One way to polish your presentation to a professional level is to work on your flow. Like a great conversation or a great movie, a great presentation has a flow. So many presentations go like this: TALK, STOP, CLICK, TALK, STOP, CLICK. The speaker talks, then stops talking, presses the slide advance button, waits for the next slide to appear and then begins speaking again. Each slide is treated almost independently from the rest of the presentation, there isn’t any flow. Maintaining a smooth pace throughout a presentation helps keep an audience engaged. When you think about it, a presentation could have dozens of these TALK STOP CLICKs. Each of… Read More
Continue ReadingTwo Magical Words
Two magical words that you need in your sales presentation. Every time I do sales presentation coaching, I ask a someone to give me an example. It usually goes like this. They have a good product or service and want to talk about how it works or how great it is. They will say it does this, we provide that, and I will say “for example”. The magical words “for example” should be coming out of your mouth too! Giving your audience a real example is a magical communication tool because an example can: Show proof that the product/service does what you say it does. Connect the audience to the… Read More
Continue ReadingPresentin’ in the Rain…
One of the lessons we presenters can take away from the performing arts is about preparation. I have the amazing opportunity to work with a classical music home concert series (www.InnerSpaceConcerts.ca ). One of the things you notice being around professional musicians is their commitment to preparation. I say they are in a state of perpetual preparation. I think this is true for any of the performing arts. While our presentations aren’t performances, a focus on preparation is one of the lessons we can take away from performers. I am not exactly sure why, but I am a fan of musical theatre. So when I come across one of the… Read More
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