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The single biggest barrier to public speaking of any kind, be it keynotes to business presentations is in our minds. From ancient times it’s been quite natural to sit around at meals or other times and converse naturally and freely. It’s not difficult to have a conversation on...

Observing a flawless presentation is indeed wonderful, but extremely unusual – an experience that many of us never seem to have. Thats because it almost never happens. It’s more likely that you’ve seen several near flawless presentations, or some really good ones with few...

I’ve many times posed the following question to groups: “What is a presentation?”. Those that hazard an attempt usually reply that it is the sharing of information. Well, so is an email, a book, a letter or a memo – so I disagree. I’ve always defined a presentation as “a...

Having listened to more presentations than most people, I’ve seen a great many presenters break “the rules”, or certainly ignore a few of them. Some presenters get away with it, but most don’t. Those that don’t simply crash and burn – often going down in flames, cocooned in...

There is wide acceptance that it’s a lot more difficult to persuade an audience about anything if you don’t personally “believe” – no matter what your topic is. Why then do so many erudite speakers who believe fervently in their topics still fail to convince – or get...

More presentations are messed up by poor organisation than by inadequate preparation. How can one substantiate such a statement? Quite easily actually, because you are usually asked to present on a topic with which you are familiar, so even if short on preparation, your knowledge...

The best way to get your message across and secure your objective is to say what you mean. This is best done by speaking clearly and using simple language. You’d think that should be easy. It seems it is not. Far too many folk think that the podium is the ideal opportunity to...

The ability to connect with an audience is critical in getting your key message and the content of your presentation across. It is so important that it must be considered a make or break factor. If you hook the audience from the start, you’ve immediately increased your chances of...

Savvy presenters understand that the hour prior to going live is more stressful than the presentation itself. With your preparation and rehearsals behind you, you’re dealing with last minute issues such as arriving at the venue on time and organising your set up. Hopefully, the...

Would it surprise you to discover that most people do not go about preparing a presentation expecting a successful outcome? In fact, the vast majority focus on their content (what they’ll deliver) rather than on what they want the outcome to be. There are several reasons...

The very best outcome of delivering a presentation is to achieve your intended result, regardless of the compliments you achieve. That’s why you went to all the trouble in the first place. It feels wonderful to “pull it off” successfully. But successful...

Sportsmen and women rely on past results to estimate what they are likely to achieve in future. The best results become their benchmarks. The logical assumption is that what was achieved before can be achieved again – or perhaps better in the future. When an athlete has an...