The Ideal Communicator

This is a reprint from Seth Godin’s blog post from April 18, 2010.  He talks about the effectiveness of marketing that preys on people’s rational (or irrational) fears.  Which is so much like the fear of public speaking. Many of us have it; we can control it, or become overpowered by it. But I especially loved what he had to say about it in the last paragraph:

“If your fear keeps you alive, embrace it. The rest of the time, the best strategy for success is figuring out how to ignore it, befriend it or use it as a compass to find what matters.”

Amen to that.

Here’s the full post from Seth’s blog: Read the rest of this entry »

You have to give a presentation. You have 5 minutes to get your point across. Ignite is the place to learn how to do just that.

In my last blog post, I discussed the phenomenon of Ignite presentations. Ignite is a series of speedy presentations, where each speaker shares their personal and professional passions, using 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds for a total of just five minutes.

With up to 20 speakers sharing the stage on the same night, Ignite presentations challenge the speaker to get their point across concisely, persuasively – and most importantly, memorably.  Add to that the expectation of clear and entertaining slides, a lot is riding on these 5 minutes.

With all these requirements in mind, here are 10 surefire ways to give a rock-solid, entertaining and memorable Ignite presentation: Read the rest of this entry »

I recently had the pleasure of attending an evening of “Ignite” presentations last month. For those who have not yet heard of this speaking phenomenon, Ignite is a series of speedy presentations, where each speaker shares their personal and professional passions, using 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds for a total of just five minutes.

A 5-minute presentation is not very different from a 10-minute, 30-minute, or 4-hour presentation. The basic rules of public speaking is no less important in this context. As always, it’s crucially important to focus on the 3 main components of any speech: Content, delivery, and audience engagement.

With up to 20 speakers sharing the stage on the same night, Ignite presentations challenge the speaker to get their point across concisely, persuasively – and most importantly, memorably. Add to that the expectation of clear and entertaining slides, a lot is riding on these 5 minutes.

Let’s look at one particularly stand-out Ignite presentation – the 22-minute meeting, by Nicole Steinbok – and see what makes it so successful:

1. Relatable Topic – This is an issue that the majority of the audience can easily relate to. It seems that most of us have suffered through neverending, pointless meetings, and she capitalizes on this. Read the rest of this entry »

by John White, Marketing Communications Writer, VenTAJA Marketing

There is an art to writing slide decks that support your presentation, and an art to presenting without a slide deck. Hire a writer who can help you with both.

Have you ever seen a slide deck get in the way of a presentation? Your own presentation, perhaps?

You’re standing in front of forty people delivering an animated presentation, when it dawns on you that the members of your audience are not engaged. At first they ogle the screen and leaf through your handouts. As your presentation goes on, some of them pick up their phones, check e-mail and surf a bit. Finally, you begin to read a message on a few faces: “All right, we’ve got the deck with your information. May we go now?” If you could read their tweets, you would probably confirm that they’ve checked out (and are telling people about it in real time). Read the rest of this entry »