“Does anybody have any questions about what I’ve covered today?” Blank looks all round. An uncomfortable thirty seconds of silence, as everyone cranes their neck to see if someone is going to ask a question. “Okay folks, well thanks for listening.” Does this scene seem familiar to you? Does the mere suggestion of a Q&A…
Have you come across it? It’s the fastest growing participation sport in corporate life. It just needs a place in which to do it, an audience, as many players as you can muster, a few minutes’ preparation and a victim. The game is a product of boredom, cynicism and powerlessness and comprises a strange mix…
How to improve presentation skills? Should we be more formal? I was asked the question the other day by a Graduate at a top city firm in London. He’d just given a pretty good presentation, under great pressure in a business simulation in front of his boss, colleagues and other senior people in the firm….
MICROSOFT boss Steve Sinofsky puts on a brave face as his company’s rival to the iPad FREEZES at the opening presentation. Here’s the video- The papers, not surprisingly, reported it as negatively as they could- Just after the Microsoft president explained how users could “browse smoothly” on the tablet, the system, which was being…
I’ve been lucky to have worked with hundreds of Spaniards, Catalans, French, Polish, Russians and Swedes over the past 20 years, helping them to present and pitch to international audiences in English. All of them have had enough English to do exactly what they needed to do, but all of them wanted help to do…
You’re presentation coach will probably never tell you this but if you’re serious about improving your presentation skills, it has to be said: The words are crap so it doesn’t matter how polished you are as a speaker- If Jonny Depp couldn’t save the film ‘The Tourist’ you’re not going to save the sales pitch. Your visuals…
I’ve seen a lot of business presentations – and given almost as many. I often get asked by clients, the people I coach, and guests at speaking engagements: what are the presentation skills I need to have? I talk elsewhere about designing effective presentations, and what is involved with skillful presentation delivery. But there is one simple…
Oscar Wilde made a good point when he said that- ”Playwrights tell lies to make a general truth” And as presenters we often have to do the same thing. We have a point to make and we want to make it powerfully and well. And if we have any soul we’ll realise that we’re…
Here’s a great thought for entrepreneurs. That the skill is not in having the idea, but in being able to convince your customers, partners, employees and investors that there’s merit there. So maybe public speaking, persuasion and influencing skills are second only to having the idea in the first place. From Diane di Resta’s interesting…