Gerry Sandusky's Blog, page 7

How to Make Bullets Points More Conversational

Bullets are better than paragraphs in PowerPoint
We’ve all seen plenty of them on slides
More often than not presenters misuse them
If you use too many of them you’ll lose your audience’s attention
Too many pages of bullets in a row have the same negative effect

Bullets have their place

I’m not against using bullets on PowerPoint slides in your presentations.

They have their place. But their place is not every place.

Too many presenters use too many bullets in too many presentations.

Bullets have some natural strengths

They draw the viewers eye to them
They create some white space on the page
They create a sense of focus

Bullets also have some natural weaknesses

They create a sort of cadence that becomes predictable
They start to feel like a lecture
They make the audience feel like you are firing information at them instead of talking with them.

The bottom line is sometimes you have to use bullets. When you do, follow the pointers in this video and you’ll get far out of your bullets.

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The One Letter on Your Keyboard That Can Improve Your PowerPoint

Wouldn’t you love it if one letter on your keyboard could solve a problem? For this problem, press X. For that problem, press Y. For another problem, press the b-key.

Problem solved.

Sounds good, right? Well, there is a one letter solution to one of the most vexing problems with PowerPoint.

Sounds good, right? Well, there is a one letter solution to one of the most vexing problems with PowerPoint.

Well, there is a one letter solution to one of the most vexing problems with PowerPoint.

Play, Doesn’t Mean Forever

Too often, presenters begin their presentation using PowerPoint and leave the PowerPoint up for the entire presentation. The longer the presentation, the bigger the problem. More often than not, presenters don’t even realize they have an option, a choice not to have PowerPoint playing during their entire presentation.

The Solution is the “B” Key

The one letter solution does exist on your keyboard–at least for this one problem. It’s the “B” key.

In this week’s edition of The Rules of Engagement, I’ll show you how using the “B” key can completely change the impact your PowerPoint has on the audience and how to use it to keep your audience from nodding off in boredom–no matter how dry the subject matter.

 

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How to Slow Your Delivery in a Presentation

As soon as you walk to the front of the room to give your presentation, adrenaline kicks into overdrive.

That’s a good thing if you control it and allow it to energize you.

It becomes a bad thing if the adrenaline highjacks the pace of your delivery and turns you into a rapid-fire presenter.

In order to establish your control of the room, you first have to establish control of yourself. That means taking control of your delivery. There isn’t one perfect speed.

As a matter of fact, one speed is a problem, the biggest problem of talking too fast for too long.

Fast Delivery Isn’t the Only Problem

Talking fast isn’t the problem if you naturally talk fast. Talking faster than you usually talk for too long is where the problem happens.

You feel out of control.

Out of Control Hurts Your Audience

When you feel out of control, your audience loses confidence in you. Problem. The audience senses your lack of confidence. Then you sense your audience’s lack of confidence in you. That puts you into a negative spiral.

Focus More on Your Breathing

The speed of your delivery frequently has more to do with your breathing than your speaking.

In this video, I’ll show you a simple technique to correct your breathing that will help you speak slower and sound more confident in a presentation.

 

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How to Use Technology to Keep Your Audience Engaged in Presentations

Remember the first time you used a word processing program like Word or Pages? Remember the urge to try 19 different fonts? Maybe you actually did use as many font types and sizes imaginable. Once. Then the feedback likely taught you that too much of a good thing is a bad thing. It overwhelms the communication.

It overwhelms the communication.

Use technology effectively, not exclusively.

Technology in a presentation works along those same lines. You want to use it but you want to use it effectively, not exclusively.

Multimedia is more than high tech.

We tend to think of multimedia as high-tech. That’s not the case. Anything that helps you get your point across and get your audience involved in your presentation is multimedia. That might include technology like PowerPoint or Keynote but it might also include low-tech or no-tech options too like handouts, exercises, and demonstrations.

The combination is the key.

Using a combination of high-tech and low-tech will set you up for success far more than relying exclusively on high-tech to get the job done and get your audience involved.

Technology, like using too many fonts in a Word document, can become a major distraction, a stumbling block between you and your audience. Used in balance with low-tech options, however, technology becomes what it’s designed for: a way to enhance your communication.

Think engagement first, technology second.

In this video, I’ll share with you a way to re-think when and how much technology to use in your presentation–especially when you give a presentation you want your audience to engage in.

 

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7 Ways to Improve Your Next Presentation

I’m always searching for insights, tips, and techniques to help people get more out of their presentations. Here are 7 ways to improve your next presentation, some pointers, and suggestions from seven different sources, from the Ted Talk guide to public speaking to Guy Kawasaki’s insights.

A broad range of tips

These tips range from shaping ideas to creating PowerPoint decks.

You don’t need to embrace all seven ideas. I recommend finding one idea that resonates with you and work with it for awhile. Trying to do too much too fast will usually just lead to feeling overwhelmed and make you want to quit.

Do one thing better

The front of the room is a tricky place. If you can walk up there and execute one thing better every time, you will quickly become a powerful presenter who can move audiences to action. That doesn’t mean trying to do everything better every time. Master one skill at a time.

The real mastery you’re going for

You may never master the front of the room. That’s okay. That’s not the objective anyway. You want to master yourself and maximize your own abilities. Do that and the front of the room will eventually become your most comfortable place in the room and it’s where you will also find the biggest competitive advantage.

There’s no magic in the number seven. The magic is finding the one, the one thing you become great at. That gives you a higher platform to grow from.

Click To Enlarge

Here’s the link to a more detailed explanation of the infographic:

https://www.salesforce.com/ca/blog/2016/08/make-next-presentation-best-yet.html

 

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How to Handle an Emergency Presentation or Interview on Skype

The nature of emergencies is you don’t see them coming. Unfortunately in the era of Skype and video conferencing, an emergency can mean everyone else can see you caught off guard.

The trick is finding a way to be your best when you don’t have time to look your best. I can help you there.

Welcome to Skype emergencies

In the age of video conferencing, an emergency can quickly become a Skype emergency. And even though you didn’t see it coming, everyone else will see you when you arrive. Not exactly fair.

Maybe you’re on vacation, asleep, working in the backyard when suddenly work calls. There’s an emergency video conference call with the board, the leadership team, the management team. Or you’re the point person with the organization charged with talking to the media.

Sounds glamorous–until the call comes just as you step off the softball field on your day off.

How to handle the unpredictable

In this video, I’ll show you a few interview tips and techniques that can help you handle the emergency in presentations or interviews you have to do on Skype or other remote video technologies.

Doing your best when you can’t look your best

Sometimes the nature of emergencies means you can’t look your best. But you can always avoid looking your worst. Follow these techniques and even in the worst of situations you will come off looking like and sounding like a pro.

 

Have a topic you would like me to cover on a future edition of the Rules of Engagement? Leave a comment for me below and I’ll add it to the list of topics.

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How to Look More Confident in Presentations

Most people agree that a confident presenter has much greater influence on his or her audience.

Whether you are new to presenting or an experienced presenter, you don’t always have as much confidence as you would like. Even the most experienced presenters have days when their confidence runs a little low.

But just because you’re not feeling it in a presentation doesn’t mean you should ever show your lack of confidence.

Avoid Show and Tell

There are three easy ways to avoid negative show and tell–showing the audience the lack of confidence that you would never actually tell them about.

In this video, I’ll show you some powerful techniques that will make the audience think you feel confident. And as the presentation continues, that will make you feel more confident. Sometimes you just have to show it until you know it.

This will help you do just that.

 

More Ways to Improve Your Confidence

If you would like to learn more tips to help you look more confident in presentations, download my free report: PRESENT LIKE A PRO. Click here to get your copy.

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How to Use a Podium in a Presentation

Sometimes you can’t control it. You have to use a podium. You can still use it well.

Podiums serve two major purposes:

They give the presenter a place to put notes.
They give the event organizer a way to use one, stationary microphone, instead of needing multiple wireless microphones or a hand-held mic with a cord.

The Real Problem with Podiums:

Here’s the big problem with podiums: They put an object, a barrier, in between the presenter and the audience. That never improves communication.

Given the choice, I prefer not to use a podium, but as the presenter–or as one of the presenters in a larger program–you don’t always have a choice.

Four Tips for Using a Podium:

When you have to use a podium, these tips can make the program more enjoyable for the audience:

Shorten your comments. A speaker tethered to a podium runs a higher risk of boring his audience than one who doesn’t use a podium. No one ever said, “Wow, I wish he had talked for longer from behind that podium.”

 

Move the audience’s attention away from the podium. When you are behind the podium, you want to be the narrator more than the person in the spotlight. When you can, direct the audience’s attention to other things in the room. In the photo below, I’m at the podium, but I’m not the focal point of attention, I’m narrating the groundbreaking ceremony.

Make more eye contact with the audience. The audience knows your notes are on the podium. They don’t mind. But they will mind if you put all of your attention on the notes and not on them. Use your notes, but don’t become a prisoner to your notes. Look at the audience. Make and hold eye contact. When you finish a thought, look down to your notes to move forward.

 

When possible, move away from the podium. In the video below, watch Dr. Jay Perman, the president of the University of Maryland’s Baltimore campus. At a ceremony honoring him, Dr. Perman moved in front of the podium to deliver his comments. After all, there’s no rule that says you can’t do that. He broke down the barrier between him and the audience. In doing so, he changed the energy in the room. He created a more intimate, warm, personal atmosphere. Notice how engaging Dr. Perman is talking about a young man and food art because he’s in front of the podium instead of behind it.

 

A Final Thought on Podiums:

Podiums have their place. But if you learn to use a podium instead of letting the podium dictate the terms of your presentation, you will find you have a far greater connection with the audience. And isn’t that really the idea behind the presentation in the first place?

 

 

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How Great Brands Use Presentations to Stand Apart From The Competition

When you think of great brands, famous brands, what do you think of? Usually one thing, one thing that they do better than anyone or different from everyone and that they do consistently: a product, a service, or an approach.

The same idea works when it comes to presentations. You should use the front of the room to reinforce what makes you special, what makes you stand out by doing your “one thing” over and over.

In this video I’ll show you an example of how doing one thing differently from the competition can make all the difference and set you apart from everyone else.

 

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How to Reinvigorate a Stale Presentation

Sometimes we have to deliver a presentation that has grown stale. We don’t have an option. We have to give that presentation. The boss says so. The situation demands it. The client wants it. You have two choices: deliver the same old same old, or reinvigorate it.

In this video. I’ll show you two simple steps to putting life back into the presentation–and your performance.

It’s not that hard to reinvigorate you and the presentation

By making these two adjustments you will reinvigorate (or maybe even invigorate for the first time) your performance in a way that will bring the content of the presentation to life for your audience.

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