Your Presentation Best

Would You Buy From This Guy? "You can be the smartest person in the world, you can have the best ideas,   but if you can't sell them, you're not going to succeed." ~ Hank Paulson, former CEO, Goldman Sachs, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Remember,  every time you present, you are selling.   Ideas, concepts, numbers, even "just information" requires that the audience buys into your message. The best presenters  give the audience   a clear reason to buy .   If you don't give them a reason, who will? Got a question about presentation?  Lemme know:  dan@boswell-training.com Be Your Presentation Best.  www.boswell-training.com

Be Like Don Draper, Be Mad Have you ever seen a presentation that really caught your attention and kept it? Can you still remember the presenter and the message? If your like most people, this doesn't happen often enough. Think about all the presentations you've seen in the last year. How many were great and how many sucked? How many were a waste of your time? What's the single most important element in any great presentation? It gives your audience something of value. They leave your presentation knowing it was good for them. That's the secret of Mad Men's Don Draper. He makes sure that the only ads which his agency puts out scream  "value for me!" , the viewer, the audience.  Whether he's selling candy, cars or shaving cream, the viewer feels that the product is good for them.  That's  the best way to get your audience to remember your message . The take-away:   Do what Don does .  Make it about them. Always make sure you a

Are You Creating More PowerPoint Zombies? A common question I get during my presentation workshops is:   How do I get and keep my   audiences attention?   How do I keep them from turning into PowerPoint Zombies? I think the best answer has always been:  Give them a reason to listen!  This usually means addressing their priorities, needs and/or problems in some concrete way. I would add to this a truly radical idea in the corporate world:   give your presentation   WITHOUT PowerPoint .  That's right, no PowerPoint.  You will totally capture them right from the start because presenting without PowerPoint rarely happens.  You will be a freak, and freaks always get people's attention. They'll listen to you just to see "What the hell is this guy/lady doing?!" They'll stay tuned in becase you will be so much better able to plug into them (and they to you) if you don't have to compete with your slides. If you have done you homework and are presenting a

Just another brick in the Wall? Monotony.  We all hate it. SO why do we see so much of it in corporate presentations?! I'm not talking about the droning voice that bores us.   I'm talking about  the Monotony of PowerPoint slides . Slide after slide that look the same:  same corporate identity template, same layout, same "Oh sweet Jesus I've seen this a million times before!" visual monotony that tunes us out and eventually turns us off. Visual monotony is a perfect way to kill your message.  How to fix this?  Simple:  break the monotony. Be bold and creative.  Be innovative.  Be exciting.  Above all,  be different. The only requirement is that your visuals are concretely tied to your message.   You can do this with the slide itself and/or vebally.   Never forget, your job is to bring the slides to life and build a bridge to your message. If you dare to be different, you will wake and shake your audience.   You will  stand out .  You will  be rememb

KISSS Me, Baby! Just a reminder:   K eep  I t  S hort,  S weet, and  S exy. Short: get to the point.  Time Is Money. Sweet:  use positive language.  Sweet sells better than sour. Sexy:  grab your audience's attention and stand out from the crowd.  Make sure you know what turns your audience on.  What's sexy (important) for them? KISSS  your message, your slides, and your take-aways. Each of these should add clear and concrete value to your audience. Their time is very valuable.   The  KISSS  formula helps them to get the most from the time they spend with you. Be Your Presentation Best.    www.boswell-training.com Got a presentation question?  Ask Me.  dan@boswell-training.com        

Learn From the Master I can't say enough about how much Steve Jobs can teach us about  the Art and Science of Presenting. But seeing is believing.  As you continue your quest to be an outstanding presenter, make  it a point to occasionally watch Jobs in action. Three of my favorite presentations are his iPod  Apple Music Event from 2001and iPhone keynote from 2007, as well as his 2005 graduation speech at Sanford University. But I think you can learn from any of his presentations, especially how he uses his slides and always talks about how his products are going to Change Your World. Learn from the Master. Dare to follow the Best. www.boswell-training.com

Give Them A Reason To Listen Make sure you give your audience a reason to listen. If you don't, they won't. Great presenters know how to turn their audience on. They know it's all about giving their audience  something they need , want, and value. So ask yourself the question:  "Why should my audience listen to me.  And if they do, what will be their reward?" Find out what their top priorities and pain points are. Then, think about which of their priorities and / or pain points your presentation can address. That's what your audience wants to hear about. That's what they care about. That's how you give them a reason to listen. Be Your Presentation Best. Got a Presentation Question?  Ask Me: dan@boswell-training.com www.boswell-training.com

"Well, Watson, I've looked and listened, but I still have no clue what that chap was talking about." Try this: take a good,hard look at the slide deck from your next presentation. Imagine you only have 30 seconds to present. Which slide(s) would you chose? If you can't distill your message into 30 seconds (the average length of a TV spot), then you don't really understand it.   If YOU don't understand it, how will your audience. Be Your Presentation Best. Learn how to be a Presentation Superstar. Join our Presentation Essentials one-day open seminar  April 30, in Munich. To sign up, please visit:   http://www.boswell-training.com/open-seminars/ 9 out of 10 participants would recommend this workshop to a boss or colleague. "I enjoyed working with Dan. His training was fun, his advice helpful and the results outstanding. With Dan's help I could drastically improve my presentation skills and the presentation skills of my team

What's The Message Above? Is it easy to get? What's Your Next Presentation Message? Can You Answer Three Simple Questions? Can You Do Each in 140 Characters or Less? What is my presentation message? Why is it good for my audience? Why should they care?   If you can't answer these three questions, you aren't ready  to present.    Period. Don't waste your time and theirs. Seriously.  Three simple answers = the core of your presentaiton. You can add slides and details as needed, depending on your audience and the scope of info they need.   (Less is MORE) A wise man once said:  "If you can't show me on the back of a cocktail napkin, then I ain't interested." The take-away:  Use these three questions to build the core of your presentation.   Build out from there if you need to. Get good at explaining each question in 140 characters or less. That makes it easy to remember and easy to present Basically, if you can't explain

Even Granny Gets It! A wise manager once said:  " If your Grandmama can't understand your slides, then they're not good slides ." Remember,  good  PowerPoint  slides  are  easy explain, easy to understand , easy to  remember .  They are also much easier  to  present . One message per slide.  Something Grandmama would be proud of. Learn how to be a Presentation Superstar. Join our Presentation Essentials one-day open seminar April 9, in Stuttgart and April 30, in Munich. To sign up, please visit:   http://www.boswell-training.com/open-seminars/ 9 out of 10 participants would recommend this workshop to a boss or colleague. "I enjoyed working with Dan. His training was fun, his advice helpful and the results outstanding. With Dan's help I could drastically improve my presentation skills and the presentation skills of my team members." Jan Runau, Chief Corporate Communication Officer, adidas Group Be Your Presentation Best .

Take-away:  Global Warming Is Real and We're In Danger Her'es another quick test:  Can you say the  main take-away  of your last presentation in  one sentence ? If you can, then you have a pretty good idea of the value you're giving your audience. If you can't, you have to wonder if your audience got your message. Remember:  Time is Money.  And most people don't  have enough of either. Make sure you're giving your audience  something of value . And make sure you clearly understand what that something is. Got A Presentation Question?  Ask Me:  dan@boswell-training.com A word from Udo Müller, Director Future bei adidas "I know Dan for many years now and his excellent skills as a trainer and coach are outstanding! I know many colleagues here at our company who attended his classes and they all responded extremely positive. I am truly looking forward in working with him in the years to come." www.boswell-training.com

No Escape WASTEDTimeWASTEDMoneyWASTEDLives Have you ever been in a meeting that didn't have a point? Worse, it goes on and on because each presenter has way too many slides  for his agenda point? You look down at you watch and the meeting which was scheduled for 45 minutes is now running 45 minutes too long.  And you, your boss and that guy from legal still  haven't made their presentations... If this sounds at all familiar, consider taking a page from a V.P. who had taken over the next-generation development project of a luxury car company's flagship model. When he had his first cross-functional project team weekly meeting, each member of his senior mangement team came armed to the teeth with long slide decks defending what they were doing in micro-detail.   Sure, some of this PowerPoint -Palooza was because German automotive engineers are ultra-perfectionist.  But the other big influence was what we see every day at big companies:  a PowerPoint culture that tru

Visual Confidence Humans are visual animals.   Every presenter is, therefore, judged first on their body language. Body language speaks loudly, does not lie, and always registers (consciously or unconsciously) so it sets the tone for whatever follows. Once that tone is set, it can be difficult to change. If you are confident about what you are presenting, your body language will show it. If you believe in what you are presenting, your body language will show it. If you are so comfortable with your message and content that you could do it anywhere at any time, your body language will show it. If you are not, your body language will show that, too. Either way, your audience will know.   And they react to you and your message accordingly. Be Your Presentation Best. Got a presentation question?  Ask me:  dan@boswell-training.com www.boswell-training.com

Would You Buy From This Guy? "You can be the smartest person in the world, you can have the best ideas,   but if you can't sell them, you're not going to succeed." ~ Hank Paulson, former CEO, Goldman Sachs, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Remember, every time you present, you are selling.  Ideas, concepts, numbers, even "just information" requires that the audience buys into your message. The best presenters give the audience a clear reason to buy .   If you don't give them a reason, who will? Got a question about presentation?  Lemme know:  dan@boswell-training.com Be Your Presentation Best.  www.boswell-training.com