A 3-step process to avoid a presentation rabbit hole

PowerPoint is not your friend! (not yet anyway) Here is a simple 3 step process to help you design an impactful presentation. It’s based on the fact that, early in the design process, PowerPoint is not your friend. It’s the proverbial rabbit hole. 1st – Craft your message The message is the thing you want your audience to remember for a long time.  It’s a single sentence that contains the words, you and/or your. It’s spoken by you very early in the presentation and it is the presentation’s destination.  You know you have a solid message when the word “how?” pops into your audience’s head after you say it. Write… Read More

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Send me your presentation

Send me your presentation If someone asks me to “send them my presentation” I must apologize for not videoing it. A presentation is a live event, like a play or concert. If I didn’t video record it, I can’t send it to you. The slides (the support visuals) are only a component of the presentation. A presentation is an interesting, focused, memorable experience you create for an audience. The slides (support visuals) are there for amplification, clarification and perhaps some decoration, but they are not the presentation. A presentation is much like a play. The scenery is not the play, the script is not the play, the actors (by themselves)… Read More

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It’s time for the annual sales meeting!

Get on the bus to the that pretty good hotel. Get your orthopedic seat cushion ready, you are going to sit through a lot of presentations. And get ready to give that business overview you’ve been asked to give! With internal corporate presentations you have two strategy choices.  Give a good, average, OK presentation (lots of graphs and charts) and be forgettable.  A presentation that gets you off anyone’s radar because no one will remember what you said by break time. The other option is to try to “win” your presentation. Be more interesting, more focused and above all else, more memorable than your colleagues.  If the first option is… Read More

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