Your Presentation Best

Be a Black Sheep Presenter One of the most challenging aspects of corporate presentations is to stand out from the crowd. Corporate identity templates, managers trying to control their teams content so it conforms to the no-risk-because-it-looks-like-everyone-else's-slides, and just the overuse of "standard" PowerPoint slides  makes it almost impossible to tell one slide deck from another. If you want your message lost in the crowd, do what everyone else is doing.  Be a white sheep. If you want to stand out, be creative and innovative with your message, your story telling and your slides. The only requirement is that your message, story and slides are concretely linked to your message and your audience's needs. Dare to stand out.  Be a  Black Sheep Presenter . Be Your Presentation Best.  www.boswell-training.com

The Ultimate Teamwork:  U.S. Air Force Thunder Birds   Capture the attention of your audience in a way they don't expect.  Illustrate your presentations with unconventional visuals. Just make sure it's relevant to your message. For example, a senior manager / mentor wanted to talk about the importance of leadership, trust and teamwork : He told the story of how all the Thunder Bird pilots must absolutely trust the lead pilot and vice versa.  That together, they could reach incredible things; but working as individuals, the team will crash and burn. What unconventional visuals will you use to sell your message? Your creativity and ability to link it to your message are the only rules. Stand out from the crowd.  Be remembered. Be Your Presentation Best. www.boswell-training.com

I'll Give You A Stinkin' Reason to Listen! I'ts Revolution Time! And here's what you get if you join me.... One of the most common questions I get in my presentation workshops is this:   How do I get and keep my audiences attention? Essentially, it's hard to do unless you give them a very good reason to be interested. Almost aways, this means giving them something that is in their own self interest. What are you giving them that makes their lives better? What are you offering that they can apply and get results from? Why would you listen if you were in their shoes? If you can't answer these questions, you can't blame them for tuning you out. Everybody has a million things on their minds competeing for thier attention. If you bring no concrete value; if they don't clearly see the benefit; it's  Game Over. The take-Away is this:  make sure your presentation is a conversation about them. Understand their priorities, needs, and problems ....

Do You Have A Plan B? This is it .  The most important presentation of your career.  You and your team have been preaparing for it for weeks. Your PowerPoint deck is optimised and ready to go. Your senior management is seated and waiting. Just as you are about to begin, your laptop crashes. You smell smoke.  You start to sweat. Time seems to have stopped. Everyone is staring at you, waiting... Is this Presentation Armageddon? What do you do?   What's your Plan B ?   Can you deliver without your PowerPoint? I hope this never happens to you, but it could.  If you are too reliant on your slides (and I've worked with a lot of managers who are), this is a nightmare scenario. For far too many corporate presenters, the presentation is all about PowerPoint, and they are lost without their slides. This means  PowerPoint is the Master , and  the presenter is the Servant. If this is you, stop letting your slide deck dictate your presentation delive...

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        

Visual Confidence The First Thing That People Hear Is Your Body Language 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.   www.boswell-training.com

How to Get Someone's Attention:  Think Like Don Draper 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. 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 ma...