(HINT: It doesn’t start with slides!) Lots of folks are going to disagree with me about this, but I think PowerPoint (or Keynote, the Mac equivalent) is a wonderful tool for mapping out a presentation. Used correctly, PowerPoint helps you: Capture your ideas, Shuffle them into sections, Flesh them out with (minimal) words and images, Read More
Public Speaking Tech: eMail to Conference Calls, Social Media to PowerPoint
What If PowerPoint Isn’t the Problem??
Is bad PowerPoint to blame for all the world’s public speaking ills? Well, to paraphrase the National Rifle Association’s infamous claim that guns don’t kill people, people kill people… Bad PowerPoint Doesn’t Put Audiences to Sleep. Bad Presenters Put Audiences to Sleep! Think about the leading causes of bad PowerPoint: Too much information (the presenter doesn’t Read More
These 5 Conference Call Tips Will Help You Be Heard
Why Conference Call Tips when video calls are the big new thing? Because conference calls (meetings that take place by phone) are still a thing, too — and, like video calls, they can be a mess! Often, you’re dealing with bad tech, background noise, people popping on and off, dueling egos, and different time zones, as Read More
For Public Speaking (and Business) Success, Pick Up the Phone
Twice this week, I’ve had to remind sophisticated clients that you can pick up the phone when you need information: In one case, a client who’s applying for an academic job realized that she could get an inside track on what they were looking for by asking the acting department head. Another client, who’d just Read More
Public Speaking Tip 86: Don’t Talk About Your Co-Workers on Facebook
One of my favorite clients (let’s call her Jessica) recently discovered that two of her direct reports (let’s call them Gail and Willow) were talking about her on Facebook. Jessica was not specifically named in this exchange, but the reference to her was clear enough that an unrelated third party took a screen shot of Gail Read More