I'd like to share this article, from Kevin Eikenberry, which I think it's long due... Almost every presentation I've witnessed (as a Coach, as audience member or as a client) it's guilty of at least two of the following errors. Here are eight uncommon approaches (they may be uncommon, but I wholeheartedly recommend them!) to presentations. Read them, and apply all eight of them:
======================
Rather than sharing the common wisdom with you – which must not be working very well if so many presentations are still so poor – I will share some uncommon advice. Think about it this way – if you try some uncommon advice, you might get uncommon results. Given the overall record of the common presentation, that will likely be very good!
1. More visuals, less words. Your PowerPoint presentation has too many words, on every slide (and there are probably way too many slides too – but that’s another article). Visual aids should be visual. Start replacing the words on your slides with images. And not just pie charts and line graphs, but pictures and images that help tell your story.
2. More emotion, less logic. It takes more than logic to move people. Give your audience the facts they need, but don’t overload them. Make sure you speak to the emotional part of people as well. Talk about why, and not just how.
3. More stories, less “facts”. We read books, watch TV and buy movie tickets because we love stories. When you create stories around your presentation or include relevant and passionate stories as a part of your presentation, you will be more successful.
4. More focus, less scatter. If you can’t put the key concepts and ideas of your talk on the back of an envelope or on one side of a 3x5 card, your message is too scattered. Hone in on your key message; know exactly what it is. If you don’t know it, how can you expect your audience to know (or remember) it?
5. More preparation, less “I’ll wing it”. Giving an effective presentation takes preparation and planning time. Too many people give poor presentations because they simply rely on their slides and muddle through. If you want to be a more powerful presenter, you must be prepared.
6. More belief, less bluster. Let your passion for your topic, your message and your recommendations show! If you believe in your message, let people know that through your words, actions, body language, energy and more.
7. More audience, less you. Hopefully you aren’t giving your presentation for your benefit, but for your audience’s. So, focus more on them. Worry less about how you look or sound and more about helping them understand your message. If your focus is all about you, stop reading – none of these points will help you. A presentation should always be about the audience.
8. More you, less façade. No, this isn’t in conflict with the last point; you will be a more effective presenter when you are real, genuine and sincere. Drop the posturing and be real. Your audience will appreciate it, and they will listen and trust you more.
You’ve just read eight pieces of uncommon advice. But reading them isn’t enough. You need to apply at least one of them to your next presentation. When you do, you will be more confident and will achieve more of the results you desire. You will have an audience that has heard and understood your words and takes action because of the presentation.
Potential Pointer: If we want to better at anything – including presentations – sometimes we need to do things differently than everyone else. Following the crowd will, at the very best, allow you to only be incrementally better. Taking a different approach can lead to breakthrough success.
=====================
About The Kevin Eikenberry Group
They help organizations, teams and individuals reach their potential through a variety of products and services including:
- Consulting / Coaching
- Speaking
- Training
- Products
to support the development of your potential.
To learn more click on the links above or call 888.LEARNER or 317.387.1424
========================
Have you already made a plan to apply some or all of the above ideas to your presentations? If you have, then great! If you haven't, stop right now and do it!
Your Maximum Success Coach,
Jorge Pinkus
P.S. Get your own domain name registered for one year, hosting for 12 months, unlimited email accounts, 999 autoresponders, 999 email lists, scripts and lot more for only $99/year. Go here:
http://www.123-sites.com
Jan 21, 2008
Jan 15, 2008
A Marketing List of Purposes for the New Year
I read this article at the Marketing Blog of Vertical Response, and considered it worthy of publishing it here for you :-)
========================
It's that time of year again when we all list our New Years resolutions. Lose 10 lbs, get to work early, call your Mom every week, we know, we all have them. Well we hope this one actually sticks since so many of them don't. It's a list of resolutions all businesses should focus on in the New Year if you're not already ahead of the game. If you are, consider yourself a pro and do everything 20% better!
1. Use a Calendar - iGoogle has a great one where you can use alerts to remind you to write your copy and send your communications. Bonus? You can also share it with others so that they know exactly when you're planning to launch.
2. Publish a Blog - Yes, even if you already have a website you should also host a blog. It's another way the search engines can pick you up, you establish yourself as an expert in your industry, you give a "voice" to your business and you can get your reader's insight into how they feel about you or your company through comments they make. It's not an overnight success, however when it starts to take off it can be incredibly beneficial. Make sure you flag categories on your posts or tag them for the search engines. Make sure you backlink to your own site from your most popular keywords in your posts. Check out TypePad or WordPress, two great blogging platforms that are very cost-effective and easy to set up. 123-Sites.com offers you, as part of their package of hosting your website, WordPress and other programs to publish your blog.
3. Get 5 Testimonials - Get your best customers to give you quotes and use them everywhere you can. Include them on any outbound communications, in your email newsletters, on your site and in your store. Used often, they can be one of the most powerful forms of marketing you have. We have a store near us that prints off huge posters of their customers wearing their clothing and hangs them in the window along with their history of being a customer. Benefit? The customers tell all their friends to go check out their big picture and shop at the store. These people are your influencers, use them wisely.
4. Get People Talking - Have a "wow" factor. Give free samples, throw a free gift into the
customer shipment, call your customers to see how they liked their service, send a birthday greeting. Whatever it is, get your word of mouth campaign going!
• Doctors call the night after a procedure to see how things are going.
• Retailers throw something fun into your online shipment orders or shopping bags.
• Restaurants give a few cookies at the end of the meal.
• Coffee houses announce a free 5 minutes off coffee every day at a different time.
• Consultants give your first 2 hours of time free.
• Offer coffee at your offline location
5. Shake it Up - Pick one customer-facing thing you do and change it drastically. Change your entire look of your website, repaint your store, start a monthly club, change your advertising message, change your uniforms, heck even change your "hold" music. Just do something different in the coming year that you've always wanted to do. 2008 is your year.
6. Host an Event - If you've got a retail location host an after-hours sale or an event to celebrate your best customers, the new year or your anniversary party. Make sure you do enough marketing in store and outside your location to get the number of people you want there.
If you are an expert in your field host a "lunch and learn" or a networking event. Again, make sure you do marketing to your own list as well as potentially renting a list for a postal mailing in the area to get people there. If you're work is online, host a webinar. Note: most of these have a 40-50% attendee rate.
7. Advertise - Make a list of 5 of your competitors OR 5 other businesses in your local area and look at where they advertise. Then finally answer that pesky ad sales person and choose somewhere you've never advertised before. Then roll the dice! Caveat: don't only do it once and make the call that it doesn't work work, if it's in your budget, advertise 4-6 times before you decide to stop it or better yet, continue it.
8. Do a Customer Survey - Send an email and ask 10 questions about your customer's experience with you with a 5 point rating: Excellent, Good, Neutral, Poor, Very Bad. Be ready for the good, bad and the ugly, you'll learn what your customers like and what they don't, then you can make changes. Make sure you send a statistically valid sample and get a good sampling back. You don't want to make changes based on just 1-2 remarks. Make sure you announce your changes to all of your customers in an email campaign. Everyone wins!
9. Collect Email Addresses - Put an opt-in form on every page of your site or blog or link to it on every page with a link "Newsletter Sign Up". Put an exit pop-up window with the opt in form when someone leaves your domain. Put a sign up form on your blog. Ask for your customer's information at your counter, input it daily into a spreadsheet or better yet a contact management system. However you collect email addresses send a welcome email to them with a thank-you offer. Use VerticalResponse to collect email addresses for free!
10. Analyze - Use Google Analytics to track your website visits. Get to know where your traffic is coming from and how good it is. Then make changes to your site, or your marketing materials.
==================
Hopefully you're doing some of these already. It's tough to run a business and constantly come up with new ideas to market. Hopefully this list sparks some new ideas. Happy and productive 2008!
========================
It's that time of year again when we all list our New Years resolutions. Lose 10 lbs, get to work early, call your Mom every week, we know, we all have them. Well we hope this one actually sticks since so many of them don't. It's a list of resolutions all businesses should focus on in the New Year if you're not already ahead of the game. If you are, consider yourself a pro and do everything 20% better!
1. Use a Calendar - iGoogle has a great one where you can use alerts to remind you to write your copy and send your communications. Bonus? You can also share it with others so that they know exactly when you're planning to launch.
2. Publish a Blog - Yes, even if you already have a website you should also host a blog. It's another way the search engines can pick you up, you establish yourself as an expert in your industry, you give a "voice" to your business and you can get your reader's insight into how they feel about you or your company through comments they make. It's not an overnight success, however when it starts to take off it can be incredibly beneficial. Make sure you flag categories on your posts or tag them for the search engines. Make sure you backlink to your own site from your most popular keywords in your posts. Check out TypePad or WordPress, two great blogging platforms that are very cost-effective and easy to set up. 123-Sites.com offers you, as part of their package of hosting your website, WordPress and other programs to publish your blog.
3. Get 5 Testimonials - Get your best customers to give you quotes and use them everywhere you can. Include them on any outbound communications, in your email newsletters, on your site and in your store. Used often, they can be one of the most powerful forms of marketing you have. We have a store near us that prints off huge posters of their customers wearing their clothing and hangs them in the window along with their history of being a customer. Benefit? The customers tell all their friends to go check out their big picture and shop at the store. These people are your influencers, use them wisely.
4. Get People Talking - Have a "wow" factor. Give free samples, throw a free gift into the
customer shipment, call your customers to see how they liked their service, send a birthday greeting. Whatever it is, get your word of mouth campaign going!
• Doctors call the night after a procedure to see how things are going.
• Retailers throw something fun into your online shipment orders or shopping bags.
• Restaurants give a few cookies at the end of the meal.
• Coffee houses announce a free 5 minutes off coffee every day at a different time.
• Consultants give your first 2 hours of time free.
• Offer coffee at your offline location
5. Shake it Up - Pick one customer-facing thing you do and change it drastically. Change your entire look of your website, repaint your store, start a monthly club, change your advertising message, change your uniforms, heck even change your "hold" music. Just do something different in the coming year that you've always wanted to do. 2008 is your year.
6. Host an Event - If you've got a retail location host an after-hours sale or an event to celebrate your best customers, the new year or your anniversary party. Make sure you do enough marketing in store and outside your location to get the number of people you want there.
If you are an expert in your field host a "lunch and learn" or a networking event. Again, make sure you do marketing to your own list as well as potentially renting a list for a postal mailing in the area to get people there. If you're work is online, host a webinar. Note: most of these have a 40-50% attendee rate.
7. Advertise - Make a list of 5 of your competitors OR 5 other businesses in your local area and look at where they advertise. Then finally answer that pesky ad sales person and choose somewhere you've never advertised before. Then roll the dice! Caveat: don't only do it once and make the call that it doesn't work work, if it's in your budget, advertise 4-6 times before you decide to stop it or better yet, continue it.
8. Do a Customer Survey - Send an email and ask 10 questions about your customer's experience with you with a 5 point rating: Excellent, Good, Neutral, Poor, Very Bad. Be ready for the good, bad and the ugly, you'll learn what your customers like and what they don't, then you can make changes. Make sure you send a statistically valid sample and get a good sampling back. You don't want to make changes based on just 1-2 remarks. Make sure you announce your changes to all of your customers in an email campaign. Everyone wins!
9. Collect Email Addresses - Put an opt-in form on every page of your site or blog or link to it on every page with a link "Newsletter Sign Up". Put an exit pop-up window with the opt in form when someone leaves your domain. Put a sign up form on your blog. Ask for your customer's information at your counter, input it daily into a spreadsheet or better yet a contact management system. However you collect email addresses send a welcome email to them with a thank-you offer. Use VerticalResponse to collect email addresses for free!
10. Analyze - Use Google Analytics to track your website visits. Get to know where your traffic is coming from and how good it is. Then make changes to your site, or your marketing materials.
==================
Hopefully you're doing some of these already. It's tough to run a business and constantly come up with new ideas to market. Hopefully this list sparks some new ideas. Happy and productive 2008!
Jan 11, 2008
Pondering on Web 2.0, Marketing & Communications
I found and watched this video many times and still learning from it…
It describes the future of marketing, communications, relationships... and how that will be.
Or maybe it will just allows you to shape your own future based on some actual trends.
Surely, in 2008 we will see a lot on this topic (”we all are the web”) so it’s good to spend some time and study it:
It describes the future of marketing, communications, relationships... and how that will be.
Or maybe it will just allows you to shape your own future based on some actual trends.
Surely, in 2008 we will see a lot on this topic (”we all are the web”) so it’s good to spend some time and study it:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)