Comments

I am visiting your web site after a couple of months and was immediately rewarded with your blog on making great presentations. As a national-level speaker myself, I couldn't help but agree with your observations on humor and atendee particiation in seminars.

Posted by Quazi Ahmed at May 27, 2005 11:48 AM

Thanks for the great post and great tips.

Trying to find the rest of the PE56. Anyone help point me out?

Thanks - love the tip on having clients speak to each other.

(PS presented yesterday to a group of 100. There were 5 speakers - the word "engage" was used as often as "umm" in many of the speeches. The worse sin was that they spoke for 5 hours; pleaded for participants to become "engaged" - yet never had them involved in the presentation whatsoever. Ugh.)

Smiles

Joel

Posted by Joel MacCharles at May 27, 2005 12:41 PM

Found the PE56 labelled as Presentation Excellence down below. Thought it was separate from that. I'll now "re-engage".

Posted by Joel MacCharles at May 27, 2005 12:46 PM

1 Too many speakers view their presentations as monologues. They're dialogues or they're dead words!

2 TP, you're dead-on about jokes/humour. We need to look to the British as an example of this. They have humour, we have jokes (and I'm not talking politicians here). Script writers and actors have to learn this as well (this cross-reference being a favorite topic of mine).

3 Be laser beam, not a shotgun. Ironically, at a seminar I attended in March a speaker presented on targeted marketing and simplifying your message. She had nearly 50 pages crammed full of text in her PPT presentation. Ugh.

Posted by Dustin at May 27, 2005 12:59 PM

My Top Ten Speaking Tips..

Practice, Practice, PracticeThere is no substitute for this. Every professional speaker spends an enormous amount of time working out the session. “It takes me three weeks to put together a good impromptu speech." - Mark Twain. Practice at home, in the car, in the office, 5-10, 20, minutes; what ever you can schedule.

Establish that Foundation
The first 10 minutes may be the most crucial time in an entire speech. This is where people form perceptions on your skills, knowledge, and experience. Delivering a solid performance here and you will set the stage for the remainder of the session.

Flexible Ending
No matter how much you practice, you will approach the ending of your session at different times. Try to take the last 10 minutes and make a mental note of which slide you should be on. Assuming you have 20 slides and you think you should be on slide 16 with 10 minutes to go. You should be able to expand the discussion points to 15-20 minutes or shrink this time period to 5 minutes or less. This is crucial to deliver a professional speech; attendees don’t want to feel cheated by ending early or not covering some of the material because of time constraints. Your ability to pull this off without giving a hint of what’s going on will set you apart.

Limit the Use of Bullets
Most speakers like to use bullets in their slides and the more the merrier. The problem is that you can’t really tell where you are in the slide deck without reading the slide itself. Try to place diagrams or even clipart into the deck that can remind you of where your are. Most nervous conditions come during the transition period between slides and by using diagrams you only need a glance to determine where you are.

Deliver with Feeling
The basic difference between the good, the bad, and the ugly is passion. Deliver the session like you have spent your entire life waiting for this moment. Deliver the session with feeling and emotion, let your passion flow like a Baptist Preacher, can you say amen?

Watch that Slide Count
You should be able to spend 3-5 minutes on each slide besides the title and support slides (QA, References, Contact). Why not less than that? Because some members will be reading the slides while you talk and you want to make sure they can read the entire content. Hence, why you shouldn’t put 20 bullet points and then cover in 2 minutes. Why not more than 5? Perhaps you have too much content that could be much easier explained in separate slides.

Alter your speed of delivery
If you ever watch the World Poker Tour, you will hear them talk about changing the speeds of play. Playing fast, slow, conservative, aggressive, etc is the recipe for success. Same holds true in speaking, delivering a slow monotone for the full period can lull the audience to sleep. However, an overly aggressive style, like Richard Simmons, can wear the audience down and perhaps lose the message in the process. Vary everything!

Use Humor or Interesting Things in the Show (It is a Show by the way)If you have ever watched Emeril Live more than once you will pick up on some comments that are meant to interject humor and delineate him from other cooking show hosts: Bam, Use your Knobs, Kick it up a Notch, Smell-a-Vision, etc. They are funny fillers that have become a brand unto them selves. Work on a few things that you like to say besides Hmmmmm. Props are good for this….

80-90 Percent Rule
No matter how hard you practice, when the day comes you will only be able to deliver 80-90 percent of your ability. The same is true for professional sports like golf. The pressure, time constraints, public view, and a variety of other reasons cause you to be less than perfect. It’s ok, most people won’t notice.

A Built-in Support Group
Remember, the attendees have selected your session to attend. They may have paid to see your presentation and you can bet they want to see you succeed. Nobody goes out and buys a car in hopes that it will break down or get into a wreck. Go on, everyone wants you to succeed.

The Room is your Friend
Most speakers find a parking spot at about 35 degrees to the left and right of the screen. It gives them comfort of being able to look at the screen at any point in time. Don’t park the car, ride that baby. Walk in front of the screen (just don’t park there), walk in the isles, walk down the sides, vary everything. This allows you to look directly at the majority of the audience, since most people sit in the back of the room. Also, big secret time. The most important time you need to see the screen is when you change slides, this is where you gather your thoughts. If you time it right, by walking back toward the front of the room you can see the entire slide without appearing as you needed it.

Be a Host not a Speaker
Before the session, try to meet as many people as you can. Even if you only talk to the people you know, others will get the feeling that you are an approachable person. Try not to spend more than 2-3 minutes with any one person; bounce around. If your session is large, you may only get to say hello with 5-10 people, but these folks could be your supporters that you focus on during the session.

Posted by RTodd at May 27, 2005 2:36 PM

Tom - this is outstanding because we are taking advantage of the COLLECTIVE WISDOM OF CROWDS to create best sourcing of presentation professionalism - plus it is very "now and of the street" as Mick Jagger might say ...

AND IT IS MOB RULE at the radical tompeters.com site.

THE COLLECTIVE WISDOM OF BLOGS - average free enterprise IQ of 150 at this site?

Posted by Sean at May 27, 2005 3:10 PM

Make em Laugh Make em Laugh Make em Laugh. I couldn't remember a joke if it were right in front of me. "I am" the joke is the best approach to making something funny. Be willing to dance in front of a crowd and laugh at yourself. Use the extremes of your life to build humor in story telling. Use humor relevant to your audience. Any other approach at humor is dangerous. Stay far away from stereotypes and accents. Ask Eddie Murphy about his reception in San Francisco a few years ago. To really get it think MR. Bean meets Spalding Gray.

Posted by Gary Fox at May 27, 2005 4:19 PM

V.A.K. Visual/ Audio / Kinesthetic
Focus for retention. You know.
To change to world!

Audio or verbal receiving
10% of what they read
20% of what they hear
Visual receiving
30% of what they see
50% of what they see & hear (PowerPoint+presenter)
Hearing Saying Seeing Doing
70% of what they say and write
90% Percent of what they say as they perform a task.
(What I would like you to do is run out to the porch or to a window and scream " I'm mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore" Now how did that feel?
Dole's Cone of experience.

Posted by Gary Fox at May 27, 2005 4:57 PM

I agree Trevor. Every time a presenter pauses and says ..."let me tell you a story about that ..." - immediately everyone perks up from drifting a bit and comes back to the presenter that fast to hear the story.

However I agree with Gary in that the 5 senses should be entertained as often as possible - lovely snacks, fragrant flowers, anything to entertain - otherwise it is 2nd class. A story isn't enough.

It is like the Stones on tour - they master all revenue streams and make it a multi-media endeavor with a theme for the tour, incredible stagecraft, sets of music, encores, PR rumors, $$$money/profit rumors, new-exciting opening acts, etc. I saw them in Albuquerque some years ago with wing passes, and it was quite fun.

Posted by Sean at May 27, 2005 6:10 PM

Tom is the best and is not afraid to jump on tables get in your face tell you that you are killing folks so listen up. Cajones! Was that on the list? Spalding was a magnificant story teller. Two hours, a mike, a table, a glass of water and the topic: a problem with his eye and his quest to get it repaired. Being a Christian Scientist put a bit of a spin in the tale. I was mesmorized.

Posted by Gary Fox at May 27, 2005 6:30 PM

I agree and wouldn't you know it, this is going to bring us back to Apple's Keynote presentation software!

Keynote is easy to use if not easier to use than Powerpoint with one major twist - it's fun which helps pull the audience along and remember not only the anecdotes, but the information presented too. If you're going to have a slideshow, you may as well have a really good one - visually stimulating and eye-catching - though I agree that slides are only there to support the presenter. They are merely a prop in the presentation.

Sean, did the Stones do '2000 Light Years From Home'? Best Stones song ever!

Posted by Noel Guinane at May 28, 2005 3:28 AM

Noel - I'm unsure about "2000" - hope to see them this tour. Interesting how the UK is known for its entertainment export business, especially music, comedy [Python]and sports. And Australia with its small population almost rules the Olympics every 4 years/triathlon/tennis - incredible sports culture.

Apparently Sir Jagger trains quite hard for each tour - plenty of running - his dad a gym teacher or such - so PRESENTERS MUST HAVE HIGH ENERGY 1ST and foremost - luckily I almost never have to make a formal presentation - so I can cruise with semi-high energy.

Posted by Sean at May 28, 2005 6:21 AM

Annie and I up at 6.30 am for a three mile run this morning Sean - both of us determined to lose weight this week!! :-) - maybe that's what I should do before my next big presentation!! - thanks for the tip - why wasn't that on Tom's list??! :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at May 28, 2005 6:39 AM

AGREE! presentation excellence is where its at. How many of us have heard great things about a speaker and then turn up to find out they are as boring as dog crap. Mind you, the opposite can also true!

5 hours on stage, been there done that and yes they wanted more... doesn't happen every day but when it does... what a buzzzzz.

I'd like to add. Rapprt and being in the zone.. The point when you really have the audience in the palm of your hand and they agree to everything that's great in the presentation, the stories, the anecdotes,and they take awesome notes...

Excellence is a state of mind, let me state this, it's imperative!

Posted by Steve Gray at May 28, 2005 8:12 AM

More thanks heaped on you, Tom, for sharing the ins-and-outs of presenting. The Q&A part speaks to me so much right now because, as an audience member at a recent policy conference, I subjected myself to monologues/diatribes/pontifications brought forth by "questioners". At the risk of going that route myself, thanks again for sharing...

Posted by Lee H. Igel at May 28, 2005 8:35 AM

Here's one more presentation principle: cognitive guidance. There are 13 years of research in the field of educational psychology that show what works, and what doesn't, in a multimedia presentation. For example, removing interesting but irrelevant words and graphics from a screen has proven to increase retention by a median 189%, and the ability to apply that information creatively by a median of 105%. We tend to look at presentations only as an "art", but when we start to apply what we know from science, they will begin to look radically simpler and clearer. For more info about the research, see this article: http://www.sociablemedia.com/articles_mayer.htm

Posted by cliff at May 28, 2005 9:22 AM

I loved Tom's comment regarding the use of humour and ditching the jokes. When I'm listening to a presenter, I respect the agility of mind that can spin words and turn phrases to make me smile or laugh even when the topic is something as serious as the increasing probability of China getting the better of us. But a "joke" is another thing--I hate them in presentations. Whether the intent is to warm up an audience up or take the chill off a presenter's feet, more often than not, it sends people's eyes rolling. I experience it as patronizing, as if I am in the audience of an entertainment venue rather than a speaking presentation. In the first, I pay to be entertained--usually it's more passive, sometimes I just want to check out. In the second, I want great state-of-the-art food-for-thought served up in a way that engages my mind. And I want it presented in a format and style that is memorable.
Surfing through speakers' videos one evening, I saw a top-notch business leadership guru, yes, it was a male with fair-colored skin, start his presentation with a joke that wasn't related to the topic. I surfed on within the same speaker's bureau site. A few speakers later, I watched another speaker on leadership--yes, yet another male with pale skin, insert a joke a couple of minutes into his presentation. It was essentially the same joke--ugh. So much for credibility and authenticity. And, yes, okay, I am more than a little tired of watching the same guys with fair skin yap at us about leadership--except for Tom, of course!

Posted by Pam Brill at May 28, 2005 4:04 PM

Pam - I've been seeing too many, yes women with dark skin trying to be entertaining - something about brown skinned women and powerpoint - maybe that is it - and trying to be funny too?

How does that read to you - I read your post like a racist one - since I have Swedish heritage and am perfectly light and tight most every way - including skin color. Thanks for your candor - very revealing - this isn't a joke.

Posted by Sean at May 28, 2005 5:18 PM

I love Q&A because it is a conversation, not a monologue. It gives me the opportunity to apply my ideas to their real world situation. It is tricky. The danger is either blowing them off or zoning off by not listening as you prepare to give your pat answer or move to the next point.
I always prepare by remembering that I may be establishing a life-long relationship of friendship and support with some of the audience. It changes my attitude about who these nameless faces are. It is a much more a conversation, than a "lecture."

Posted by Ed Brenegar at May 29, 2005 7:17 AM

Great topic!

I present to fresh groups of UK business people every week, often for a whole day.

The approaches/tools I've been told by my audiences they find most useful are:

1. Mindmapping - I teach, then 'force' them to mindmap on a quality A3 pad with coloured smelly pens. The information seems to stick better.

2. Music - where appropriate to reinforce a point, or quietly in the background whilst they do an exercise.

3. Aromatherapy oils - when chosen correctly, they make a huge difference. My current favourites to keep people alert and ready to take in new info are geranium and orange. You should see the reaction on people's face's when they walk into the room and get a lovely whiff. It's creates a magical "WOW!, this in a bit different" initial frame to build upon.

4. Humour - largely improvised and situation-specific. I'm blessed with a liberal dose of Scottish DNA that refuses to take life too seriously!

5. State changes - getting people to change seats at breaks (fresh perspectives), lots of short 'talk to the person next to you' sessions.

6. Actively asking for questions from the audience. Regularly.

7. Self-disclosure - 'this is what happened to me when...' Mildly embarrassing self-deprecation seems to be especially appreciated.

8. Telling stories - even if I read a short one verbatim from a book. It's a total Jackanory moment (for you UK readers!)

Thanks for all the fantastic new tips Tom. I'm putting many of them to use right away!

Posted by Paul Hannay at May 29, 2005 8:43 AM

Wow--the comments posted suggest that there are some creative and thoughtful presenters who trek to this site!
Paul, reading your post engaged my senses. Picturing the scent of orange perked me up. Your witty humour set me smiling.
Ed, your practice of engaging with the Good Men and Good Women who gift their attention to you sets the stage for a stellar presentation.
When we present we offer a gift--a present in the form of food-for-thought. Engaging with the people who gift their attention to a presenter allows the gift-giver to move beyond the one-size-fits-all present to a presentation that befits the recipient, whether it is a Good Man or a Good Woman.

Posted by Pam Brill at May 29, 2005 12:50 PM

Wow Paul - A 'Jackanory' moment - now that does bring back memories!!

Some great tips there ...keep up the good work

Posted by Trevor Gay at May 29, 2005 3:39 PM

A great list, Tom, and fabulous additions from everyone in the comments. Under the heading of "connect" I'd add this: Empathize with and feel compassion for the audience. Try, in other words, to see your points--particularly the provcative ones--from the audience's point of view and then YOU give voice to THEIR resistance/objections. Now you're proving that you care enough to have at least tried to think this through from their perspective. This will diffuse 99% of the tension (if there is any) and open up a clear channel for you to present the really important stuff in a way that they will actually hear you. When you get to Q&A, you'll get great questions and you'll dive right in to a meaningful discussion because you've already proven that you value your audience's world.

Posted by Steve Farber at May 30, 2005 1:26 AM

It's a couple of months since my company's national conference. Yours truly perked up when our MD took the stage and gave a good presentation and at the moment when some TP video footage was shown to the assembled throng.

The low point? Someone thought that it would be a good idea to show an episode of The Office... probably my least favourite British sitcom.

I do however remember one presentation I gave about ten years ago for the final stage of my Business Enterprise module of my degree course.

Not only did I (on behalf of my group) give our lecturers a hard time regarding lost opportunities and lack of communication on their part, it was done in such a way that the group received a first for the project we'd engaged in - a marketing and PR business.

Choose the words carefully and it can make all the difference!

Cheers

Keith

Posted by Keith Rickaby at June 2, 2005 6:43 AM

I saw Tom speak at the 2004 AIIM show at the Javitz in New York.
I arrived quite early to get a front row seat.
With the hall still quite empty, Tom saunters out to talk with 3 or 4 of us in the front for 20-30 minutes.
The highlight...
I asked: "What are you going to talk about today?"
Tom: "What do YOU want me to talk about today?"

Definitely a WOW moment for me.
Tom Peters definitely doesn't suck ! ! !

A true believer,
Ray

Posted by Ray Schraff at June 3, 2005 11:38 AM