Bad Presentation Recovery

Getting back in the saddle - recovering from presentations from hell...

The gang here at Eyeful Towers know that this presentation lark isn't particularly easy. We'll often get asked into work with companies, and specifically presenters, who have had what we call in the business, "a bit of a shocker" at their last presentation. Not only is this incredibly uncomfortable at the time, it can also make them a tad nervous about putting themselves through the whole horrible experience again next time round. This is a common problem and for the experienced presenters out there, it's a relatively small bump in the road that can be worked through with ease. For those less acquainted presenters out there, it can start a terminal decline in their presentation confidence and ultimately abilities.

Not good.

So in true Eyeful style, we thought we'd put together the top 5 tips for getting over a harrowing presenting experience.

1. Get specific feedback. A lot of times when people have an abominable presentation they scurry out of the room, tail between their legs never to be seen again. It's a natural response but completely the wrong thing to do. Hard as it may be, you need to understand from your audience what went wrong and listen out for some guidance on how to put it right. Then write it down. Heck, sometimes you might even find it wasn't as bad as you thought.
2. Learn from the mistakes. Asking for feedback may have seemed a tough call but actually putting the corrective measures in place even tougher. Face facts - if you've gone to the trouble of getting feedback you have to make very good use of it.
3. Go back to the basics. You may have heard us mention this once or twice but ensure the core basics of your story are straight before double clicking the presentation software icon. Once you've got the message, content and design in place, there's no substitute for practicing like nobody's business. Boring? Yes... Essential? Darn right!!
4. Go first to comfortable places. Once you're ready, get amongst friends and present again. Quite often presenting to those you know is more terrifying than strangers - but in this instance make sure they know of your bad experience and collect together warm encouraging folk to road test your next session. This serves two purposes - to get your courage back and to get some feedback on the presentation itself.
5. But then go into the valley of danger. Finally you have to get back in the saddle. It's an old saying, but that's because it's largely true. The longer you leave it the more of monkey on your back this can become. Do the first 4 steps then be brave enough to make that final leap - it'l be worth it in the end. We're right behind you...

Taken from Eyeful Presentations.co.uk. Written by Simon Morton.

Essential Presentation Skills

On the Presentation Magazine Forum we get asked the same question many times - "Help, I've got a presentation coming up next week and I don't know what to do." In this survival guide, we highlight the three skills that YOU MUST KNOW before your next presentation. They are tried and tested and make it easy to improve your performance.

Here we expose the three essential pieces of information that can make your presentation fly. Most of these are common sense, but you'd be surprised how often they are missed out.

• Use visual aids where you can
• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse
• The audience will only remember three messages

Lesson One: Using visuals

One of the most powerful things you can do to your presentation is to add in visual aids. Research shows that if you use visual aids you are twice as likely to achieve your objectives. Ditch the bullet points - use pictures instead.

Professor Albert Mehrabian did a lot of research into how we take in information during a presentation. He concluded that 55% of the information we take in is visual and 7% is text. There are some important conclusions that we can take from this information.

• Use visuals (pictures, graphs, tables, props) whenever you can
• In a speech you are only using 38% of the communication medium
• Ditch the bullet points

In a study at the Wharton Research Center they showed that using visual slides had a dramatic effect on message retention. The effect of using visuals is truly staggering! 

• Message retention after 3 days - bullet points 10%, visual slides 50%

The old adage that "a picture is worth a thousand words" is as true today as it has always been.

If I said that I could double your chances of achieving your objectives in a presentation with just one piece of advice, you would probably be very skeptical. And yet if you use visual images that is just what happens.

• Chance of achieving objectives - bullet points 33%, visual slides 67%

Hopefully by now you have got the message loud and clear - use visuals in your next presentation!

Lesson Two: Rehearsal


We see no end of people who spend hours pouring over their bullet points but fail to rehearse properly for the presentation. The old adage is as true now as it has always has been. "If you fail to prepare, you are prepared to fail." Rehearse your presentation and it will get better. Sorry to sound like a bit of an old nag. It's obvious - rehearsing - isn't it? But it's also a bit of a drag and one that is easy to forget. It is probably the most common mistake of all presentations that I have seen.

You wouldn't dream of going to see a Shakespeare play at the RSC only to find that they hadn't properly learned the script. You wouldn't dream of going to the opera to hear the band play out of time because they hadn't got round to rehearsing properly. Yet in presentations and in speeches we see this happening all the time.

1. Plan to rehearse your presentation out loud at least 4 times. And if you can get word perfect so much the better. I know that you haven't got the time, but we have seen so many presentations that have been let down due to a lack of rehearsal. Make sure that one of your rehearsals is in front of a really scary audience - family, friends, partners, colleagues and children. They will tell you quite plainly where you are going wrong - as well as providing you with the support that you need.
2. Rehearse against the clock. If you have to give a presentation in a short period of time then try to practice your presentation against the clock. This is particularly true with something like the five minute job presentation. You can add in parts from the script or taken them out to fit the time. Allow extra time in your presentation for questions and watch out for nerves - this could mean that you talk faster on the day. In the actual presentation you take in a clock or take off your watch and put it on the podium. This way you can see how the timings develop.
3. Take a leaf out of Winston Churchill's book - memorize your script. He is widely attributed as being one of the great speakers. It took him six weeks to prepare his Maiden Speech in the House of Commons and he learned it word perfect.
4. Video or tape record yourself. A very simple trick that could help you with your performance. This will give you some immediate feedback and will enable you to fine tune your performance.

Rehearse and you will get better.

Lesson Three: The Rule of Three

The rule of three is one of the oldest in the book - Aristotle wrote about it in his book Rhetoric. Put simply it is that people tend to easily remember three thing. Remember as a kid when your mom sent you down to the shop to buy a number of things. But when you got to the shop all you could remember were three things. This is the rule of three.

1. The audience is likely to remember only three things from your presentation - plan in advance what these will be. Before you start writing your presentation, plan what your three key messages will be. Once you have these messages, structure the main part of your presentation around these three key themes and look how at how they could be better illustrated.
2. There are three parts to your presentation. The beginning, the middle and the end. Start to plan out what you will do in these three parts. The beginning is ideal for an attention grabber or an ice breaker. The end is great to wrap things up or to end with a grand finale.
3. Use lots of three wherever you can. This has been used by politicians and advertisers who know the value of using the rule of three to sell their ideas.
4. Less is more. If you have four points to get across - cut one out. They won't remember it anyway. In presentations less really is more. No one ever complained of a presentation being too short.

Good luck and happy presenting!

Taken from Presentation Magazine.com

Job Seeking Skills

It's not about the resume: Creative, successful job search tips

Don't underestimate appearance. A professional appearance is comparable to values, and regardless of your personal opinion, somewhere in the hiring process, appearance may become the deciding factor. I am not talking about wearing jeans to an interview.

Most candidates believe they have a professional appearance and equate ability with job experience and academic success. Based on that definition, they feel they are the best-qualified candidates. This can sometimes be a sensitive area for candidates, but don't be naive or in denial that appearance doesn't count.

Appearance matters in your job search. Many books are available about dressing for success, but I have two important points to make. First, if you want to be a professional, look like a professional. I learned this in my first year of high school from my baseball coach.

On our very first day of practice, we were all eager to begin hitting and throwing the baseball. Most of us had been playing organized baseball since we were eight years old. But on our first day of high school practice, we spent the entire time learning the finer points of earing the baseball uniform. At the time, I thought it was a waste of time, but over the years, I continue to hear the coach saying, "If you are going to be a professional, then you must look like a professional."

Our dress set the tone for who we were and we took pride in our appearance. That pride carried over to the baseball field and we consistently won championships and sent many players to college on athletic scholarships and on to professional baseball. A second point of interest was that while we did not have the latest style uniforms in the state, because of the way we wore them, they appeared to be of much higher quality.

Look like a professional in your job search. The second point concerns how you determine what is professional dress. it's easy, just look at successful people. Don't be misled by a few successful mavericks who dress counter to mainstream successful businessmen and women. Recently, a friend of mine told me a story which highlights that people are not only looking at your appearance, they are aware of how successful people dress and groom themselves.

During an office visit for an EKG, my friend struck up a casual conversation with the nurse and found out she was a single mom with several children. She was particularly proud of her oldest son who was doing exceptionally well in school. She shared her hopes for him to go to college and then to become a successful businessman. This doctor's office was in an affluent area and she had come into contact with a number of successful business people.

When she pulled my friend's trouser leg up to attach the electrodes, she commented that he was wearing over-the-calf socks. She said she keeps telling her son to wear over-the-calf socks, because successful businessmen do. This was a woman who understood and passed on to her son things she noticed about successful people. You should be doing the same thing for yourself as you meet and talk with successful people.

Concluding thought. While conducting your job search, use this time to also consider starting your own business. Take inventory of your talents and the experience you have gained over the years running your own business unit within a company. Can you replicate that as your own small business? Can you take that experience and tailor it to an existing market trend that fits well with your talents?

If you have a unique specialty, employers may want to contact you for your services. This could enable you to grow your consulting position into a small vendor to support your existing and other clients. With the job market very tight, you may find less competition opening your own business than securing employment with a company.

Taken from About.com. Written by Cleve Rowley.

Presentation Topics

You have been asked to give a presentation. To make it easier for you they have also let you choose your own topic.

The problem is that you have too much choice. Now you are worried and are going to spend too much of your creative time trying to pick the right topic and not rehearsing your presentation. So how do you choose the right presentation topic?

The right presentation topic. It is easy to pick the topic. Just follow these two simple rules.

1. Pick a topic you are passionate about. The passion will come out in your voice and in your body language and will be naturally picked up by your audience.
2. Pick a topic that could be illustrated by pictures. A lot of research shows that you could increase message retention dramatically if you use pictures rather than bullet points.

Job interview topics. Pick a project or area of your work that was well received. Ideally one where you received lots of positive feedback and got the end result despite all the setbacks. This will show you as someone who can get things done and is well liked. If you can please do include the feedback you received. If you are going for a management or leaders position it is a good idea to ask your team to describe your leadership style. If you have not led a team before - just ask the people you work with to describe your style.

Personal topics. The key is the passion. Examples that can work well are hobbies and holidays. These are both topics that can be well illustrated. Your holidays should have lots of photos and most hobbies have lots of photos available. You can probably find lots of travel photos on the web, but please do ensure that you have the permission of the copyright owners. If you pick a holiday make sure that you keep the jargon out of it and bring the topic down to a simple enough level everybody will be able to understand. This is an area where your fellow hobbyists should be able to help you with bits of pictures. Here are some of the great hobby presentations that I have seen - all very visual.

• Steam trains
• Archaeology
• Lorries and trucks
• Needlework
• Amateur radio expeditions

Professional topics. If you are looking to speak on a professional (paid) basis the best topic is one that grabs people's attention. Here are some examples:

• The seven deadly sins of presentations
• Motivating people in boring jobs
• The physics of football
• PowerPoint poisoning - the antidote
• CRM - holy grail or holy smoke

Taken from Presentation Magazine.com

Starting a New Career

To start a new career, begin by converting your ideas to actions

Question: I've been thinking about making a career change for almost two years. I know it's time, and I have some ideas about what I might want to do. The thought of trying to start over is very scary, and I can't seem to get up the nerve to do it. What can you suggest to help me finally take action?

Answer: The prospect of leaving the familiar can be frightening, and, up to this point, it has been easier for you to just stay put. There's a readiness factor in making any big move, and it sounds like you're right on the cusp.

Take these steps to begin to convert your ideas to actions.

Face your fears. Start by isolating the internal and external forces that might be blocking you. Realistically assess the risk involved in making a change, and then channel your imagination and energy toward overcoming the obstacles. Focusing on the forces that support change and reminding yourself of the benefits of a new work option will reinforce your resolve to move ahead.

Envision your future. Picturing the move to an exciting opportunity is a more powerful motivator than merely wanting to escape a bad situation. Clearly defining and visualizing the new career will strengthen your confidence. Remind yourself that you're much more likely to regret what you don't do than what you do.

Make it manageable. One step at a time will deliver you to your goal. Identify a timeline with milestones along the way. Completing your resume, developing a targeted employer list and attending networking meetings all count as activities to check off of the "to do" list. Having these predetermined markers will make the move manageable and allow you to celebrate accomplishments on the path to your next career.

Taken from the Democrat Chronicle.com. Written by Deb Koen on Jan 23, 2011.