br />
</div>I know that Orwell only wrote 4 decent books (The Road to Wigan Pier, Down and Out in Paris & London, 1984 and Animal Farm- in my opinion). As a novelist, I feel he was better at the ideas than their expression, but the was a truly great journalist. You'll all probably know his rules for writers-<br />
<blockquote>1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.<br />
<br />
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.<br />
<br />
4. Never use the passive when you can use the active.<br />
<br />
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.<br />
<br />
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous.<br />
<br />
</blockquote>Well I don't understand why they're not tattooed onto the forehead of every single one of us who would seek to tell others how to <em>talk</em>. Yes, you'd change the first point to 'hearing in conversation' but that'd be it. It's great advice for us all and I'm going to commit to enforcing these rules whenever I hear professionals abusing them. <br />
<br />
Oh, and as for point 6, I didn't really understand it until the evening I told a rather rude story about a celebrity at an after dinner speech I was making, and got roars of wicked laughter from every table except one. <br />
<br />
I later found out from one of the party that the 'victim's' mother (and the story was true), had paid for the 12 people to be there and was sat stony-faced among them. Who would have thought it was possible? So I understand the point and still feel like a barbarian for having embarrassed a lovely lady, even though her son is a brute.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-26125258315189000182009-10-29T08:54:00.002+00:002009-10-29T09:01:31.388+00:00Orwellian word crimes- Modern heroes # 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6xiFUM4Qxd_Tuj30VzNjll3_2FgtqPt1M_26-kPMNObg8aaizOJHgfkJUDpeTFOxWiG4_NI_15_yZOJxyFAcAUG-RfWEB0TQUdThRwylkM6j6GA8hfWR3i9RmiZ5Hy2bp5Hs5q5XPqMHZ/s1600-h/winston+smith.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6xiFUM4Qxd_Tuj30VzNjll3_2FgtqPt1M_26-kPMNObg8aaizOJHgfkJUDpeTFOxWiG4_NI_15_yZOJxyFAcAUG-RfWEB0TQUdThRwylkM6j6GA8hfWR3i9RmiZ5Hy2bp5Hs5q5XPqMHZ/s320/winston+smith.jpg" vr="true" /></a><br />
</div><br />
Who could have said this without irony? They'd have to be in Management Consulting or HR wouldn't they?<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Having finished my deck of (presumably PowerPoint) slides I shall now ping you over to Paul who will, no doubt be granular in providing you with the long-tail solutions in implementing the TOM by the TIMs through the twilight zone and beyond..<br />
</blockquote>Answer he's the Head of HR, sorry, Human Resources, for Somerset County Council, a local government in the UK. Speaking at a conference in Summer 2009.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-71968813208912991422009-10-28T08:29:00.003+00:002009-10-28T10:30:53.101+00:00The confidence myth- why confident presenters often miss the point<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1WS1xMnru9-XTqDKNdmVzhI3DuAkCaVIOiuAylwSyUgUuH3P-F-Tsmt5bSdclGV7iDdD-wk1pu-21EpPywxT7v_OTJjynDPndeIdjLjNgeMVtBI7wjVpxPXwzjF37V6oCsL_bp-9LQMMM/s1600-h/Edmond_Rostand_en_habit_vert_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1WS1xMnru9-XTqDKNdmVzhI3DuAkCaVIOiuAylwSyUgUuH3P-F-Tsmt5bSdclGV7iDdD-wk1pu-21EpPywxT7v_OTJjynDPndeIdjLjNgeMVtBI7wjVpxPXwzjF37V6oCsL_bp-9LQMMM/s320/Edmond_Rostand_en_habit_vert_01.jpg" vr="true" /></a><br />
</div>I've got a friend called Quentin. He's an actor and a good one too with a long track record of theatre, stage & screen roles behind him. Actors can sometimes be a bit full of themselves but not Quenty, he's a no-nonsense kind of bloke and when he says something to me with that special look on his face (like a bald bulldog chewing a wasp), I tend to listen.<br />
<br />
We were working together with a group of high-end consultants preparing to pitch for a massive governement outsourcing contract in Europe. The pitch was strong, straight to the point and short. The team was skilful and experienced and very good, with one crucial exception. Let's call him Bob.<br />
<br />
Bob was a technically competent presenter, with great experience in his field, but he was 'performing' the role of 'opener' and 'closer' of the pitch and he was borderline bloody awful. He was a classic example of the confident (but not really) presenter yhou see in corporate life. Here's what we could see with Bob-<br />
<br />
<ol><li>He was smiling like the joker from Batman</li>
<li>He was talking too loudly for the room they were (and would be in)</li>
<li>There was an edge of 'I'm not frightened of you' in his delivery</li>
<li>He was trying too hard to be 'good'</li>
<li>He was presenting like he was watching himself on video and enjoying the experience</li>
</ol>Bob was a really nice man off stage, but as soon as he got up in front of an audience he became unbearable to watch, and he didn't know it. As it always is, it became a matter of how do you broach the issue in a way that will allow him to learn, move on and do better for himself. Quent gave me 'the look' and I let him go.<br />
<br />
Quent just asked him to stop 'performing', or 'pretending' to be something that he was not. He wasn't fearless, he was trying not to show his fear. He wasn't charismatic, he was trying to be charismatic. He wasn't compelling he was working at being compelling and all of that effort to be something else, took away from his technical skill as a presenter and his honesty as a real human being.<br />
<br />
Bob came back to the room a totally different figure. Thoughtful, slightly shy and awkward, reflective and decibels quieter and he gave the introduction again and his team were spellbound and applauded at the end. Bob said to them, 'What's that for?' and one of them said 'for sounding like you really believed in what we are going to do.' Bob smiled and looked at Quentin and said it's his fault, he reminded me of the dictionary definition of confidence.' <br />
'What's that?' said his colleaguue. <em>'Con fides,</em> in good faith.' said Bob and Q said <br />
<br />
'The problem for experienced and skilled presenters is that they often become 'performers' and switch off the thing that made them good in the first place, their warmth and honesty as a person. Then they become like hammy actors...' Everyone laughed and went on with the reheaesal.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-12705155597421790552009-10-21T18:33:00.004+01:002009-10-23T12:59:17.777+01:00Who should we look up to?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-XnR8opkp8KHfO5K3jXKZsrTYHpko7GUY-bL9KxStlf5o1XMjwf2VAtlPYHP1qSrXVJ82nO50LogYwcOLHoygZJie-I_RfPA8I0vGR2gF0ijbr2jhBKejlM4qv-41Il2XT7lcRttauULF/s1600-h/stephanie+flanders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-XnR8opkp8KHfO5K3jXKZsrTYHpko7GUY-bL9KxStlf5o1XMjwf2VAtlPYHP1qSrXVJ82nO50LogYwcOLHoygZJie-I_RfPA8I0vGR2gF0ijbr2jhBKejlM4qv-41Il2XT7lcRttauULF/s320/stephanie+flanders.jpg" vr="true" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When you're pretty good at something it can be easy to get into a comfortable spot and stay there. It happens to me about once a week, when I'm sitting there thinking, 'That went rather well. God I'm good...' and for those 15 seconds of warmth and complacency all is rather nice with the world.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div>I've painted myself as a bit of a lazy fool here, but to be fair, I don't tend to stay smug for very long. I'm rational enough to know that the world is full of talented people and that my loyal clients are only loyal to me as long as I continue to do well for them. Today though, I'm inspired and Stephanine Flanders (pictured) is the reason.<br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">She's the BBC's (British Broadcasting Corporation) Economics Editor. I'm 45, male, reasonably well educated and literate, but that's what she did to me. She made me look at myself, and she made me feel that I could do better. I suggest that you watch her, wherever you're from, and notice these things about her, or other things if she strikes you differently-<br />
</div><ul><li>She's not trying to <em>be</em> anything she just is- authoritative, concise and confident.</li>
<li>There's a truthfulness in her tone and delivery that is about her as a human being.</li>
<li>She is a model to watch while talking with projected visuals.</li>
</ul><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/stephanieflanders/2009/01/about_stephanie_flanders.html">Hear her speak</a> <br />
<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8305983.stm">See her present a piece to camera</a><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/stephanieflanders/2009/01/about_stephanie_flanders.html"></a><br />
<br />
I think she's the best the BBC has. I'd be interested to see whether you agree.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-4275421612322574082009-10-20T17:19:00.002+01:002009-10-20T17:26:40.460+01:00The 5 most irritating things that good presenters do but great presenter's don't<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPL6woKJl2uVZpvY02T01ufr2nXihQ4feJ1Dgu9HQ8gG9fFt0t3dKQPNWeZg__IBpx5SLNCtx1sKbFGRL-8QDJkXvBlH0Qhz6w6yPww29HKtULG5ElUox2vZLIuu2QLTmEu8t12VbP7qgo/s1600-h/Narcissus+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPL6woKJl2uVZpvY02T01ufr2nXihQ4feJ1Dgu9HQ8gG9fFt0t3dKQPNWeZg__IBpx5SLNCtx1sKbFGRL-8QDJkXvBlH0Qhz6w6yPww29HKtULG5ElUox2vZLIuu2QLTmEu8t12VbP7qgo/s320/Narcissus+small.jpg" vr="true" /></a><br />
</div>I'm not trying to be smug, that comes with out effort, but it's a question I asked myself today. And here are my answers- based on exhaustive research (none) behind the ranking- The 5 most irritating things that good presenters do, but great presenters don't are-<br />
<br />
<ol><li>Think that they can get away with 'winging it'.</li>
<li>Ignore the people in the seats until the presentation starts.</li>
<li>Assume that the audience knows and/or cares who they are.</li>
<li>Ask people to save their questions until the end.</li>
<li>Ask questions of the audience that they know the answers to already.</li>
</ol>NB- the question came to me when I started thinking, honestly, about my own performance highs and lows- Physician heal thyself! What have I missed?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-21123571132194914772009-10-17T13:51:00.014+01:002009-10-19T10:58:23.101+01:006 pieces of tomfoolery that some public speaking coaches tell you- and why they're wrong<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKD5ccsScDitD25x7aAut4TXXdB5BGYCs7YZnl7Ht7V7RKT8cObHhRb_5MC3JyhchC3dFPExs8glChUYXIhVPfBzk0ibvg-cfQ8Sf9mcsEzqPsXCZJg6pNVU_hddAAhKkRPPNz6DVrKN0/s1600-h/Nixon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKD5ccsScDitD25x7aAut4TXXdB5BGYCs7YZnl7Ht7V7RKT8cObHhRb_5MC3JyhchC3dFPExs8glChUYXIhVPfBzk0ibvg-cfQ8Sf9mcsEzqPsXCZJg6pNVU_hddAAhKkRPPNz6DVrKN0/s320/Nixon.jpg" vr="true" /></a><br />
</div>Philip Larkin, late, lonely, lovely English poet, wrote a short and bitter little thing that leads us into why so much rubbish is spouted to us by people who really should know better. 'This be the Verse'...<br />
<blockquote></blockquote><blockquote>They F*** you up your Mum and Dad'<br />
They do not mean to but they do,<br />
They fill you up with all their troubles,<br />
Then throw a few in extra just for you.<br />
<br />
But they were f***ed up in their turn,<br />
By fools in old-style hats and coats,<br />
Who half the time were soppy-stern,<br />
And half at one another's throats,<br />
<br />
Man hands on misery to man,<br />
It deepens like a coastal shelf.<br />
Get out as quickly as you can,<br />
And don't have any kids yourself.<br />
</blockquote>Hmmm. Larkin didn't have any kids and he died friendless and alone, so let's not use him as too much of a role model. But it makes me think that we've all been taught things by people who, were doing what they thought was best for us, with the tools at their disposal, at the time. Hindsight is the human being's greatest gift, isn't it?<br />
<br />
Obviously a lot of what we've been told is valid but some, we come to realise, is just plain useless. I look round the great presentation skills blogs by my colleagues across the world (I'll tell you who they are as we go on) and all of us seem to have a collected a few of the presenting 'myths' to dispel, so here are 6 things that I was taught on my journey; by trainers who meant well; but that I've found to be fool's gold as I've grown.<br />
<br />
<ol><li><strong>Don't speak too quickly-</strong> What a lot of tosh. Some people speak more quickly than others, and they should because it reflects them, their culture and their personality. It's never how quickly you speak that affects whether you're understood. It's how well. Ever seen the 'Quick Shakespeare Company' who can do 'Hamlet' in 4 minutes? They speak at a rate of hundreds of words a minute and are easily understood. Why? Because their articulation is perfect and they honour the punctuation in the piece.</li>
<li><strong>Don't say 'Umm' or 'Errrr'-</strong> Why not and who cares? If it's a natural, human sound you make occasionally when you're thinking, then I think people don't notice. But if it's the sound you make at the end of <u>every</u> sentence while you think of what to say next, it probably means you're not prepared and you should be whipped for it.</li>
<li><strong>Don't use notes-</strong>Why not? What they often mean is 'pretend you don't need notes' and you end up using your slides, or a surreptitously hidden piece of paper, that looks poor and makes you nervous. Notes, cue cards, scripts are all fine and rather like wigs (toupees, hairpieces, whatever they're called where you live), they should be used unapologetically and well.</li>
<li><strong>Don't get nervous?-</strong> Why not? Surely it's nervous excitement that delivers real performance. You should get nervous, throw-up if it helps, but learn to use the adrenaline and manage the effects so that you're really 'switched on' when you perform. Most audiences like to see a little sign of nervous energy at the start. It tends to mean that the speaker is taking us, and her subject seriously.</li>
<li><strong>Don't wave your hands about-</strong> Again, what are the other options? Handcuffs? Pockets? Behind your back? No. Use your hands, gleefully, joyfully (and all those other words from 'The Logical Song' by Supertramp) naturally. It's what human beings do when they talk, and it helps you to express, emote and, errr, think.</li>
<li><strong>Don't get in the way of the projecter-</strong> OK so why not? Surely you have to if you want to engage with your visuals, and direct your audience's attention to where it's best for them. What's the alternative? Stand next to it, stiff as a board, looking like a lemon? Just do it deliberately and love it.</li>
</ol>Where do most of these myths come from? American political pollsters who look at politicians and how they 'work' on TV. Their results, over time are then passed on to political advisers, who work with their politicians on very specific issues to do with the way they come over on camera. And guess what? All of the things I've listed above do look terrible <u>on TV</u> because there's that really powerful, small frame, close-up, magnifying effect that TV has. <br />
<br />
From Nixon vs Kennedy in the 60's (we're back to old style hats and coats) to McCain v Obama right now, the US election is a battle that's won on the news networks, so it's really important that candidates know the rules. <br />
<br />
That's where all this stuff comes from. It's all valid for TV and totally, completely, ludicrously irrelevant for us in the real world of work.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-31383489178401459992009-10-16T19:22:00.010+01:002009-10-20T10:19:30.486+01:00Have you heard? PowerPoint is dead- Prezi is here<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw0mpX_TMLIl92H4Ns9JkmObECEUExzhqS5id5Kjdc-neZ_xX0cZylo19XY86CfwUv7WrW4FKJ947H3GHP-WeXqHnWP79XIGtE6A7b1fESOsD2GsDrr7zky9W-F5vBOTvENgBBsdHES1MO/s1600-h/RIP2+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw0mpX_TMLIl92H4Ns9JkmObECEUExzhqS5id5Kjdc-neZ_xX0cZylo19XY86CfwUv7WrW4FKJ947H3GHP-WeXqHnWP79XIGtE6A7b1fESOsD2GsDrr7zky9W-F5vBOTvENgBBsdHES1MO/s320/RIP2+copy.jpg" vr="true" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><strong>What is Prezi?</strong><br />
<br />
In a nutshell, Prezi is a Flash-based presentation system that allows users to create incredibly dynamic presentations. Presentations where you can zoom in and out across a large area (no slides), create motion paths, embed images and video and do things that previously needed a pretty competent Flash developer and a whole chunk of time. It kicks traditional slide ware way into touch. And it is very, very easy to learn and use.<br />
<br />
<strong>Is it better than PowerPoint?</strong><br />
<br />
No of course it’s not. I don’t even see it as a competitor. If Microsoft’s tool is the motor car, Prezi is the hand-built kit car for weekend use only. It looks lovely, it fills your heart with joy, it performs wonderfully well on those high mountain roads in summer, when love is in the air and you’re 25... But it's fragile, windy and noisy and you wouldn’t take the kids away in it, for a week skiing in December. Not yet anyway.<br />
<br />
Obviously, Prezi is not as broad, flexible, integrated or widely used as Bill's much derided package, so it’s nowhere near PowerPoint as the default option for corporates, but as an expert user of PowerPoint, I could do some things much more easily and powerfully with this little gem, and there are times that I’d choose to use it, without question, simply because Prezi’s starting position is so different.<br />
<br />
Crap presenters will still present badly with Prezi, maybe even worse because there’s less structure to follow than in a PPT template. But designers, poets, CEO’s who want to woo investors, show-offs, me, and people with a little bit of hunger for the new and dangerous will just want to have a go.<br />
<br />
<strong>Should we learn how to use it?</strong><br />
<br />
Of course you should.<br />
<br />
<strong>Why ?</strong><br />
<br />
It differentiates you from 99.99% of the others in your field. Put it more directly. I had a pitch last week for a big chunk of credit-crunch busting work over 2 years. I created a great story, charmed the client, created the visuals and chose to use this (with a PPT backup if all went wrong). It just wowed them. It made us look and feel different to the other people who'd walked into that room before us. Yes, we did a good job too- 95% our work, 5% these slavic nutcases at Prezi. But it helped . <br />
<br />
You've got to try it out if you call yourself a presenter. Haven't you?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-81344502138873464842009-10-16T14:58:00.002+01:002009-10-16T18:33:43.025+01:00Lesson 6- Use everything in the verbal bag of tricks- but sparingly<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGZziWVtzWfKc8lE_nOdy8JWJcAb3S5uVmFaoPrBaKI3sV6z9bfXfz3tmTMn6Qb9H4i36cSZ1WSALZKBvjbjI3LF75z5U4bKptXv-Sof6k7pvWQP0mw-oqX1ENv-DfyevRwDe2-vxxTm-N/s1600-h/bag+of+tricks.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGZziWVtzWfKc8lE_nOdy8JWJcAb3S5uVmFaoPrBaKI3sV6z9bfXfz3tmTMn6Qb9H4i36cSZ1WSALZKBvjbjI3LF75z5U4bKptXv-Sof6k7pvWQP0mw-oqX1ENv-DfyevRwDe2-vxxTm-N/s320/bag+of+tricks.JPG" vr="true" /></a><br />
</div>Use Alliteration:<br />
<br />
Alliteration is the deliberate arrangement of words with the same letters and sounds at their start for explosive effect. Alliteration is a trick of the spoken word. A technique that is very popular with tabloid newspaper editors, TV presenters and poets… Examples<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Magazine articles: “Science has Spoiled my Supper", “Too Much Talent in Tennessee", and "Kurdish Control of Kirkuk Creates a Powder Keg in Iraq" </li>
<li>Comic/cartoon characters: Beetle Bailey, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Phineas and Ferb, and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. </li>
<li>Children's Books: Animalia by Graeme Base is a famous example of alliteration within a storybook. </li>
<li>Shops: "Coffee Corner", "Sushi Station", "Best Buy". </li>
<li>Expressions: "busy as a bee", "dead as a doornail", "good as gold", "right as rain", etc.. </li>
</ul>Try Onomatopoeia:<br />
<br />
<div> The formation of names or words from sounds that resemble those associated with the action or thing to be named, or that seem to suggest its qualities; babble, cuckoo, croak, ping-pong, quack, sizzle and snore are all probable examples.<br />
</div><br />
<div> It can also mean the use of words whose sound adds meaning to the meaning of those words. “Whoosh” is a word that actually sounds like the sound that you are using it to describe.<br />
</div><br />
<div> Slimy, slithering, slippery and squelchy are words used to describe how something feels. The words themselves have a similar feeling. Slithering sounds wet and greasy and disgusting so hopefully the impact of the sentence and the overall meaning is enhanced.<br />
</div><br />
<div><br />
</div>Use the Rhythm of the words:<br />
<blockquote>“Rhythmic speech or writing is like waves of the sea, moving onward with alternating rise and fall, connected yet separate, like but different, suggesting of some law, too complex for analysis or statement, controlling the relations between wave and wave, waves and sea, phrase and phrase, phrases and speech. In other words live speech, said or written, is rhythmic, and rhythmless speech is at best dead.” (Fowler’s Modern English Usage)<br />
</blockquote>Some people use meter, the counting of beats and pauses and syllables and lines as the measure of rhythm. Don’t bother. Just get into the habit of saying what you write or intend to say out loud. If it sounds good then it’s probably rhythmical. If it sounds stilted, confused, over-complex then it probably isn’t.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-61467898436901054462009-10-16T14:51:00.001+01:002009-10-16T22:27:34.181+01:00Lesson 5- Use the simple metaphor to help- Learn Jeremy Clarkson's only trick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuU9wY7prQYQp_WiJNXOY_FDVHvl3ihcnQMcCqipt5NaVyLUfc3PgA2Oh-dc31IBh0a66fkKC8taVUGCTLbHwfUVjIeUgq6C4Jf-_JfoL24LY78Vf55PPGRIZl_kJuN2ocKf1EaCEklpSG/s1600-h/Fell+at+the+first+hurdle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuU9wY7prQYQp_WiJNXOY_FDVHvl3ihcnQMcCqipt5NaVyLUfc3PgA2Oh-dc31IBh0a66fkKC8taVUGCTLbHwfUVjIeUgq6C4Jf-_JfoL24LY78Vf55PPGRIZl_kJuN2ocKf1EaCEklpSG/s320/Fell+at+the+first+hurdle.jpg" vr="true" /></a><br />
</div>Metaphor is a fundamental tool of the English language. Without it, meaning would suffer because we would be left with flat description not vivid pictures in words. A metaphor makes a link between previously unlinked things. This linking can add meaning, and depth to our understanding of the world.<br />
<br />
When Mrs Thatcher, the UK's formidable first lady Prime Minister, was first called the "Iron Lady" many people laughed because the word "iron" is used metaphorically. To some iron represents fearlessness, to others heartlessness, for some it represented her principles and for others her lack of them. This metaphor stuck because it allowed people to say so much about their subject in a simple phrase. Well-worn examples of metaphor:<br />
<ul><li>A trail of broken dreams</li>
<li>Someone or something falling at the first hurdle</li>
<li>Shareholders crying foul</li>
<li>Lloyds TSB gobbling up Royal Bank of Scotland</li>
<li>Heavy-handed asset strippers</li>
</ul><br />
<div>Use simile too, she's metaphor's more direct sister and we know and love her as a natural part of our language, for simile is another version of metaphor. The difference though is that in a simile the comparison between two things is direct, and is often signified by the use of phrases like “like a” and “as if…” Common examples of similes include…<br />
</div><br />
<ul><li>To follow like a lamb to the slaughter</li>
<li>To laugh like a drain</li>
<li>To look like grim death</li>
<li>To swear like a trooper</li>
</ul><br />
<div> With a bit of thought you can invent your own for great and memorable phrases, remember Jeremy Clarkson has built his career out of this single skill. <a href="http://www.jeremyclarkson.co.uk/jc-top-gear-quotes/">http://www.jeremyclarkson.co.uk/jc-top-gear-quotes/</a><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-78920312307492989422009-10-16T14:02:00.005+01:002009-10-16T18:34:55.672+01:00Lesson 4 - Use visual imagery<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXk4ALb9bb7ZwxbnsolcN6Kt3u2DFh-Qt8gnOYAxFFwCsoa6PZqygjvHk_DcIkvv6phsgaQhfuPTX-41y6IU4E0XFWqpzQHrLmNliAbWfs77cn8jHv4pJNazkqUreEQmmNw7cmdtw0yzC5/s1600-h/BILLY+CONNOLY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXk4ALb9bb7ZwxbnsolcN6Kt3u2DFh-Qt8gnOYAxFFwCsoa6PZqygjvHk_DcIkvv6phsgaQhfuPTX-41y6IU4E0XFWqpzQHrLmNliAbWfs77cn8jHv4pJNazkqUreEQmmNw7cmdtw0yzC5/s320/BILLY+CONNOLY.jpg" vr="true" /></a><br />
</div>Hypnotists and comedians know that people hypnotise and amuse themselves. A hypnotist's job is to get the subject to use her own imagination to 'see' that other possibilities exist. To see her walking into a room with confidence, getting the job, making the presentation.<br />
<br />
A comedian's job is to get us to see the joke just before he deliver's the punchline. Billy Connolly telling us that he told his ageing father that you could get prescription windscreens made for short-sighted drivers, and his father, having believed him, pestering him for weeks for the phone number of the garage who could fit him one. Billy then turns to us and says 'can you imagine driving in front of a car with a prescription windscreen? You'd look in your rear-view mirror and see a head (signalling with his hands) THIS BIG'.<br />
<br />
When you give a presentation, try to create strong mental pictures for your audience. We are open to language that gets us to use our mind's eye to imagine whatever it is being described to us. Poets do it too.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>“He was a proper poet he was, <br />
He had a way with words,<br />
Images flocked around him like birds,<br />
Words, he could almost make them talk…”<br />
<blockquote><blockquote>Roger McGough<br />
</blockquote></blockquote></blockquote>It's not just hypnotists, poets and comedians who can use it though, Gerry Spence, a very successful trial lawyer puts it as follows…<br />
<blockquote>“I visualise my arguments, I don’t intellectualise them. I don’t choose the intellectual words like, ‘My client suffered grave emotional distress as a result of the serious fraud perpetrated against him by the defendant bank.’ Instead in my mind’s eye I see him coming home at night and I tell the story:</blockquote><blockquote>‘I see Joe Smith trudging home at night to face a heap of unpaid bills sitting on the kitchen table. Nothing but cold bills to greet him in that cold empty place. No heat, no light, no water, all cut off by the utility companies. I see my client, a tired man, a man worn down by the weight of his troubles, a man without a penny to him. The bank had it all…’<br />
</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-40170022084947392062009-10-16T13:42:00.001+01:002009-10-16T13:46:15.208+01:00Lesson 3- Avoid cliché like the plague:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOJ2CNGJIsrVvIqIz1F1fjG6SXAizgCAQw2qlsQia64VNflI8RMfdIZL2LN5TvUQQQgC1NMqF04035M8ewmO4TwuIyAq2hXrlrtKe8eWXIYrniBwRIytGwUo5Ap1h9t9Vg989n2IRpjRhz/s1600-h/Sick+as+a+parrot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOJ2CNGJIsrVvIqIz1F1fjG6SXAizgCAQw2qlsQia64VNflI8RMfdIZL2LN5TvUQQQgC1NMqF04035M8ewmO4TwuIyAq2hXrlrtKe8eWXIYrniBwRIytGwUo5Ap1h9t9Vg989n2IRpjRhz/s320/Sick+as+a+parrot.jpg" vr="true" /></a><br />
</div>In the " Dictionary of Plain English", the editor A.G. Fowler says…<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"Hackneyed phrases become hackneyed because they are useful in the first instance; but they derive a new efficiency from the very fact that they are hackneyed." <br />
</blockquote>I think he means that clichés can be useful if you use the right ones. Use the familiar phrase if it expresses your meaning clearly, but not simply because it is familiar. Then it becomes lazy.<br />
<br />
"Dog-tired" is ok, "sick as a parrot" is not.<br />
<br />
"Original thinking" is OK, "Blue sky thinking" is vomit worthy<br />
<br />
"From start to finish" is OK, "chapter and verse" is hopeless<br />
<br />
"Starting tomorrow" is OK, "Going forward" is horribleUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-22047411587833758112009-10-16T13:33:00.008+01:002009-10-18T15:26:48.671+01:00Lesson 2- Remove business jargon: Blah, blah, blah<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiJTR08ZFhdEx6XMbtr9d0clxKWT1yuEMVu7DuLi383o_l3OI0uVmsGuYDsPjQ2KhxzsKGvd3t5FO1WstRgAzbHjv-zXELJdm85IZmsHcJRQ5WuQJ5w-vFVzZYIArxuFXaSm0BlL9vr6K_/s1600-h/Soap+Salesman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiJTR08ZFhdEx6XMbtr9d0clxKWT1yuEMVu7DuLi383o_l3OI0uVmsGuYDsPjQ2KhxzsKGvd3t5FO1WstRgAzbHjv-zXELJdm85IZmsHcJRQ5WuQJ5w-vFVzZYIArxuFXaSm0BlL9vr6K_/s320/Soap+Salesman.jpg" vr="true" /></a><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Abstractions distance the audience from you as a speaker, they make it harder for you to connect your ideas with their lives. On bad days they make you sound like a charicature of corporate foolishness. The most commonly used abstractions in presentations are jargon. If you want to leave a warm & human impression behind, and sound sincere, then delete stuff like this from your phrasebook. No-one will notice if you do't use such tired old guff, key people will notice if you do and they won't be thinking 'What joy that he's talking like a buffoon...'<br />
<br />
To help you understand how audiences think ( Based on expensve and rigorous reserach by the British Psychological Society) , I've added the internal commentary that you'd get from the audience as you said each of these words or phrases-<br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><ul><li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Empowerment- bullshit</li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Synergy- Utter bullshit he means job cuts</li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Commitment- don't talk to me about commitment</li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Bespoke- pompous oaf</li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Blue sky thinking- fool</li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Synergistic- I think he's going to sack me, kill me and sell my kids for medical research</li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Value-added- you're about as relevant as Cliff Richard (Outside the UK, look him up)</li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Leading-edge- When did we get in a time machine and go back to the 1980's?</li>
<li style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Post-modern- Guardian (UK based liberal arts newspaper for students and hippies) reading poseur</li>
</ul><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Every company and industry also has its jargon. Just notice what yours is and remove it from your lexicon.. Try testing your next big speech on your friends, family and pets. If they think it sounds like bullshit. Guess what?<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-44253739383689835032009-10-16T12:30:00.002+01:002009-10-16T19:54:11.867+01:00I Love Prezi and here's why you should love it too<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqgPmQJHVVElsWkCAlBn2R_KiFPRBhUe6Xk3sDVnnWfn2rFrlgGPr18ut-6c95m0HCbWvhG3PqNriNIlAL_wKxvOIjmWyNSaQB8hAbMmB75SDcFazhS1hyphenhyphen2DlDTp8wPgwjOjDZ6po7h8I8/s1600-h/Love1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqgPmQJHVVElsWkCAlBn2R_KiFPRBhUe6Xk3sDVnnWfn2rFrlgGPr18ut-6c95m0HCbWvhG3PqNriNIlAL_wKxvOIjmWyNSaQB8hAbMmB75SDcFazhS1hyphenhyphen2DlDTp8wPgwjOjDZ6po7h8I8/s320/Love1.jpg" vr="true" /></a><br />
</div>I know it's not the <em>thing</em>, but the way you use the thing that's really the most important thing (With me so far?) But sometimeas a thing comes along that makes you want to dance and sing with joy. Prezi is that thing. What is it?<br />
<br />
It's just a presentation software package<br />
<ul><li>It's very good value</li>
<li> It's a gorgeous organic thingy that allows you to move away from the linear cruelty of PowerPoint and all the other slide based tools.</li>
<li>It should become the default tool of the trainer, salesperson, teacher, lecturer and creative for explaining complex ideas in a flexible way for the audience.</li>
</ul>If you wanna know more, go here <a href="http://www.prezi.com/">http://www.prezi.com/</a> and if you want me to help you learn how to use it- email me at - <a href="mailto:jim@allcow.com">jim@allcow.com</a> for Prezi training and design in UK & Europe.<br />
<br />
I'd love to help you love this thing too.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-9449574382179036082009-10-16T12:19:00.001+01:002009-10-16T12:20:32.258+01:0093% of the message is complete twaddle- The truth is much better<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyK5Q10DkfbWN7yrDrd3FJo1XFtqYQsrulT-D6fr6dixIzOpAXRYf7eeESMUFx_577IVkvIexrCuT2kpxyGv9Kb1POF6FPv22OG1VulDqUhWjLUrDOljjboR2wiqbTasijzvojJXeLxEzy/s1600-h/Snake+oil.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyK5Q10DkfbWN7yrDrd3FJo1XFtqYQsrulT-D6fr6dixIzOpAXRYf7eeESMUFx_577IVkvIexrCuT2kpxyGv9Kb1POF6FPv22OG1VulDqUhWjLUrDOljjboR2wiqbTasijzvojJXeLxEzy/s320/Snake+oil.png" vr="true" /></a><br />
</div>We've all heard the numbers- 7% of your meaning is contained in the words you say; 35% in the vocal delivery and the rest (I can't be bothered to do the sums), is body language... Well folks it seems like even the guy who did the study thinks it's not true. Dr Albert Meherabian did the work back in the 60's, with a very specififc focus- Read here if you're interested <a href="http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/presentation-myths/stickiest-idea-presenting-wrong/">http://www.speakingaboutpresenting.com/presentation-myths/stickiest-idea-presenting-wrong/</a><br />
<br />
So if these numbers are so limited as a piece of research, why do we trainers use them so much? Is it to give us credibility? To add proof to the value of what we do? Who knows, but the thing to remember for presenters is that your power as a speaker is a fragile combination of -<br />
<br />
<ol><li>You and how enthusiastic, confident, open and credible you are</li>
<li>The quality of your story and the logic in the path you take through your topic</li>
<li>The audience you're facing and how you deal with what they bring into the room</li>
</ol>The great thing about brilliance is that it's derived differently for each one of us, and we can all be brilliant (or rubbish) in different ways, for different reasons, on different days. <br />
<br />
The most moving speech I've ever heard was given by a very nervous 19 year old girl, with terrible diction, in halting prose with no visual aids, in a terrible room, at a wedding. It was the bride's daughter saying how much she appreciated what she'd done for her since she, her sister and her mum had been abandoned by her father 20 years before. It's the only time I've ever cried at a wedding.<br />
<br />
Why was it so powerful? Because she was telling the heartfelt truth.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-87286694513303919262009-10-15T22:42:00.003+01:002009-10-16T13:36:43.759+01:00Adding flair to your presentation Lesson 1- Remove abstract language:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD7TRSVt3j-9l2m4mMHIcy5uW90oU51Rowjm-KMzSuBmfl9heivI6706r9JfrZCIJ04aqln2jYGJTLXsvS4gZJKFp10-jN0_4lYfhqt4DFPnGUbDV6jGW0WNUWQH47xA6pNBcv-bsWrTT3/s1600-h/abstract-balls-white-black.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $r="true" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD7TRSVt3j-9l2m4mMHIcy5uW90oU51Rowjm-KMzSuBmfl9heivI6706r9JfrZCIJ04aqln2jYGJTLXsvS4gZJKFp10-jN0_4lYfhqt4DFPnGUbDV6jGW0WNUWQH47xA6pNBcv-bsWrTT3/s320/abstract-balls-white-black.png" /></a><br />
</div>A noun, as you know, is a word that describes a thing. An object, a town, a cat, a condition. An abstract noun is a word that describes a thing that has no physical reality. Abstract nouns can describe feelings, qualities, ideas and thoughts. Abstract nouns can describe feelings such as helplessness and sorrow; qualities like quality, courage and reliability, ideas such as equality and freedom, and thoughts such as concepts and creativity. When the abstract is overdone it can cause problems for readers and listeners.<br />
<br />
“Pseud’s Corner” in the UK satirical magazine “Private Eye”, is filled with examples of speech and prose where people seem to be constructing whole articles out of abstract nouns.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>“In this feminist exploration of the erotics of the marketplace, Hegel’s notion of property and Lacan’s idea of the phallus serve parallel functions in the creation of the sense of subjectivity necessary for self-actualisation.”<br />
</blockquote>If you combine loads of abstract nouns with the passive voice and add a few technical terms you can create written works so dense that they are impenetrable. <br />
<br />
So if you mean a telephone say "telephone" not 'novel communication facility’. You may know what you mean, make sure that the audience does. "Woolly" speech is usually full of abstractions and is often a sign of unclear thinking on the part of the speaker. At worst it can come across as ambiguous, pompous often misleading and just helps to distance the audience from you and the stuff you're trying to put over.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-91511223486156117422009-10-15T19:49:00.002+01:002009-10-16T19:55:04.647+01:00Be funny the easy way<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXDnztW1QuLXiBTYkiRL4qmrTExWpYgikkgVmjTUTKACmyzdex4StLvO0Mr8y7Cfpwb27-Mix8E629esd5ALvG6Nl3UB3YKmtw73aUJSCu_XfMs2UOUmGQ-ctaWPkohgxygFVzSFfvzasl/s1600-h/clow+B%26W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $r="true" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXDnztW1QuLXiBTYkiRL4qmrTExWpYgikkgVmjTUTKACmyzdex4StLvO0Mr8y7Cfpwb27-Mix8E629esd5ALvG6Nl3UB3YKmtw73aUJSCu_XfMs2UOUmGQ-ctaWPkohgxygFVzSFfvzasl/s320/clow+B%26W.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>It's risky trying to be clever or funny so why not cut down the chances of something falling flat by using someone else's wit. Oscar Wilde made a witty remark in front of a well-known satirist and the satirist said, "Oh Oscar, how I wish I'd said that." Oscar replied, "You will, Henry, You will."<br />
<br />
10 great lines that I've used a lot and just a little bit of the shine rubs off on you-Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-45606938492432577842009-10-15T19:46:00.000+01:002009-10-15T19:46:45.954+01:00Use quotations to make really strong points gently<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgR3P7Xy8EYSXc7mh-jDWn8yDF-IgL3Ga39-M8-a77fBNuUXhB_RULWZ0xT9wRNnhzegNGxlcM3Iz5RQ5foCyaVcyFdFnXb8nmbCiOjHMoJ8O-EaM-l7vjIQuhk6y9n09IJGY3IczuWnQu/s1600-h/Clarkson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $r="true" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgR3P7Xy8EYSXc7mh-jDWn8yDF-IgL3Ga39-M8-a77fBNuUXhB_RULWZ0xT9wRNnhzegNGxlcM3Iz5RQ5foCyaVcyFdFnXb8nmbCiOjHMoJ8O-EaM-l7vjIQuhk6y9n09IJGY3IczuWnQu/s320/Clarkson.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>If you have something controversial to say it is often a good idea to put the words in someone else's mouth. If you want to say that Audi make dull but reliable cars, quote Jeremy Clarkson. You can always follow up your insult with "I don't happen to agree…" but your point has already been made. Three of my favourite quotes from the large teenager-<br />
<br />
<blockquote>“This is a Renault Espace, probably the best of the people carriers. Not that that’s much to shout about. That’s like saying ‘Oh good, I’ve got syphilis, the best of the sexually transmitted diseases!’”<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>“Koenigsegg are saying that the CCX is more comfortable. More comfortable than what... being stabbed?”<br />
</blockquote><div><span></span></div><div></div><blockquote>“I’m sorry, but having an Aston Martin DB9 on the drive and not driving it is a bit like having Keira Knightley in your bed and sleeping on the couch. If you’ve got even half a scrotum it’s not going to happen.”</blockquote>I don't agree with any of these sentiments and find the disease references quite disturbing, but....Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-54787461604804683232009-10-14T22:21:00.009+01:002009-10-15T19:34:12.865+01:003 acts worked for Shakespeare maybe they'll work for you- Story structure<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSMFsZau5rW-cxaqtZMAup4leQVABcGEIZd8PjrLde9hHO9rBWHzVRv1DJ-yV7z0CXYWeT5uaGkT0Xci2RgBBndbwhXcVYtu5s8RyJf1vzf3eXAjKkHrXWKalf9qVAkPwuGz5G9XwER3B/s1600-h/romeo_and_juliet+BW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $r="true" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPSMFsZau5rW-cxaqtZMAup4leQVABcGEIZd8PjrLde9hHO9rBWHzVRv1DJ-yV7z0CXYWeT5uaGkT0Xci2RgBBndbwhXcVYtu5s8RyJf1vzf3eXAjKkHrXWKalf9qVAkPwuGz5G9XwER3B/s320/romeo_and_juliet+BW.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Everbody knows that stories have structure. They start with 'Once upon a time....' and end with 'happily ever after.' And in between the beginning and the end, comes the middle. In Western culture, most novels, plays and films tend to follow a simple 3 act structure, with each act playing a particular role in driving the story to its end. Broadly speaking-<br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><ul><li>Act 1- Sets the scene and introduces the characters, the context and the challenge.</li>
<li>Act 2- Introduces the challenge in more detail and gives choices for the character to take</li>
<li>Act 3- Sees the pay-off where the character makes a decison, takes action and gets a result.</li>
</ul></div>Each of the acts allows the audience to be taken on a journey that starts with- 'I Don't know anything about this character and don't really care what happens to the little bleeder...'; through 'I care now and don't want to see this lovely little thing fail'; to 'Oh my God, is he going to fall, die, leave, lose, love...?' To the bitter (or sweet) end of the story, where our emotions are released in joy or pain or hope..., and we can relax and go back to our lives with a lesson learned, or a message taken. But the story has to build step-by-step or it will fail.<br />
<br />
Imagine the film 'Toy Story' going straight in at the scene where Buzz appears on the kid's bed. It would have no meaning, because we wouldn't understand so many things. Why his arrival changed things, why the toys were talking, who the skinny guy in the cowboy outfit was. We wouldn't know and we wouldn't care and we wouldn't watch for long. Imagine 'Titanic' starting at the point where they're all in the water; or 'High Noon beginning with the gunfight. 'Saving Private Ryan' opening with the tedious walk through the hinterland of Omaha Beach, looking for a kid called Ryan.<br />
<br />
Stories whether drama and fictional or commercial and factual work better if the thousand year old structure of a story is used.<br />
<br />
P.S. I know that there are more than 3 acts in Shakespeare, and there's alot of controversy about story structures, Freytag's 5 act structure and Quentin Tarantino's method, but sometimes you've just got to choose. I did. For more information- try this- <br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenwriting">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenwriting</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramatic_structure">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramatic_structure</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-76398743525274527232009-10-14T15:40:00.002+01:002009-10-14T16:02:15.162+01:00Sometimes the only thing you can do is laugh- Corpsing for professionals<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhan6ArhzOG-sBlm8vGHrZ9CYdE13AfNERvytX1RtIF_k95Asgx0rlY1Ol_jS4e2DhumR0wsOFBjgf-8B2hmo-MTQ0WPZV5MvaytB2064EICo-F7qCigtkryYhQc1_RUgEguE0_aJBm_U5X/s1600-h/laugh1small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $r="true" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhan6ArhzOG-sBlm8vGHrZ9CYdE13AfNERvytX1RtIF_k95Asgx0rlY1Ol_jS4e2DhumR0wsOFBjgf-8B2hmo-MTQ0WPZV5MvaytB2064EICo-F7qCigtkryYhQc1_RUgEguE0_aJBm_U5X/s320/laugh1small.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Sometimes, often when you least want it to happen, usually at the most serious moment, something happens. A phrase comes out wrong and is somehow horribly right; someone exposes their stupidity to the light, your colleague drops you in it or life's essential futility slaps you in the face- What can you do?<br />
<br />
Have a look at what the 'experts' do- courtesy of the Daily Telegraph in the UK. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6325358/Infectious-laughter-20-best-corpsing-videos.html">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6325358/Infectious-laughter-20-best-corpsing-videos.html</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-81819324836789244052009-10-12T18:35:00.004+01:002009-10-14T16:04:45.202+01:00When Tony Blair blew it with the Women's Institute<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqyUv2yj3zekKJoiGunOSwNp9xBiYL47BK-7zIFPColePfSZf5RMTYm5WSxCm3iwsrsODBRg3YVUeqowUQ1eaiZ22FmHfUa76xtxEYqHYlQG-wGo4h490_plKg63dTbQ7X_LIn9nS89zBV/s1600-h/womens-institute-applauding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $r="true" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqyUv2yj3zekKJoiGunOSwNp9xBiYL47BK-7zIFPColePfSZf5RMTYm5WSxCm3iwsrsODBRg3YVUeqowUQ1eaiZ22FmHfUa76xtxEYqHYlQG-wGo4h490_plKg63dTbQ7X_LIn9nS89zBV/s320/womens-institute-applauding.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Tony Blair, then the UK Prime Minister, went to speak to the formidable ladies of the Women's Institute (WI) in June 2000. The WI is a conservative body of middle class women who know what they like and is not the most natural audience for a socialist (ish) Prime Minister. He made the mistake (and Tony often did) of using the occasion only as an opportunity to tell the world how well the Labour Party were doing in their first term of government. He missed a clear chance to build his popularity in middle-England, to say nice things about the WI and all that they had done over the years. He could simply have spoken a few words about their proud history, the great things they do for charity and how great their recipe for plum jam is. But didn't bother. The Reverend Blair just launched into a scripted set of platitudes, promises and abstract nouns and by 5 minutes into the speech he'd lost the old dears in the red plastic seats.<br />
<br />
What happened next? It was breathtakingly thrilling and embarrassing. The ladies of the WI got restless, then they got angry. They started slow hand clapping the PM. Yes. they turned into a set of twin-set. blue-rinsed students. They were wolf whistling, jeering, singing clapping and generally doing everything they could to get the loser in the red tie off the platform. Tony was hopeless. He'd massively misjudged the audience and they let him have it, big-style. <br />
<br />
It was unmissable television for each of the 50 occasions the broadcasters repeated it over the next few days. I enjoyed it too and I'm a fan of Blair the man. if not Blair the proselytising platform speaker. On that occasion, Tony talked down, at, over and through his audience. On that day he paid the price that those of us who've done the same thing probably never have to pay because our typical audience is much more passive than the WI. It doesn't change the fact that lots of us treat our audiences as clueless observers and rarely consider their experience, intelligence and needs in preparing what we want to say.<br />
<br />
If you want to avoid Tony's mistake, present ideas and arguments in such a way that the style content and methods that you use are shaped for each unique audience you meet. You need to ask the audience to describe to you exactly what they what need to know before you start to prepare. You also need to consider what (If anything) ou have to tell them and consider how you can resolve the inevitable tensions between what they want and what you need to tell them. If you can't ask, then do the next best thing and use your imagination. <br />
<br />
Put yourself in their shoes and ask waht you'd like to hear if you were them. I guess it's called empathy, and all the great speakers have it in spades. Whoever is out there in the audience. WI or not.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-37183167096184851882009-10-08T17:11:00.007+01:002009-10-14T22:20:11.128+01:0010 steps to creating a really strong story<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirQQ-GIpwvSWyIDex4va156EdcYRHtMnC9iW-FLzXaAKz09hfRznYA_9xmW009l1W1qXNGJfIiempF13MKd4Z08YOggOqrUvZumI9ClRJqzqkWU6Ad1KQRAp1GBeDeSz6z0awfQqDXLUHz/s1600-h/casablanca-bogart-bergman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $r="true" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirQQ-GIpwvSWyIDex4va156EdcYRHtMnC9iW-FLzXaAKz09hfRznYA_9xmW009l1W1qXNGJfIiempF13MKd4Z08YOggOqrUvZumI9ClRJqzqkWU6Ad1KQRAp1GBeDeSz6z0awfQqDXLUHz/s320/casablanca-bogart-bergman.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
It sounds like a presentation trainer's cliche, but it's not. In business presentations, the story is the thing. There's a skill and a structure to creating interesting and compelling narratives. A craft started in the verbal tradition by prehistoric man, developed by the ancient Greeks, sharpened by the French, the Italians, Spanish and British over centuries, is now made into a global, multi billion dollar industry by the Americans. Telling stories with a message is what people have always sought to do. And those who are good at it have real value in the places they live and work. <br />
<br />
Children are brought up on stories with a beginning, middle and end. Adults expect a point, a message, interesting characters, love, laughter, joy, tears and pity, and are disappointed if they don't get them. Then we go to school, university, college and work and all of the joy seems to disappear. And we get talked at. Why? Because people don't apply the simplest of the story-telling crafts to the most important parts of their life. Story structure? Ignore it at your peril or understand that when you've got a strong story, everything else will follow. How do we do it then? Here's a few thoughts:<br />
<br />
1. Put yourself in your audience's shoes and ask 'if I were them what would be interesting, useful and relevant to know and understand about this subject?' <br />
<br />
2. Brainstorm everything you could say on the subject onto a single piece of paper.<br />
<br />
3. Consult with key members of the audience about what it is they want to know, don't want to know. Then decide what you absolutely have to tell them.<br />
<br />
4. Go back to your brainstorm and highlight those things that now will feature in your presentation and write your presentation objectives- In this presentation I will show X, Y and Z, and explain how we came to this decision. Then I will tell them exactly what I think they need to do and by when, to make the most of their investment.<br />
<br />
5. Build the storyboard- Act by act (See a classic 3-act structure) and keep on grinding until there's a real rational, logical path through the presentation.<br />
<br />
6. Create a storyboard that tells the story with key scenes & content from each part.<br />
<br />
7. Create the visuals to support the storyboard.<br />
<br />
8. Add a high impact prologue (introduction) and epilogue (conclusion).<br />
<br />
9. Build your 'script' through rehearsal and repetition out loud rather than writing it out.<br />
<br />
10. Write your script to the level you require (bullet points are best but in some very important or sensitive presentations you have to be scripted word for word).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-31065252709651305772009-10-08T17:09:00.008+01:002009-10-10T18:07:00.305+01:0010 things you can do to build your own skills<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Role models, free lessons, blogs and other ways of keeping you sharp<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdlZCU4MAhNi0qZE05SyZM1Cq_ijRllmdGMxnHKvsXaSmaU8yv576GcMRF1Z8rjtmdCRdejU8sfkMcQ69oBZU1IbQWfd2ZvTp6Z2ZGt0BUIxNqjGqezNGoEIs-ufC5pjmEaVMucjQrRBJ2/s1600-h/kids_bodybuilding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $r="true" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdlZCU4MAhNi0qZE05SyZM1Cq_ijRllmdGMxnHKvsXaSmaU8yv576GcMRF1Z8rjtmdCRdejU8sfkMcQ69oBZU1IbQWfd2ZvTp6Z2ZGt0BUIxNqjGqezNGoEIs-ufC5pjmEaVMucjQrRBJ2/s320/kids_bodybuilding.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
1. Watch the way that TV news (anything but CNN where there’s just too much going on) tells a story with graphics, text and voice.<br />
<br />
2. Look at the structure of a story in a newspaper, notice the headline, the grabber first paragraph in bold, the detailed in 3 acts, the summary at the end. It’s a habit that journalists have drilled into them as professionals from the start of their careers. We can learn from them in all of our presentations.<br />
<br />
3. Read ‘How to Argue and win Every Time’ by Gerry Spence. Fabulous anecdotes and some great tips about pitching to hostile audiences in a courtroom.<br />
<br />
4. Experiment with new things in your presentations from time to time- Tell a story, do a no text presentation where you only use images to convey your message, inject a little humour with a cartoon or quotation, use a flip-chart to make a point, anything that means you’re developing your flexibility as a presenter.<br />
<br />
5. Search on the web and for great presenters giving great speeches and notice what they do to engage and inspire their audience- try with Steve Jobs’ Stanford University Commencement speech at www.presentationhelper.co.uk/ - Great stories with a real point.<br />
<br />
6. Go to conferences and watch the speakers there and learn from the good, the bad and the ugly. See what works and what doesn’t and copy them yourself in your own work.<br />
<br />
7. Volunteer to make a conference speech or an after dinner speech that puts you out of your comfort zone, maybe even on a subject that you don’t know much about but will have to research.<br />
<br />
8. Read some poetry and see what real craftspeople do with words to make maximum impact in the shortest possible time.<br />
<br />
9. Build up a bank of images, words, quotes and stories that you can use in your own speeches.<br />
<br />
10. Have a look at some of the other great blogs on presentation skills and subscribe to them for free updates.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-767505591775250299.post-84890111711138653692009-10-08T17:09:00.007+01:002009-10-10T17:57:37.528+01:00Using your voiceIt’s your instrument and most people don’t really know how to play it.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC7W0uwNzTqXZxxzAwmk80C8hdKiuEsoZGJxylYXu2pw_YM3OE50WxBAkPqIDaHmVN88HVwax4hACUXLBMizCmzqT4C6whGYC759WpPYQHczd8MXmnVvNjvr5SrbJuU5xNd3qVC8LvJImy/s1600-h/megaphone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $r="true" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC7W0uwNzTqXZxxzAwmk80C8hdKiuEsoZGJxylYXu2pw_YM3OE50WxBAkPqIDaHmVN88HVwax4hACUXLBMizCmzqT4C6whGYC759WpPYQHczd8MXmnVvNjvr5SrbJuU5xNd3qVC8LvJImy/s320/megaphone.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><br />
1. Rehearse in the place where you'll make your speech if you can, it makes a full dress rehearsal and readies you for the real thing. If you can't use the venue, use somewhere like it.<br />
<br />
2. Project to people at the back of the room by imagining the breath that you'll need to make your voice get there and doing it.<br />
<br />
3. Learn to breathe from your diaphragm for deep, slow, powerful breaths that give you all the oomph you need to project.<br />
<br />
4. Practice hitting the end consonants of the words ('She sells seashells on the sea shore' is unintelligible to an audience unless you do).<br />
<br />
5. Use the punctuation (verbal or actual) to pause for breath which helps your delivery and allows the audience to catch up with what you're saying. Practice a comma for a short pause (say 'one thousand' inside your head)and breath, full stop twice that, paragraph three times 'one thousand' again.<br />
<br />
6. Rehearse the pauses too because confident use of them will help you to deliver your key points, with real impact.<br />
<br />
7. Emphasise the 2 or 3 key words in a sentence to deliver the real meaning in what you say. <br />
<br />
8. Rehearse practising changes of pace, emphasis, tone and drama until it feels right for you. That's what rehearsal is for, not simply so you remember what to say, but how you say it too.<br />
<br />
9. If there are words, phrases, or parts of the speech you just can't say in rehearsal, cut them out or change them because you won't be able to say them in the real thing.<br />
<br />
10. Speak with your real voice, not your 'phone voice or your actor's voice, your own voice with its accent, inflection, pitch and tone will deliver the most credible message to your audience.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0