Posts Tagged "communication skills"

The Pitch: Your presentation skills are irrelevant…until

January 24th, 2017 |no comments

Your presentation skills are irrelevant*….until you have a boring message.

When your message is boring, does not make sense or is not convincing, people then look to your presentation skills and see that they are not up to scratch.
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Many pitches have been lost because the message was not clear and poor presentation skills took the wrap for it.

As the presenter of the pitch it is up to you to have a crystal clear message that resonates with your audience. Then polish your presentation skills so you stand out.

You’re always being judged in a pitch. It’s important to understand what you’re being judged upon.

Cheers

Darren

*It may seem unusual that a presentation skills expert would say this. That’s why my training is focused on how your audience hears your message – and not how you deliver it.


Information Is Not Power

September 20th, 2016 |1 comment

It is said that information is power. But that’s not the case.

It is only the application or sharing of information that gives power. When you apply information it shows your level of knowledge/expertise. Sharing information shows you are an insider – a very powerful position.

From a power perspective, the fatal mistake is to share information when it can’t be applied – this is simply giving away your power to show you are an insider. But giving it away makes everyone else an insider to – or you an outsider.

But the paradox is that unless you share information, others don’t know you have power. If they don’t know you have some power, do you really have it?

True power is about knowing that you have information that gives you power yet refraining from sharing it.

That’s why people let secrets slip, leak information and like to gossip. It’s how they show they have information and therefore power.

The irony is that when they share the information they lose any power that it had given them.

Become comfortable holding information that gives you an edge on others without giving into the need to share it. This will be true power.

Would love your thoughts on this.


I Can’t Believe You Said That! How to Master Message Management

April 23rd, 2013 |1 comment
Adam Scott

Aussie Adam Scott won The Masters and showed great use of message management during interviews.

Message management is how well a person stays on point with a message.

Every message has an objective. The message can be spoken, written or expressed visually. The effectiveness of the message is by how well it achieves your objective.

For example, a sales manager has the objective to make a connection with a prospect, establish a business relationship and to close the deal. Sales managers are some of the best at message management. Through years of trial and error they have figured out what to say and what not to say in order to make a sale. 

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Warning: Matt Cutts is here to talk about Spam

March 4th, 2013 |no comments

Matt Cutts is in charge of Web spam at Google.

 @mattcutts  is one of the few public faces of the search engine company.

Google is always working to provide the best search results – both paid and unpaid – for its users. Having your website rank high in these results can be quite profitable and when money flows so does the desire for advertisers to manipulate the rankings.

One of the tasks for Cutts is to help explain what Google is doing to fight Web spam. It’s an important job because there are millions and even billions of dollars riding on how companies manage their websites for search engine rankings.

Cutts is in a difficult position. He needs to effectively explain the moves at Google while dealing with judgment from the online community.

In this video he discusses a recent tool Google rolled out to help fight Web spam.

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How to Get Billions of Dollars for Nothing

February 25th, 2013 |no comments

Bill Gates – founder of Microsoft. The “on-again-off–again” the richest man in the world.

Today his mission is to make the world better. He’s no longer in charge of daily operations at Microsoft, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t busy.

Over the last few years Gates has been looking into humanity issues. He’s done research, sought donations and has given presentations around the world.

In this Ted Talk, Gates discusses state budgets and spending in the USA.

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How Apple CEO Tim Cook Uses The Power of Community

February 18th, 2013 |1 comment

Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple.

He is following one of the most influential CEOs in recent times – Steve Jobs.

It is not easy to follow someone with such a large presence, but Cook has Apple doing extremely well during his first few years as the company leader.

Jobs was known for giving inspiring keynote presentations.

Today, that job falls on Cook.

This was Cook’s latest keynote.

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How to Influence Like Billion Dollar CEO

January 28th, 2013 |1 comment

Zappos

Zappos is the largest online footwear retailer in the United States. The company was founded during the tech boom in the US in the late 1990s and continued to grow even after the boom subsided.

Zappos made a change during its initial years to focus on getting the right people on board. The focus was built around ten core values. This focus became so intense that people are hired and fired based on the core values alone. It doesn’t matter if the person does an adequate job.

This might seem harsh to some, but it’s part of what makes Zappos successful.

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Formal Language 2.0

September 26th, 2010 |no comments

Formal language has change an enourmous amount in the last 5 years. This has been driven by cutting-edge organisations that have a wide reach. Companies such as Facebook, Google and Apple are leading the way. Through their reach and their ability speed-up our life they are reducing the places where formal language is being used. This has happened in three areas:

  • Talking as Friends. Google just released an update for Google chrome. The on-screen pop-up gave me 3 options – Install Now, Uninstall Now, and “Don’t bug me”. This is something your friend would say to you. This type of language is one way that the worlds largest and most influential companies builds familiarity with me. How are you doing this with your clients?
  • Abbrviations are becoming part of our formal language. Today, every ‘phone has an App – non of them have Applications. Jargon is not jargon when everyone uses it.
  • ‘Old School’ formal language is now being used only where you need to have an impact – Terms and Conditions, warnings and any other plce of legal speak. This contrast makes the use of formal language more pronounced.

This evolution is just another way that we try to cut through the clutter of mass communication.

How are you evolving your message to cut through?

As always, your comments appreciated.

Cheers

Darren Fleming  –


Speak Motivate and Lead

July 4th, 2008 |no comments

Do you want to know how to influence others at work? The you need this book.

How to influence in today’s work place. The

complete guide to speaking as the Real Leader

you are.

 

Learn how to speak to your boss, your staff and your clients so they listen,

understand and then take action on what you say.

 

If you are a Section Manager, Sales Manager, or Chief Executive Officer, connecting with your audience and getting your message across is often a challenge. This power-packed e-book is the answer you have been looking for.

 

Here is what the Head of Psychology Services for the Australian Olympic Team (1992, 1996, 2000) and Business Psychologist Graham Winter had to say:

 

“Darren Fleming has created a simple reference guide to the tricky task of getting your message across in a way that doesn’t just inform but actually engages the audience.  The many useful tips will make it a valuable tool for the busy manager and team leader.”

 

Graham Winter, Consultant Psychologist and Director, Graham Winter Consulting.

Head of Psychology Services, Australian Olympic Team (1992, 1996, 2000)

Author of Think One Team, High Performance Leadership and The Business Athlete

Adelaide, Australia

 

In this e-book you will learn:

  • The 5 rules of PowerPoint that must be followed so you don’t send your audience to sleep
  • The 7 rules for Presenting in Boardrooms
  • How to control your nervousness when speaking
  • How to make every person in your audience feel as though you are speaking directly with them
  • How you can make any topic interesting – even statistics training can be interesting!
  • How to use your stories to connect with every person in the room
  • And much, much, much more.

 

Click here to get instant access to Speak Motivate and Lead: How Real Leaders inspire others to follow.

  

“Don’t be deceived by this seemingly thin book (of 34 pages)! It compresses many nuggets of solid speaking advice that will take you years to find in other public speaking literature. No fluff and straight to the point! Oh, and you will feel really good about yourself because you finally get to read a book in one sitting!”

 

Eric Feng,

Public Speaking Coach and Author of The FAQ Book of Public Speaking

Singapore

After reading this e-book you will know how to:

  • Press your audiences’ ‘hot-buttons’
  • Construct your message so people will want to listen
  • How to get the right mental focus for your next sales presentation
  • Connect with your audience in the most powerful way possible
  • Put forward a different opinion and have others buy into it
  • How to use stories to connect with others

And all this for just $17!!!

Here is what other speaker and business leaders have said about Speak Motivate and Lead:

  

“Effective and persuasive communication made easy. An insightful guide to motivating by speaking – a must for people who deal with people”

 

John Tindall

MLC Australia

Sydney, Australia

Click here to get instant access to Speak Motivate and Lead: How Real Leaders inspire others to follow.

In Speak, Motivate, & Lead, Darren Fleming offers a quick but effective look at many areas of public speaking. He includes examples from his personal coaching and speaking, which are effectively mixed with mini-case studies.

He also offers concrete solutions and methods to many speaking situations, including impromptu speaking, handling boardroom meetings, and appropriately tackling humour.

 

A quick read, Speak, Motivate, & Lead is an excellent resource to keep nearby to refer to again and again.

 

Rich Hopkins

Speaker – Author – Coach

Judged in the Top 100 Speakers in the World by Toastmasters International 5 times since 2002. Author of Win Place and Show

www.richhopkinsspeaks.com

 

At just $17 it is a great investment in your career.

Click here to get instant access to Speak Motivate and Lead: How Real Leaders inspire others to follow.

  

If you have to stand before any group and motivate them to follow your directions, you need to speak as a real Leader. This e-book will show you how to do that.

 

“The information is concise yet detailed with great examples that illustrate the fundamentals in presentation skills.”

 

Palmo Carpino

Applied Communications Inc

Alberta Canada

OK! Get the e-book now!


If You Use PowerPoint You Need to Know This!

April 27th, 2008 |2 comments

PowerPoint (or any other projection software) can be a great to enhance your message. When used correctly it can help you explain your message in a clearer way that helps your audience understand your message and learn even more.

But a constant problem that many speakers have when using PowerPoint is that they don’t know where to put their notes. To get around this, they put their notes on the screen and read from this. Unfortunately this has awful consequences for the audience. See here for examples.

But there is a way around this. The secret has been part of the PowerPoint suit for many years, but has been kept a secret from most of us. The secret uses a function of PowerPoint and a function of the operating software on your computer. As I use Microsoft XP, I will talk in terms of that.

The first step is to prepare your presentation in PowerPoint (or Imppress, Keynote, Freelance or any other program) using the “Presenters Notes”. In PowerPoint this is called “Normal View”. In this setting you can create your slide for your audience and make any notes that you will need. You can also see what slides you have in your presentation.

The second part of the secret is to set your computer up to run on Dual monitors. First ensure that you have your computer attached to the projector or this wont work. In XP this is done by following these steps:

  1. Go to the “desktop”
  2. Right Click and select Properties
  3. In the Properties box select the ‘settings’ tab
  4. Ensure that 2 monitors are showing (if they are not you will not be able to use this functionality.)
  5. Click on the second monitor
  6. Check the box towards the bottom of the settings box that says (something like) “Display monitor on this screen”

Once you have completed this set up you will be able to have the audience see the slides that you want them to see and you will be able to see your notes, the slides that the audience can see, what slides you have just shown and also the next slide to come.

By setting up the computer this way you will be able to control your notes, presentation and your message to achieve the results you are after.

You can get more info on this from Microsoft by following this link http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/powerpoint/HA010565471033.aspx?pid=CL100626991033

‘Til next time,

Cheers

Darren Fleming

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