Blogs about Presentation Skills
A look around the blogosphere uncovers these blogs on presentation skills:
Blogs About Presentations
A curious collection of WordPress blogs on the topic of Presentation Skills
Presentation Skills - telling people
This is the voice & presentation skills blog of Dr Simon Raybould, the Director of Curved Vision.
Curved Vision is a training and consultancy group, based in Newcastle, in the north of England, but working all over the UK. Essentially, by writing this, I’m hoping that it will become (not only interesting!) but also a useful resource for anyone wanting to develop their own abilities as a public speaker and presenter.
The Extreme Presentation Method
Dr. Andrew V. Abela designed the Extreme Presentation(tm) approach to meet the pressing need for presentation development where failure is not an option. He has been designing and delivering effective presentations to senior executives - and training and coaching others to do so - for over 20 years. He is currently a professor of marketing and market research at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Prior to this he worked as a brand manager with Procter & Gamble, as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, and he was the founding managing director of the Marketing Leadership Council, a best-practices research organization serving Chief Marketing Officers at hundreds of leading corporations worldwide.
Presentation Zen
This blog from Garr Reynolds seem to have a Zen-like feel to it. It is not easy to understand but we pretend that we do so we don't appear to be unsensitive. Topics covered include condom charts, sleep depravation, Benjamin Zander, George Carlin and an eclectic collection of quotations.
Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog
Patricia Fripp's Weblog Dedicated to Public Speaking, Presentation Skills, and Sales Presentations. Too bad that she stopped contributing to this blog over two years ago. I consider her to be a fabulous presenter and presentation coach. She has at least 100 good articles on her website on presentation skills.
Six Minutes
A mysterious title however Six Minutes is a public speaking and presentation skills blog. It includes tips, analysis, insights, and strategies which help you become a more effective speaker and a more effective communicator.
enjoy
George Torok
Executive Speech Coach
Presentation Skills Training
Motivational Business Speaker
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
How to present to teenagers
How to present to teenagers
Question:
I received this question recently, "How should I present to 15-year old girls so they won't get bored and would concentrate for the maximum time possible?"
Answer
I speak to a few groups of teenagers each year. I do it for two reasons:
1. Some of them appreciate my message.
2. It is tough speaking to teenagers so the experience keeps me humble.
Speaking to teenagers seems to be the toughest audience - even tougher than engineers.
Your results on speaking to them depends on why they are there - because they want to be or because they have to be.
Guess which group is more productive?
The main thing that I do differently when speaking to teens is to give them less information and engage them with discussion and Q&A much more. They keep interrupting if I try to speak all the time.
Encourage interaction and opinion. Don't punish wrong answers - look for other answers closer to what you are looking for.
Review the concepts that were explained. Ask them to summarize parts of your message.
George Torok
Presentation Skills Coaching
Presentation Skills Training
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
Question:
I received this question recently, "How should I present to 15-year old girls so they won't get bored and would concentrate for the maximum time possible?"
Answer
I speak to a few groups of teenagers each year. I do it for two reasons:
1. Some of them appreciate my message.
2. It is tough speaking to teenagers so the experience keeps me humble.
Speaking to teenagers seems to be the toughest audience - even tougher than engineers.
Your results on speaking to them depends on why they are there - because they want to be or because they have to be.
Guess which group is more productive?
The main thing that I do differently when speaking to teens is to give them less information and engage them with discussion and Q&A much more. They keep interrupting if I try to speak all the time.
Encourage interaction and opinion. Don't punish wrong answers - look for other answers closer to what you are looking for.
Review the concepts that were explained. Ask them to summarize parts of your message.
George Torok
Presentation Skills Coaching
Presentation Skills Training
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
Olympic Speakers
Olympic Speakers
Olympic athletes who want to build their career on their Olympic experience need to develop their presentation skills.
Enjoy this report from the Globe and Mail.
----------------
Boardroom Olympians
Gifted athletes aren't necessarily gifted speakers. But with training, a career can blossom after the game ends
DAVE MCGINN
From Monday's Globe and Mail
July 14, 2008 at 9:40 AM EDT
The day after Katie Weatherston arrived back in Ottawa from competing at this year's women's world hockey championship in China, the 26-year-old Olympian began what might prove to be the most important training program of her career.
It had nothing to do with slap shots or stick handling. Instead, Ms. Weatherston found herself surrounded by entrepreneurs and aspiring CEOs, all of whom were looking to punch up their podium skills at a public speaking course offered by Dale Carnegie Training, an international business training company.
...
Canada's national team athletes are expected to inspire both on and off the field, and are often invited to speak to schools and corporations across the country. But just because they are naturally gifted athletes does not mean they are naturally gifted public speakers.
So it is no surprise, says Jasmine Northcott, executive director of AthletesCAN, the association of Canada's national team athletes, that the governing bodies of amateur athletics in Canada place such a high emphasis on providing athletes with public speaking training.
...
When Newfoundland's Brad Gushue won a gold medal in curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics, he was flooded with public speaking invitations, the majority of them paid engagements. The better a speaker an athlete is, he says, the more likely they are to continue to receive those invitations.
"There's probably about a year-long window after the Olympics where you're going to get speaking opportunities," Mr. Gushue says. "I think having the Dale Carnegie course allows athletes to open that window for a longer period of time."
...
Olympic athletes who want to build their career on their Olympic experience need to develop their presentation skills.
Enjoy this report from the Globe and Mail.
----------------
Boardroom Olympians
Gifted athletes aren't necessarily gifted speakers. But with training, a career can blossom after the game ends
DAVE MCGINN
From Monday's Globe and Mail
July 14, 2008 at 9:40 AM EDT
The day after Katie Weatherston arrived back in Ottawa from competing at this year's women's world hockey championship in China, the 26-year-old Olympian began what might prove to be the most important training program of her career.
It had nothing to do with slap shots or stick handling. Instead, Ms. Weatherston found herself surrounded by entrepreneurs and aspiring CEOs, all of whom were looking to punch up their podium skills at a public speaking course offered by Dale Carnegie Training, an international business training company.
...
Canada's national team athletes are expected to inspire both on and off the field, and are often invited to speak to schools and corporations across the country. But just because they are naturally gifted athletes does not mean they are naturally gifted public speakers.
So it is no surprise, says Jasmine Northcott, executive director of AthletesCAN, the association of Canada's national team athletes, that the governing bodies of amateur athletics in Canada place such a high emphasis on providing athletes with public speaking training.
...
When Newfoundland's Brad Gushue won a gold medal in curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics, he was flooded with public speaking invitations, the majority of them paid engagements. The better a speaker an athlete is, he says, the more likely they are to continue to receive those invitations.
"There's probably about a year-long window after the Olympics where you're going to get speaking opportunities," Mr. Gushue says. "I think having the Dale Carnegie course allows athletes to open that window for a longer period of time."
...
"I do a lot of public speaking and a lot of corporate events, and just wanted to find a way to be a little bit more comfortable when I'm up in front of people and a bit more confident when I speak," he says.
--------------
Read the rest of the story.
George Torok
Executive Speech Coach
Presentation Skills Training
Free Presentation Skills Tips
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
Presentation Skills Question: Memory Loss?
Presentation Skills Question:
How do I recover from a memory lapse?
Presentation Skills Expert Answer:
There are a few techniques you can use to recover from a memory lapse.
The first thing to do is to smile and pause. When your audience sees you smiling they assume that you are in control. The pause gives you time to recover.
Pause to regain your thoughts and the attention of the audience.
Repeat that last thing you said. That might jog your memory and the audience thinks that you do that for effect.
Ask a rhetorical question, "Where do we go from here?" That question might trigger your brain to get on track. Or it might even trigger your audience to throw out some suggestions to help you.
George Torok
The Public Speaking Pro
Public Speaking Success
Read more Q&A about presentation skills.
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
How do I recover from a memory lapse?
Presentation Skills Expert Answer:
There are a few techniques you can use to recover from a memory lapse.
The first thing to do is to smile and pause. When your audience sees you smiling they assume that you are in control. The pause gives you time to recover.
Pause to regain your thoughts and the attention of the audience.
Repeat that last thing you said. That might jog your memory and the audience thinks that you do that for effect.
Ask a rhetorical question, "Where do we go from here?" That question might trigger your brain to get on track. Or it might even trigger your audience to throw out some suggestions to help you.
George Torok
The Public Speaking Pro
Public Speaking Success
Read more Q&A about presentation skills.
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
Power Presentations Tip 05: Be like a talk show host
Power Presentations Tip 05: Be like a talk show host
Are you ready for a simple and effective method to both write and deliver your presentation?
Interview yourself.
Pick your topic. Decide on your key message. Design the process through which you need to take your listeners. Then frame that thought process with advancing questions.
Advancing questions are opened-ended questions that allow you to answer with an explanation. The questions form a quick transition to your next point.
This is one of the simplest ways to prepare and deliver a presentation. It is also an effective method of delivery. Why? Because it forces you to think like your listener and design your presentation from that perspective. Secondly, the structure and delivery will feel more like a natural conversation than a lecture or sales pitch.
Your questions might look like the following:
Why is this important to you?
What is the current situation?
What are your options?
Why is this option your best choice?
How will this work for you?
What are the next steps?
That set of questions could be the outline for many of your presentations. The questions in the middle can vary. Depending on the complexity of your topic, there might be more "what" and "how" questions. However, the first question should almost always be "Why is this important to you?" and the last question should be "What are the next steps?"
Interview yourself to deliver more powerful presentations.
George Torok
Speech Coach for Executives
-----------------
Feedback
"As a Toastmaster (more than 10 years), your message rings true to me. It reminds me to keep my priorities straight. I can only agree with you. Some speakers make it about them, and consequently, the audience responds accordingly, or not. Keep those tips coming."
Claude Desroches
Berlin, Germany
------------------
Register for your free presentation tips.
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
Are you ready for a simple and effective method to both write and deliver your presentation?
Interview yourself.
Pick your topic. Decide on your key message. Design the process through which you need to take your listeners. Then frame that thought process with advancing questions.
Advancing questions are opened-ended questions that allow you to answer with an explanation. The questions form a quick transition to your next point.
This is one of the simplest ways to prepare and deliver a presentation. It is also an effective method of delivery. Why? Because it forces you to think like your listener and design your presentation from that perspective. Secondly, the structure and delivery will feel more like a natural conversation than a lecture or sales pitch.
Your questions might look like the following:
Why is this important to you?
What is the current situation?
What are your options?
Why is this option your best choice?
How will this work for you?
What are the next steps?
That set of questions could be the outline for many of your presentations. The questions in the middle can vary. Depending on the complexity of your topic, there might be more "what" and "how" questions. However, the first question should almost always be "Why is this important to you?" and the last question should be "What are the next steps?"
Interview yourself to deliver more powerful presentations.
George Torok
Speech Coach for Executives
-----------------
Feedback
"As a Toastmaster (more than 10 years), your message rings true to me. It reminds me to keep my priorities straight. I can only agree with you. Some speakers make it about them, and consequently, the audience responds accordingly, or not. Keep those tips coming."
Claude Desroches
Berlin, Germany
------------------
Register for your free presentation tips.
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
Presentation Quotes from Walt Disney
Presentation Quotes from Walt Disney
When delivering your presentation it is always powerful to inject a quote from a powerful leader. Walt Disney certainly was a powerful and inspirational business and community leader.
Enjoy these quotes from Walt Disney.
-------------
"I don't believe there's a challenge anywhere in the world that's more important to people everywhere than finding solutions to the problems of our cities. But where do we begin... how do we start answering this great challenge? Well, we're convinced we must start answering the public need. And the need is for starting from scratch on virgin land and building a special kind of new community that will always be in a state of becoming. I twill never cease to be a living blueprint of the future, where people actually live a life they can't find anywhere else in the world."
"Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world."
"We did it (Disneyland), in the knowledge that most of the people I talked to thought it would be a financial disaster - closed and forgotten within the first year."
"It's no secret that we were sticking just about every nickel we had on the chance that people would really be interested in something totally new and unique in the field of entertainment."
"I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."
"We are not trying to entertain the critics. I'll take my chances with the public."
----------------------
Find more Walt Disney quotes
Learn more about Disney
George Torok
Business Speaker
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
When delivering your presentation it is always powerful to inject a quote from a powerful leader. Walt Disney certainly was a powerful and inspirational business and community leader.
Enjoy these quotes from Walt Disney.
-------------
"I don't believe there's a challenge anywhere in the world that's more important to people everywhere than finding solutions to the problems of our cities. But where do we begin... how do we start answering this great challenge? Well, we're convinced we must start answering the public need. And the need is for starting from scratch on virgin land and building a special kind of new community that will always be in a state of becoming. I twill never cease to be a living blueprint of the future, where people actually live a life they can't find anywhere else in the world."
"Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world."
"We did it (Disneyland), in the knowledge that most of the people I talked to thought it would be a financial disaster - closed and forgotten within the first year."
"It's no secret that we were sticking just about every nickel we had on the chance that people would really be interested in something totally new and unique in the field of entertainment."
"I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse."
"We are not trying to entertain the critics. I'll take my chances with the public."
----------------------
Find more Walt Disney quotes
Learn more about Disney
George Torok
Business Speaker
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
Presentation: Clarify your expertise
Presentation: Clairify your expertise
When speaking to a group - being clear on what you don't know helps clairify what you do know. Don't pretend to be the all-seeing know-it-all.
This tip from customer service expert, Jeff Mowatt, says it well.
-----------------
What I DO know is...
"My ears perked up recently when I heard a politician who, during a radio interview, made a statement that included the phrasing, “I don’t profess to be knowledgeable in all areas of… What I DO know is…” I found myself thinking, Wow – he’s honest and smart. Ironic how admitting up front what you don’t know actually increases your credibility when you make a statement about what you do believe. The technique itself is easy. The challenge is - are we secure enough and humble enough to admit we don’t have all the answers."
Jeff Mowatt
www.jeffmowatt.com
---------------
About award-winning speaker, Jeff Mowatt, BComm., CSP
Jeff Mowatt is the bestselling author of the books, Becoming a Service Icon in 90 Minutes a Month (for managers), and Influence with Ease (for professionals who interact with customers). As a customer service strategist, Jeff's Influence with Ease® column has been syndicated and featured in over 200 business publications. To help professionals put ideas into action, Jeff heads his own training company and has produced 4 multimedia training kits. An award winning international speaker, Jeff is among the top 7% of professional speakers in the International Federation for Professional Speakers to achieve their highest designation - Certified Speaking Professional (CSP). For more Influence with Ease® tips, training resources, and information about engaging Jeff for your team, call 1-800-JMowatt (566-9288), or visit www.jeffmowatt.com.
-----------------
George Torok
Speech Coach for Executives
Free Presentation Tips
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
When speaking to a group - being clear on what you don't know helps clairify what you do know. Don't pretend to be the all-seeing know-it-all.
This tip from customer service expert, Jeff Mowatt, says it well.
-----------------
What I DO know is...
"My ears perked up recently when I heard a politician who, during a radio interview, made a statement that included the phrasing, “I don’t profess to be knowledgeable in all areas of… What I DO know is…” I found myself thinking, Wow – he’s honest and smart. Ironic how admitting up front what you don’t know actually increases your credibility when you make a statement about what you do believe. The technique itself is easy. The challenge is - are we secure enough and humble enough to admit we don’t have all the answers."
Jeff Mowatt
www.jeffmowatt.com
---------------
About award-winning speaker, Jeff Mowatt, BComm., CSP
Jeff Mowatt is the bestselling author of the books, Becoming a Service Icon in 90 Minutes a Month (for managers), and Influence with Ease (for professionals who interact with customers). As a customer service strategist, Jeff's Influence with Ease® column has been syndicated and featured in over 200 business publications. To help professionals put ideas into action, Jeff heads his own training company and has produced 4 multimedia training kits. An award winning international speaker, Jeff is among the top 7% of professional speakers in the International Federation for Professional Speakers to achieve their highest designation - Certified Speaking Professional (CSP). For more Influence with Ease® tips, training resources, and information about engaging Jeff for your team, call 1-800-JMowatt (566-9288), or visit www.jeffmowatt.com.
-----------------
George Torok
Speech Coach for Executives
Free Presentation Tips
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
Presentation: Pecha Kucha
Presentation: Pecha Kucha: Get to the PowerPoint in 20 Slides
This Pecha Kucha thing is different and interesting. If you present with PowerPoint - watch this video. If you have suffered through Death by PowerPoint - watch this video and send it to others.
Too many presenters get lost in their PowerPoint presentations. This Pecha Kucha technique can help focus the presentation. It's from Japan. It's new. And it's a good idea.
Imagine delivering a presentatin with only 20 PowerPoint Slides in under seven minutes. Watch this vide on Pecha Kucha to see how it can be done.
George Torok
Business Presenter
Executive Speech Coach
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
This Pecha Kucha thing is different and interesting. If you present with PowerPoint - watch this video. If you have suffered through Death by PowerPoint - watch this video and send it to others.
Too many presenters get lost in their PowerPoint presentations. This Pecha Kucha technique can help focus the presentation. It's from Japan. It's new. And it's a good idea.
Imagine delivering a presentatin with only 20 PowerPoint Slides in under seven minutes. Watch this vide on Pecha Kucha to see how it can be done.
George Torok
Business Presenter
Executive Speech Coach
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
Presentation: Quotes & Insights
Presentation: Quotes & Insights
Compiled for you by George Torok
Enjoy and repeat (with accreditation) these quotes and insights on communication.
Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.
Sir Winston Churchill
If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.
Doug Larson
He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.
Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)
We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.
Abigail Adams (1744 - 1818), letter to John Adams, 1774
A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things.
Herman Melville (1819 - 1891)
Words have a longer life than deeds.
Pindar (522 BC - 443 BC), Nemean Odes
Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.
Robert Benchley (1889 - 1945)
No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut.
Sam Rayburn (1882 - 1961)
I understand a fury in your words,But not the words.
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "Othello", Act 4 scene 2
Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.
William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)
Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.
William Penn (1644 - 1718)
Discretion in speech is more than eloquence.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)
If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.
Benjamin Franklin
Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
Benjamin Franklin
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. Plato
Most speakers are afraid of silence. It is so powerful.
Peter Urs Bender author, Secrets of Power Presentations
When you deliver your speech, the only person who hears every word is you.
George Torok, Executive Speech Coach
George Torok
Executive Speech Coach
Presentation Skills Training
Motivational Speaker
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
Compiled for you by George Torok
Enjoy and repeat (with accreditation) these quotes and insights on communication.
Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.
Sir Winston Churchill
If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.
Doug Larson
He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.
Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)
We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.
Abigail Adams (1744 - 1818), letter to John Adams, 1774
A man thinks that by mouthing hard words he understands hard things.
Herman Melville (1819 - 1891)
Words have a longer life than deeds.
Pindar (522 BC - 443 BC), Nemean Odes
Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.
Robert Benchley (1889 - 1945)
No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut.
Sam Rayburn (1882 - 1961)
I understand a fury in your words,But not the words.
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "Othello", Act 4 scene 2
Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.
William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939)
Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.
William Penn (1644 - 1718)
Discretion in speech is more than eloquence.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)
If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.
Benjamin Franklin
Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.
Benjamin Franklin
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. Plato
Most speakers are afraid of silence. It is so powerful.
Peter Urs Bender author, Secrets of Power Presentations
When you deliver your speech, the only person who hears every word is you.
George Torok, Executive Speech Coach
George Torok
Executive Speech Coach
Presentation Skills Training
Motivational Speaker
Executive Speech Coach, Business presentation tips from George Torok, the Speech Coach for Executives.
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