When You Have Something Important to Say

How to emphasize the key points of your presentation so your audience hears, digests and remembers it.
When you are delivering a presentation to your management, a proposal to the committee or changes to your staff they are not hanging on your every word. When you get to the key points - you want them to listen, believe and remember. Use the following techniques to give the key words of your presentation more impact.


1. Announce, "This is important." Then deliver the important line. Teachers grab attention by saying, "This will be on the exam." You could state, "This is a million dollar tip."

2. Pause, just before, and after, you say the important stuff. This is similar to placing quotation marks around the important line. Notice the effect of the pause at the awards night when they say, "May I have the envelope please?"

3. Lower the tone of your voice to increase the believability. Practice this, "And in conclusion," (lower your voice) "I am the best one for the job." Just for fun, when you are alone, try it in a higher pitched voice and notice the difference. Think James Earl Jones.

4. Make them laugh just before, then get serious and deliver the important message. This is a good attention getter and very helpful when you want to change directions. When we laugh we relax and open our minds and are more willing to accept new information.

5. Move just before you speak - then stand still while delivering the important message. This is especially effective if you pace or move a lot when you speak. Stand still when you say the important part. We can't listen if we are watching you move.

6. Look your audience in the eye - never read the important message. If you have to read it - then it looks like you don't really know it or believe it. Know your message, rehearse it and deliver it directly to your audience.

7. Smile. We believe more those who smile at us. We also prefer to listen to speakers who smile at us. We listen with our eyes and our ears. Be friendly to the eyes and the ears of your audience. If we don't like what we see - we won't listen.

8. Tell a story of how this lesson was learned or applied. The earliest lessons were stories told by our cave-dwelling ancestors. The story lessons were remembered. If only the teachers and professors of today remembered the wisdom of our ancestors. We love stories. We hate lectures. Just ask your kids.

9. Repeat the main message three times during your presentation. If you want it remembered - repeat it and repeat it again. The first time we weren't listening. The second time we caught part of it and the third time we might hear it and remember it.

10. Reinforce the key message with images. We retain images better than words. Attach your message to word pictures, visuals and body language.

Your words will not be effective unless you skillfully package them. Do that and your presentation will be more successful.

© George Torok is the Speech Coach for Executives. He coaches executives and trains sales professionals to close million dollar deals. Get your free Power Presentation Tips by registering at http://www.SpeechCoachforExecutives.com Arrange a keynote speech or training program by calling George Torok at 905-335-1997 or visit http://www.Torok.com

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Six Business Presentation Tips That Your Customers Will Love

In business, like in life, presentation is important. Your customers’ perception of your sales staff, your back-office staff, and your brand help to mould how they perceive your business and their likelihood of doing business with you. Here are ten tips that you can follow which will entice your customers to sign on the dotted line.

Look Smart: As the saying goes, don’t judge a book by its cover. Unfortunately, people do and you can use this to your advantage. Make sure you’re looking well groomed for the occasion. The consequences are far less severe if you overdress, rather than under-dress, so keep this in mind when deciding on suitable attire. 

Don’t Read From A PowerPoint Presentation: Slides are meant to enhance your presentation; not to be your presentation. Try to use PowerPoint presentations to show graphs, images and figures that are harder to understand when spoken. You should also try to make slides easy to digest; this means the customer will be focused on you more, and your slides less.

Practise Makes Perfect: Try to practise doing your presentation as much as possible. Try to focus less on the exact wording used, and more on the overall message. Ask a friend or co-worker to listen in and here what they have to say. While you may not have to follow their feedback word-for-word, it is hard to judge your own presentation when you’re the one presenting. It’s even better if you present to someone within your business who you don’t know as well. 

Don’t Burry Your Head In Your Notes: It’s easy to bury your head in your notes when doing a business presentation. Try not to. One of the best ways to avoid this is to ensure that you don’t prepare what you’ll say word-for-word. Only work on an overall message. Or, if you must read from notes, only lower your head at the start of each sentence; read what you have to say; and then lift your head and address your audience. Retro tip: pick something, or someone, at the back of the room to focus on. 

Adopt A Conversational Tone: When presenting, it is easy to sound like your doing a book reading. This is particularly the case when you have prepared too much. Try to only prepare by creating a list of bullet points, and this will allow you to make your business presentation sound more conversational. Through making impromptu comments you will be able to address this issue, and allow your prospects to focus on what your business can deliver. 

Objection-Handle As You Go: When you are dealing with a small group, address their issues as you go. Make your prospects feel comfortable to ask questions when they come up, and address them before moving onto the next part of your presentation. This may kill the flow, but when the customer wants to interrupt let them. If something is nagging them, and they cannot get it out of their mind, then it will be harder for them to focus on what it is that you want to say.

About the author:
CityLocal has lucrative franchise opportunities available for entrepreneurs looking to capitalise on the growing online advertising industry. CityLocal is the UK’s number one local directory. www.citylocal.co.uk & www.citylocal.ie.

Article Source: http://www.Free-Articles-Zone.com

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Presentation Handouts: Three Ways They Can Kill Your Presentation

Every audience expects presentation handouts, and your presentation should include them. But these three common mistakes will make your handouts a liability to your presentation instead of an asset.

1. Handing them out at the wrong time

It's not always necessary or appropriate to hand out materials at the beginning of your presentation. That's the usual way it's done, but it has one major drawback: people will read through the whole set of handouts and you'll lose their attention as you begin your presentation. It's very difficult to bring them back, and when they do give you their attention again they probably have some ideas in their heads that you're not yet ready to present to them. Either way, you've lost control.

This is particularly so when the handout is a workbook or even a multi-page document. For example, if you hand out a complete set of financial statements to accountants, they will want to look through them carefully right away. Getting them to focus on what you want to say at any given time is almost impossible.

The solution is to hand out each piece of material at the time you are going to address it in your presentation. Don't give them the whole financial set; give them the Profit and Loss Statement when you're going to discuss it, the Balance Sheet when you're ready for it, and so on with the other pieces. That way, control of the presentation will be in your hands, not those of the audience.

2. Making them simply a copy of your slides

People like to use paper copies of your slides to make their notes, but that carries the same problem as the first mistake. Instead, create your own note pages.

About two-thirds of the page from the left-hand edge of the paper should contain BRIEF statements relating to each topic. They could be extracts from your slides, or summaries of your points. Include as much detail as you think appropriate. Then on the remaining one-third on the right side of the page, leave a column headed "Notes" or "How can I use this?", depending on the type of presentation.

If you must provide a copy of the slides, do it after your presentation is over.

3. Not having enough information on the handouts

The main purpose of a handout is for future reference, so this is your opportunity to provide as much information as your audience needs or wants, even if you have handed it out one page at a time.

You don't want them focusing on handouts containing complicated charts, graphs and tables while you are speaking, but such material makes excellent handouts for later study.

Another advantage of detailed handouts is that if someone asks for, say, the complete architectural plans, before you are ready, you can tell them that they will receive the complete set of detailed plans at the end, but for now you'd like to focus on the drawings on the screen. The fact that they know they'll receive everything at the end gives them the comfort they need to concentrate on your presentation.

Used thoughtlessly or automatically, handouts can kill your presentation; used correctly they can provide another tool to ensure that the audience receives the most value from your presentation.


About The Author

Helen Wilkie is a professional speaker, workshop leader and author specializing in communication. Call 416-966-5023 for information on her presentation skills workshops. Subscribe to Helen's no-cost monthly e-zine, "Communi-keys", at http://www.mhwcom.com and get your free 40-page e-book, "23 ideas you can use RIGHT NOW to communicate and succeed in your business career!"

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Presenting - Presentation Skills Advice

Whether you are a university student giving a presentation on a project, a middle manager giving a talk on this months figures or a psychology expert giving a seminar on dyslexia in children presentation skills are vital in order to succeed. The ability to speak to a room or hall full of people can be a daunting one. Whether you know the people or even if they are complete strangers standing up by yourself and commanding an audience's attention is tricky no matter whom you are. This can be even more difficult for people with learning difficulties like dyspraxia and dyslexia.

There are various methods to get through presentations from imagining your audience naked to imagining you are talking to a friend. Different techniques will work for different people so it is all about finding what works best for you. However there are a few things that everyone can do to get by when speaking in public whether you're dyslexic or not.

As with most things in life preparation is the key to success. If you walk into a room with out any real understanding of what you are going to talk about how can you expect to do well? If you know your subject inside out then you should be able to breeze through it and handle any questions asked by the audience with confidence.

Technique is the other skill that you should work on and this is something that everyone needs to take into account. One of the most common problems when people give presentations is that they tend to read their notes rather than use them as a guide. This is terrible for the audience as it results in the speaker talking into their chest rather than making eye contact with the audience and making them feel involved and interested. The best way to overcome this is to use reminders in your slide show or presentation utilities.

If you are having problems looking at your audience the best thing to do is to look directly at the back of the hall over the heads of the audience. The audience will think you are looking directly at them and will feel engaged while you won't have to focus directly on one or two people. Practise is the other thing that will help you overcome fears of giving a presentation and will help you to build your confidence.

If you are still having problems after all of this then you can always hire someone to give you presentation skills training or attend an evening class at a local college or university. These people will have a wide range of techniques, learning methods and facilities that will allow you to practise and perfect your skills till you are confident enough to do it yourself.

If you are interested in finding out about Presentation Skills Training then Clifford Solutions can help.

If you want to find out more about Dyslexia Schools or are looking to find Dyslexic Schools for your child then why not try Appleford School in Wiltshire.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Z_Birch

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Sales Presentation Perfection - 7 Essential Actions For Success

Recently, I was traveling in the Mediterranean and attended a lecture on ancient Rome delivered by a bright and articulate American professor. He began with an apology, immediately setting his audience up for disappointment--a promise he kept. He went on to explain that he wasn't very good at the technology--which he proved throughout his talk. And worse still, as soon as he launched into his presentation, he seemed to have forgotten its title and focused instead on the American senate and the need for checks and balances. Nobody cared.

That presenter turned out to be the poster child for getting it all wrong. And what a shame, when it's so easy to get it right.

Everyone who delivers a sales presentation is nervous at some time. Even if you routinely present, when you know that this one is important, adrenaline flows, mouths dry up and presenters worry that their mind will simply go blank. Why wonder if you've got it all right when following these 7 action steps will ensure that you do?

ACTION STEP 1

Refine your message.

Why it's Important

Your audience will--if you are lucky--remember two or three important things from your presentation. The most important thing you want them to remember is your message. Even if they forget all the numbers you recite, the percentages you emphasize or the lists you highlight, you want them to remember the main thing they need to know about you--and that's your message. So refine it, clarify it, and begin with it before you mention a word of content.

ACTION STEP 2

Review your slides and limit your topics to three or four main concepts that support your message. Organize content around those main topics.

Why it's Important

The listening ear cannot go back and review what you said a few minutes ago and it's easy for an audience to get lost when they listen to a speaker--especially if yours is only one of several presentations they will hear that day. Make it easy for your audience to remember your content by limiting the topics you talk about. They'll think you are smart, clear and wonderful to work with if you eliminate tangents, ditch the minutiae and simplify your talk.

ACTION STEP 3

Choose your topics carefully so they address the needs of your audience.

Why it's Important

We all know that people buy from people they like, and while everyone in your audience does not have buying power, they do have veto power. Keep in mind that every audience includes four types of listeners; your goal is to connect with each of them so they like you better than your competitors. Your message should speak to the executive--that is, your message must make it clear why you are best suited to provide the best the marketplace has to offer. Your topics should speak to the other three types of listeners: the numbers cruncher, the techie and the implementor.

ACTION STEP 4

Use a visual metaphor on your slides to reinforce your message.

Why it's Important

When you use compelling graphics and engaging images your audience remembers your message more easily.

ACTION STEP 5

Eliminate as much text as possible from your slides.

Why it's Important

When you read from the screen, you lose contact with your audience. You need to make good, solid eye contact with every person in the room as you speak, and you can't do that when you are glued to a screen. Don't worry that you'll forget something. This is your stuff and you know you could talk for hours about it. What's more, if you do forget something, nobody in the audience will ever know.

ACTION STEP 6

Create handouts that are reader-friendly, well organized and look like real documents.

Why it's Important

Handouts that look like documents--not like printed PowerPoint slides--give you the professional edge you want. A well written handout is the proof that what you said in your terrific presentation is valid and true. Your handout should be distributed right before the Q and A and should include all the detail, graphs, charts and illustrations you took off the slides.

ACTION STEP 7

Hire a coach.

Why it's Important

Even Tiger Woods uses a coach. The good ones always do, because they know a coach can help you kick it up a notch. A good coach can make the difference between ordinary and great. The fact is, it's hard, if not impossible, to see yourself as others see you. If this presentation is important, you want a professional's eye checking you out and providing the feedback that will polish your performance--turning you into the likable, memorable, easy-to-hear presenter you know you can be.

A presentation is a performance. And like any performance, there's a difference between an amateur show and a professional one. Take the 7 essential action steps that help you win the sale. They'll make you look good and that's a winning presentation.

Author, consultant, trainer and coach, Fern Lebo is also president of FrontRunner Communications, adjunct faculty at Auburn University and a frequent keynote speaker. A respected communications expert, Lebo focuses on presentation and writing for sales. For nearly 20 years, she has helped Fortune 500 companies create and deploy star sales performers. Whether it's reinventing a sales presentation, discovering how to write strategically, or improving presentation delivery, Lebo's clients learn the secrets that set them apart; they master the professional techniques they need to achieve outstanding success. Find out more at http://FRcommunications.com

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Presentation Power - The Courage to Be Brilliant

If you are in sales, you present. Sometimes it's a one-on-one across a desk. Sometimes it means standing at the front of a big room before a discerning audience that has assembled to decide who wins the sale. But no matter the arena, no matter the product or service you offer, your goal is to capture your listeners from the very first word and have them happily follow you right through to the end--and buy.


You can do what you always do--thank your audience for allowing you this opportunity, tell them you're so happy to be there to inform them about whatever it is you are selling, introduce them to your team, tell them about your company, and make your pitch. Or you can open with power, have the courage to be brilliant--and win the sale.

It's not as hard as you might think. Yes, it takes originality and intelligence--but you've got that in spades, right? So, here's what to do.

First, decide on your message.

Your message is the most important thing you want your audience to remember if--at the moment you began your pitch--the world were to come to an abrupt end. It's the key thing that gives your audience a reason to buy. To articulate your message, describe in one or two simple sentences what it is you are selling, its key benefits and why it is better than anything else in the marketplace. Polish it, refine it and make your message shine.

Next, identify the theme of your message.

Is it about change? Innovation? Technology? Financial savings? Improving something? Simplifying something? Magic? Whatever it is, you will use that theme to drive your presentation.

Finally, create an opening that leads to the theme of your message.

I've listed a variety of interesting ways to open below, and whether you choose from my list or invent an opening of your own, the point of your opening must be clear and lead directly to your message. If you're really clever about it, your opening leads to a message whose theme you can use throughout your presentation. When you can do that, you'll not only wow them from the start, your audience will be engaged throughout your delivery.

At the end of your presentation, restate your message, then tie it all together by returning to your opening.

So let's summarize. Begin with an intriguing opening that leads to a clear and compelling message. State your message. Deliver your content keeping your theme in mind and referring to it from time to time. End by restating your message and returning to your opening--which is now a clever close.

Here are a few ideas for brilliant openings. Begin with:

* a personal story
* a quote from a famous person
* a quote from your CEO
* a magic trick
* a musical introduction
* a story from the news
* a reference to a topic of national interest
* a game or contest
* a demonstration
* a reference to a story with great emotional impact
* a mind-reading act.

You won't differentiate yourself from the competition by sounding like everyone else. To grab your audience from the very first word, you'll need a memorable approach, a dynamic style, and the courage to be different. That's brilliant!

Author, consultant, trainer and coach, Fern Lebo is also president of FrontRunner Communications, adjunct faculty at Auburn University and a frequent keynote speaker. A respected communications expert, Lebo focuses on presentation and writing for sales. For nearly 20 years, she has helped Fortune 500 companies create and deploy star sales performers. Whether it's reinventing a sales presentation, discovering how to write strategically, or improving presentation delivery, Lebo's clients learn the secrets that set them apart; they master the professional techniques they need to achieve outstanding success. Find out more at http://FRcommunications.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fern_Lebo

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What Should a Metrics PPT Presentation Have?

Metrics, also known as standards that can be measured, are used to keep track of the effectiveness of the company's objectives and goals. Even for the decision making process, the results of metrics are considered before coming up with plans and decisions for the company. The use of metrics PPT presentation would aid all members in the management system to fully indentify what is going on in the company, how well it is going, how you can tell if the company is doing it well, and how you let other people know you are doing it well.

The presentation for all kinds of metrics must be simple and relevant to the business issues. Since there are various metrics, like efficiency metrics, performance metrics, strategic needs metrics, mission effectiveness metrics, security metrics, and more, they must all be presented in an interesting and persuasive way. There are some companies or managers who are first timers in considering these metrics-related issues in their operation system. The PowerPoint presentation is easy to manipulate and deliver since all you have to do is play the slides automatically or manually. If the type of metrics is new or it is the first time to be incorporated in the system, the management must be impressed with the presentation in order to get that much-needed approval.

The metrics to be presented must be worthwhile for the entire business operation so metric guidelines are vital. First thing you need to include in the presentation is quantifiable information, such as numbers. These numerical figures can be in the forms of percentages and averages. Of course, metrics present a way of measuring so relevant data must also appear in numbers, and thus, should be measurable. In this way, your presentation of the metrics would be reliable and tangible. Second, the metrics presentation must give the appropriate reason why it is useful in keeping track of performance and resource allocation. The presentation must show the audience why metrics are important to performance check on employees as well as the distribution of resources. Remember, the management must be convinced on the effectiveness of the presentation. And the third is the presentation should include pointers on how metrics can be readily acquired from multiple processes.

This tool in measuring things inside the business firm will be worthwhile and a reliable way of troubleshooting any management inefficiencies. In the typical PowerPoint presentation, you may include animations as well to make your audience get the feel of what is being discussed or presented during corporate meetings. You can also make your presentation show how measurement can evaluate everything that is going on in the company's performance, as well as the quality and efficiency of their employees.

Since the business world is fast-paced and is constantly changing, management teams and other people responsible in keeping track of the ins and outs of the enterprise must make use of every material provided by the technology, like PowerPoint. This technology tool can make everyone's job easier and more presentable. Metrics PPT presentations must be designed according to the information needed and must be useful in providing solutions to company problems.

If you are interested in metrics ppt, check this web-site to learn more about dashboard ppt.

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