Nine Practical Guides to Public Speaking and Presentations
October 14, 2014 by Tom Pick
Whether you're the type of person who eagerly dashes off a proposal for every speaking opportunity that comes your way, or the type who avoids the spotlight as much as possible, public speaking—delivering presentations to our peers, customers, prospects, or other audiences—is a part of virtually every marketing and PR professional's life. And something most of us could improve at.
How can you get and keep a roomful of people engaged with your presentation? Visually optimize the content you deliver? Effectively use humor? Tell a story that keeps listeners focused on you—instead of checking email on their phones?
Find the answers to those questions and more in these helpful guides from professional speakers. IvyPanda recently published an excellent summary of public speaking anxiety tips. Some of the articles below date back a few years, but all are still relevant and useful.
How To Stand In Front Of A Room Full Of People And Tell A Stellar Story by Fast Company
Jane Porter passes along five valuable tips from master storyteller Kevin Allison. Among them: realize you're never up there alone (think of it as a conversation, not a monologue); decide where you want to end up and work backwards; and vary your pace ("the juicier moments in your story should take up proportionately more room").
The Science Behind Storytelling — and Why It Matters by The Official SlideShare Blog
Noting that Pixar continually tells great stories in its movies, Gavin McMahon shares 22 rules for storytelling from Emma Coats, former story artist at Pixar. He highlights two rules in particular that are essential to telling a great story: tailor your content to the audience, and structure your story (think hook, meat, payoff).
Event Marketing – The One Secret To Killer Events by B2B Marketing Insider
Michael Brenner writes that the teams behind the best events think in terms of "multi-format, multi-channel and a steady and continuous promotion of great content. The event is seen more like a conversation that continues well before and long after the physical part." He also shares specific tips from three professional event planners.
15 Presentation & Public Speaking Tips that Rock by Content Marketing Institute
Based on his extensive experience both delivering and listening to presentations at social media and marketing events, Joe Pulizzi lists 15 helpful tips for better presentations, such as putting your Twitter handle on every slide; walking around; smiling a lot (it's contagious); and "switching the flow and telling a story every eight minutes."
7 Tips to Transform Your SlideShares From Good to Great by HubSpot
Erik Devaney provides advice for content creators on how to avoid getting stuck in the "mediocrity loop" and instead embrace the improvement loop when creating new content. His seven practical recommendations for continually creating better Slideshare decks include choosing the perfect fonts ("a bold, stylized font for headers, and…a simple, easy-to-read font for body text"); using contrasting colors; and placing text legibly on top of images using a semi-transparent overlay.
What You Don't Know About Speaking by Communication Rebel
Public speaking rock star Michelle Mazur shares a video outlining a handful of tips from Darren LaCroix, a past winner of the Toastmasters Superbowl. Among Darren's recommendations for being a more successful public speaker: let go of the ME mentality – "On that stage when you are focused on the me, you are not focused on the 'you' in the audience. It dampens your connection with the audience."
How To Be Funny: Stand-Up Comic Takes Public Speakers to School by DIY Blogger NET
Dino Dogan presents a video interview with speaker, writer and standup comic Brendan Fitzgibbons about how to be funny (rather than intense) when presenting. It's not easy (at least not for many us), but it is powerful. Brendan recommends starting off by showing vulnerability with some self-deprecating humor.
A 47-Point Guide for First-Time Webinar Success by MarketingProfs
In this timeless piece, Agnieszka Wilinska presents four dozen helpful tips covering all the bases for delivering a successful webinar, from focusing on providing value and setting goals ("If the webinar is designed to produce sales, set your expectations in units and in dollars and cents") to polling participants, managing and concluding the meeting.
13 Ways to be an Awesome Guest Speaker by SlideShare
Barbara Nixon shares a baker's dozen recommendations for delivering as a guest speaker. She recommends starting by learning about the audience and tailoring your presentation for them, as well as creating a presentation with the flexibility to expand or contract the content. She also suggests being prepared for the technology (including the Internet connection) to fail, with a backup plan to keep the show going on.
Filed Under: Content Marketing, Miscellaneous Tagged With: Agnieszka Wilinska, Barbara Nixon, Dino Dogan, Erik Devaney, Gavin McMahon, Jane Porter, Joe Pulizzi, Michael Brenner, Michelle Mazur, presentation skills, public speaking
19 Remarkable Guides on Business Strategy, Leadership and Motivation
June 3, 2014 by Tom Pick
It's a (sometimes forgotten) truism of business that no company can cut its way to growth. As the economy continues to slowly recover from the great recession, smart leaders, having pared back spending during the lean times, are looking at how to invest for growth. Entrepreneurs are forming new businesses at an increasing pace, hoping to take advantage of new opportunities in the recovering economy. Workers across the spectrum are a bit less fearful and a bit more optimistic.
But the business environment has changed significantly in just the past six years since the start of the downturn. For example, no one was talking about the social employee as recently as late 2006, but according to Google Trends, search interest in the term has quadrupled in the past five years.
So investment in growth will return, but it will be different. How can companies tap the social exposure potential of their workforces? What beliefs do managers, leaders, and entrepreneurs need to discard–and what new beliefs do they need to embrace? How has the purchase cycle changed, and what are the expectations of today's buyers? How can small companies use new ideas to compete more effectively against larger competitors?
Find the answers to these questions and many others here in 19 of the most noteworthy guides to leadership, motivation, business strategy, and branding of the past year.
Leadership Guides
7 Ways Management Can Boost Employee Productivity by westXdesign
Renee Gaylor explains seven steps leaders can take to increase employee engagement and productivity, such as ensuring "senior leadership models behavior that makes the rank-and-file proud to be part of the team. Nothing demoralizes employees more quickly than seeing senior leaders act in a way they don't respect, and few things energize employees more than a senior team they admire. Leaders are always being watched and judged; employees have keen eyes."
Paid to Post? What the Social Workforce Means for All of Us by iMedia Connection
Writing that "Savvy brands like Dell, Oracle, Intel and Accenture think the future of marketing is on social media and their best advocates are their own employees," Greg Shove demonstrates why this strategy can be incredibly powerful, but also discusses the challenges involved. In the end, he concludes that to be successful in developing social employees, companies will need to "focus on producing cultures that employees want to advocate for. In terms of long-term sales growth, marketing success and talent retention, that will matter far more than the fine details of each advocacy program."
What Does it Take to Lead a Social Business? by NewRayCom
Ray Hiltz identifies five characteristics required of R.A.R.E. (responsible, accountable, relevant, ethical) leadership, and notes "these are also the traits of a successful social business." Leadership and social business are both grounded in developing relationships, and doing so effectively requires a long-term vision at odds with ever-shortening attention spans.
Motivation and Inspiration Guides
9 Mind Myths to Ditch for 2014 Success by Rebel Brown
The wise and delightful Rebel Brown steps "into the truth and beyond our limiting beliefs" here, debunking nine myths about our minds which she says limit our potential. Among the myths skewered are "we're all limited by this crazy economy," "failure is to be avoided at all costs," and "change is hard" ("Humans are instinctively wired to avoid anything that is new and different. Our unconscious mind views it as a threat…[however] We can act to consciously remove that threat of change [by focusing] on the opportunity in the change, not the problem that caused it").
How to Give Remarkable Presentations: Lessons from the World Domination Summit by Dr. Michelle Mazur
Michelle Mazur shares lessons learned from speakers at the World Domination Summit (yes, apparently, that is a thing), including "Train to speak like an athlete trains to win the race" from Danielle LaPorte, on the importance of speaking frequently, and contrasting the gap between what is and what could be, from Nancy Duarte: "The best speakers – Martin Luther King, Jr., Steve Jobs and Eva Peron – construct a gap between what is currently and what could be in the future. Think of Steve Jobs comparing the world without an iPhone versus a world with the iPhone (can you remember the world before Smart Phones?)."
9 Beliefs of Remarkably Successful People by Inc.
Jeff Haden reveals nine characteristics that help define and create success, from approaches to time management and hiring to how to deal with failure and "go the extra mile." A great reminder for consultants: "Only do what you want to do and you might build an okay business. Be willing to do what customers want you to do and you can build a successful business. Be willing to do even more and you can build a remarkable business."
8 Things Remarkably Successful People Do by Inc.
Following up on the post above, Jeff Haden here turns the topic from the beliefs of successful people to their actions; things that most if not all successful people do, such as setting audacious goals, selling, and avoiding the crowds: "Remarkably successful people habitually do what other people won't do. They go where others won't go because there's a lot less competition and a much greater chance for success."
Business Strategy Guides
Small Talk, Big Results by strategy+business
Keith Ferrazzi introduces ideas from The Necessity of Strangers by Alan Gregerman, demonstrating how vital "small talk" is: "anthropologically, we are hardwired to be ready to fight or flee from someone not of our tribe—a state of mind that obviously has a very negative effect on our ability to innovate together. Small talk quiets that reptilian response of our brain." The book excerpt details a simple exercise that can be used within organizations to increase success by creating a "culture of conversation."
How Women Decide by Harvard Business Review
Pointing out that "Today women occupy about half of all managerial and professional positions in the United States, including 37% of management jobs and 60% of accounting and auditing roles…They also make up 41% of employees with authority to make purchasing decisions," Cathy Benko and Bill Pelster present research on how the differing physical structures of the male and female brains lead to different decision-making styles, and how these distinctions need to be accounted for when selling or presenting ideas.
5 reasons I hate big data by iMedia Connection
Chris Marriott brilliantly skewers the hype behind big data (and advises executives what to focus on instead), writing that it's an old idea with a new name; that it makes something easy sound complex; and that it's "like teenagers and sex:
a. Everybody's talking about it.
b. Everybody thinks everyone else is doing it.
c. Most of those who claim to be doing it aren't doing it.
d. Those who are doing it aren't doing it very well."
8 Real-World Stories Of Why Startups Fail by ReadWrite
Scott Gerber shares the stories of eight "(now) successful founders from the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) to share why a prior start-up didn't make it – and what they're doing differently knowing what they know now." Among the lessons: manage cash flow ("Numbers are not only the oxygen of a business, they are the vital signs as well"), match your timing to the state of the market, and be careful about choosing employees ("hire people who are sincere and trustworthy").
Marketing and Brand Strategy Guides
Fire the funnel — 5 stages of the real buyer's journey by Chief Marketing Technologist Blog
Contending that "The funnel model of marketing and sales doesn't reflect reality very well" (and we know this), Scott Brinker suggests an alternative five-stage model that is less exclusionary and more positive, recognizes that today's "lost" prospects may become tomorrow's new opportunities, and acknowledges the importance of continuing to market and sell to existing customers and convert them into brand advocates.
Thought Leadership Requires A Little Thought by CMO
Jeff Pundyk rants (intelligently) about how, far too often, "thought leadership" is anything but; rather, it's ego-building, internally focused, disorganized, and doesn't address reader or market needs. Instead, he advises marketers to "find creative ways to tap into publishers' audiences…venture beyond the walls of your own Web site. It will force you to up your content game: to think hard about your audience…(and) to start listening and collaborating."
Integrated marketing: optimizing the connected customer experience by i-SCOOP
J-P DeClerck makes the case that marketers should shift their focus from channels, tactics, and campaigns, to addressing what customers really want: "we shouldn't optimize for media, channels or tactics in the first place. We optimize for the customer experience." Customers don't care how a company organizes its campaigns or silos; they care about consistency and the company meeting its brand promise.
How Underdogs Can Market Effectively by MarketingProfs (free registration required)
Abhay Padgaonkar outlines three strategies small companies can use to win against larger competitors, starting with aiming "for your competitor's Achille's heel." That can come in the form of scope (starting out by serving a neglected segment, which is how Southwest Airlines got its initial foothold in the market); service; or scale (targeting segments that don't fit with investments larger competitors have made).
Big marketing opportunities for under $10K by iMedia Connection
Greg Kihlström details four "ways to connect your audience with your brand" that won't break the bank, such as creating new content, experimenting with new channels, or giving something back: "Help an organization in need. There's no downside to this one…(for example) let your customers choose which organization they'd like you to donate the money to by allowing them to vote for their favorite nonprofit every time they submit a photo that includes your product."
6 Expert-Endorsed Ways to Improve Your Marketing TODAY by HubSpot
Katie Burke outlines half-a-dozen expert "tactics and strategies you can employ within a workday to help attract, convert, engage, and delight more prospects, leads, and customers." For example, on video marketing, from Kevin Daum: ""You don't need cats and babies to make business videos that work…By aligning on a goal, a target audience, and a core story, your business can benefit significantly from using video to foster growth."
The end of digital and social media by iMedia Connection
Terms like "digital media" and "social media" will soon be redundant, according to the brilliant Rebecca Lieb, as all media are increasingly both digital and social. So, Rebecca asks, "How do you cut through the clutter of media, messaging, and a ridiculously busy social life spanning all channels, digital and otherwise? There are six traits that matter. Employing as many as possible — in concert — will greatly enhance a brand's ability to be noticed in a relevant and meaningful way."
The Seven Pitfalls of a Modern-Day Brand by MarketingProfs
Despite the unprecedented reach that social media provides, "Brand Awareness is hard to come by," writes Matthew Turner. He identifies seven pitfalls of brand-building (such as lack of voice, too much "sell," and being easy to forget) and how to avoid them: build a "brand story that delves deep into your brand and discovers what it's all about…A brand story allows you to create something of worth, and most important, something that matters to you: It's built on your terms."
Filed Under: Marketing Strategy Tagged With: Abhay Padgaonkar, brand strategy guides, business leadership guides, business strategy guides, Cathy Benko, Chris Marriott, Greg Kihlström, Greg Shove, J-P DeClerck, Jeff Haden, Jeff Pundyk, Katie Burke, Keith Ferrazzi, Matthew Turner, Michelle Mazur, motivation guides, Ray Hiltz, Rebecca Lieb, Rebel Brown, Renee Gaylor, Scott Brinker, Scott Gerber