Perfect Presentation Coaching

Do you know TED?

If you don’t, you really should get to know him!

He is full of amazing information and incredible people!

People?

Yes, people.

How can TED be full of people?

He can be full of people because he is not a person, he is a website.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design.

Every year the organizers of this site bring together the greatest speakers and presenters from all over the world and then post the videos on their site.

If you want to watch and learn from some of the best speakers in the world then you really need to get to know TED.

One of the easiest ways to improve your skills is to watch people with superior skills. I watch at least one video here every week.

I have learned and improved and you can and will also!

Once again, get to know TED!

And then, get in touch with me and together we will work on the skills you learned from him!

Here’s his address: http://ted.com/talks

We’ve now come to the last piece of our presentation pie.

You’ve gotten all the ingredients together, you’ve prepared yourself by reading the recipe, you’ve followed the recipe and mixed everything together, now its time to cook your pie.

What do you use? Duh, you use the oven.

An oven is the tool a chef uses to finish his presentation.

What are the tools you use to finish your presentations?

The main piece of equipment you use is you. Make sure that you have prepared yourself. (See The Chef? http://tinyurl.com/presentationpie3)

There are several other tools and they make up the last piece of our presentation pie.

Lets start with the obvious – the slideware

Slideware? That’s a funny word.

Slideware is the software you use to make your presentation, its probably Powerpoint or Keynote.

You must be familiar with how these programs work. If you are not, it will show and success will elude you.

Make the use of these programs second nature. You cannot afford to have to think about how to go to the slide you want.

You want and need to be focused on the presentation!!

Next is your remote control. What, you don’t have one?

You absolutely have to use a remote! Here’s the scene…

You’re in the middle of a fantastic story and the audience is eating out of your hand. Then comes time for your second slide. You walk to the back of the room, stumbling over a couple of pairs of feet on the way. You reach your computer and push the button. The next slide appears and you make your way back to the front of the room, again stumbling on some feet.

You try to pick up where you left off but your carefully woven narrative has completely fallen apart.

Why? Because you didn’t have a remote!

Another important item you need to be familiar with is the actual room you are presenting in.

Imagine, if during your trek to your computer you had to walk over people or even worse, went the wrong way and had to double back!

You want your presentation to go as smoothly as it possibly can, so take some time beforehand and get comfortable in the room.

Can a chef just willy nilly cook up whatever he wants?

In some cases, of course he can, but what if he works in an Italian restaurant, can he cook up some good old fashioned hamburgers?

No, he has to do what his audience is expecting. Deliver what was ordered or promised.

Your goal is to exceed expectations, never ever do you want your audience to leave feeling underwhelmed.

An underwhelming sales presentation equals no sale.

An underwhelming training program leaves uninspired employees.

You get the point.

The last thing a chef does before he delivers his dish to the table is to ensure that all of the details are right.

That also is the last thing you should do before you deliver your presentation. As you take your presentation out of the oven check all the little things.

Check your visuals – are they appropriate?

Check your slides – do you have all the slides necessary?

Check your notes – do you have them written and in order?

Check yourself – have you done everything you need to do to prepare yourself?

Once you have checked all these things you are ready to deliver what will most likely be a successful presentation!
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Email: mike@perfectpresentationcoaching.com
Phone: 520-400-1416

Ingredients. Story. The two pieces of pie we’ve tasted so far.

Its time to talk about the chef.

Yes, the third piece of the presentation pie is you. The chef!

Why do we need to worry about the chef, doesn’t the chef just mix the things together and then get out of the way while they cook?

If all that was required for a quality presentation was mixing things together then yes, the chef is incredibly unimportant.

But as we all know, either from watching someone else or from personal experience, a quality presentation is much, much more than just the information it contains.

So, let’s talk about the chef.

The chef is much more than the person who throws things in a pot.

The chef has to find the ingredients.

The chef has to mix them together in the correct portions and order.

The chef has to make sure things are cooked for the proper amount of time.

Most importantly of all, the chef has to deliver the finished product on time and ready to be eaten.

So what does all this have to do with presenting and presentations?

Well, if you haven’t figured it out yet, you ARE the chef!

Your job is to make sure that all the pieces of your pie are present and in the places they need to be.

And yes, you are one of those pieces.

Take as much time preparing yourself as you spend on the other ingredients.

Take time and practice what you have to say.

Take time and go through your presentation slide by slide so that you are 100% sure of what comes next.

Take time (if you can) and familiarize yourself with the room you will present in.

Take time and prepare yourself a good set of speaker’s notes.

Take time and take some time. Don’t destroy your chances of success by making yourself overly tired, get some rest and relax!

If you are ready and have prepared the rest of your pie then there will be no question about your audience being satisfied!

Your coach,

Mike
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Make all your reading this easy! Click here to receive these articles in your inbox!
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Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ppcoaching
Find me on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/masjones
Become a fan on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/twitterppcoaching
Email: mike@perfectpresentationcoaching.com
Phone: 520-400-1416

Sign up for your fr.ee consultation now: http://ppcoaching.clickbook.net

P.S. Are you ready to become a better chef? Set up your free consultaiton and lets start working on it!

When you eat a pie do you care about what went into it or do you just care that it tastes good?

Do you need to see a list of the ingredients from the chef?

My guess is that the answer to both of those questions is no.

Now let’s think about your presentation pie.

Does your audience care what went into it?

No.

Does your audience need to see on the screen every single ingredient that you used to make your presentation?

No!

What does your audience want?

They want to be filled.

They want to be satisfied.

They want to learn something.

In short, they want to enjoy their pie!

How do you make sure they enjoy it?

Quite simply, you make it interesting.

You don’t just recite fact after fact.

You don’t just show list after list of boring statistics.

You don’t show them pointless graphs and figures.

You don’t bore them!

You DO engage their brains.

You DO hook their emotions.

You DO present your information in an interesting and memorable way.

You tell them a story! Yes, a story.

Not a fairy tale, not a fable, not something you make up while you’re in the shower.

You take your facts, your figures, your charts and you make them personally relevant to your audience.

Which is more memorable? X number of people die every year from cancer.

Or…

John Smith has 3 kids, a loving wife, a dog and he died from cancer last year.

That’s right. If you get your audience to care, you are well on your way to a successful presentation.

And that, my friends is what it is all about.

Next time, the third piece of the pie…. YOU.

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This is the second of four pieces of the presentation pie. If you missed the first piece it can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/presentationpie

Successful presentations don’t just happen.

They take a lot of work and consist of a lot of pieces that have to all work together.

Just as a baker needs to ensure all the ingredients for a pie are included, so do you as a presenter need to make sure that all the pieces of your presentation are included.

So with that in mind, I give you the 4 pieces of the presentation pie.

I need you to do a little visualization here.

In your mind picture a pie.

Got it? Good.

Divide it into 4 pieces.

Notice when you do that that all the pieces are the same size.

The fact that they are the same size means that they are all equally important and that you cannot skip any of them if you want to have a successful presentation!

So what are these 4 pieces?

Content, Story, Speaker, and Technicality.

The rest of this message is going to focus on the first piece; content.

The content of your presentation is, obviously, (well, I hope its obvious!) what your presentation is about.

Sometimes when you are assigned a presentation you are given material that is inherently exciting. Sometimes you are not given an interesting topic.

Getting excited and interested in a presentation when the material is interesting is much easier than when it’s not.

So, if you are ever in a situation where you have “boring” material you MUST remember that it is your job to make it as interesting as you possibly can.

Take extra time and examine your topic and seek out any interesting angles of ways of looking at it. If you can find these, then your job – and your presentation – just got easier and better!

Good presenters (which you are well on your way to becoming) find ways to make even the most mundane topics interesting. An example: The show Dirty Jobs. If you stop and think about it, how interesting is it cleaning out a cement truck?

But, you know what? The host of that show consistently makes his topics interesting and engaging.

You need to strive for the same thing!

Next time we’ll talk about one amazingly simple way to automatically make your content more interesting!

How many slides should you use?

Do you want a firm, exact answer to that question?

Ok, here goes. Remember, I’m answering this question with all of my experience and knowledge!

Alright, here it is. The correct number of slides for your presentation is….drum roll please…

It depends. It depends? That’s a cop out, Mike!

Before you stomp away in frustration, let me explain why the answer is it depends.

If I told you that you had exactly 10 slides to explain how to (insert your topic here), could you do it?

How about 15 slides, 20?

It depends, doesn’t it?

There is no magic number. You have to make that decision for yourself based on several things.

First, your content. Is your content full of technical jargon or other complicated ideas? If so, it may take a few more slides to fully explain.

Second, your audience. Is your audience expecting a quick rapid fire series of talks? If they are then you need to really pare your presentation down to its basics, which will lead to fewer slides.

Lastly, you need to consider your style. If you tend to be long winded you will probably have more slides. (Long windedness can be deadly to the interest level of your audience so be careful!)

I hope that by now you are beginning to see the wisdom in my answer of it depends.

Every presentation is different.

Every speaker is different.

So unless you are told exactly how long your presentation can last and how many slides you have to use, make the decision that maximizes your success!

If you examine your material and all the requirements you have carefully then the number of slides you create WILL be correct!

Have you ever seen a speaker who thrilled you down to your toes?

How about just the opposite?

I’ve seen both and unfortunately, the boring ones far outweigh the exciting ones!

Let’s examine two people; Ferris Bueller and his teacher – played by Ben Stein.

The teacher just plodded through his day, droning on and on… “Bueller… Bueller….” (I know you can hear it, say it through your nose.)

Ferris was excited about life and his excitement was contagious, it infected everyone around him.

Yeah, yeah, I know it was a movie….

But was it really just a movie?

Let’s take a moment and think about what the character of Ferris was able to do and how you can do that same thing!

Just through the power of his enthusiasm he convinced a reluctant friend to step out of his shell.

Just through the power of his enthusiasm he was able to get a whole parade to dance along with him!

Just through the power of his enthusiasm he was able to change lives!

You have within you the power to do the same thing as Ferris did. No, no, you don’t have to get a parade to dance with you!

But you can get your audience to dance with you!

How?

Just by being enthusiastic about your topic!

Even the most boring of topics can be made more interesting through the application of a little authentic enthusiasm. Don’t fake it, it will show.

Your job as a presenter is to find the little nuggets of exciting information and build on them to make your entire presentation ring with energy.

Again, how?

As you prepare you need to examine your content carefully and critically, get rid of the fluff and identify the important, energy filled pieces.

Take those pieces and build your presentation around them.

Otherwise you (and your audience) will be stuck with “Bueller, Bueller.”

“So what!”

I looked over at the smart aleck kid who said that and said, “So what?” I couldn’t believe my ears.

Here I had just delivered an amazing lecture and he had the nerve to say “So what?”

“Yeah,” he said, with a self satisfied smirk on his face, “so what, why do I have to know this stuff anyway?”

I figured I would just give him the standard teacher answer, “Because I said so…” (No, not really, but work with me)

But then I thought, that’s a good question. Did I even know why he had to know that stuff?

Well, I did and you should too. No, not the stuff I was talking about, the stuff you talk about.

Have you ever asked yourself that question as you prepared your presentation?

If you haven’t you really should!

If you can’t come up with an honest answer to that question you should seriously consider changing your topic or the arc of your story.

Here’s another way of phrasing that same question. “Why is this important to my audience?”

Once again, you must be able to answer that question if you want to have any hopes of having a successful presentation.

As you prepare make sure that you ask and answer that question regularly as you go.

Consider the needs of your audience as you prepare and you will meet those needs when you present!

“But, Mike,” you say “what would happen if I didn’t consider my audience?”

Two words….

You know what they are, you don’t want to hear them, but you will.

“SO WHAT!”

The Joker, Lex Luthor, Darth Vader, The Stammer.

Evil villains all!

What, you say you’ve never heard of The Stammer?

You’ve seen his work, probably without even realizing it.

You may have even fallen prey to one of his evil schemes!

Let’s take a closer look. Don’t worry, its safe….

Here you are happily presenting, the visuals, the room, your words, all are working in perfect harmony, and then suddenly…. The Stammer strikes!

You forget what you have to say next!

Frantically, you search your brain for your next words! Meanwhile, your mouth continues making noise, um, aah, uh.

You use these placeholders in a desperate attempt to keep your audience engaged. But it doesn’t work, you can see them slipping away. Yet another victim of The Stammer!

You don’t have to suffer that fate, there is a way to defeat him!

Its called chunking.

Chunking?

Its an easy method you can learn to defeat The Stammer.

Here’s how it works. When you rehearse, practice speaking in small “chunks” of words, put small pauses in between these chunks.

These built in pauses allow you to think and will keep The Stammer at bay.

As an added bonus they also allow your audience to absorb what you’ve just said, making you that much more effective!

It takes a little practice, but the effort is worth it if you deliver more effective presentations!

Defeat The Stammer! Long live the chunk!

–The idea for chunking originally came from my colleague Olivia Mitchell through her friend Tony Burns –