I was leading a presentation skills workshop a few weeks ago when something happened that has never happened before. It was during the needs assessment discussion. This is when we go around the room, and everyone talks about their needs and what they’d like to take away from the class. This was a small group,...
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Any number of books and articles about business presentations focus on skills and outcomes that really belong to the world of theater. Such resources may tell you that you need to be entertaining, invent a presentation persona, or use acting techniques to jazz up your presentation. For example, they may tell you to rehearse when...
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Last week I was working with a nervous workshop participant. Let’s call him Nate. Nate said that his biggest concern when presenting was nervousness. “What sort of nervousness is it?” I asked since nervousness is caused by different things for different people. “Is it about the audience, the topic you’re talking about, or something else?”...
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I had a conversation over the backyard fence with one of my neighbors a couple of days ago. She was home for the weekend after her first two weeks of college. The conversation focused on the campus, her new roommate, and her classes. As far as the classes are concerned, she said that most of...
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Recently, I had an opportunity to observe Greg coaching a very Type-A businessperson. In her one-on-one session, the question arose of how to deal with mistakes. During her in-class presentation delivery, she had experienced a brain blip and had given an amount in thousands when she meant hundred-thousands. She had stopped, smiled, and said something like, “Well,...
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Some time ago, I was delivering a workshop for a group of soon-to-be trainers. Each of them was a subject matter expert (SME), and they were preparing to deliver training to groups of people within their organization. On the first day of the class, we were focused on helping the SMEs strengthen the skills required...
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This article was originally published on PresentationXpert.com, an online magazine devoted to helping people take their presentation skills to the next level. Think back to the most recent meeting or presentation that you led or participated in. Was it effective? Was it efficient? If you’re like most business people I’ve asked, your response is...
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“I want my presentation to be perfect.” This is something we hear from our course participants now and then, and I reckon more people think it than actually say it. Most of the time, when people talk about a “perfect” presentation, they seem to mean that their presentation goes exactly the way they envision it...
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Why a Performance Approach to Business Presentations Doesn’t Work Presentations should not be confused with speeches. Speeches are a type of performance. Presentations are a type of conversation. That’s why we’ve redefined them as “Orderly Conversations.” Unfortunately, many people, even industry experts, hang on to the idea that a presentation should be “performed,” that it...
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A recent workshop participant said, “I don’t want to simplify this slide. The abundance of the data is where the story is.” As his coach, I cannot argue with that. This is exactly why those one-size-fits-all rules about the number of bullets or words on a slide don’t work. Admittedly, sometimes less is more. (And...
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