{"id":11,"date":"2009-06-07T21:47:01","date_gmt":"2009-06-08T01:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/creativefusion.ca\/?p=11"},"modified":"2009-06-19T10:11:52","modified_gmt":"2009-06-19T14:11:52","slug":"11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creativefusion.ca\/?p=11","title":{"rendered":"How not to bore your audience"},"content":{"rendered":"

“The fundamental things apply, as time goes by.”
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Herman Hupfeldt.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks back now,\u00a0I was\u00a0fortunate to attend the\u00a0MARCOM 2009 conference,\u00a0courtesy of IABC\/Toronto (thank you!).\u00a0While I was excited to learn new social media strategies from such speakers as\u00a0Rahaf Harfoush<\/a>,\u00a0who was a member of Obama’s New\u00a0Media Team,\u00a0and Louise Clements, head of sales at Facebook in Canada, it was\u00a0the presentation\u00a0by\u00a0Arlene Dickinson, CEO of Venture Communications, and a member of the CBC’s The Dragons’ Den<\/a>,\u00a0 who most impressed me. It wasn’t just what she said, but how she said it. The woman gives good powerpoint! Strong visuals with clear and simple messages. This\u00a0got me thinking that while the content of presentations\u00a0about communications have changed in the past few years with the advent of\u00a0social media, the fundamentals of\u00a0good presentations have not.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So after weeks of attending many, many\u00a0talks here’s what I think makes for ones that stand out:<\/p>\n

1. Speak at a pace people can understand<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0If you feel the need to speed up your presentation in order to fit it all in, it’s likely you’re trying to cover too much for the time allotted to you. Besides, most people can only remember\u00a0a few\u00a0points from your presentation. So if you focus on three points and use examples, and even better stories, to illustrate your points, you’re much more likely to deliver the message you want to deliver.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2. Step away from the\u00a0podium.<\/strong>This works best if you have a portable microphone, but even if\u00a0that’s not available, most people can learn with practice to project their voice sufficiently so that they can at least have some interaction with the audience.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Use minimal words and exciting visuals on your slides<\/strong>. In a 140 character universe, it behooves us to figure out a way to communicate our messages without writing paragraphs of text on our Powerpoint presentations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

4. Be confident or act as if you are<\/strong>.Even if you’re nervous as heck, it’s unlikely your audience is aware of that. One trick is to monitor your thoughts. Most often anxiety comes from thinking more about yourself than about giving your audience the information they need.<\/p>\n

5. Make\u00a0your presentation\u00a0about your audience.<\/strong> Sure you’ve been invited to speak because you have powerful examples of Facebook or Twitter or e-mail\u00a0campaigns. But it’s helpful to remember the first rule of communications: WIIFM? (What’s in it for me?) Taking some time to make recommendations as to how the people listening to you could use similar techniques with their own campaigns,\u00a0is helpful to make that bridge.<\/p>\n

6. Ask good questions<\/strong>. Arlene Dickinson presented four questions for the audience to consider during her talk. A key one that left me thinking was “If you asked your people what the pupose of your organization is would you get a consistent answer?” She then provided examples of Porsche = fast\u00a0and\u00a0Volvo = safe.\u00a0It prompted me to\u00a0think\u00a0about my own company and those of my\u00a0clients. \u00a0<\/p>\n

7. Use simple clear images<\/strong>.\u00a0Actor Marlo Thomas illustrated this once when I heard her speak at the Unique Lives and Experiences series at Roy Thomson Hall.\u00a0Involved with raising money for a children’s hospital, she told the story of how she arrived at\u00a0the hospital one morning to see a celebration of what she thought was someone’s birthday with cake, balloons and children laughing. But when she asked whose birthday it was, she was told that they were actually celebrating one boy’s last day of chemotherapy.\u00a0 Pass me my cheque book please!<\/p>\n

What are your tips for giving good presentations?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The fundamental things apply, as time goes by.” \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Herman Hupfeldt.\u00a0\u00a0 A couple of weeks back now,\u00a0I was\u00a0fortunate to attend the\u00a0MARCOM 2009 conference,\u00a0courtesy of IABC\/Toronto (thank you!).\u00a0While I was excited to learn new social media strategies from such speakers as\u00a0Rahaf Harfoush,\u00a0who was a member of Obama’s New\u00a0Media Team,\u00a0and Louise Clements, head of sales at Facebook…Continue reading How not to bore your audience<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,20,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-presentation-skills","category-social-media","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHow not to bore your audience - 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