How to Give Great Speeches at Teleconferences

Even when you’re not actually present, you can still give a great speech and you do this through teleconferences. These are becoming all too common today especially when companies need to cut their expenses on travel and rather resort to holding online meetings or teleconferences. If you are the one tasked to give a presentation, what can you do to make your speech engaging, interesting and full of impact? Below are terrific suggestions you might want to take:

1. Try to change a teleconference into a video conference.  With teleconferences, people won’t be seeing you which automatically eliminates any visual impact that could potentially help your presentation. So try to turn it into a video conference instead by using Skype, Webex and other online video conference tools.

2. Allot a specific period of time. You can distribute copies of your agenda before the telecon so people would know who will be talking at what time and until what time.

3. Be positive. By speaking positively about your topic, people would be more compelled to listen and react.

4. Include your audience in the equation. Even if they can’t see you, the teleconference is not about you. It’s about your audience and their needs. If you focus more on what you can do for them and what they can also do for the cause or the meeting’s objective, they will be more inclined to listen and participate.

5. Keep track of your time. Since your audience can’t see you and vice-versa, it’s so easy to lose track of your audience. For all you know, they’ve all logged off and you end up talking to yourself. So be brief and concise. Leave enough room in the end for questions.

For more insight on how to give great speeches in teleconferences, please head to:

How To Give A Great Speech Even When You Aren’t There

The Significance of Using Evidence in Your Speech or Presentation

Any speech or presentation you make, whether to a big or small audience, public setup or private meeting, needs to be influential in order to be successful. One thing you can add to your presentation to make it so is by including evidence in the picture. Here are tips on how you can do this:

Spell Out The Point of Your Evidence: It is not enough that you just present the facts. You also have to relate it to the point you are trying to make. You can’t just leave your audience on their own to come up with  conclusions. You have to lead them to it by spelling out the key point of your evidence.

Use Exact Evidence: State the exact terms, statistics, or words of your evidence. No general terms please.

Use Novel Evidence: Present evidence that has not yet been heard of before. This proves to be more interesting and persuasive for the audience.

To get more insight on this matter, head to:

Improve Your Public Speaking – 4 Tips for Using Evidence

How to Improve Your Presentation… Fast!

Have you ever experienced being asked to present with only a few hours to prepare, or a day at the very least? I’m sure you must have felt the panic in your gut especially if you know that you are not that prepared and still, you must be able to impress and engage your audience. Well, don’t fret. Here are seven basic things you need to do. If you’re able to accomplish these seven helpful tips, then you’re on your way to making  a great presentation in no time at all.

1. Use a PowerPoint template.  Obviously, you have no time to hire a designer for the job so use one that is already available. The important thing is to be able to present your slides that offer a constant and professional background. Don’t sweat it out too much.

2. Cut back on text. Remember, your slides are not your cue cards. They’re not there to be read by you word for word. They only serve as nuggets of wisdom and guide for your audience so they are able to capture your message properly.

3. Replace text with images. Photos do express more than a thousand words. So use an appropriate picture that will capture the essence f what you want to say.

4. Keep it simple. Cut out anything that is unnecessary. You can just explain it further in your speech.

5. Use colours to differentiate between different concepts. This will help the audience interpret the data and information better, making them grasp the whole idea that you’re trying to convey.

6. Add some basic animation to help you present your content in a way that makes it easier on the audience. Use animation at certain key points in your story to keep your audience engaged and to highlight the most important parts.

7. Standardize. Use uniform forms, color schemes, templates and designs. This will make your presentation look more professional.

For more insights on this matter, head to:

Improve Your Presentation in Thirty Minutes

 

Top Ten Presentation Lessons

I have shared with you a lot of presentation tips in the past. But these top ten presentation lessons below seem to be the simplest, yet most crucial if you want to improve your craft in presentations and public speaking. The lessons came from this video which I found awesome and quite funny.

1. Arrive early to prepare. – I’ve always mentioned this before. Arriving early gives you a chance to not just prepare your materials and tools, but it will also help you relax thereby making you more ready and positively  energized for your presentation.

2. Your opening is always crucial. – The first few words that come out of your mouth can actually make or break you. They will either impress your audience and catch their attention instantly, or they can cause you to be judged very harshly by your audience.

3. Don’t make fun of your audience or any member of your audience. – This is common sense.

4. “Juvenile slide transitions to spice things up” only make you look unprofessional. – The simpler your PowerPoint presentation is, the better. Just stick to fade or wipe for transitions.

5. Don’t read your slides. – Doing so is like disrespecting the effort, time and money your audience spent to be able to attend your presentation. They can read the slides on their own. What they need from you is more insight and wisdom which shows that you are an expert or person of authority in your chosen topic.

6. Practice makes perfect. – Same essence as number five. If you respect your audience and the time and resources they spent to come see you, then you will prepare your speech or presentation very well.

7. Avoid using clip art. –  It will only show your lack or creativity and resourcefulness.

8. Prepare for technical difficulties.  – First and foremost, make sure that you have a decent enough desktop background just in case the same thing happens to you.  Then be able to handle the technical problem as quickly as possible. Don’t let it derail your presentation.

9. Be careful with lists. – Don’t cram everything on one page and find yourself forgetting a bullet point. It will only make you seem like you were unprepared and didn’t know what was coming next. Divide your bullet points into different pages and insert a photo in there to help catch the attention and interest of your audience.

10. Conclusions are not mere restatements of your title and subtitles. Your presentation doesn’t have to end in Q&A either. You should have a particular closing remark prepared that will en-capsulize everything you have presented. It should also include a call to action. This way, your audience will remember your talk even after the curtain call.

For more insights on his matter, head to:

10 Lessons Learned from “Every Presentation Ever”

 

 

12 Ways to Help You Manage Your Speaking Time

Speakers should know this by now — always end your speeches on time, or if possible, ahead of time. Beat the clock if you can! This will create a better impact for your audience and won’t leave them bored and fidgety. By being on time, it means that you have prepared your speech well and that you have carefully chosen only those details that your audience will find important, interesting and compelling. If in case you are still having a hard time managing the time of your speeches, here are twelve things you can do to help you be more punctual and efficient during your talks.

1. Practice with a timer. Practice is still the best way to find out if your material is enough to beat the clock.

2. Have a plan to cut material. Prepare to take out parts that won’t contribute much to your talk.

3. Double down. Prepare two materials: one long speech and one short speech.

4. Prepare a detailed handout. This way, you won’t have to give out all the details in your speech. Your audience can just refer to your handouts to get all the detailed information.

5. Arrive early. This will give you time to rehearse, time to check if all equipment and tools you need are ready, and time to breathe and focus on your speech ahead.

6. Reconfirm your speaking time. This way, there won’t be any room for logistical errors.

7. Let the audience know of any time changes. Just in case there is, this will show respect for your audience’s time.

8. Monitor your time during the presentation. You can have someone, such as an assistant, signal you how many minutes you still got. This way you can adjust your pace.

9. Wear a watch. Try to look at your watch inconspicuously every now and then to check the time and adjust your pace accordingly.

10. Allow time for questions. This is one of the most important aspects of your speech. By allowing time for questions, your audience will feel more motivated, engaged and compelled to take action.

11. Invite people to approach you afterwards. Just in case there are still some points that need to be clarified, your audience won’t feel like you’ve left them hanging.

12. Seek permission to go beyond your allotted time. If really needed, then go get that permission.

To get more insight and ideas on how to go about these guidelines, head to:

Speakers: It’s About Time (and How to Manage It)

The Importance of Speech Choreography

In his blog post, Choreographing Your Speech, Nick Morgan shares with us the importance of knowing and preparing the venue of your speech and getting the interest of your audience.

Here are some simple guidelines for you to take note of:

1. Align what you say with how you act in front of your audience. Essentially, this is what choreographing your speech is all about.

2. Increase your audience’s attention by moving closer to them. You actually need to invade their personal space a bit  (but not closer than 1.5 feet, because that’s intimate space and you’re not allowed in there, unless it’s a close friend or family member) in order to powerfully catch their attention. Of course, it’s already a given that your speech essentially compels them to act too.

3. Of course with a large crowd, it’s impossible to come closer to everyone in the audience. It’s not necessary. As long as you do so with a select group of audience and while you’re giving your most important points, then the whole audience will feel it.

4. Be aware of the room layout and be able to maximize the use of the space for maximum impact.

For more information, head to Nick Morgan’s post: Choreographing Your Speech

Five Useful Presentation Mediums

If you are to choose only a few tools to use for your presentations this year, I urge you to use these five mediums below. They are the five most useful and effective tools that will let you engage your audience “by creating a two-way method of communication that will keep them invested in what you have to say”. They are the five top picks according to RethinkPresentations.com.

1. Interactive glass whiteboards: These smooth, durable surfaces are like traditional whiteboards except that they are made with glass.

2. Microsoft PowerPoint: Yes, as far as dynamic presentation tools, Microsoft’s PowerPoint still ranks very high in offices around the globe.

3. iPad: the iPad can connect to video projectors to add to your stunning presentation.

4. Prezi: an ideal storytelling tool that uses a blank canvas to let you lead a presentation with dynamic flow—as opposed to traditional linear slides, like PowerPoint.

5. Slideshare: This professional social media platform offers custom templates for you to create slides, upload video, post promotions, and even create bookmarks within presentations.

Cheers to better presentations for 2012!

Be as curious as curious George

You’re all familiar with curious George, right? He is this pet monkey who is very inquisitive and just plain wonderful. As presenters, we can learn a thing or two from him:

1. Be curious, of course. By being curious, you approach your topic with fresh insights and you get to bring your presentation to a whole new level.

2. Care for your friends. George is always pulled out of trouble by his friends. Likewise, when you’re in a new situation or speaking engagement, it helps to know that you can count on the support of your friends.

3. Keep exploring. Always carry that spirit of adventure with you. By doing so, you’ll open yourself up to new perspectives and insights   for topics you’ve already covered before.

To find out more, head to: Curious George and Presentations

Teenage Public Speaking in Action

http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf

Woah, I was really blown away by these teens featured in Ted.com! To all would be presenters and public speakers out there — Watch and learn. If these teenagers can do it, so can you!

To watch the original video, head to: Award-winning teen-age science in action

11 Great Books for Communicators

I’d like to post here these ten amazing books that can help us think, create, & communicate better in 2012. These books are read and reread by Garr Reynolds and perhaps we could learn a lot from these books as well.

Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long.

Design For How People Learn.

100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People.

Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers.

Visual Meetings: How Graphics, Sticky Notes and Idea Mapping Can Transform Group Productivity.

Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers.

Universal Principles of Design, Revised and Updated: 125 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach through Design.

Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don’t Work.

White Space is Not Your Enemy: A Beginner’s Guide to Communicating Visually through Graphic, Web and Multimedia Design.

The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life 
 

Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (2nd Edition).

Find out more about these books as recommended by Garr Reynolds here:

10 great books to help you think, create, & communicate better in 2012