The Presentation Coach

The Presentation Coach: Bare Knuckle Brilliance for Every Presenter by Graham Davies

“You probably hate giving presentations.  You probably hate listening to them too.  Why?  Because most business presentations are too long, too detailed, too boring… and submerged under a blizzard of PowerPoint.

But the single most important presentational tool known to man isn’t a slideshow.  It’s you.

Whether you’re speaking to one person across a table, 20 people in a boardroom or 1,000 people in a ballroom, it’s all about the words you say and how you say them.

The Presentation Coach shows you how to use what you’ve already got, to give you clarity, confidence and impact in every speaking challenge you will ever face.  You’ll learn the unique Bare Knuckle 5-step process to effective presenting, and how to apply it to all business speaking, from large-scale presentations to one-to-one client meetings.  Graham Davies has been coaching high-profile individuals from the worlds of business, politics and entertainment in exactly these techniques for the past 25 years.”

Chapter 1 – The Essentials

Chapter 2 – Know your Audience

Chapter 3 – Make the Statement

Chapter 4 – Hard-Core Content

Chapter 5 – Write it, Read it, Edit

Chapter 6 – From Famous First Words …

Chapter 7 – Nail it all Down

Chapter 8 – Show it … if you really must

Chapter 9 – Control Yourself

Chapter 10 – Control the Day

Chapter 11 – Control Q&A

Chapter 12 – Raise a Smile

Chapter 13 – Adapt to After Dinner

Chapter 14 – Should I Accept the Invitation

Chapter 15 – Challenging Business Situations

Chapter 16 – Challenging Personal Situations

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I really like the tone and style of The Presentation Coach and will be recommending it as an essential read for everyone who has to give presentations.  I particularly like the Action Steps at the end of each chapter which really make you focus on what you’ve read and focus on taking constructive action to implement the suggestions.  This book should be next to you whenever you next start thinking about delivering a presentation…

Here are some quotes from the first couple of chapters … to whet your appetite:

“You may well dread giving presentations.  But always bear in mind that audiences dread listening to them even more.”

“A presentation is real communication, with life and breath and flesh and blood.  Only a live presenter can provide information with inspiration and impact.”

“Knowledge and intellect are useless without the power to communicate.”

“A presentation that includes everything usually achieves nothing.”

“It is possible – and often highly desirable – to make a compelling formal business presentation without using PowerPoint.”

“A presentation is any spoken communication designed to change someone’s point of view.”

“The success of your presentation depends on how much what you say coincides with what they want and need to hear.”

 

To find out more about Graham Davies visit his website : http://www.grahamdavies.co.uk/

Outstanding Presentations Workshop Webinars

Learn from the Top Presentation Experts in the World!

Free 7-week webinar series!

Ellen Finklestein, PowerPoint MVP

“Would you like to ask questions and get answers from top presentation, PowerPoint, and speaking experts?

Join me [Ellen Finklestein] at the online Outstanding Presentations Workshop 2011, for free! Learn how to eliminate Death by PowerPoint and make your presentations come to life as you listen to guest experts share their best techniques and answer your questions!

During the Outstanding Presentations Workshop you’ll learn to:

• sharpen your skills
• more clearly communicate your message
• engage your audience
• maximize your results
• even bring your career to a new level

Each week, you’ll hear from an amazing lineup of guest speakers who will reveal their secrets and strategies on presenting and speaking effectively. You’ll be able to ask them any questions you have, such as:

• How do I write content that meets the needs and questions of my audience?
• How do I design high-impact slides even if I’m not a designer?
• How do I deliver so that I connect with my audience?

When: Wednesdays, starting September 7, 2011 at 11am PT, 12pm MT, 1pm CT, 2pm ET. Each webinar lasts 1 hour but may run
over slightly. Each webinar will be recorded so you can view it later (up to 2 weeks after the session).”

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I’ve signed up to attend these free webinars because all the speakers (and topics) look really interesting and useful including Cliff Atkinson, author of “Beyond Bullet Points”.

 

Find out more here:  http://www.outstandingpresentationsworkshop.com/

Visual Imagery as mental hooks

Why are visual images needed as mental hooks?

Yesterday, I discovered a great website resource from BizGraphics On Demand which is a great collection of professionally designed graphics that will help enhance the visual appearance of presentations.  See yesterday’s post for more details about BizGraphicsOnDemand.

What’s the purpose of a visual diagram?

I used one of their graphics to turn a list into a visual diagram which served the intended purpose.   The initial purpose was to make a boring list look more interesting because I am going to have to refer to that list of units for best part of a year so I’d rather look at something visually appealing than something boring.  I also needed to work out which order I will study the units following certain rules.  As you will see from the visual diagram, I have inserted two milestones (AWARD and CERTIFICATE) which are qualifications in their own right that I will be eligible for by obtaining Units 7001 and 7004 respectively.    As I read about each of the Units I made choices about the order of study and dragged and dropped the text from place to place  until I had everything in an order that suited me.

So, as I say, this original visual diagram served yesterday’s original purpose of turning a linear list into a visual map of study:-

However, when I looked at it again this morning, I started to contemplate the many books which I will need to read  so I have started to research books and websites and have begun the process of inserting pictures of those books/websites as “mental hooks” as reminders of what I need to do.  For example, I own some of the books but others need to be ordered.  No point buying them all up front so I will use the “mental hooks” as reminders to order the books as and when I need them.

The purpose of the visual has changed

When I first downloaded the graphic from BizGraphicsOnDemand it had contained icons to remind me that visual images help the brain to “see” key stages.

Keep reflecting on “the purpose of the visual” and amend it accordingly

This morning, as I say, I’ve started researching books and have started to include images of those books as my own “mental hooks”.  I have also inserted images to denote the milestones where I could stop studying and achieve a Level 7 AWARD and / or a Level 7 CERTIFICATE if I decide not to complete the entire DIPLOMA.

As you will see from the graphic below it now makes it very clear  that the DIPLOMA is vast in comparison to either the AWARD or the CERTIFICATE (even though the work is of the same level) simply by looking at the gap between the first and second Rosettes compared to the huge gap between the second and third Rosettes.

The next step will be to insert a hyperlink to my www.amazon.co.uk account behind each book image where I will save these books in my Shopping Basket.  That way, when the time is right, all I’ll have to do is to click the hyperlink and order the appropriate book.

So, yesterday it was a boring list of units to be studied.  By the end of today it will be a visual study plan, containing various “mental hooks“, with hyperlinks to books and websites of relevance.   There’s a lot of studying ahead of me to achieve this next qualification but I know that having a eye-pleasing visual, containing relevant hyperlinks, will enable me to stay the course and to not feel overwhelmed.  By knowing that the future is planned, my mind will be able to focus on simply tackling the current unit, one unit at a time.

Purpose and intended Audience

Whenever you create any visual diagram you must always keep reflecting on purpose and intended audience and by so doing you will create visuals which are “fit for purpose” and which help the intended audience to “see the bigger picture”, even if that audience is just yourself.   These are lessons which I learnt by reading Jamie Nast’s book Idea Mapping and they are valuable lessons for everyone to take on board.

BizGraphics On Demand

 

 

I discovered this website resource today which is a great collection of professionally designed graphics that will help enhance the visual appearance of presentations.  Here’s a brief extract:

 

The Problem
“You need a great presentation, proposal, marketing slick, or document but you have very little time or money. (Sound familiar?) You have a great solution but you need to turn it into a powerful graphic that quickly shows you have the best solution. You know graphics will help your document shine and up your chances of success. Unfortunately, the only graphics you have, if you have any at all, miss the mark. What do you do? Use Billion Dollar Graphics’ solutions to solve your problem now.”

Solution – PowerPoint Graphics
“Introducing BizGraphics On Demand. Search and download from an amazing library of editable graphics. Lower your risk and cost, speed development, and increase the success
of your presentations, proposals, sales materials, and much more with this one tool.”

(c) BizGraphics On Demand

http://www.bizgraphicsondemand.com/

I have downloaded one which I have used to create a study plan for a Management Qualification that makes the whole journey seem much more interesting than a traditional list.  Compare the list to the visual below:-

Unit 7001: Personal Development as a Strategic Manager – Oct 2011

Unit 7004: Strategic Information Management – Nov 2011

Unit 7002: Strategic Performance Management – Dec 2011

Unit 7009: Strategic Project Management – Jan 2012

Unit 7013: Being a Strategic Leader – Feb 2012

Unit 7014: Strategic Leadership Practice – March 2012

Unit 7006: Organisational Direction – April 2012

Unit 7003: Financial Management – May 2012

Unit 7005: Conducting a Strategic Project – June 2012

 

For me there is absolutely no doubt that the visual, below, is vastly more interesting than the list, above, and I would much prefer to see visuals (rather than boring bullet points) when attending presentations.

This is an excellent resource for anyone who has to create a presentation and who needs some help making it more visually appealing and interesting.

Idea Mapping Webinar by Jamie Nast

Jamie Nast (Author of Idea Mapping: How to Access your Hidden Brain Power, Learn Faster, Remember More and Achieve Success in Business) has recently posted a link to a recorded, archived, Webinar (August 2009) which I highly recommend watching.  It was delivered to nearly 900 Project Managers which hopefully dispels any thoughts that visuals are for “creative types” and not for serious project managers / data analysts.

The webinar lasts an hour (well worth your time, believe me) and  contains a full run-through of what Idea Mapping is (and how it differs from Mind Mapping) and how people can apply the skills (be it hand-drawn or via software) to enable them to visualise information to cope with that feeling of “overwhelm” which I’m sure we’ve all had at some stage.

I have read the book (more than once) and I have watched Jamie’s webinars before but every time I read or watch/listen, I realise what a brilliant idea it is to “visual data”.  If you want to see the experience that I went through when I was “converted” from being entirely linear to releasing the “visual thinker within”, then please look at the following :

Think Like a Genius – In the Mind’s Eye: https://inspiredit.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/think-like-a-genius-the-minds-eye/

Alternatively, I strongly recommend that you click this link and listen to Jamie in action whilst watching a variety of Idea Maps which really bring it all to life.

Even if you don’t use Mind Maps, the concepts Jamie will explain to you are transferable skills so don’t under-estimate them and don’t think they’re only for people who “do mind-mapping”.  For example, I now use her ideas in Microsoft PowerPoint presentations (key words, colour and imagery) and in  Microsoft Visio Diagrams (symbols to help the brain understand the key elements) – with not a mind map or idea map in sight but I am still using Jamie’s concepts.  Many people comment on how easy it is to follow my work even though I’m dealing with vast amounts of information because I seem to “bring it to life and make the complex seem straight-forward”.  If I can do it, so can everyone and I owe it all to Jamie Nast.

Watch the video and release the visual thinker within…

The Gift of Dyslexia

The Gift of Dyslexia: Why some of the brightest people can’t read and how they can learn by Ronald D. Davis

“Why is this book important?  Because the methods described in it work.  Because the techniques can be used to ameliorate a wide variety of symptoms besides reading difficulties – from anxiety to writing difficulties to inability to concentrate.  Because it recognizes the unusual gifts and the extraordinary potential of dyslexics.  Because it turns the mysteries of orientation and disorientation into practical, life-changing techniques.  Because the ability to think in pictures is needed for success in the twenty-first century.”

“Visual-Spatial learners … It truly is a different learning style just requiring a paradigm shift in learning, learning a visual way.”

“… all the essential gifts of dyslexia, including greater development of intuition, the ability to perceive multi-dimensionally, vivid imagination, greater curiousity, insightfulness, the ability to experience thought as reality, heightened awareness of the environment, the ability to think in pictures, and, most important, the ability to alter and create perceptions.  These are vital gifts, becoming more and more sought after in the work world in the modern era.”

“While we are still obsessed in education with the importance of literacy, the future of today’s students is dependent on their ability to see the big picture, to predict trends, to read customers, to think outside the box, to see patterns, to inspire collaboration among peers, to empathize, to synthesize information from a variety of sources, and to perceive possibilities from different perspectives.  These are the natural talents of dyslexics.”

Some famous dyslexics:

• Hans Christian Anderson
• Harry Belafonte
• Alexander Graham Bell
• George Burns
• Winston Churchill
• Albert Einstein
• Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci

Please see my post “Think Like a Genius – The Mind’s Eye; ” https://inspiredit.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/think-like-a-genius-the-minds-eye/

Top 10 reasons to try Visio 2010

An article from Microsoft regarding Visio 2010.  For further details: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/visio/top-10-reasons-to-try-visio-2010-HA101805356.aspx

“Microsoft Visio 2010 advanced diagramming tools help you simplify complexity  with dynamic, data-driven visuals and new ways to share on the Web in real time. Whether you’re creating an organizational chart, a network diagram, or a business process, the new tools and more intuitive interface in Visio 2010 make it easier to bring your diagrams to life.

Jump-start diagramming with templates.

With modern, pre-drawn shapes, intelligent templates, and sample drawings, Visio 2010 offers a wide variety of options to meet your diagramming needs for IT, business, process management, and more.

Find and access the tools you need quickly.

Every step in creating a diagram is more intuitive, with the logical groupings of features in Ribbon tabs, an enhanced Shapes window for
easy access to shapes and stencils, and a new status bar that helps you move more efficiently within and between your diagrams.

Draw diagrams faster with improved automatic features.

Whether you are creating a diagram from scratch or modifying an existing one, Visio 2010 helps you add and align shapes easily and accurately, with features such as the Quick Shapes Mini Toolbar, enhanced dynamic grid, page Auto Size, and automatic alignment and layout adjustment.

Simplify large and complex diagrams.

Add clarity to diagrams using Subprocesses and Containers to group related shapes visually and logically. As a diagram grows larger or becomes more complex, Subprocesses and Containers help you to keep information more organized and understandable.

Make your diagrams professional-looking and appealing in seconds.

Visio 2010 helps you make diagrams look attractive with a wide range of formatting tools and design options, including modern shapes and visuals, a rich gallery of themes, and Live Preview.

Bring your diagrams to life with real-time data.

See the entire picture with dynamic, data-driven diagrams.
Simply connect your diagram to one or more data sources such as Excel or SQL Server. Then, display real-time data right within your diagrams, based on conditions you define, using vibrant colors, icons, symbols, and data bars.

Share diagrams with others on the Web.

Easily share dynamic, data-linked Visio diagrams in Microsoft SharePoint Server. Online users can see your real-time information in their browsers at a high level, right on the diagram, or delve into the
details—even if they don’t own Visio. They can pan and zoom in the diagram, follow hyperlinks in shapes, and refresh the data.

Ensure consistency and accuracy with diagram validation.

Check for common errors and support diagramming standards across your organization using diagram validation. With one click, you can validate a diagram against a set of rules to make sure it’s logical and properly constructed.

 Model and monitor SharePoint workflows.

Create and monitor SharePoint workflows more easily than ever with a new, advanced template that contains SharePoint workflow rules and logic, and supports the ability to export and import workflows between Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 and Visio 2010.

 Create visual mashups using Visio Services.

Publish and share visually compelling dashboards that contain interactive Visio diagrams and other application services. Visio Services and SharePoint Server integration supports visual mashups of actionable data and diagrams for an information-rich viewing experience.”

TagCrowd to create Word Clouds

What is TagCrowd?

“TagCrowd is a web application for visualizing word frequencies in any text by creating what is popularly known as a word cloud, text cloud or tag cloud.

It was created by Daniel Steinbock, a doctoral student in Design and Education at Stanford University.

A word cloud is a beautiful, informative image that communicates much in a single glance. TagCrowd specializes in making your word clouds easy to read, analyze and compare, for a variety of useful purposes:

• as topic summaries for speeches and written works
• as blog tool or website analysis for search engine optimization (SEO)
• for visual analysis of qualitative data
• as brand clouds that let companies see how they are perceived by the world
• for data mining a text corpus
• for helping writers and students reflect on their work
• as name tags for conferences, cocktail parties or wherever new collaborations start
• as resumes in a single glance
• as visual poetry

The list goes on and continues to grow.”

A sample TagCrowd which compares the State of the Union Address, 2002 -v- 2011 gives you an idea of the uses for this powerful application:-

 

TagCrowd utilises Porter Stemming Algorithm “a stemmer” (invented by Dr. Martin Porter 1980)  which is the de facto standard process of reducing words to their stem (or root) to find the frequency of words.

I particularly like TagCrowd because it enables you to link to a URL to extract text or to upload a file or to copy/paste your text, allowing you choices about how to enter your text.  In fact you can copy/paste up to 6Mb of text and you can also join words together by inserting a tilde character to keep, for example, place names as one entry.

As someone who loves words as well as visual imagery, this is a perfect tool.

MindChi

MindChi (Re-wire your Brain in 8 Minutes a day) by Richard Israel and Vanda North is an inspirational book which I whole-heartedly recommend.  But, what, you may ask is MindChi?  Here’s an extract from www.mindchi.com :

Situations covered include:

Achieving goals, increasing creativity, managing change, running effective meetings, coaching skills, sales prospecting, coping with rejection, closing sales, beating the competition, accepting and giving criticism, actively listening, presenting effectively, preparing for job interviews, dealing with difficult people, improving memory, remembering names and faces, speed reading, taming e-mails, multi-tasking, calming stress, balancing work and home life, being a leader, staying positive and improving self-esteem.

The book contains eight one-minute mental exercises designed to give mind chi practitioners an edge over the competition.

Mind Chi Basic – 8 Steps in JUST 8 minutes! Why not try it out for yourself with the Mind Chi Basic 8 Steps

Mind Chi is your attitude, your motivation; your outlook; your willpower; your whole way of facing life; your inner control; your resilience; your goals and purpose…. really nearly all that makes up – YOU!

Mind Chi offers you a simple and revolutionary way to improve your mental energy, (re)gain control of yourself and thereby solve your problems, master your stress and achieve your goals.

Mind Chi is a synthesis of positive psychology, mental wellness and eudemonics (the study of happiness).

The eight steps (taking just 8 minutes) of Mind Chi are grounded firmly in established theories of memory, psychology, mind and motivational development, leading edge brain/mind research and are the distillation of over eighty years’ combined personal experience and development by the authors.

The techniques are designed to improve your control, willpower, attitude, resilience, self-concept, leadership, memory and focus, and in so doing increase your success in business and life.

The Mind Chi Basic 8 step / minute routine

Below is a Mind Chi map of the 8 steps. There are four segments to the Mind Chi Basic routine, each with two steps, making the 8 minute total.

Start where the branch says ‘START’ (11:00 o’clock)

The first two steps, taking a minute each, get your body and mind set up and ready for action. (These two steps are good to do any time you want to improve your concentration and effectiveness.)

1. Breathe – Place one hand on your belly and make sure that it rises and falls more than your other hand which is placed high on your chest. Do deep ‘belly breaths’ for a minute

2. Attend – Look at a second hand on a time piece and think of the word ‘One’ for a full minute. As soon as an intruding thought comes in, move up a number. Notice what number you reached by the end of the minute. The object is to keep your score at ‘one’.

The next two steps look at your ‘PAST’ performance over 24 hour

3. Adjust – Rewind the tape to see where you might have acted / spoken / been more helpful. Learn for if there is a next time. Count these times on your non-dominate hand

4. Associate – Review the tape to see where you did perform in a helpful and positive way. Link these with your feelings of success. Count these on your dominant hand.

The next two steps look at ‘NOW’ and are of great importance. This is where you can experience (re)gaining control over yourself.

5. Be Aware – Check in with your Body, Emotions, Actions and Thoughts (BEAT) to observe how they are functioning.

6. Choose – The crucial step, because IF they are not what you wish, this is where you get to change them!

And the final two steps give you the ‘FUTURE’ you desire.

7. Plan – Project 24 hours, how would you like to be / act / think and feel?  Multi-sensorially experience yourself in a forward ‘video’.

8. Be Grateful – This is for all that you have received and may receive – it sends you on your way with a happy heart, a spring in your step and an expectant frame of mind…

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There are a couple of excellent Questionnaires on the Mindchi website to get you started.  They are quick and easy to complete and very much worth the few minutes it takes as it enables you to reflect on yourself.

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Mind Chi for Business

Did you know?

Approximately $40 Billion is LOST per year because of stress related sickness and time off tasks!

If 9 out of 10 of the larger organisation are offering health initiatives to their employees there MUST be a good reason! And there is!  They experience a drop in absenteeism, increased staff morale and improved productivity.

• If you work, full time, part time, volunteer, unpaid or 24/7 Mind Chi is for you.
• If you would like increased success in both your business and personal life, Mind Chi is for you.
• If you would enjoy greater personal control, power, ability and energy, Mind Chi is for you.

‘Mind Chi’ addresses the 7 key issues that Business People face.

Mind Chi directly addresses the key issues our research shows that you, the busy Business Person, want to overcome. Mind Chi is for you if you suffer from:

• Mental Exhaustion / Tiredness
• Stress, strain and Burnout
• Work-Life out of Balance
• Un-met Goals / poor Performance
• Poor Sales Results
• Lack of Energy and Motivation and
• Dented Self-concept.

 

 

A Daily Dose of Mind Chi

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to have a daily dose of something positive?  Sign up now and you can have a daily dose of Mind Chi Joy from Vanda and Richard, delivered to your inbox right on cue every morning to keep you motivated and on top form.

Intuition: using both Minds

Here’s an extract from an interesting Article in “People Management” magazine, by Eugene Sadler-Smith, Author of The Intuitive Mind

“By its very nature, intuition is something that’s difficult to put your finger on.  But, although it’s hard to describe, pinning it down as a particular, learnt expertise will allow you to reap tangible rewards.”

“Many leaders and managers believe that their intuition – often described as “gut instinct” – is indispensable when making business decisions.  But, while the anecdotes of the likes of Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson, Apple’s Steve Jobs or former GE boss Jack Welch can be compelling, harder evidence is needed.”

“What exactly is intuition, how does it work – and can it be developed?”

“The consensus among researchers is that intuition is:

• Uninvited and instant: it’s an automatic involuntary response to complex problems and decisions.
• Affective: it’s accompanied by gut feelings of varying levels of intensity.
• Holistic: It allows us to “parallel process” information quickly and efficiently, and to see the bigger picture.
• Non-conscious: we’re aware only of the outcomes of intuition.  The process occurs “backstage” and is therefore non-conscious.
• Potentially powerful and perilous: In the right hands, intuition can be a powerful way to handle complex problems under time pressure, in the wrong hands, it can be ineffective and even dangerous.”

“Intuition can be understood in terms of a “two minds” model: we have two minds – one analytical, the other intuitive – in one brain.  This isn’t the same as the  old idea of the split brain, which has intuition and creativity housed in the right hemisphere and analysis and rationality in the left one.  Modern neuroscience paints a far more complex picture of the neural geography of human thinking.  The dual-processing capacity that comes with having two minds gives us the potential to be cognitively ambidextrous i.e. to solve problems and make decisions using analysis or intuition depending on the situation.  Neither mind is intrinsically better than the other: they’re both good at different sorts of things.”

…”Intuitive experts aren’t born, they’re made …

… “recognising gut feelings as a valid source of data means not mixing them up with basic emotions and also learning how to put a brake on the personal prejudices, biases and wishful thinking that can hijack good intuitive judgement”.

…”It’s important to remember that the intuitive mind is at its most powerful when used in combination with its analytical counterpart.  Microsoft’s Bill Gates said in a recent interview with CNN: “If I think something is going to catch on, I trust my own intuition”.  Crucially, he also acknowledged that intuition can be “often wrong, but my batting record is good enough that I keep swinging every time the ball is thrown”…

…”The basis of the “two minds” model is that the intuitive mind and the analytical mind both have vital roles to play in thinking, judging, deciding and problem-solving.”

Eugene Sadler-Smith is professor of management development and organisational behaviour at the University of Surrey’s School of Management and author of Inside Intuition (Routledge 2008) and The Intuitive Mind (Wiley, 2010) and will be speaking at the CIPD’s HRD conference, London, 21-22 April 2010.

I’ve ordered my copy of The Intuitive Mind and will review it next month and welcome comments from anyone who has already read it.