Was your presentation a good flight?

What’s the most common question people hear right after a flight? I be it is” How was your flight?” The most frequent answer is probably… “good”. By good we mean uneventful, everyday, average, no problems, a completely forgettable experience. We don’t remember good flights. What’s the most common comment after a presentation? I bet it is “good presentation”. I wonder if that is like “good flight”? An uneventful, everyday, OK, average, even forgettable experience.  No one remembers average, no one remembers “good”. We remember amazing, impactful, moving, and insightful but not good. If you are pretty sure ahead of time that your presentation will only be “good”. Maybe try another method of communication. Just send an email… Read More

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What’s your slide’s hang time?

In football (the North American usage of the word) hang time is the time the ball stays in the air during a punt. For example, in the NFL it’s typically between 4 – 5 seconds. For presentations I call the time a single slide is on the audience’s screen, when nothing much is changing or moving, it’s “hang time”.  Your slide hang time is an important thing to think about for online presentations. I was reviewing a recording of a client’s online presentation the other day. I noticed that they seemed to speak quite a bit about each slide. That means the audience was staring at the same static image… Read More

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The words matter

Many companies are trying to move into a less transactional sales environment.  The latest fad where everyone calls themselves “solution providers” is part of that. We know that being transactional can take down you the commoditization road.  Companies are trying to avoid the situation where your unique features and services are lost in discussions focused on price.  But is your strategy to become less transactional being contradicted by the words you use? I worked for a sales organization that used the term “deal” all the time. We were working on “deals”, big deals, small deals, closing deals etc. The word “deal” is very transactional, “I got a good deal at… Read More

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