Let me tell you a story: Mark delivered a #Presentation He was well prepared. Had spent hours making sure his information was accurate. Making sure he had enough content to answer any questions the audience could throw at him. Designed slides that were detailed and right and comprehensive. Had run out of time to speak it […]
Archive | Engaging audiences
Eye Contact
Remember to look at the camera folks when you communicate on remote platforms this week. Sounds obvious. Harder to do in practice and needs to be intentional. One of my clients sticks a post-it on the laptop just to remind him. Whatever trick works for you. Eye contact is your connection, your control and your […]
How do people listen in remote meetings?
We had an interesting conversation today about how to indicate that you’re listening in a remote meeting and how, as speaker or Chair, you can get the clues that people are listening, processing and agreeing/disagreeing. It highlighted again the challenge remote meetings bring. Face to face, if you are ‘present’ in the meeting, you pick […]
Who has Zoom fatigue?
I’ll be honest and say that last week I’d fallen out with zoom. A combination of a tough week outside of work and a diary too full of zoom sessions I suspect. But maybe that’s how you’re feeling too? I had to dig deep to be in a state that was valuable and energised for […]
Learning from mistakes
When I started my first ‘proper’ job in retail management, my boss called me into his office, said I needed to be good and confident at speaking to groups and immediately set me two tasks. One was to prepare for a short slot at the next management meeting. The other was to go and deliver […]
How do you get your listeners to ‘dive ‘ into your presentation?
I’m about to go swimming in the lake. It’s eight o’clock in the morning. It is September. The lake is about 14 degrees (not entirely sure about that but I’m guessing). So, there’s a bit of acclimatising to go on. I’ve been learning that for me, walking in slowly but purposefully and then after checking […]
When are actions more important than words?
I’ve been reminded this morning about the quote which says We judge ourselves by our intentions but judge others by their behaviour. Agree? I refer to this frequently in my workshops on feedback and when I’m working with managers around how to build strong working relationships. But it’s also so so relevant when we think […]
Are you informational speaker or an inspirational speaker?
Lots of presentations are informational. They are designed to be full of (useful and/or necessary) information. They are content designed and content–led. Often the first question presenters of this type of presentation ask themselves is ‘What is it that I have to say?’ The best informational presentations will then answer the (unsaid but oft thought […]
I’m ok one to one…it’s just when I stand up to speak in public when it goes pear-shaped!
If I had a pound for the number of times people said to me, ‘ I am fine talking one to one with people, it’s just the thought of standing up and speaking to groups that send me into a tizzy…”, I’d be a very rich woman! What is it do you think, that makes […]
How to use effective body language – distracting or dynamic?
How to use effective body language – dynamic or distracting? I’ve been asked by clients whether to stop moving around when delivering a presentation and I’ve been asked by clients whether to start moving around in a presentation. Either way, people do get twitchy when it comes to thinking about body language…and that’s maybe the […]
