Presentation & Public Speaking Skills Archives

Loose briefs cause grief – getting super clear on what you’re there for

Numbers for the leadership team, quarterly update, employee induction welcome or conference slot… you’ve been asked to deliver a presentation. Woohoo.

What’s wrong with the shadows anyway?

Come on – admit it. You love the unthreatening nature of your comfort zone. It’s warm, it’s safe. It’s like the cosy slipper of life experiences. That’s the shadows. It’s the opposite of being in the spotlight. And it’s tempting, right?

Presenting is not about acting...or is it?

We tend to think of acting as pretending – as something constructed or contrived. However, great acting is the opposite. It’s about truth. Great acting isn’t really about acting at all – it’s about being.

Glossophobia, Alektorophobia and more...

You’ve heard it a million times: the number one human phobia is Glossophobia, the fear of public speaking. It seems like nonsense, doesn’t it? That speaking in public could be more terrifying to more people than, say, death, or being stuck in a lift with Kanye West. But consider the consequences.

Are your PowerPoint's poisoning us?

It seemed like the best idea ever: liven up business presentations with a slide show. Pictures! Graphs! A weird 80s Dr Who-style spiral dissolve vortex! Surely visual aids would turn boring meetings into a mashup of Mad Men and a game of laser tag.

We may be back in the office, but we need to avoid the old traps

Now that we’re back in the office – and presenting in person more again, hooray! – many of the old bad habits are popping up again. Already, many of us are suffering from ‘Death by PowerPoint’. You may even have been guilty of perpetrating it.

Communicating in a hybrid environment

Early last year I ran a training with a large professional services firm. Some of the team were in-person in Auckland and the other half joined virtually from Wellington. The Wellington crew were all in a meeting room and joining from one video conference unit.

Handling questions like a pro when presenting

One of the questions we’re asked most often is how to handle, well, questions. And we have answers! A Q&A can seem nervewracking, but generally if you know your subject it can be the most engaging and convincing part of your presentation. Imagine it’s quiz night, but all the questions are on your specialist topic. You win the bar tab, your table is cheering, there’s karaoke later, life is beautiful. This could be you at work too. How? Glad you asked.

Is Persuasion a Dirty Word?

A few weeks back I had an interesting discussion with a long-standing client. She was getting some push back from a member of her team around her idea of wanting to put them through our Secrets of Influence and Persuasion programme. His concern was the perceived ‘ick factor’ of persuasive speaking skills. He was worried they would turn from careful, considered experts into Donald Trump!

Should you use memes in presentations? Take the test.

What is a meme? We’re glad you asked. It’s a unit of social currency, a piece of concentrated information that spreads around a group. It’s an in-joke, like what we all know about Ian since the conference last year.

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