How to make your next presentation more persuasive.

You may be able to convince someone that you have the best idea, product, or service, but can you persuade them to take action on your proposal?  Quotations are one type of persuasive tool that can help move people to take action. But is there really a difference between being convincing and being persuasive? According to Seth Godin, marketing and business thought leader, “Persuasion appeals to the emotions and to fear and to the imagination. Convincing requires a spreadsheet or some other rational device.” I have found the best presentations have the right mix of convincing and persuasive elements. That mix depends on your topic and, of course, your audience. There are 4 tools you can use… Read More

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“_______, we have a problem.”

Should the name of your organization fill in the blank? On April 14th, 1970 during the Apollo 13 mission, astronaut Jack Swigert uttered the famous words “Houston, we’ve had a problem”.  In the movie Apollo 13 (1995) it was changed to “Houston we have a problem”.  Either way you word it, I think that many organizations may have a presentation problem. This was highlighted to me earlier this summer.  I had the opportunity to give a presentation skills workshop to a group of corporate communications professionals.   Before the session I sent out a pre-workshop questionnaire (see my previous post). The response rate was excellent – 21 of 35 people responded.… Read More

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On your mark, get set…

Not many people know that London won the bid for the 2012 Olympic Games on the last day of voting at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Singapore in 2005. In fact, they were almost the Paris games. The story of how London won the games, basically with their final presentation, is beautifully told in Jon Steele’s book The Perfect Pitch (see my previous post , The Perfect Pitch and the You Factor). One of their keys to winning with that final presentation (their final pitch) was that they studied their audience and designed a presentation experience that would resonate specifically with them. I always remember that story, and… Read More

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