Dear Santa,
I know you are terribly busy at this time of year building and packing all the toys, motivating the elves, polishing the sleigh and grooming the reindeer. But I could really use your help.
Business presenters all over the globe need to make better presentations so that the power of their messages will be truly heard and their audiences will be engaged and take action. Here are the gifts I send to presenters everywhere this holiday season. And Santa, any assistance you could provide in getting these presents distributed would be greatly appreciated.
Gift #1: Commitment to The Audience: an unshakable belief that an audience deserves your absolute best and an unwavering focus on making each presentation a valuable experience for those listening to you.
Gift #2: Minimal Use of PowerPoint Bullets: the time and energy to develop more visually meaningful and helpful slides to support audience comprehension and retention plus the courage to NOT use PowerPoint when you, the presenter, can communicate the message more powerfully.
Gift #3: Management of Presentation Nerves and Anxiety: a willingness to invest the time in learning how to manage the fear of speaking in front of a group so your audiences can benefit from the full impact of your message.
Gift #4: Acceptance of the Value of Rehearsing: the resolve to commit the necessary time to practicing every presentation so that your audience gets your most competent performance.
Thanks, Santa, for helping presenters everywhere to be their best! And do be careful on those slippery roof tops.
Professionally Speaking... will be on hiatus for the next three weeks, resuming publication the week of January 10, 2011.
May you all have a very happy holiday season, filled with peace and joy, compassion and generosity.
Photo Credit:
Flickr/docjohnboy's photostream C.C. 2.0
In the spirit of Christmas in July (well August)I would add emotional engagement with the audience. We've found http://www.strategyppt.com that too much facts and not enough emotion and what's in it for the presenter doom most to boredom
Posted by: Wayne Tarken | August 15, 2011 at 02:39 PM
Hear, hear! My wish is that speakers realize that a presentation consisting of nothing more than reading the PowerPoint slides is not a presentation.
Posted by: E Amundsom | January 17, 2011 at 10:50 AM
A nice wish list, Kathy. Simple but oh so important.
All the best for a Merry Christmas and a terrific 2011.
John
http://mannerofspeaking.org
Posted by: ZimmerJohn | December 20, 2010 at 05:07 AM