2-Minute Tip: Close to Open In retail, management coaches employees to Close to Open. That means to get the store clean, stocked and signed at closing time so it’s ready to open up the next day and get right to business. If you are doing a series of presentations, you can do “Future You” a big favor by taking the same approach. Close to open. That…
2-Minute Tip: Use PowerPoint Online Photos PowerPoint has some great tools for sourcing images online. In the version for Windows that comes as part of Office 365 (and possibly other versions), PowerPoint content layout frames include an option to insert online images. If you are working without layouts, you can reach this same function through the Insert menu. …
2-Minute Tip: Tell a Story to Add Value When presenting, we are often selling something. It may be a product, a service, or an idea. To be effective, though, don’t just go through a barrage of features or details. It’s the story that you can connect with your topic that gives it value. It’s the story you tell that your audience will respond to and remember. It’s the…
2-Minute Tip: Photograph Your Space The brain plays tricks on us. It can be difficult to see clutter and distractions in the space around us because we tune them out. That can be true in a home office, in a conference room, or on a presentation stage. Try taking a picture of your presentation space with your phone. Better yet, have someone take a picture, or…
2-Minute Tip: Slides are not Time How many slides should be in a 15-minute presentation? How long is a 10-slide presentation? I don’t know because the number of slides is a poor proxy for presentation length. I would rather see a presenter add more slides than to use a small font. Splitting one slide into multiple slides doesn’t lengthen your presentation. It just makes content more legible….
2-Minute Tip: Avoid Dairy Before Speaking I love a big bowl of sugary cereal or a nice cheesy pizza. I used to drink mochas like water before I decided to switch to Americanos for weight loss (by the way, switching from mochas to Americanos will NOT make 30 pounds just fall off). So I like my milky, cheesy goodness. But not right before speaking. Dairy consumption…
2-Minute Tip: Play Your Videos Full Screen Including short videos in your presentation can be a great way to illustrate your points. They can be videos you shot of people, stock video, animations, or illustrations. If it’s valuable enough to include, make sure your audience can see it. Play it in full screen. The default for PowerPoint when you embed a video is for it to appear…
2-Minute Tip: Know Your Gear Whether its a projector, TV, laptop, audio hookup, or slide clicker, get to know your gear before you conduct your presentation. Figure out in advance how everything works so you’re not scrambling at the last minute to figure out why something doesn’t work the way you thought it would. If there is a problem making something work, you want to know about…
[podcast src=”https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/5824981/height/0/width/0/theme/standard/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/” height=”” width=””] 2-Minute Tip: Prepare 5 Questions We all want an engaged audience. Sometimes that doesn’t happen. To deal with it, have a plan before you start. Instead of scrambling for ways to engage your crowd on the fly, choose 5 questions before you start that you know you can ask. It gives you a chance to engage a quiet group in a more confident way. …