Presentation Coach

Overview of Our Approach to Presentation Design and Delivery

Listen here for an overview of the Advanced Presentation Strategy and Design program using the Extreme Presentation Method and the Advanced Presentation Delivery program

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Keys to an Enchanting Presentation

The following article by Carmine Gallo on Guy Kawasaki's approach to presentation design contains some interesting tips on presentation delivery and ideas on what we call Ballroom Style presentataions - where you want to inform, entertain or "enchant" your audience.   This is not to be confused with presentations that are designed to persuade or influence your audience, which require a completely different appraoch outlined here

Here is the article in full (link to original article):

Former Apple evangelist, entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Guy Kawasaki, has published a new book on the art of changing hearts, minds and actions.  As I was reading Enchantment I realized that many of Kawasaki’s techniques apply to all manner of public speaking and business communications, especially in the area of presentation skills.  Here are several of Kawasaki’s tips that you can use to improve your very next presentation and to change a few more minds.

 Kawasaki defines enchantment as the process of delighting people with a product, service, organization, or idea.  In order to accomplish that feat, you must be likable.   According to Kawasaki, there are four factors that create a likable first impression: your smile, your dress, your handshake, and your vocabulary.  On the topic of vocabulary, Kawasaki says “Words are the facial expression of your mind: they communicate your attitude, personality, and perspective.” Kawasaki offers several tips for a persuasive vocabulary:

 Use simple words.  When you use words people have to look up in a dictionary or search for in Wikipedia, you’ve failed.

1. Use the active voice.  Consider the impact of two phrases: “Use the right words” versus “the right words should be used by you.”  The passive voice is “wimpy,” says Kawasaki.  Enchanters use the active voice.
2. Keep it short. “In ten years of listening to entrepreneurs’ pitches, I’ve never heard one that was too short,” says Kawasaki.

On the topic of PowerPoint slides, Kawasaki has a technique that I think is very effective if only because I see it used so rarely and yet it is very personal and makes an immediate connection with an audience.  Kawasaki’s advice: Customize the introduction with pictures.  For example, when Kawasaki spoke to HP’s printer division, he showed a picture of HP printers and faxes in his home office.  When he speaks in a foreign city, he gets there early and tours the city to expand his horizons, finds out what enchants him about the city, takes photos, and incorporates the pictures into his presentation.  Nice touch.

Kawasaki and I both agree that shorter, simpler, and more visual slides are far more enchanting – or delightful—than slides full of text. “Use evocative pictures to make your presentation exciting,” says Kawasaki. “The goal is to provide inspiring information that moves people to action.”  Slides full of words and text seldom enchant.  The fewer words, the better.   

I’ve known Kawasaki for several years and I’m always pleasantly surprised to see that he and I agree on every area of communications.  I come from journalism and Kawasaki comes from marketing but we agree on presentation techniques because the same concepts apply to both journalism and business – the person who tells the best story wins.

Carmine Gallo is the communications coach for the world’s most admired brands. He is a popular keynote speaker and author of several books including the bestsellers, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs and The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs. Follow him on Twitter:carminegallo

 

11 Qualities of Executive Presence

By Dr. Maynard Brusman  11 Qualities of Executive Presence  San Francisco – March 2, 2011 – I've noticed an increase in requests from companies and law firms seeking help for high potential leaders to improve their "executive presence". When I inquire into what they mean by executive presence I get variety responses.  I've learned to get clarification by asking the HR person or actual potential executive coaching client to describe the leader's current behavior and what cultivating more executive presence would look like in behavioral terms. The behaviors range from being more confident to being more authentic and passionate. It sometimes seems to fit "I'll know it when I see it." The essence of executive presence can be hard to pin down.  I've found that the term executive presence can mean different things to different people. Asking penetrating questions to gain more clarity for both the client and executive coach is critical to the executive coaching process when working on executive presence.  Executive Presence Qualities  The qualities associated with executive presence can be difficult to learn and practice. It may prove impossible to develop them without the help of qualified coaches and mentors. You can work on and improve some of these competencies, but they may evade certain personalities.  Most people aren't born with executive presence. They develop the requisite skills with experience, maturity and a great deal of effort.  One important caveat: Don't confuse executive presence with speaking or presentation skills. They're part of the total package, but presence is what you project wherever you are and whatever you're doing. Your challenge lies in managing others' perceptions of you, which is no small task.  These 11 qualities contribute to executive presence:  1. Transparency: Genuine, open, straightforward, comfortable in one's skin. Aims for truth and clarity, even when difficult issues arise. Doesn't try to please or cover up with spin.  2. Passion: Loves and feels strongly about the profession, job, industry and life in general. Sees and believes in optimism.  3. Clarity: Communicates thoughts, feelings and insights with crystal clarity and simplicity. Master of metaphors and stories that make an impact.  4. Intelligence: The ability to process, retain and apply information, whether it's academic or street-worthy.  5. Pattern Recognition: The ability to boil down complex factors and mounds of data to rare conclusions. Offers insights others may not see.  6. Results-Oriented: Driven and full of purpose; determined to achieve and succeed. Able to discern dichotomies, unravel paradoxes and work with uncertainties. Flexible and willing to adjust goals. Decisive under pressure. A bias toward action. An attitude of giving, rather than getting. Works in the service of common goals for the organization's and society's higher values.  7. Confidence: Not overconfident; has enough self-doubt to be objective. Asks questions and listens.  8. Humility: Willing to admit mistakes, misjudgments, fears and uncertainties in ways that are endearing. Seeks answers and advice; listens to others.  9. Courage: Willing to take risks and positions against considerable odds. May be seen as a maverick. Able to perceive possibilities and innovations.  10. Humor: Not over-the-top, but in the right measure to disarm others' defenses.  11. Social: Genuinely cares about others; sees both strengths and weaknesses in people. Allows for people to learn from mistakes. Promotes healthy self-esteem in others. Respects others and shows a real—not manufactured or superficial—interest in them.  Keep in mind that no single leader possesses all of these qualities in abundance. For example, many successful CEOs with strong executive presence lack one or more of the likeability factors, such as humor and humility, but they make up for it in other domains.  Are you working in a professional services firm or other organization where executive coaches provide leadership development for emotionally intelligent leaders? Does your organization provide executive coaching to help leaders develop executive presence? Leaders with highly developed executive presence tap into their emotional intelligence and social intelligence skills to fully engage employees and customers.  One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is "Do I model the 11 qualities of executive presence?" Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching for collaborative leaders who create sustainable businesses.  Working with a seasoned executive coach and leadership consultant trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-I, CPI 260 and Denison Culture Survey can help you create a culture where all employees are intrinsically motivated and fully engaged. You can become a leader with executive presence who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become fully engaged with the vision, mission and strategy of your company or law firm.  About Dr. Maynard Brusman  Dr. Maynard Brusman is a consulting psychologist, executive coach and trusted advisor to senior leadership teams. He is the president of Working Resources, a leadership consulting and executive coaching firm. We specialize in helping San Francisco Bay Area companies and law firms assess, select, coach, and retain emotionally intelligent leaders. Maynard is a highly sought-after speaker and workshop leader. He facilitates leadership retreats in Northern California and Costa Rica. The Society for Advancement of Consulting (SAC) awarded Dr. Maynard Brusman "Board Approved" designations in the specialties of Executive Coaching and Leadership Development.  For more information, please go to http://www.workingresources.com, write to mbrusman@workingresources.com, or call 415-546-1252.  Subscribe to Working Resources Newsletter: http://www.workingresources.com  Visit Maynard's Blog: http://www.workingresourcesblog.com  Connect with me on these Social Media sites.  http://twitter.com/drbrusman  http://www.facebook.com/maynardbrusman  http://www.linkedin.com/in/maynardbrusman  http://www.youtube.com/user/maynardbrusman

 

Dr. Maynard Brusman

Consulting Psychologist and Executive Coach

Working Resources

San Francisco, CA

415-546-1252

Pecha Kucha Night

What is Pecha Kucha Night?

Pecha Kucha Night, pronounced "pe-chak-cha"  was conceived in 2003 as a place for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. Each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each – giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up. This keeps presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to show their work.

Even though I don't have a creative bone in my body I attended my first PK night in Melbourne.  I went to see how people who love what they do, present.  Out of the five presenters I watched I noticed the following. They mucked up their scripts, they read from their notes, they umed and ahed and went over time. Did it matter? No. Why? because you could feel their passion, see their passion and you could tell they believed in what they were doing.  Was this sufficient?  I think that in this context it was.  If they were pitching to prospective clients or a VC then my critique would be very different.

As always we need to put the same amount of effort into our strategy, structure and delivery to ensure the best outcome.

Good visual description of the Mehrabian theory

Mehrabian

If you would like a thorough analysis of what Mehrabians non verbal communication research (the 7,38,55 statistic ) means , please read Oliver Mitchell's posts.  Olivia has successfully challenged some high profile authors on their interpretation of this research.   

For me this all comes back to understanding that when faced with preparing and delivering a presentation we need to put as much effort into the strategy and structure as we do the delivery.

  

TED

We highly recomend that you visit TED .com and view some of the presentations. 

 

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, free.

 

One of the presentations we enjoy is Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

 

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/66

and Hans Rosling - who says statistics were boring:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html

Presenting

1. Be yourself - don’t try to be someone you are not.  Every person has their own way of being dynamic, restrained or natural and our audience needs to see each of these in us. It makes us more interesting as presenters. However we must be comfortable with how we display these levels of energy, so practise them to make yourself aware of how they will look and feel.
2. If all you have is a hammer then everything better look like a nail. Increase the size of your toolbox and try different ways to use your voice, movement, gestures and facial expressions. Quite often small changes are all that is needed.  
3. Remember emotions follow actions. If you want the audience to feel an emotion, then you are going to have to do something different in your presentation. 
4. Think about your audience and how they would like to receive the information – low key, lots of energy, or a bit of both? 
5. If you’re not funny don’t try to be. 
6. Move, but have a reason. Don’t wander aimlessly – it’s too distracting. 
7. Know what it’s like to use a lot of eye contact and know what its like to use a little. Know when to vary between a lot and a little. By being in control of your eye contact, you will maintain your credibility. 
8. Nerves are good - think of them as energy and use them to help you deliver a convincing presentation.  If you are at the point of a breakdown with nerves, don’t try to eradicate them. Find some workarounds to reduce them to a manageable level - deep breathing works well for most people. 
9. Don’t speak unless you are facing the audience.  It helps maintain your connection.
10. Smile a lot and thank the audience for their attention. 

The third mode of persuasion: Emotion

"If you want me to feel an emotion, you must first feel that emotion yourself"  Horace 65 BC.

We have all seen presenters asking us to get excited and motivated, but they don't exhibit that trait themselves.  A few years back the CEO of a football code said at the pre season launch 'the upcoming season will be the most entertaining and exciting ever seen,' in a tone that was dry, monotone and devoid of any emotion.  Even though he was credible and logical he couldn't expect anyone to get excited - it was devoid of any emotion and unpersuasive. We need to remember that an audience "may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel" Carl Beuchner.

Conversely, some individuals cannot help but display their emotions extravagantly.  The over enthusiastic presenter may be attempting to cover up for a lack of rational and ethical appeal by being over exuberant.

When considering emotional appeal Corbett and Connors highlight five aspects that we should remember about emotions:

1. Be aware that the emotional appeal plays a vital part in the persuasive process; intellectual conviction is often not enough to move people's will to act.
2. Be alert for emotional appeals from others; don't allow your heart to prompt you to do something that your reason or conscience would later regret.
3. Be natural; let the nature of the subject matter, the occasion, or the audience elicit the appropriate kind and the right amount of emotional appeal. 
4. Remember that you cannot command yourself or others to feel emotions; you must conjure up the scene or situation or person that will make people experience the emotion you want to arouse in them. 
5. Be aware that people sometimes have to be put into the right emotional mood before they will listen to appeals to reason; at other times it better to start out with appeals to reason and then rouse the audience to the proper emotional pitch. 

Ultimately, we want an emotional commitment to our goal. Emotion as the seductive part of persuasion must be given as much attention as logic and credibility.

Persuading and influencing

If you really want to understand what it takes to be a great presenter, then go back in time to about 332 BC. Here Aristotle, followed by Cicero (55 BC) then Quintilian (93 BC), wrote the books that shaped some of the great orations of history and to this day.  These speeches are inspiring, entertaining and thought provoking because they engage in the art of rhetoric.  

In fact Aristotle wrote the first book on rhetoric.  Rhetoric is the intentional use of language to influence and persuade an audience. Rhetoric is embedded in everything we say.  If you walk away from what you consider to be a great presentation, then the presenter has effectively employed the techniques and concepts of rhetoric.

Rhetoric is broadly divided into five parts called canons.  We can use these as a framework for any presentation or communication that we give.

The Five Canons of Rhetoric

1. Invention. This canon involves researching our audience and topic. It looks deeply into the three modes of persuasion: ethical, emotional and rational.
2. Arrangement. Here we arrange the parts of our presentation in the order that will be most effective in achieving our objective.
3. Style. Our audience will heavily influence our style. Style includes, but is not limited to, our grammar, diction, vocabulary and figures of speech (analogy, metaphor, word order, omission etc).
4. Memory. To be influential we need to rely more on our memory and less on our notes.  There are many methods that we can use to recall information in our presentation.  A good resource for this is "The Memory Book".
5. Delivery.  Perhaps the hardest for most is the physical delivery of the presentation.  This includes the use of voice, movement, gestures, dress facial expression and eye contact.

Over the coming weeks we will look at these five canons in more detail. We will highlight how they can make us more proficient and effective communicators.