Are you nailing both of your presentation messages? Presentations always have two messages. One is the true message of the presentation. It’s been called the core, big or main message or the key takeaway, “what I really want you to understand is”. The second “subliminal” message is about the person, group or organization presenting. It’s interesting what you can say to an audience without saying it. Dry boring slides filled with lists of bullet points say something. A professional monotone delivery says something. Here’s what you can be saying without really knowing it, “I am (we are) not creative or fun or interesting.” “You are not important enough for us… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat’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
Continue ReadingThe 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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