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Month: September 2017

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4 Ways to Boost Your Likeability in Business Presentations

Posted on by Rick E

A likeable image has nothing to do with physical beauty. Looking the part might give you a charismatic appeal, your characteristics as a speaker are what actually attract interest, and engage your listeners.

Make a winning impression and boost your business relationships by working on what keynote speaker Tim Sanders calls the likeability factor. Presentation trainer, Cath Daley presents a list of questions that can help you determine your scale of likability. This involves aspects of your personality such as friendliness, relevance, empathy, and realness.

Here’s how you can enhance your innate traits to become a more likeable individual and more effective speaker:

Show Genuine Friendliness

The simple acts of smiling and disclosing some personal information make you look approachable and interesting. While a neutral face may sometimes be more appropriate in formal occasions, showing some emotion where needed connects your audience further to you. Communicate appreciation with small courtesies such as saying “thank you.”

Maintaining a professional reaction towards negative feedback also adds a more congenial feel to your business presentations.

Make Yourself Relatable

“Listening is an art that requires attention over talent, spirit over ego, others over self. “ – Dean Jackson

The skills to listen and to engage are not only essential in achieving life success, but also in attaining business growth. Demonstrating responsiveness during your pitch creates room for audience participation.

Express your willingness to understand their comments and observations about your presentation.

Express Passion and Compassion

If there’s one thing that Steve Jobs taught us about doing great work, it’s to love what you do. Business deals are closed when potential clients feel that you can offer them benefits. This is why your passion to inform your audience makes you a more likeable presenter.

Signify your intent by acknowledging your audiences’ needs and providing information that is designed to help them without difficulty.

Embrace Authenticity

Combine humility and positive vulnerability with your expertise to create authenticity. Show your listeners that you’re a human being with a sincere message. Share a personal experience that’s directly related to your pitch to add a human touch to the hard data you may be presenting.

Being confident without being arrogant makes you closer to your audience.

Conclusion

Become a likeable presenter to attract and engage your audience effectively. Increase your likeability factor to create meaningful connections that boost your business success.

Looking for pitch perfect slide presentations? Give us a call at 1-858-217-5144 or request a free quote from Slide Genius today.

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References

“Are You a Likeable Presenter? Which of These 10 Key Characteristics Apply to You?” CathDaley. Accessed July 30, 2015.
“Body Language: Signify Intent with Movement.” SlideGenius, Inc. October 20, 2014. Accessed July 30, 2015.
“The Likeability Factor.” Tim Sanders. Accessed July 30, 2015.
“Three Powerful Ways to End Your PowerPoint Presentation.” SlideGenius, Inc. May 18, 2015. Accessed July 30, 2015.

3 Ways to Live Stream Your PowerPoint Presentation

Posted on by Rick E

Distance shouldn’t be a barrier between you and your audience. Bring your pitch out of the boardroom and into the Web. Reach out to a wider audience with your deck without sacrificing your presence.

Live-stream your PowerPoint in three ways:

1. Share as a Link

In his article on digital video hub Field59, Michael Worringer gives his readers a run-through on how to broadcast your presentation from PowerPoint 2010 and 2013 by sharing it as a link.

For the purpose of this tutorial, we’ll be using PowerPoint 2013.

Unlike its 2010 version, whose Broadcast Slide Show option is found in the Slide Show tab, PowerPoint 2013 lets you live-stream your presentation through the Share option in the File tab.

How to live stream your PowerPoint: Present OnlineA dialog box will appear with your presentation’s custom URL once you click Present Online. Copy the link or send it via email to your audience.

After they’ve received the link, click Start Presentation. Now you’ll be able to guide your viewers through each slide in real time at your own pace.

How to live stream your PowerPoint: Start Presentation

Below, you’ll find how Presenter View will appear on your screen. However, your audience will only see your slide show as you present it.

How to live stream your PowerPoint: Presenter View

Once you’re done, exit the slide show mode and select End Online Presentation in the Present Online tab.

How to live stream your PowerPoint: End Online Presentatin

The slight downside to this broadcast method is that while you’re free to share your PowerPoint, some of your original deck’s features may be compromised. All transitions will be set to ‘fade’ from the audience’s view, and a file size may be imposed on your upload, depending on your broadcast service.

A compact and concise deck is more advisable for this PowerPoint live-stream technique to minimize the lag in your loading times.

2. Use Office Mix

If you’re using PowerPoint 2013 and are subscribed to Office 365, live streaming becomes even easier with the downloadable free add-in Office Mix.

Unlike the previous method, Office Mix is more accommodating with your slide contents. You’re free to add audio, video, polls, and quizzes to your slides. This is especially helpful for educators who want to track their students’ progress outside the classroom and for presenters who want to maximize audience engagement using their deck.

These are all available in the Quizzes Video Apps found in the Mix tab that will appear once you’ve downloaded it.

How to live stream your PowerPoint: Quizzes Videos AppsSource: https://mix.office.com/watch/qn821zf10bni

There’s also live digital inking, a more hands-on approach to presentation that lets you guide students through your slides in real time using video, audio, and illustration.

How to live stream your PowerPoint: Live Digital InkingSource: https://mix.office.com/watch/1uoglxt8jp9mt

Office Mix has its own site dedicated to help users navigate through this handy feature. First-timers can benefit from its tutorials that show Mix at work.

Similar to the Broadcast Slide Show in PowerPoint 2010, Office Mix requires an Internet connection to share your presentation to a selected audience. However, another unique option of this add-in lets your audience review and play back your slides to their own pace even after you’ve exited your slide show.

True to its name, Mix crosses the boundaries between the Microsoft Office programs. Import viewers’ data and feedback on your deck for a more in-depth analysis.

3. Upload to Online Platforms

The third route to live-streaming your PowerPoint doesn’t let you interact with your audience as much, but it may be the easiest yet.

If you don’t have the last two PowerPoint features, you can upload and design your presentation using a private account to online platforms made for deck hosting, such as SlideShare.

Publishing your slides on online platforms is meant to improve reaching out to a wider audience. Although you can configure your uploaded deck’s settings to selected viewers, following default settings leaves your deck open for public viewing. You can add tags to make your PowerPoint easily searchable online, further reinforcing its inclination towards mass sharing.

At the same time, this technique can be considered a combination of the previous two PowerPoint live-streaming methods. It has a file size limitation like PowerPoint 2010, but it lets your audience enjoy your presentation at their pace, like Office Mix. Making use of online platforms requires compressing your slide contents into a file size that you can manually upload to the website.

Conclusion

Your deck is an important part of your presentation. Don’t let the distance between you and your audience deter you.

Broadcast your slide deck using three different methods, depending on the type of program available to you and on your intended audience. Share your PowerPoint with a link and broadcast it live with PowerPoint 2010 and 2013. Interact with your viewers in real time with Office Mix. However, if neither of these are available to you, you can always upload your presentation to an online platform like SlideShare.

There are a number of ways to make your presentation accessible. Just reach out to the one that works best for you.

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References

Worringer, Michael. “How to Broadcast a PowerPoint Presentation with a Live Stream.” Field59 Inc. April 21, 2015. www.field59.com/broadcast-powerpoint-presentation-live-stream
“What Is Office Mix.” Office Mix for Teachers. www.mixforteachers.com/what-is-office-mix.html

Featured Image: “Man Holding Laptop Computer Typing While Dog Watches” by Image Catalog on flickr.com

3 Steps to Developing an Efficient Marketing Strategy

Posted on by Rick E

Marketing is the lifeblood of any organization. However, making your brand stand out isn’t easy. Competition is tight, and people’s demands and interests rapidly change with the times. Developing a solid marketing strategy attracts prospective customers and clients. To effectively market yourself, you’ll have to follow a structured plan with a reasonable objective.

Setting the Goal, Paving the Way

All great things started out as someone’s rough sketch of their vision. Setting a clear goal is the first step to creating your marketing strategy. But it doesn’t end there. You have to know what you want. More importantly, know how to get there. With a clear objective, you can start drafting your approach in drawing in your target market.

One of the most effective methods to achieve this is the AIDA framework. AIDA stands for the Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action of your audience. It can come in the form of presenting statistics, emphasizing your product’s features and advantages, or letting people experience your services firsthand. Outlining specific actions to address each of these aspects guarantees a return of investment.

Analyzing Strengths and Weaknesses

While having a fixed vision is great, don’t forget to make it attainable. One way to check if you’re on the right track is by analyzing your strengths and weakness. This analysis is part of the SWOT method which, aside from AIDA, is a valuable marketing tool. SWOT represents you or your organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats/Challenges.

Assess where you stand in terms of your internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as external opportunities and threats/challenges that are in your way. Evaluate each in relation to your existing resources to know how to move forward. For example, your strengths can include your customer service or your uniqueness in comparison to other brands. On the other hand, a weakness could be a lack of financial backing. Opportunities could include an inferior product from your competition, while a threat could be a revolutionary new rival.

Having a SWOT outlook will help you reconcile aspects of your situation to help reach your aim.

Forming the Right Relationships

Quality products and services can be overshadowed by a competitor’s established reputation and expanded network. Whether you’re still starting out or are a veteran in the field, never let your alliances fall behind. This means more than just partnerships with other credible organizations. It also means banking on individual human resources—employees, existing customers, and other influencers in the playing field.

Ted Rubin, Keynote speaker and brand evangelist, advocates the Return on Relationship strategy, which looks at the importance of creating a following that recommends your brand to their network. As a takeaway from Rubin’s idea, form meaningful relationships with everyone involved in your product. Treat your employees right and have them participate in your marketing. Encourage them to advertise your product or service to their friends and family. Similarly, pamper old customers so that they can recommend you to other people.

You can easily gain a wider audience if you market through those close to you.

Conclusion

With the right marketing strategy, your brand can stand out even among the toughest crowds. Envision your future in a clear, realistic way by looking at your strengths and weaknesses. Tap into your people to help you draw new clients in. It also won’t hurt to set a timeline where you can track your progress. You can make it per month or per year, as long as you can check how your plans turned out with each specific milestone.

More importantly, make sure you’re planning with the present in mind. This helps you determine the tools necessary for achieving your future. Need help with your presentations? Contact our SlideGenius experts today and get a free quote!

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Resources:

Rubin, Ted. “Brands Need to Focus on ROR: Return on Relationship™.” TedRubin.com. October 31, 2010. www.tedrubin.com/brands-need-to-focus-on-ror-return-on-relationship

“Create Your Marketing Strategy.” Info Entrepreneurs. www.infoentrepreneurs.org/en/guides/create-your-marketing-strategy

Featured Image: “White Knight” by John Morgan on Flickr.com

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The 6 Presentation Design Trends of 2017

Posted on by Rick E

Presentation design has come a long way since PowerPoint first launched in 1990. Clip art and bullet points are a thing of the past. For 2014, trends point toward eye-catching visuals, digestible content, and audience participation.

The following are the six presentation design trends we’ve observed during the first half of the year.

Trend #1: Simplifying content with one-liners and illustrations

There’s no denying it: attention spans have become shorter in the postmodern age. We’ve all gotten used to ‘instant gratification and quick fixes‘. Google can pull up the information you need in mere seconds. Your smartphone can quickly give you directions when you’re lost on the road. The same ease should be applied when you’re sharing information through slides.

Presentation Design Trend #1: This 'Who We Are' slide contains only a short sentence and a diagram

Simplify slides by using one-liners and illustrations that emphasize your key points. Also, limit yourself to discussing only one concept per slide. We’ve seen Steve Jobs do it, but some people still make the mistake of including too much information.

Audiences are easily distracted if they can read every word you say on your slides. They’ll skip right ahead of you and zone out while waiting for you to finish talking.

Trend #2: Using full images as backgrounds

Visuals are a great way to capture wandering attention. The Internet is a great source for pictures that can help enhance your presentation design. And because the technology for photography has improved, you can make use of full images as backgrounds.

If you know where to look, the Internet can provide you with pictures that are coherent with the core of your presentation.

Take these slides as an example, and observe how the background images are balanced by the text and color choices.

The other colors in the slide goes well with the background image

The white font contrasts with the dark background image

Trend #3: Filtering images through photo-editing programs

Stock photography is a great option for presenters looking to enhance their slides with professional-looking images. However, a lot of it looks distant, staged or cheesy. The same is true for most photos available for free use on the Internet.

According to The New York Times’ Jena Wortham, thanks to the popularity of Instagram, editing photos to create a more authentic and nostalgic feel has become the norm.

Run the images you want to use through filters so your slides can have a personal but polished touch.

There's a stark difference between the original and the filtered image
Original image from Flickr

If you’d like to try this trend, there are plenty of photo-editing programs available aside from Instagram.

You can try web-based editors like PicMonkey, Fotor, or Pixlr. Photoshop is a classic, but it can be quite complicated for a first-timer. Whatever program you decide to use, just keep in mind that the photos in your slides should look unified. As much as possible, edit your images using the same filters and techniques.

Trend #4: ‘Flat Design’

The 'flat design' in the iOS7 interface

Apple’s release of iOS7 made “flat design” a mainstream concept. Before iOS7, the icons in your devices had a more texture and “real” look to them. Now, designers are opting for a more minimalist aesthetic that focuses on simple shapes and vibrant colors.

With the impending release of iOS8, you can expect this trend to continue in presentation design.

Trend #5: ‘Geometric Design’

We’ve seen geometric design dominate the fashion industry last year. Now, we’re seeing the same trend in presentation design. Because of its clean lines and sharp edges, geometric shapes and patterns allow for interesting accents that still look professional.

Presentation Design Trend #5: Geometric shapes add interest to a slide

Trend #6: Technology integration for audience interaction

Screenshot from presentain.com

Audiences these days are clamoring to be part of the presentation process. Audiences prefer to converse with the presenter, instead of being spoken at. Technology allows you to integrate audience participation in your presentation design. Apps like Presentain and SlideKlowd allows the audience to get involved with your presentation through their mobile devices.

With a swipe of a finger, they can ask questions, answer polls, and send follow-up requests.

 

References

“GEOMETRIC FASHION 2013: Shape It Up!.” Runway Style Media. July 28, 2013. Accessed June 18, 2014.
Weatherhead, Rob. “Say It Quick, Say It Well – the Attention Span of a Modern Internet Consumer.” The Guardian. February 28, 2014. Accessed June 18, 2014.
Wortham, Jenna. “A Stream of Postcards, Shot by Phone.” The New York Times. June 03, 2011. Accessed June 18, 2014.

 

Featured Image by Steve Snodgrass via Flickr. Sample slides from the SlideGenius portfolio.

3 Ways to Improve Public Relations for Your Business

Posted on by Rick E

A good product stays just that – a good product – unless it gets a boost that enhances its marketability.

Don’t let the fruits of your labor slip into anonymity.

Access your target market through a strategic marketing plan and effective public relations effort.

Increased publicity will give your business the boost it needs.

Networking

One of the most instinctive ways to build your public relations is through networking.

Whether consciously or not, you form a network with individuals you encounter as you build up your business.

These can come in the form of long-time customers or corporate partners.

Even your employees and personal friends are part of your network.

If you’re still starting out, it’s time to prioritize these relationships.

Take care of your employees by giving benefits and convincing them your vision is worth believing.

Individuals whose beliefs are aligned with yours will be ready to support your enterprise.

Similarly, customers who follow your work and favor your product can recommend you to their own friends and family.

Aside from these person-to-person cases, you can also expand your network the old-fashioned way.

Forge partnerships with like-minded individuals and organizations relevant to your field.

You’ll be able to help each other out when it comes to resources and promotion.

Build Your Reputation

To impress people enough to convince them to invest requires plenty of self-exposure.

Showcase your product – and make it appealing.

Strategize your marketing plan and assess your product’s strengths and weaknesses.

Develop your product’s strong points and emphasize your advantages over the competition.

You can start small by relying on your personal network to endorse you.

But once you’re ready, you can present yourself to prospective clients.

This may come in the form of press releases or public presentations.

If you’re pitching to a journalist, make sure you craft the right message.

You can tease them with a preliminary pitch that will get them interested enough to ask for more details.

For public presentations, make sure to strike a balance between content and delivery.

Prepare an outline of all your main ideas with a professionally-made PowerPoint to boot.

This keeps your audience’s attention while getting all the important points across.

Social Media

The Internet plays an undeniably huge role in our lives.

Use it to promote your business by tapping into social media.

Make a site where you can advertise your product or service.

You can see how well you’ve drawn your target market in by monitoring site traffic.

The more people follow your page, share your tweets, or visit your website, the more likely that you’ve caught their attention.

It also makes your profile available to interested investors.

Keep an eye out for influencers online who can help promote you to virtual audiences.

These influencers will also require pitches that are relevant to their own interests.

This is best for making sure you contact the right individual or organization.

As much as social media can give you a leverage, always keep yourself grounded in your original objectives.

Don’t overstep personal boundaries to get undue exposure.

You need to maintain your credibility to keep your clients.

Conclusion

Building your public relations is important for promoting your product.

This can be achieved in a number of ways.

Reach out to your personal network, or expose yourself to a wider audience through presentations and social media.

A combination of the two is even better.

This ensures more feedback from a greater number of people.

 

References

Honeysett, Alex. “4 Steps to Pitching a Guest Post (and Getting a “Yes!”).” How to Pitch a Guest Blog. Accessed October 21, 2015.
“Measuring and Improving Your PR”. Queensland Government Business and Industry Portal. October 9, 2014. Accessed October 21, 2015.
Raposo, Kevin “How to Pitch: Outreach Tips from Journalists.” BuzzStream. May 13, 2014. Accessed October 21, 2015.

Featured Image: “PR” by Niuton may on flickr.com

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