July 2015

Dynamism of Ethos: Audience Perception in Presentations

Posted on July 10, 2015 by Rick E

As we’ve discussed previously, Ethos is an important pillar of classical rhetoric that focuses on an audience’s perception of a speaker.

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Just like presentations, it can be described as dynamic in nature or a perceived phenomenon. A crowd’s perception is subject to change, even within the confines of one discussion.

Let’s talk about these stages in the chronological order of your credibility’s perception.

Initial Credibility

Your listeners will always have their own idea of who you are based on what they see of you– even before you begin your speech.

Without much to base their opinion on, they’ll use your reputation and credentials as a foundation to judge your speaking competence. They may be in the dark about your personal details and qualifications, but they can still form initial impressions on your credibility.

This can be affected by how you are introduced, how you dress up, how you carry yourself, and how you make use of body language techniques.

An introduction that plays up your achievements and credentials can give a boost to your Ethos.

Similarly, how you dress up and take the stage shows how well-versed you are in social norms and communication practices. If ever you blunder through your start, don’t worry. You still have the next part to get back into your groove.

Transactional Credibility

As you get into the meat of your speech, your audience molds their ideas of you based on how you do as a speaker.

Even subconsciously, they can continuously form additional assessments or modifications of their initial impressions. This can give you a second chance, in case you had fumbled your initial impression.

If you started with a high level of credibility, you’ll lose a lot of it if you come ill-prepared. In turn, a disappointed crowd may feel misled and promptly tune themselves out.

If you had started with a low level of credibility, then this is your opportunity to make up for it with a well-planned and executed presentation.

Being aware of verbal and non-verbal ways give you an edge when changing or improving your listeners’ perception. Staying composed will let you use these techniques when it matters most.

Terminal Credibility

How your audience views your aptitude and mastery as a speaker is the terminal credibility.

Have you experienced being pleasantly surprised at how much you enjoyed a conversation with someone you had previously doubted?

This is how it feels when your opinion of that person zooms from the extreme lows to the extreme highs. Your presentation’s beginning is useless if you don’t end it on a high note. A strong ending makes your message more reliable and improves your initial credibility for your next speaking opportunity.

If you keep this going, you’ll build a reputation to keep audiences hanging on to every word you say.

Conclusion

Knowing the dynamism of Ethos ensures that you can maintain a natural course of improvement towards being a better speaker– whether in the short term or in the long term.

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References

“Speaker Credibility.” Changing Minds. Accessed July 10, 2015.
“Presentation Ideas from Ancient Greece: Explaining Ethos.” SlideGenius, Inc. 2015. Accessed July 10, 2015.

Featured Image: “Man Speaking Into Microphones” by www.audio-luci-store.it on flickr.com

4 Speech Patterns that Downplay Your Business Presentation

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Rick E

Taking presentation ethics to heart may increase your speaking credentials, but your audience also judges your credibility based on your speech patterns.

Though these conversational behaviors are unintentional, they still derail your image, hamper your flow, alienate your listeners or, worse, downplay your business presentation’s effectivity.

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Here are four common public speaking habits you should avoid at all costs, along with their potential remedies:

1. Overusing Qualifiers

Qualifiers are words like “very,” “really,” or “somewhat” that emphasize or modify the degree of a statement. Though they limit or enhance the information presented, using them excessively weaken your message’s impact.

These modifiers are commonly used for hedging or expressing vague language. They’re useful in narrative writing, but have no place in professional presentations. Using this set of words lessen your authority and diminish the impact of your message. You can get away with it to make your statement sound more solid and credible.

Avoid overusing qualifiers because it only delays your main thought, shunning audiences in an instant. For example, saying “I believe we are the best ad agency in the district” can sound less appealing than “We are the best ad agency in the district.”

Don’t be hesitant to omit words or substitute them with more assertive ones. Be confident and direct to maximize your credibility.

2. Adding Question Tags

A tag question or tail question is used to confirm someone’s understanding or connect with another person’s thoughts or feelings. Short phrases like “Isn’t it?”, “Don’t you?”, and “Aren’t you?” are few of the common examples of this conversational pattern.

Adding these short questions at the end of your statement is not the best way to affect a conversational tone. In fact, a study found that tag questions have indirectly adverse effects on audience’s perceptions of the speaker’s credibility.

This speech habit brings confusion to your presentation, sabotaging your message’s quality and making you seem in need of approval and validation. It can also lead to a misconception that you lack self-belief and knowledge on the topic.

Don’t let these speech fragments weaken your sentence’s ending. Think of other ways that can help involve people in the conversation.

Asking an independent question can be an effective alternative to tag questions. Transition your message with a follow-up question, such as: “This research is another breakthrough in the marketing industry. What are your impressions on this?” to better engage your audience.

3. Repeating Filler Words

Filler words are another verbal hiccup that undermine your public speaking reputation. They are short utterances or words that are added unconsciously to a sentence for no reason.

These include the dreadful words “Um”, “Well”, “You know” and “Uh”. Although they don’t have meanings, they still have an effect to your listeners.

Repeated and excessive use of filler words is the best way to lose your audience and weaken your credibility. This conversational routine can distort your message and distract people from what you’re saying.

Curb this bad public speaking habit by listing down your ideas prior to your business presentation. This lessens the panic, making you speak more comfortably and confidently.

Practicing speech pauses also helps overcome the “Um” problem. Pause to your advantage to give yourself some time to think and respond more effectively.

4. Up-Talking

Are you guilty of ending your sentence with a high vocal pitch? This practice is called high rising terminal (HRT) or up talk.

It’s a habitual pattern that makes a simple declarative sentence sound more like a question because of the rising intonation. Doing this leaves people an impression of you being weak and feeling inferior to them.

In a survey conducted by Pearson, 85% of research participants said that up talking indicates a person’s insecurity or emotional weakness while 57% of them believed that it damages a person’s professional credibility.

This implies that speaking in a very high pitch is discouraged especially when doing business pitches. When you make an important point like “Our sales are increasing,” avoid saying it like “Our sales are increasing?”

Ending it like a question only makes your statement tentative and uncertain. Your goal is to inform your audience, not to confuse them.

If you’re a natural up-talker, practice breathing exercises prior to your presentation. This allows you to relax and maintain your vocal range and speak with conviction without the rising intonation. Developing a sense of certainty. Learning how to communicate a sentence gives you confidence, so do it often.

Conclusion

It’s impossible to captivate your audience if they don’t see you as confident and credible. Bad speaking habits and patterns such as qualifiers, tag questions, filler words, and up-talking disrupt people’s attention and harm your credibility.

Excessive use of qualifiers delay and weaken a message’s impact. Break free from this habit by making your statement more direct. Adding question tags at the end of your sentence can make you look like asking for approval from others. Instead, ask them a follow-up question to catch their attention.

The dreaded filler words are one of the culprits to effective public speaking. Practice speech pauses to speak more comfortably and confidently. Up talking causes people question your certainty about a topic. Some breathing exercises might help in cooling you down and helping you avoiding speaking in high-pitched voice.

Eliminate these bad speech patterns to effectively deliver your business presentations.

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References

“3 Speaking Habits That Are Damaging Your Credibility.” No Freaking Speaking. n.d. Accessed February 5, 2016. www.nofreakingspeaking.com/index.html/3-speaking-habits-that-are-damaging-your-credibility/

Marr, Bernard. “Want A Promotion? Then Don’t UpSpeak!” LinkedIn. January 20, 2014. Accessed February 5. 2016. www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140120061951-64875646-want-a-promotion-then-don-t-upspeak?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0

“Hedges, tag questions, message processing, and persuasion.” Academia. Accessed February 5, 2016. www.academia.edu/744111/Hedges_tag_questions_message_processing_and_persuasion

Presentation Skill: Improving Your Authentic Speaking Style

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Rick E

There’s no fixed formula when it comes to public speaking.

Presenters are concerned with following a set of rules and are often focused on what you should and should not do.

However, applying a few standards isn’t bad. In fact, learning and mastering the basics will help them acquire presentation skills to make them successful.

As a presenter, you need to understand that your presentation’s success isn’t determined just by how engaging you are, how powerful you speak, how you deliver your words, or how effective you project your voice in front of your audience.

It’s about being authentic when you present.

Show them that you’re trustworthy and sincere to bring them to a real human connection.

Being Perfect vs. Being Genuine

Every public speaker wants to be excellent in their field. Even professionals still strive to be the best presenters.

However, you can’t achieve this without knowing how to connect with your audience.

Doing it lets you draw them to your message. Emotions help us recall how a certain story can make us feel.

Since practice precedes perfection, consider these ways to improve your presentation skill in speaking:

Embrace Your Natural Qualities

List your strengths and potentials, then apply it to your performance. Avoid imitating someone else’s speech and delivery style. Doing so allows your audience to see that you’re similar to them.

Be Unique

Never compare yourself with others’ behavior or capabilities. Know how to value your own abilities to let your audience see that like them, you’re unique.

Let Your Style Flow Naturally

If you’re an introvert, don’t force yourself to act as an extrovert. Don’t let this instance manipulate you and push you to become someone you’re not.

Everyone has unique personalities and has different ways of expressing themselves, especially when it comes to presenting in public.

Speak Naturally

Think about how you will deliver your message to your audience.

Act as if you’re communicating with your friends or colleagues. Doing so helps you pitch more authentic and conversational.

Don’t Try To Be Perfect

Aiming for perfection can sometimes disappoint you. Perfectionism differs from excellence.

While the former can’t accept rejections or any failures, the latter strives to make their joy complete by doing their best.

Tell the truth and don’t be too focused on speaking perfectly. After all, not all effective presentations are perfect. They become successful once you engage your audience passionately and genuinely.

Conclusion

Your presentation’s success can be determined by how you authentically engage your audience.

Deliver your message naturally to make it sound conversational.

Understanding these ways will lessen the negative thoughts which convince you to become someone you’re not.

Start using your own authentic style of speaking and see how you become a successful presenter.

To craft an effective and powerful presentation, SlideGenius can help you out!

References

http://www.gingerpublicspeaking.com/public-speaking-art-form
http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Develop_your_Authentic_Public_Speaking_Style_Seven_Tips.html

Professional Presentation: 3 Mistakes to Avoid During Q&As

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Rick E

Your presentation doesn’t end when you finish delivering your pitch. You might have an interactive PowerPoint or award-winning speech that determines your success, but the effectiveness of your overall performance all points to one objective: getting your message across clearly to your audience.

The other crucial elements that define your pitch’s impact are: your manner of speaking, voice projection, body language, and how you convince your audience to listen and take immediate action.

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The Q&A portion is an essential part of any professional presentation. This is where the audience gets the chance to speak up and clarify some important points, letting you listen attentively to understand their queries. Also it allows you to mention other useful examples that boosts not only their interest, but also their desire to learn more from you.

However, there are things that some presenters fall short of when addressing questions.

Here are three practices you might overlook the next time you speak onstage and entertain audience questions. Avoid these blunders before they disrupt your success:

1. Failing to Prepare

You might have spent most of your time preparing your deck and pitch before the big day. But it’s not enough to anticipate immediate success. Failing to formulate questions that might be tapped during the Q&A portion can leave you out of control, especially when you’re asked with a difficult question. Remember that the crowd has invested their time and effort to listen and learn. This is why you need to show your respect by being well-prepared to prevent them from being disappointed. Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned speaker, it’s important to list down what your audience might bring up to help you construct a more direct statement as your response.

International speaker Alan Fairweather advises presenters to think of possible questions that might come up while planning and preparing your pitch. This will not only allow you to give useful answers for your audience, but will also prevent you from being viewed as unprofessional. Having enough practice also lets you ask for other’s feedback and encourages them to ask more about your topic. It can also keep you from being noticed as unconfident and incompetent. In this case, you can have someone from your colleague to seat in front and observe your performance. Let him listen to and understand your topic while doing a mock presentation. Once you’re done talking, demand questions and convince him to raise questions. Not only will it help you rehearse for the actual pitch. It’ll also make you more comfortable in addressing any kind of questions.

This gives you an idea on how to properly respond to audience concerns and provide a more logical answer that’ll make them satisfied.

2. Getting Sidetracked by Trivial Questions

It’s no surprise that some of your listeners will raise questions that seem irrelevant to what you’re discussing. The reason might be because they’ve misunderstood the topic, or they might just want to clarify a certain idea that you’ve covered. If you encounter this kind of question, English Teacher Artur Pivovarov mentions a few answers that you can use: “Can we talk about that on another occasion?” or “That’s interesting, but I’d prefer not to answer that today.” Such scenarios happen at some point, but you shouldn’t allow these certain kind of queries to dominate the entire Q&A forum. This is to avoid ruining your performance and confusing other audience members.

Accommodating every question won’t help you make things clearer. Worse, doing it might lead you and your audience astray. Before anything else, make sure to tell your listeners that you’ll be entertaining questions after your pitch. This is to let you finish the entire presentation and prevent you from getting caught up by misleading queries.

Filter every question that comes up, and answer only relevant questions to save time and focus on your main points. Always go back to your main objective to guide you all throughout your speaking engagement.

3. Being Untruthful to Your Audience

While careful and in-depth preparation enables you to handle Q&A with ease, there will always come a time when unexpected questions will come to light. According to speaker and trainer Gilda Bonanno, when someone from the crowd raises a certain question that you think you can’t answer, don’t hesitate to admit it. After all, it would be much better to tell the truth than to provide false arguments that might affect your credibility as a presenter.

Although this scenario happens when you haven’t researched enough for your topic, it can also occur when you can barely understand the question being asked. In this case, you can tell them that you’ll address that question once you know the right answer and give you time to conduct a follow-up research. However, you need to think of other ways on how to deliver it in a more decent approach. Instead of merely saying “I don’t know,” you can say something like “Thanks for bringing that up. I think I’ll have to look after my references and check other resources to answer that question.”

Showing your interest to clarify certain ideas after the entire session can make a difference in convincing your listeners that you’re willing to provide them with fact-based answers, not just plain opinions. Don’t leave your audience hanging and misguided. Rather, give them something they can remember without lying. This is to avoid putting your integrity in question and losing your audience’s trust.

Conclusion

Understanding these points allows you to avoid mistakes when you answer your audience’s questions. This helps you maintain your credibility and professional look as you address them graciously and rightfully.

While it’s good to cover all possible questions in your pitch without the need for any clarifications, there’ll always be some listeners who’ll make their way to give feedback. Given that your time is limited to present your message, it’s important to prepare for possible questions to help you provide clearer and more concise answers.

When entertaining audience feedback, maintain your performance by letting your speech tone and body language show you’re interested and willing to answer any questions.

Since your entire performance depends on how you successfully start and end your presentation, you shouldn’t neglect how this section completes your pitch’s success.

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References

Bonanno, Gilda. “Public Speaking: Six Mistakes to Avoid When Answering Questions.” SelfGrowth.com. n.d. www.selfgrowth.com/articles/public-speaking-six-mistakes-to-avoid-when-answering-questions

Fairweather, Alan. “9 Tips for Handling Public Speaking Questions.” Lee Hopkins. n.d. www.leehopkins.com/9-tips-for-handling-public-speaking-questions.html

Pivovarov, Artur. “Presentation Skills. Unit 8: Dealing with Questions.” SlideShare. May 1, 2012. www.slideshare.net/ArturPivovarov/unit-8-12763217

3 Effective Tips for Simplifying PowerPoint Slide Designs

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Rick E

We’ve said before that simple slide designs are every professional presenter’s bread and butter. Whether they’re TED Talk speakers or Steve Jobs, all of them rely on slides that feature one visual and one caption, allowing them to get their point across clearly.

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These slides aren’t used as scripts. After all, professional presenters use them to help the audience visualize what they say while they use an informal, conversational tone. According to brand communications expert, Carmine Gallo, they also support their speech with at least three important points centered on a main idea.

While we can talk about the benefits of simplified PowerPoint slide designs, it’s also important to know exactly how to do them.

Ad veteran Luke Sullivan cites top advertising professionals as those who make simple, effective advertisements by boiling them down to one main element.

Three Simple Questions to Answer

A typical PowerPoint slide contains an image, a headline, a caption, body text, and sometimes lists and bullet points. While they contain the information you need, slides like these can end up overloaded and confusing.

Reduce your slides to the essentials with these questions:

1. Can You Make Your Slide Work Without the Body Text?

Pasting text on the slide and reading it out ends up alienating you from your audience and cutting potential for interaction with them.

Don’t recite a script. Instead, tell them a compelling story and giving them reasons to invest in your proposal. Remove the text from your slides if your visuals can work without them, no matter how well-written they may be.

This will make your layout cleaner and let you talk more. Your presentation is there to help your audience visualize what you’re supposed to say, not give you an on-stage script.

2. Is Your Caption Bringing Any New Information?

Your caption should support your image.

Let’s take a look at one of Gallo’s examples — Steve Jobs presentations. The caption “1000 songs in our pocket” was superimposed with the image of an actual pants pocket to show the iPod Nano’s main feature.

This is similar to author Jim Aitchison’s example of the style used in the Volkswagen ad featuring a lunar landing craft with the caption “It’s ugly, but it gets you there”. These effective captions bring new information that’s not seen in the visual, but if your image can work without it, so much the better.

A print ad for The Economist only had the image of a keyhole with the magazine’s logo at the bottom.

While part of a campaign, this showed that the publication was the key to unlocking useful industry secrets and information that only its readers can enjoy.

3. Do You Need a Title, or Can the Visual Speak for Itself?

Sometimes, presenters use titles on top of their slides to separate different sections.

In theory, this sounds logical, but if your visual can speak for itself, or if you tell your audience what you want to talk about in the next part of your PowerPoint, why use a title?

A simple headline on the slide itself or a single image shown front and center works better.

Ensure that only one element is prominent in your slide. This makes it easier for your audience to read your text, and keeps their attention focused on you.

Keep the Audience’s Eyes on You

You can make PowerPoint slide designs comparable to those used by Steve Jobs and TED speakers by following this principle of simplicity.

This exercise is difficult when you’re tempted to paste everything into your slides. You’re the one giving the pitch, not your PowerPoint. Keep your audience focused on what you say.

To help you make simple but effective PowerPoint slides, all you need is fifteen minutes to get in touch with our presentation experts.

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References

Aitchison, J. Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century. Singapore; New York: Prentice Hall, 2004.
Gallo, C. The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010.
“Reduce and Simplify Like a PowerPoint Professional.” SlideGenius, Inc. May 25, 2015. Accessed July 8, 2015.
Sullivan, L. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads (3rd Ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
“The Economist: Keyhole.” Adsoftheworld.

3 Lenses of First Impressions During Business Presentation

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Rick E

The moment you begin speaking, people start building their own opinion of you. This first impression usually answers the questions “Who are you?” and ‘What do you do?”

Answer these questions accurately to ensure that your business presentation always starts off right.

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There are many interesting ways to enhance your audience’s perception of you and your message. In fact, social psychologist, Dr. Heidi Grant Halvorson believes that people see you in different lenses: the trust, power, and ego lenses.

We’ve taken these three lenses of a first impression as an inspiration to help you jump-start your business presentation – all the way through to success.

Trust Lens

You don’t want your audience to perceive you as indecisive and unreliable. Draw people to listen to you by building your credibility and demonstrating warmth and competence.

Presentations that are built on trust have a competitive advantage in establishing strong business relationships.

Looking through this lens not only lands you a positive impression but also protects your brand reputation, increases customer loyalty and gains the respect of your competitors.

Power Lens

This impression lens determines your worth to your audience. Since people seek benefits they’ll get from your presentation, ask yourself: “What does my audience need to hear from me?”

Tailoring your message in a way that serves your audience’s needs is ideal for boosting your discussion’s perceived usefulness. Make this your daily mantra to establish a favorable image and to build new networks.

Ego Lens

The ego lens lets your audience reflect on whether you’re proposing competition or an alliance.

Don’t worry if they happen to see you as both friend and foe. Instead, treat it as a strategic way of making your business grow. If they see you as an ally, they’ll see something in you that they need, hence encouraging them to do business with you.

If they see you as a foe, they’ll find strengths you have that they don’t have – which they also need, increasing their perception of you as the unbeatable expert in the industry.

Experiencing a point of distinction proves that you’re bringing valuable professional insights and strategies to your listeners.

Conclusion

Positive impressions make up a big part in influencing your audience and predicting the success of your presentation. Explore these three lenses of first impression to prove yourself worthy of your listeners’ time and attention.

Get their trust to build a strong relationship with them, reassure them that you’re capable of delivering what they need, and that you are the best person or company to approach to solve their needs. Once you pass through each lens, there’ll be nothing that’ll come between you and landing a sales deal with your client.

Once you pass through each lens, there’ll be nothing that’ll come between you and landing a sales deal with your client.

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References

“10 Ways to Make a Positive First Impression during Presentations.” SlideGenius, Inc. September 10, 2014. Accessed July 7, 2015.
DR. HEIDI GRANT HALVORSON. Accessed July 7, 2015.
“Presentation Tips: 5 Easy Ways to Establish Your Credibility.” SlideGenius, Inc. 2014. Accessed July 7, 2015.

Featured Image: Wikimedia

Paul Boross: The 7 Secrets of a Successful Business Pitch

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Rick E

Competition exists in every business. It’s what drives them to introduce new and original ideas that stand out from those of other companies.

To achieve this, make a pitch that brings positive results.

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Your presentation style, delivery techniques, and body language are other important elements in getting your message across.

Craft your message’s content in an engaging and powerful way to convince your clients when starting your business proposal. This gives them an idea that you’re interested and you know your subject matter well.

Pitch like Paul

In his book, “The Pitching Bible,” Paul Boross revealed seven secrets of a successful business pitch. With over twenty-five years of experience in business, psychology, and performing arts, Boross has been recognized as the Pitch Doctor, having trained politicians and business professionals to deliver effective messages.

Develop your business pitch with his seven secrets:

Secret 1: It’s All About Them

Your audience is your presentation’s main focus. They’re the reason why you’re presenting.

Know what they need and propose a strategy to convince them to buy your ideas. This is to show that you care about them and their concerns.

Secret 2: By the Time You Start, It’s Already Too Late

Your presentation begins when your audience decides to attend, not when you introduce yourself and show your first slide.

Meet their expectations before your performance starts by coming in well-prepared. If they can see that you’ve spent time doing your research and practicing your speech, they’ll decide that listening to you is a good use of their time.

Secret 3: Steady, Ready, Pitch!

Before you speak, breathe deeply to ease your anxiety. Establish a good relationship with them before you even begin by showing you’re comfortable with your audience.

Engage them by telling a story or by asking questions that require their participation.

Secret 4: Dream the Dream

Since your goal is to connect with your audience, your idea should appeal to their emotions.

While you present your facts and figures, incorporate stories that build an emotional connection. Though business presentations should be professional, having a genuine connection will help them remember your message.

Secret 5: Mind Your Language

Your business pitch’s content is as important as your body language. Though nonverbal communication greatly influences your message, your verbal language also plays a vital role in motivating your audience.

Since they look for things that benefit them, apply “benefit because feature” to generate interest. This helps you connect with their needs and address their concerns.

Secret 6: Say It Again, Sam

Repetition is significant when talking about your main points. It helps your audience recall your message by reiterating it in different ways.

More than words, tell your message by means of how you dress, how you interact with them and give them a good impression.

Secret 7: The End… Or Is It?

Your presentation isn’t limited inside the boardroom and doesn’t end after you’re done speaking.

Motivate your audience by making them feel that they want more. Distribute handouts or other forms of white paper to help them remember your message.

Doing a follow-up is vital especially when you want to give updates. You can also listen to your client’s side and get to know them better by networking.

Conclusion

Write a more powerful pitch that benefits both you and your audience by mastering these seven secrets.

Your presentation begins before the actual date you’ll be speaking. Being prepared lets you draw your audience to your message because they understand that you care about meeting their needs. This increases your chances of winning more of your clients’ business the next time you present.

To craft an effective and engaging business presentation, SlideGenius experts can help you out!

Download free PowerPoint templates now.

Get professionally designed PowerPoint slides weekly.

References

“4 Tips to Build Networks After Your Business Presentation.” SlideGenius, Inc. June 30, 2015. Accessed July 7, 2015.
The Pitching Bible. Accessed July 7, 2015.
“The Science of Effective Storytelling in Presentations.” SlideGenius, Inc.. September 28, 2014. Accessed July 7, 2015.

PowerPoint Presentations: Do You Really Need Them?

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Rick E

PowerPoint is the undisputed king of all presentation software. With about 500 million users relying on it to create their visual aids, no one can deny its dominance.

Aside from the contemporary presentation designs it offers, we need them to enhance and support our core message.

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We still get questions from some presenters, wondering if they even need slides to go with their speech. To answer this question, let’s first examine how they benefit your presentations:

All-Around Usefulness

What helps PowerPoint immensely is its inclusion in Microsoft Office.

Its similarity to Word (and even freeware Word variations) means that it’s convenient for all types of users and purposes.

This software has basic photo-manipulating capabilities, whereas animations and image placement are easy to do. It’s also made it easier to edit and layout text. With these advanced features, sharing visual information has become easier to plan for and execute.

According to tech guru, Aaron Parson, most presentations will benefit from PowerPoint’s versatility. It can be used for pitching, selling, teaching, and even entertaining. It lets you draw diagrams, assorted graphs, charts, and even basic illustrations, with possibilities for online sharing.

Notable Exceptions

While PowerPoint exhibits all-around usefulness, there are still some situations where you shouldn’t depend on it.

Motivational speeches often don’t need accompanying visual aids. They require greater focus on the presenter’s body language and facial expressions – things that projected slides could distract from.

Speeches that focus on a speaker’s personal experiences generally don’t need an accompanying deck. Better described as performances, presenters serve as their own visual aids through non-verbal communication.

PowerPoint by Default

Determine from the beginning if your presentation needs an accompanying deck. This allows you to better divide and plan your time and resources for maximizing your speech.

Knowing that you almost always need a deck to back you up, it pays to know what makes for effective PowerPoint presentations.

Conclusion

PowerPoint remains a vital tool to complement your message visually because of its convenience and ease of use.

Knowing from the beginning whether you need to include a PowerPoint deck will help you plan for it, or prepare to present without it.

Certain types of presentations lend themselves to PowerPoint decks. If you’ll be giving a speech based on personal experience, without needing to explain complicated facts, people will focus more on your facial expressions and body language. In the instances you do need to use slides, learn the various factors that determine its success or failure.

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References

“3 Reasons Why PowerPoint Presentations Are Still Effective.” SlideGenius, Inc. August 6, 2015.
Parson, Aaron. “5 Uses of PowerPoint.” EHow. June 2, 2015. Accessed July 6, 2015.
“PowerPoint Usage and Marketshare.” Infogr.am. Accessed July 6, 2015.

How to Sell Your Sales Pitch by Not Sounding like One

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Rick E

According to ad veteran Luke Sullivan, the role of every sales pitch is to sell the merchandise. Some presenters dress up their PowerPoint decks with catchy fonts. Others use dated pop-culture references to sound funny.

But there’s always a risk that presentation style and gimmicks will distract the audience from what you want to sell.

Clients will also be sitting through several other sales presentations. If each competing pitch uses similar catchy gimmicks, this results in clutter. The trick to cutting through this clutter is to be professional enough to not sound like a normal sales pitch.

How can you do this?

Make it simple.

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Know Your Product Well

Simplicity is the PowerPoint professional’s best friend. This maximizes the time you have to pitch your offering, ensuring your concept doesn’t overtake the product, but reinforces your pitch.

As renowned author, Jim Aitchison suggests, knowing every aspect of your product to keeping it simple. Once you have enough information to make a short description, start getting ideas to make an interesting sales message.

Don’t use interesting gimmicks before showing your product. To make your sales presentation interesting enough, avoid sounding like a typical hard sell.

An effective way to talk about your offering is to present your pitch as if you were telling a story. People can more easily remember information if they receive it in the form of a narrative.

Get to the point at the start, describe your product, and focus on what your clients get out of it.

The Catch: Make It Interesting

One thing shared by every PowerPoint professional is a balance of showing your merchandise and an interesting execution.

This balance doesn’t let your presentation idea get in the way of what you show, simply because it comes from your product.

Once you have that one main offering to feature in your sales presentation, be it a phone with more memory, a car that runs on less fuel or a more comfortable brand of shoes, center your presentation strategy on supporting it.

Decide what strategy this will be. Ask yourself the following questions:

Do you want to focus on citing facts known only to your product?
Do you want to show your advantages over the competition?
Do you want to make your benefits the main attraction?

Conclusion

Selling your product is your main objective, and you need clients to invest in your offer. Using gimmicks can be interesting, but not necessarily translate into tangible sales.

Knowing your product should always be your starting point for getting great presentation ideas. After you know your product inside and out, talk about its benefits in an engaging manner, be it through storytelling or by getting straight to the point. Center your presentation strategy on the one main offer you want to emphasize to create a solid proposal.

To make the most out of your presentation ideas, get in touch with a presentation professional to take your ideas further.

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References

Aitchison, J. Cutting Edge Advertising: How to Create the World’s Best Print for Brands in the 21st Century. Singapore; New York: Prentice Hall, 2004.
“Craft Your Corporate Presentations into a Great Story.” SlideGenius, Inc. May 15, 2015. Accessed July 6, 2015.
“Hard Sell Definition.” Investopedia. 2010. Accessed July 6, 2015.
Sullivan, L. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This! A Guide to Creating Great Ads. Hoboken, NJ – J. Wiley & Sons, 2008.

3 Presentation Benefits of Using Silence as Strategic Pause

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Rick E

“There are times when silence has the loudest voice.” – Leroy Brownlow

Most presenters neglect how essential silence is during presentations. Instead, they focus on improving their vocal projection, pitch, and language choice.

However, speech trainer, Gary Genard, suggests that there are times when silence doesn’t necessarily indicate awkwardness.

When you’re overwhelmed by noise and can’t express yourself clearly, pause for a while. Embrace silence and let it guide you throughout your discussion.

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Let’s look at some of the benefits you’ll get when you use silence to your advantage:

Assists Learning

The sound of silence plays a key role in facilitating audience’s learning.

If you’re explaining a complicated situation or critical information, a moment of silence allows your audience to process and absorb your message.

Using silence as a strategic pause creates a smooth transition from one point to another. It also prevents your listeners from tuning out and getting lost in your pitch.

Develops Relationships

Pausing makes you more like a listener than a speaker. And this isn’t a bad thing, because you need to listen before you speak. It’s crucial, especially when responding to audience feedback and their questions.

Though silence is often interpreted as a nervous habit, it also indicates your willingness to listen. It gives your listeners a chance to speak up, demonstrating respect for them and what they’re trying to convey.

Creates Emphasis

Pausing at the right time builds emphasis and adds positive suspense that builds up to the meat of your speech.

As Mark Twain said, “The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.”

Silence is an effective tool for emphasizing dramatic statements, important details, and points that need to be clarified. Well-placed pauses for emphasis also take participant attention and interest further.

Demonstrates Confidence

Effective pauses demonstrate your control and confidence about your message.

Your courage to break the flow of your discussion shows an authoritative presence, supports your nonverbal communication, and enhances your relationship with your listeners.

When done properly, pauses don’t connote unease or ineptitude, but grace and power.

Conclusion

Using silence as a presentation tool makes you a more effective speaker.

When used properly, it can make it easier for your audience to catch up with what you’re saying. Pauses make you sound like you are willing to listen to your audience, creating a positive relationship with them. Well-timed silences also give you an air of confidence, especially when used to add drama to a significant statement.

Forget about the awkward silence. Instead, embrace its power in assisting your audience, building relationships, building up your speech, and demonstrating your confidence.

Looking for pitch perfect PowerPoint decks? Our dynamic team of presentation experts can take your PowerPoint’s selling power to the next level. Visit SlideGenius to learn more about the services that we offer.

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References

“Dig into Your Presentation Audience’s Key Learning Styles.” SlideGenius, Inc. May 8, 2015. Accessed July 3, 2015.
Genard, Gary. “Public Speaking Tips: Silence Is One of Your Most Powerful Tools.” TheGenardMethod. August 25, 2013. Accessed July 3, 2015.

Featured Image: “Silence” by Patrik Theander on flickr.com

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