Welcome
On the off chance that some of you have decided not to give up in
the face of adversity, i.e. the current recession, I have published a
new set of course dates which will takes us through to the end of the
year.
I look forward to meeting you and/or your colleagues on one of
these dates.
As the unstoppable momentum of social computing continues to
grow, I have at last decided to join in the fray and start blogging,
twittering (or should that be tweeting) and general networking. See
below for details.
The A to Z of Effective Presentations article in this issue is dedicated
to the letter "V".
"V"
is for Variety, Visual aids and Volunteering.
Yours
sincerely,
Graham Young
+44 1276 502257
Upcoming Courses
Upcoming
Effective Business Presentations courses include:
12th May -
Cathedral Hill, Guildford
(NB date has changed!)
15th May -
Thames Valley Park, Reading
26th May -
Stockley Park, Near Heathrow
3rd June -
Chineham, Basingstoke
17th June -
Oxford Business Park, Oxford
As always
courses are limited to 6 people, so you may need to be quick to ensure
your place. The last two public courses I ran both resulted in a clean
sweep of 5 out 5's on participant feed back.
For more information or to book click on your preferred location above.
New Dates & Locations
In
addition to the dates above, I have now published course dates for the
rest of the year.
These
include new dates at a Central London location, next to The
Monument, which may be more convenient for some people.
To check
them out
click here or to download the updated Course Calendar
click here.
Being Social
Back in
the 90's there came a time when it became de rigeur to have a
website. No company, however large or small, could be taken seriously if
it did not have a website.
The next
wave of technology is now on top of us, that of social computing. As
with many new things it started with "the youngsters" but has rapidly
advanced into the business arena.
So now an
old stalwart like me, who has always had a healthy disregard for
anything new and who prefers face to face communication, has decided
that if you can't beat them join them.
I have
been on
LinkedIn and
Plaxo for a few years but have now decided to be more pro-active in
the use of such technology. I welcome anyone who would like to link up
with me on either of these two services.
I have
also started writing a
blog. My aim is to write an article, related to presenting, every
week. Follow me and see how I do!
Finally, I
am also on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/youngmarkets
So come on be social, I'll join yours if you join with me.
Hard Times
You have
probably had enough of people talking about the recession in
newsletters, ezines and blogs. But on the off chance that you haven't, I
would just like to say my sixpence worth.
There are
two ways to get through a recession:
-
Reduce all
costs, stop spending any money on training, lay off half the
workforce, move to smaller premises in anticipation of lower
sales and hope that the few sales you do make are enough to weather
the storm.
-
Realise
that there are going to be fewer buyers out there, so you need to
work harder on every sale. Realise that you need to up your game,
meet more people, network harder and close a higher percentage of
the deals that do come in.
If you opt
for doing the same as you have always done, you are opting for A.
People
will tell you that the companies who invest in training, when times are
tough, are the companies who will survive and be better placed to take
advantage as the economy improves.
For those of you who are not in front line sales, I know officially it
is always the role that is redundant not the person, but how many rising
stars do you know who have been made redundant? Being comfortable on
your feet and giving good presentations is a very good way to stand out
from the others around you and it may just help you keep your job in
these difficult times.
Do you host meetings?
Do you
host networking meetings or similar events? Would you like a speaker?
Liven up your meeting with a talk about talking. There's no charge.
Drop me an
email and I'll be in touch.
The A to Z of Effective Presentations
In
previous newsletters, which you can access
here,
I have covered A to U , so now it is the letter "V". In this issue "V"
stands for Variety, Visual aids and Volunteering
V is for Variety
Variety is the spice of life and the key to a good presentation.
For anyone
who has used the first section of the M1 as it heads out of London will
know, this long straight road is probably the most boring road in
England. When this first major motorway was created, the designers
thought that as there was no speed limit it would be safest if there
were no bends. So the motorway is dead straight and you can see for
miles ahead.
On a busy
Friday evening, coming out of London, all you can see is mile upon mile
of brake lights in front of you. There is little so dispiriting.
Over the
years, motorway designers have learnt that sweeping curves make the road
more interesting, you cannot see that the traffic jam you are in goes on
and on for miles, and it keeps drivers more awake. So bends are
actually safer than straight roads and the journey seem to pass more
quickly.
The same
is true in a presentation.
Take
people on a journey, have the odd diversion and bend, speed up and slow
down, you can even stop for a picnic if you like. All this adds
interest to your presentation.
V is for Visual Aids
Visual
aids should be exactly that. Something the audience can look at,
something that engages an additional one of their senses.
They may
be slides, computer generated graphics, they may be objects you can hold
and touch. Anything that adds more to your presentation and that helps
to get your message across. What you should look for are pictures that
create a strong mental image.
Visual
aids should not be a constant stream of bullet points, which people can
read instead of listening to what you are saying.
If you are
prone to creating presentations full of bullet points then after you
have finished creating all this bullet point slides, go back through
them one by one and ask yourself 'How could I convey that information
using pictures?'
Some
people will find this much easier than others will. Luckily, with the
Internet you are now no longer constrained to using clip art. Search
the net for photographs and images, which can help you to convey your
message. You may end up with more slides but you will also have a far
more interesting presentation.
You need
to be careful that you do not infringe any one's copyright, but there
are thousands of copyright free images and libraries of images that you
can purchase the rights to use.
Once you
have replaced the bullet points with images, do not throw away the
bullets put them on to your cue cards so that they remind you what you
are going to say while the image is being displayed. Remember, you cue
cards should remind you what to say, not your PowerPoint slides.
V is for Volunteering
To become
better at presenting, you need to do more of it. Although I would like
to think that reading my book will help, there is no substitute for
doing it.
As such, if you are a novice presenter, I would recommend that you
volunteer to give presentations at every opportunity. The more
presentations you give the better you will become. As some one who is
recognised as an accomplished speaker, your status within your company
and among your peers will be raised. It will do your career progression
no harm what so ever. In general, people are successful at 95% of the
tasks the attempt. The biggest cause of failure is not trying. |
