The best presenters have a flexible vocabulary that allows them to ‘fit’ the message in terms of level, language and tone to the audience in front of them. Poor speakers tend to choose jargon, cliches and terms from the word bag marked- ‘corporate tosser’. (Jerk for our US readers).
It’s something that drives me mad. When you hear professional and amateurs alike, talking about ‘passion’ as the most important element in a speaker’s arsenal. It doesn’t make sense, does it?
And he wasn’t talking about fish… Talk endlessly and positively about themselves and their experiences-Because it looks vain and probably is a sign of vanity. Fix: tell stories where you’re the fool and someone else is the hero. Make the link for the audience when the point is obvious- People are generally more intelligent than…
I had a really interesting challenge the other day, to speak to 30 or so 14-16 year old girls about ‘personal impact’. I had 30 minutes to make an impression and help them make the most of the event they were at. The event was a ‘bring your daughter to work’ day, arranged by the fabulous people…
Lovely post from Rhett Laubach at ‘Authencicity Rules’ on ways to ‘build a bridge’ between a speaker and an audience. Authenticity Rules: Top 6 Tools to Engage Literally Any Audience. How to ‘get the audience involved’ is worth a category on its own in any blog, and is the second most asked question on presentation skills…
The full quotation is: “They who honour me, I will honour. They who despise me I will disdain.” It was used, memorably, in the film ‘Chariots of Fire’ to illustrate the conviction and motivation of the hero; and his good grace in the fiercest of competition. It’s a snippet from the Bible, obviously, and though I’m not a…
My name is James, it’s what my mother called me, it’s what my 2 sisters, my twin brother and my creaky old dad do too. I prefer James, but almost nobody asks before they call me Jim. I gave up trying to put people right years ago, but I do notice when someone bothers to…
I was a guest speaker at ‘Inside & Out’ yesterday. It was a networking event for London-based banks as a part of their diversity efforts. Its intention is simple. To recruit brilliant people, who happen to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans-gender into the banking industry. Why? Because they want great people, whatever their sexuality….
Remember that the first 2 minutes are the point at which you have the audience’s full attention, use it to full effect. 1. Contact as many people as you can before the date and ask them what they want to get out of the session, what they’d like to know and what they don’t want….