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Favorite TED Talks – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on aid versus trade

Moving Your Audience – Appealing to the Head & to the Heart
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was the first woman finance minister in Nigeria. At this 2007 TED Talk about the challenges of Africa, Okonjo-Iweala reviewed statistics about the direction that Africa was moving forward. The talk was compelling and interesting up … then at about the 7:45 mark, it became even more compelling as Okonjo-Iweala tells a very personal story that puts the discussion in perspective.

Okonjo-Iweala masterfully appeals to the logic and the emotional side of her arguments.

What Can You Learn from Okonjo-Iweala’s Speech?
As you watch her speech, consider how you can …

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013 Category: Audience, Conference Presentations, Notable Speakers No Comments

The Top 3 Ways Speakers Confuse Their Audiences

If you’ve ever been on a webinar you know that most webinar tools have a “chat” feature. It’s a place where participants can go to ask questions of the presenter.

Earlier today I was on a webinar hosted by the Greater Atlanta Chapter of the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD). As you can see from the picture in this post, I asked of the presenter “can you give examples to help us understand.” As I continued to listen, I saw Sarah Gilbert type in …

Thursday, February 21st, 2013 Category: Audience, Presentation Tips, Storytelling in Presentations 2 Comments

We Needed More Time: Trying to Cram Too Much Material into a Presentation

My daughter recently finished the first draft of her first novel. With the words of Earnest Hemingway echoing in her head (“The first draft of anything is shit.”) she set out to rewrite her book into a second draft.

We were talking about her process and how painful it is to have to throw out pages of hard-fought writing. She called it “Killing My Darlings and Disposing the Bodies” in a recent blog post.

I feel the same way with presentations. Sometimes I’ve got great …

Thursday, September 27th, 2012 Category: Audience, Presentation Tips No Comments

Getting Schooled. You Can Always Learn More about Your Topic, and Often, Your Audience Can Be the One to Teach You!

Last week, I was working on a new e-learning project with a company called Bigger Brains.

(The Bigger Brains platform and the e-learning project will be launching soon. And you just know I’ll be sure to share all that great information right here on this website!)

I was teaching a lesson about using PowerPoint as a presentation tool – while of course throwing in my 2 cents about better ways to use PowerPoint.

Even as I’m teaching Maren, my on-screen learner, about features and functions she didn’t know were available on …

Tuesday, August 14th, 2012 Tags: business presentations, improve your presentation, PowerPoint Presentations, presentation audience
Category: Audience, Presentation Tips No Comments

Go with the Flow – How to Organize Your Technical Presentation to Get Business Results – Part 1 – Start with the End Structure

One of the men I admired early in my career was the late Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jeremy “Mike” Boorda. At the time I came to know of him, he was in charge of the Naval Personnel Command.

Among the lessons I learned through his leadership was that you can’t just tell people things one way. Your need to repeat yourself but in different ways to help the information to get through.

I think something similar can be said about presentations, but I’d …

Thursday, May 24th, 2012 Tags: business presentations, presentation, presentation audience, presentation skills
Category: Audience, Presentation Structure, Technical Presentations No Comments

Connection in Imperfection

I used to say, that with presentations, it’s not about perfection…it’s about connection.

And the reason I said that was I believe that for a presenter to make a difference, the speaker has to connect with their audience. I still believe that.

I also believe you don’t need to be a perfect speaker — with perfect gestures and phraseology and vocal variety — to be effective and to make a connection.

Therefore I came to the conclusion that with presentations, it’s not about perfection… it’s about connection.

But now …

Friday, May 11th, 2012 Tags: better presentations
Category: Audience, Presentation Tips 1 Comment

From Lame to Fame Presentations – Don’t Blame the Audience for Your Lack of Communication

You’ve seen slides of this ilk before.

The title on the slide said something like the 3 Most Important Points to Remember about XYZ.

That was followed by

1. Here’s the First Point

2. Here’s the Second Point

Then instead of the Third Point, the speaker had a cartoon pasted at the bottom of the slide.

It was a cleaver cartoon and the caption along the bottom made the speaker’s third point with brilliance and humor.

But here was the problem.

The cartoon was at the bottom of the slide. The caption …

Thursday, April 19th, 2012 Tags: Audiences, business presentations, Hard to read slides, Improve Your Presenation, PowerPoint, PowerPoint Mistakes, PowerPoint Presentations, PowerPoint Slide Tips, PowerPoint Tips, presentation audience, Presentation mistakes, Reading Your Audience, Your Audience
Category: Audience, PowerPoint Slides, Presentation Tips No Comments

Take Your Conference Presentation From Lame to Fame: Remember You Are the Chosen One, so Deliver on the Preview

I saw the previews to Up All Night, a new sitcom on NBC, and thought to myself, “That show looks stupid. I’ll be skipping that one, thank you very much!”

But one night, shortly after it started, I couldn’t find anything else to watch during that particular 30 minute time slot so I grudgingly watched Up All Night. It was actually a much better show than I thought it would be. Now I regularly choose it over other shows.

(Yes, I watch too much …

Monday, February 27th, 2012 Category: Audience, Conference Presentations No Comments

Breaking the Business Presentation Rules for Better Presentations

I never had a nick name as a kid. But if I did, it could easily have been “goody two shoes.”

I was by nature a rule follower. My mom used to joke that she could threaten to spank me and I’d be good for 3 months!

So I empathize with you if you’re that business professional who is thinking, “Gosh, Kelly. I don’t know that I want to be the first to step away from the ‘normal’ way of doing business presentations.”

Sure, it’s easier to …

Monday, February 20th, 2012 Category: Audience, Conference Presentations, PowerPoint Slides, Presentation Tips No Comments

If you could do only one thing to improve your business presentation, what would it be?

What’s In It for Me?

So what’s your presentation about?

I’ve got to show the sales guys how to use a new software.

Why do the sales guys want to learn the new software?

Silence.

Is it required of their job?

Yeah.

What does the new software do?

It’s the software we’re going to use to track sales in the pipeline.

…

Monday, January 23rd, 2012 Category: Audience, Presentation Tips No Comments

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