When asked if the university stifles writers, Flannery O’Conner quipped that the university unfortunately doesn’t stifle enough of them. Indeed. My naturally autocratic tendencies, which have held me back in the literary world for years, compel me constantly to cast a pall on the enthusiasms of my young charges. To stifle the urge to ponderous … Continue reading Christmas Scrooge? Not Here!
The verbal up-tic is a ubiquitous speech pathology afflicting folks under thirty. Its most common manifestation is Uptalk. Once it grips you, Uptalk won’t let go . . . It’s maddening. Everyone who is exposed to this voice experiences doubt, unease, and irritation, many of those persons not cognizant of where this unease originates. It screams amateur … Continue reading The Addled World of Uptalk
Apply the Rule of Three to the middle section of your presentation. You have delivered your introduction, and you know your conclusion will properly mimic this introduction. Now . . . use the Rule of Three to build your talk in stages. In this,, the middle, you argue the case for your recommendation. Through all … Continue reading Rule of Three
Most presenters don’t know how to stop talking. Why? Because they don’t know that it’s a technique that must be practiced. Needless to say, they’ve never practiced it. Do you practice stopping? Have you even thought of it? And yet the solution is so simple. And it is incredibly satisfying to an audience. How to … Continue reading How to Stop Talking
Too often, we can find ourselves rambling or roaming in a presentation, and this usually means we’ve strayed from the hoary principle of audience focus. Yes, focus on your audience. Roaming aimlessly means that we haven’t established a tightly focused subject, and we’ve not linked it to a tightly focused conception of your audience. Without tight focus … Continue reading Audience Focus
Everyone knows about the atrocious speech pathology called Uptalk, but there’s another speech pattern that sounds much like uptalk and can be a more insidious bad presentation habit. Let’s call it List-Talk. Both pathologies must be fixed to lift your presentation skill to a professional level. Here’s the difference between the two pathologies, both of … Continue reading Stop List-Talk Right Now!
In business school, you will espy classmates who demonstrate a pathology of unpreparedness – they “wing it.” People do this for a variety of reasons. Many students tend to approach presentations with either fear or faux nonchalance. No preparation, no practice, no self-respect . . . just embarrassment. Almost a defiant contempt for the assignment … Continue reading I’m Going to “Wing It!”
For public speakers, one of the most insidious destroyers of confidence is the silent room, a room flooded with ambient silence. A room full of expectant faces, furrowed brows, and imagined hostility. All wrapped in a cocoon of intimidating quietude. A room filled with intimidating silence that is almost tangible, suffocating. This ambient silence can … Continue reading Explode Ambient Silence!
Business Presentations are filled with paradoxes, especially where executive charisma is concerned. For instance, the Power Zone of presentation charisma . . . a place everyone wants to be, but where almost no one wants to go. The charisma factor of executive presence is not so difficult to achieve, nor is it so mysterious as to be unfathomable. … Continue reading Charisma?
Presentation Meltdown can strike at the oddest moments and leave us with shattered confidence. You’re in the midst of an especially powerful presentation. You’re really stoking the audience. And then . . . your mind wanders for a brief moment. It was just a moment. But it was enough to sabotage you. Your thoughts grind to a halt … Continue reading Avoid Reactor Meltdown!
It’s 10,000 BC, and you’ve painted a detailed graphic on your cave wall for your upcoming business presentation. It depicts your keen analysis of the recent successful hunt. Now, you offer to show it to your group, perhaps young hunters seeking essential knowledge. How would you deliver your hunting presentation? Would you stand to one … Continue reading Touch the Cave Wall . . .
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As much as some of us might seek the adulation of the crowd, it’s wise to remember that your presentation isn’t about you – it’s about your audience. Your presentation is for your audience and you must address what it wants. Get them to do what you want them to by demonstrating to them that it’s what they … Continue reading What the Audience Wants – TOOTSIFELT
You can front-load your introduction and put the Pow! into Powerful Business Presentations . . . seize your audience from the first second of your show. Or you can tiptoe into your business presentation so no one notices you. Which would you choose? You’d choose the introduction with Pow, of course! But many people don’t. Many … Continue reading The How of Presentation POW!
I know magic words. Magic presentation words. Words to help you deliver a magic presentation that rivets the audience’s attention and guides them along a path that you’ve chosen. Magic presentation words that bring your audience to a conclusion that your listeners, themselves, believe they arrived at on their own. In fact, I know a series … Continue reading Put Magic in Your Presentation
That bad presentation is your fault. You sabotaged it. Screwed it up. All of us sabotage our own presentations more often than we imagine. And we do it through self-defeating behaviors. These self-defeating behaviors come in many forms, but negative self-talk is one of the chief culprits. We tell ourselves repeatedly that we’ll fail. We … Continue reading That Bad Presentation is Your Fault
All of us do it, some more than others – we insert empty, distracting phrases that take us into what I call the Presentation Tall Grass. You know the feeling of walking through tall grass. Tall grass, as in knee high. It slows you down. Think of wading quickly through knee-deep water . . . … Continue reading Stay out of the Tall Grass
Some experts estimate that you have an initial 15 seconds – maybe 20 – to hook and hold your audience as you start your presentation. And with a kaleidoscope of modern-day distractions, you face an uphill battle. In that short window of less than a minute, while they’re sizing you up, you must blast into their minds. Get … Continue reading A Spectacular Presentation Launch!
Who is the World Expert on Business School Presentations? Assuming that there is one. And depending, of course, on what we mean by “expert” and what we mean by “world.” Those quibbles aside, that expert would be me. Yes . . . me. I’m the World Expert on Business School Presentations. At least that’s what … Continue reading The World Expert?
You want to project strength, competence, and confidence throughout your business presentation, and one important way to do this is with your presentation stance. Your presentation stance fundamental to projecting the image of strength. It’s basic to demonstrate competence and confidence. But most of us never consider how we stand in front of an audience. … Continue reading What’s Your Presentation Stance?
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