A good presentation is never rushed and always well-timed. Yet many speakers struggle to properly pace themselves. I was recently asked to evaluate a presentation and the pacing stood out as the first thing to be remedied. The presentation ran almost 20% over the allotted time and still felt a little rushed. Here is the advice I gave the speaker: Calculate your speech … [Read more...]
Own the Way You Are Introduced: The 3 R’s
It’s often said that your presentation starts the moment the audience sees you walking to the stage. The truth is, your audience begins to form an impression of you even earlier. If you're a guest speaker at an event, you'll most likely have someone introducing you to the stage. Don't leave your introduction to chance Have you ever been let down by the person introducing … [Read more...]
Finding Stories
A couple of years ago, I read a book by storytelling expert, Annette Simmons. To find good stories, she suggests looking in 4 "buckets": Times you've shined Times you've blown it Your mentors Books, movies, folk tales, news articles and other third-party sources You'll notice that the first three buckets draw on your own personal experience. While I believe we … [Read more...]
Chip Away
As I've mentioned before, my New Year's Resolution is to keep a notebook of speech gold - quotes, jokes, metaphors, stories... anything that might be useful for future speeches. Here is a story I recently stumbled upon and added to my collection. --- In 1955, a Buddhist temple in Bangkok was undergoing renovation. A large clay Buddha statue was to be moved to the new Viharn … [Read more...]
The Golden Circle for Speakers: 3 questions to ask when preparing any presentation
One of the top TED Talks of all time was delivered by Simon Sinek. He shared his concept of The Golden Circle, suggesting that the core of any message we wish to communicate is the "Why" - the belief, the motive, the purpose that drives our actions. The problem, he says, with the way many individuals and organisations communicate is that it's an outside-in approach, starting … [Read more...]