Action verbs make presentations powerful.
Make The Most of Your Opportunities with Impact Phrases
Well-timed impact phrases make your message memorable. Strategize your word order.
Great communicators are remembered and repeated. To make your message more memorable, pay close attention to how you order your words and phrases, even within a single sentence. Thoughtful choices in word order, give you the opportunity to highlight your most significant information and deliver this as “impact phrases.”
Audiences engage when we present information in a natural progression. It helps them “see” what we’re trying to convey. Like a miniature story, a single well-crafted sentence draws your audience in; they connect both intellectually and emotionally and follow your narrative to its conclusion. (more…)
How to Shorten Your Presentation without Losing Impact
Don’t panic. You can shorten your presentation without losing your impact.
Imagine, you’ve done all the work to prepare and rehearse a major presentation and at the last minute you’re told, “I’m so sorry, but we’re short on time. Can you give us the five-minute version?”
Is it possible to shorten a presentation without losing all of your impact? Yes. Don’t panic. After all, a sound bite is often more powerful than a lengthy dissertation. Here’s how to condense your speech without losing impact:
1. Don’t apologize or mention that you usually have much more time. Find confidence in the fact you’ve prepared. You can still get your central message across in five minutes.
(more…)
How to Make Your Presentation “Stick” – Tell Authentic Stories
Authentic stories are essential to connect with your audience and make your message memorable.
Have you ever attended a talk where you left energized and enthusiastic, only to get sidewalk amnesia? You forget why you were inspired. By the time you hit the car, the speaker’s message – and your excitement – is lost. Have you delivered a presentation like that?
An unforgettable presentation is “sticky.” It sticks with audience members and continues to influence long after the presentation is over. Vivid and authentic stories are central to presentations that “stick.”
For Engineers – How to Speak Effectively at Customer Conferences
Connect with your audience, regardless of how tech-savvy they are or aren’t.
When you’re an engineer presenting at a user meeting or customer conference, you are the expert on the topic you plan to deliver to your customers. Remember, your audience does not want to know everything you know; they just need to know about the subject of your presentation.
You can connect with your audience, regardless of how tech-savvy they are, or aren’t! This approach will help ensure that your message gets across. (more…)
Want to Rock Your Presentation? Expert Advice
Legendary Guitarist, Robert Fripp
Though my brother would never use these words, to describe himself, Robert Fripp is a legendary guitarist. In fact, he’s one of Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists” of all time.
Speakers can improve their presentations by paying close attention to one element of delivery that’s second nature to professional musicians, timing. Robert suggests that speakers think about rhythm and tempo in this way: (more…)
Criticism: How to Turn Gripes into Growth
Criticism, also known as feedback, can actually help us improve our presentation skills.
No one enjoys being criticized! Yet, if you want to succeed, you’ve got to overcome all your natural instincts and actively seek out feedback, good and bad.
As a professional speaker, I know how it is. I face my critics every week. They’re called audiences. Not only do they rate me with their applause and laughter (or lack thereof), but frequently they’re asked to complete written evaluations, providing feedback for the meeting planners. I want those meeting planners to look like heroes, so I do everything possible to keep in top form. That means that I embrace and value criticism. I study those “evals” and listen to all comments, no matter how off the mark they may seem. And, even though I’ve been an executive speech coach and a professional speaker for decades, I still ask professional peers to be my toughest critics and give their feedback.
If you want to improve, you need to develop a positive, flexible, and creative attitude toward feedback. Here are eight practical ways to make criticism a positive and harness the power of feedback for your own success. (more…)
Are You Speaking Too Quickly? Expert Advice
FrippVT can equip you and your team with powerful persuasive presentation skills and give you a competitive edge.
Are you speaking too quickly? It can happen unconsciously. Sometimes public speaking can trigger an adrenaline rush. You might feel charged with energy or a bit nervous.
If you’re speaking too quickly, you are likely to lose your audience. You jeopardize the overall success of your message.
For some speakers, speaking too quickly is coupled with a rise in voice pitch which makes even a knowledgeable speaker sound like Minnie Mouse.
Pay attention to audience feedback. If one person reports a problem with understanding you, this may be an individual perception or opinion. But if several do, you need to time yourself. (more…)
