April 3, 2013

A Personal Appearance

chrisbroganWhen you give a talk, you convey information. Well, ideally, you communicate an idea. Better still, you provide insights, change someone’s perspective, and motivate them to act in a new way.

That’s a lot. And focusing on organizing the content, structure, and delivery of that sort of presentation is a complex task that can become a real technical challenge. But style matters a lot too, of course.

Here’s another way to look at it. Your talk is a personal appearance. It is YOU who is delivering all of the above. And that should be reflected in the talk.

Personal Appearance

I got the chance to watch a real pro in action in an intimate setting. Chris Brogan came to guest lecture at the eMarketing class I teach at Bentley University. We had talked about the class, topics covered, and where I thought Chris could provide some really valuable insight.

Like a pro, Chris came prepared. He had an elegant presentation that tied together many great ideas in an interesting way. Of course he’s done a lot, like write 5 books in the space, so he’s got material. And he’s also a professional speaker, so he knows how to do a presentation.

But, this wasn’t a presentation as much as it was a personal appearance. And it wasn’t a personal appearance of the get a photo with a celebrity sort (though Chris is certainly a celebrity in the digital media and marketing space). Rather, it was a personal appearance in that Chris Brogan the person was there, delivering his thoughts and ideas – his unique perspective – and delivering it in his personal style.

Everything from prepared remarks to off the cuff answers to random topics that came up was delivered with his honest and direct assessment of the world as he sees it – complete with his own quirky phrasing, made up words, jokes, story telling style and more. With his personality.

And isn’t that what you want every speaker to bring to all the presentions you attend?

Isn’t that what you should bring to your next presentation?

No wonder why his business is called Human Business Works. Great job, Chris. We appreciate your time, your presence, and your bringing your whole self to the class for us.

Photo credit: Chris’ Twitter Profile

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February 21, 2012

Give Your Speech, Change The World by Nick Morgan

In Give Your Speech, Change The World: How to move your audience to action, Nick Morgan gives a comprehensive account of what it takes to master the art of public speaking. The point of any talk, he asserts, is to change the world – to move others to act in the way you’re trying to persuade them.

To do this, you must first be heard. And that means capturing and keeping an audience’s attention. That’s not an easy task. Morgan puts this into perspective with a brief history of the craft of public speaking. He points out the tried and true elements that have been effective since the ancient Greeks used them. The challenges in the modern world are different, of course, and Morgan explains how to adjust your technique.

A good portion of the book is spent on content, the essence of any talk. Structuring it properly is critical. Incorporating the power of story and engaging the audience are essential to what Morgan calls an audience-centered presentation.

A whole section of the book is dedicated to rehearsing, and another to delivery. Once you’ve got the content nailed down, you need to be able to present it well – and to interact with the audience strategically in order to get your message across most effectively.

Each chapter is well-written and carries the weight of an experienced presenter and coach. Written in a conversational style, certain points are emphasized within each topic. Conveniently, each chapter ends with a short bullet point list of its essential elements, making it easy to go back and use the book as a reference.

I’d recommend this book for anyone who speaks publicly, for any size audience. You’ll no doubt uncover tips you can use immediately.

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August 26, 2011

5 ways that Prezi can help you make better presentations

PowerPoint kills, and not in a good way. It kills in a “Death by PowerPoint” way.

Of course, this is not the tool’s fault. It’s because the tool is so widely mis-used. People cram too much information onto a slide, they read the slides to you in a presentation, they add animation for the sake of it (which ends up detracting from the message rather than enhancing it), and most presentations simply go on for too long.

A new tool won’t help you break those bad habits. But if you’re committed to building better presentations and have found PowerPoint to be limiting, then you should look at this new tool, Prezi.

With Prezi, the whole screen is a canvas with (nearly) infinite space. The whole concept of “slides” is gone. And while that can be pretty intimidating, it can also be very freeing, allowing you to make more compelling presentations.

Here are 5 things you can do with Prezi to make better presentations.

1. Use a nonlinear format

A slide stack is presented in sequential order from beginning to end. That’s fine for a lot of things, but most big concepts are better presented in a nonlinear way. With the “big canvas” approach of Prezi, you can arrange ideas in whatever way makes sense. Using text, photos, or diagrams, you can show relationships of things to each other by their placement on the canvas. Now, when you show the big picture or move from one idea to the next, the relationship is clear and visible to the audience.

2. Emphasize points with zoom

Along with the ability to roam freely around the canvas, it is in Prezi’s nature to zoom in and out to focus on different ideas. This helps to emphasize your point, and it can also add new perspective to your presentations. Little details that are important can be shown in a dramatic way. You can zoom in on an area so far as to reveal something that was not readily visible in the big picture. It’s an attention grabber. Similarly, you can zoom out to show the idea you were just talking about in a larger context.

3. Add spin and perspective

Add some spin, literally. When presenting with Prezi, your whole presentation canvas can be spun around. This, along with zoom, can emphasize relationships and perspective on your ideas. You could arrange things in a big circle and have that arrangement revealed throughout the course of your presentation. Or you could simply flip the canvas upside down in the middle of your presentation to help emphasize a point.

4. Use text and photos together in new ways

With the zoom features, it’s easy to show new relationships between text and images. An attention-grabbing photo can fill the screen, then you can zoom in to one little area of the image to reveal text that makes your point in a dramatic way.

Similarly, text can be zoomed in on to reveal a hidden photo that crystalizes your message, or emphasizes a particular point. It’s a very dramatic and effective effect.

5. Add some novelty to your talk

Prezi is still new, though I’m seeing it used in more places as time goes on. When you first start presenting with it, it will capture your audience’s attention – not only the new way in which you will be able to convey your message, but also because it’s a new tool unlike any other. After each talk I’ve given with Prezi, at least 5 or 6 people come up to me to ask about the tool. And they tell me that it was so effective that they’d like to start using it.

Check out the 1-minute Prezi intro video below (click here if you can’t see the embedded video) to get a sense of what I’m talking about, then go over to prezi.com and check it out for yourself. It’s free.

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