My experience as both an audience member and presenter tells me that the longer a presentation is, the more chance there is of the audience feeling boredom and apathy. And I doubt I’m the only one to have this groundbreaking insight. It could be that presenters get less interesting the more they talk, or meeting…
I am assuming that most people reading this post write frequently, and write well. However, it is worth going back to basics from time to time to consider not just what we write, but how we write it. Whether you are writing for presentations, hand-outs, blog posts or any information sharing documents, it’s a waste of…
The purpose of all advertising and marketing is to sell some idea. Be it, “I need that product”; “I want that product”; or “That product will make me feel good”. To be successful, the advert has to persuade the audience to believe the idea. The purpose of most presentations is also to sell some idea….
‘Show don’t tell’ is a lesson often taught to fiction writers. Instead of telling the audience “Sally was cold”, the rule tells them to show it by saying “Sally shivered”. This makes storytelling more interesting, and helps to overcome the common boring technique (shown in my previous post) of pointing out the obvious: “Sally shivered…
Nine times out of ten, your audience will be made up mostly of your peers. Even if you’re presenting to young, uneducated or mixed audiences, they’ll probably be somewhat as intelligent as you. Treating them as such will make them like and listen to you. Leave Things Unsaid There’s no hard and fast rule to…
It’s becoming increasingly common for meetings to be conducted via conference call, Skype or virtual online meetings in business. Of course it makes sense from a business point of view, saving lots of money and time. But is communicating with remote audiences causing you to lose focus in your presentations? Is your message being diluted…
A few notes of planning for an hour long presentation; an unexpected tangent; questions you hadn’t prepared for…these are a few of many presenters’ least favourite things. But if we’re well prepared and confident in our selves, they can all lead to more fulfilling, interesting and successful presentations and pitches. Improving your ‘winging it’ skills…
Hope springs eternal in the human breast, Alexander Pope But it’s not true is it? As Pope was suggesting. Hope fades like a sunny morning, into a grey and drizzling afternoon. Particularly where presentations are concerned. I was at a conference last week, and saw a couple of great examples of the conference speech, and a few that were…
We had a quick brainstorm in the office this morning. 5 designers, all 2 plus year Prezi veterans. We created a wish list, we got over the layout changes and the ‘disappearing Zebra’, and moved on to a simple list of things that we wish Prezi could do. Even more we think that Prezi is now at the stage…