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I recently had the pleasure of delivering a 3 hour seminar on presentation skills to a group of continuing education students at a local college.  They were studying web development and would be graduating in the following year.

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I just read a blog post of an interview with TED curator Chris Anderson who reveals the secrets to a great TED talk.  If you have yet to experience the delight of a TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) talk then go to the TED website and knock yourself out.  In this interview, Mr. Anderson is asked, “What kills a presentation?”  His reply . . . . .

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Watch Out When Using Excel Content!

I just read a blog post on Presentation Magazine where they asked several people for their best presentation tips.  There are 37 in total and number 25 is from Max McConnell, Division Director of Prompt Communications.   Max talks about embedding your excel spreadsheets into PowerPoint and the dangers of just cutting and pasting it.  Max suggests the following procedure.Edit->Paste Special and choose ‘Picture (Enhanced Metafile).  This places the excel data as a picture.  Failing to do this will transfer all the excel support files and you may be giving way too much information away.  It reminded me of a a true story. (more…)

Now that you have completed Act 1, you have identified the setting, the protagonist (who should be your audience), the pain the protagonist is experiencing, the desired outcome and the solution to get there.  You have established the tone and focus of your message.  You have established an emotional connection with your audience.

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Olivia Mitchell posted a blog on June 2 titled,  “Why the stickiest idea in presenting is just plain wrong.” In this post she stated the following:

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There is a relatively new presentation tool out there called Prezi.  It is a different way of organizing your thoughts for presentations and presenting them in an interactive format.  While Prezi is cool because it is different, it is not the solution for bad presentations as some have made it out to be.  I have read some blog posts saying it is impossible to be boring with Prezi.  My answer to that is never underestimate the human potential.

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What are the top three mistakes made when someone tries to raise venture capital?  I had a chance to sit in on a blog radio show hosted by Daisy Wright who is a career coach.  She had as her guest, Business Consultant & Venture Capital Expert Prerna Chandak of Lemonade Capital.

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PowerPoint is often used when making a presentation.  I have sat through hundreds of presentations at symposiums, meetings, forums and conferences and I see the same template themes come up.  I asked myself why people choose to use the standard templates offered by Microsoft and why wouldn’t they try to be a little more creative?  Is it due to lack of time, training or courage?

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This is an all-to-familiar scene in business today.  Mid level and upper management executives are being terminated.  Lets face it, it is not a pretty scenario out there.

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Conducting a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) Analysis is a common marketing tool in business today.  A SWOT is often done annually during the planning exercises for the next fiscal year.

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