As a presenter, you’re always trying to do something to the audiences that you meet. Explain the new product, sell the benefits, clarify, motivate, inspire and convince being but a few of the more common ambitions. It’s just that often it’s at an unconscious level, and so it’s out of our awareness. Poor presenters are very often ‘trying‘ to do one…
You’re going to look around a house that you’re thinking of buying. It’s a a Saturday morning. You’re making a commitment. You’ve given up 2 hours of your valuable time, and you’ve left the kids with Grandma. The details of the property looked good enough, the price seemed right, and the sun is shining as…
PowerPoint slides, bullets, data, Waffle, jargon, handouts (paper), Anecdotes with no punchline, Or point to help you underline. Music, graphics, sound effects, That simply, don’t support the text. Images that make no sense, Or patronise the audience. Graphs and charts of pie or venn, The thoughts of Chairman Mao or Zen, Buddhists when your thoughts…
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….
A successful business proposal begins with a compelling framework – a structure for your proposal that sells your ideas in the context of the customer’s needs, wants and preferences. It’s applied thought, not just an explanation of what you do. Let’s Talk Proposals It’s easy to get caught up in thinking too much about the…
Whenever I say to someone ‘I’m a salesman’, it seems to put them on their guard. Why? Probably because the reputation of salespeople generally, is framed by the reputation of salespeople in western culture. We’re not know as philosopher poets. We’re infamous for all of the Ponzi, pyramid, get rich quick scandals that we never…
An audience’s willingness to act on your recommendations frequently depends on the severity and breadth of change you’re suggesting. In other words, your audience’s response to you, rests on how serious your audience thinks the problem is and how dire the consequences of inaction. ‘It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory. ‘…
Holiday reading, staying in a friend’s lovely home in the green mountains north of Barcelona, Spain, I’d finished the crappy novel and trashy magazines I’d bought at the airport on the way out. What next for my idle mind while the kids were splashing in the pool? I was ‘mooching’ in the library, and I…
A professional conference in the UK, 2010. Syndicate speakers, famous published author on communication, 200 seats, all attendees looking forward to pearls of wisdom and quotable quotes, high expectations. The audience began to assemble, sat where they thought they could, happy, chatting amongst themselves, waiting. Scheduled start time passed with no comment from the stage….