I do my best to make this blog a resource for presenters - not pro-speakers, but real people who need to make presentations as part of their 'day job'. If there's something you really want to know about, just email me and I'll see what I can do (no promises except that I'll read your email - use simon@ and you can guess the rest of my address. :) )
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Here’s a rock ’n’ roll idea, though it’s only my opinion… The days of Death by PowerPoint are over. I’d like to pretend that’s because presentations have got better all over the world and that presenters are no longer attempting to kill their audiences by boring them to death. I’d like to but I can’t. …
I believe presentations should change something – otherwise they’re just a pastime. So, things that improve the likelihood of change are good (all other things being equal 😉 ). And targeting your presentation makes it more likely to do that. After all, shooing an arrow is more likely to hit the target if you aim, …
Lets play. Let’s play a game of “let’s pretend”. Specifically “let’s pretend you want to hear me instead of reading me”. Well here’s your chance. Here’s a fun chat I did on the Industry Angel podcast with Ian Farrar a little while ago. We cover a lot of ground (some of it …
My voice went lower in Spain. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not ‘cos it was Spain, specifically, just that I was there for a week to do nothing. Just recharge. The toughest decision I’d have to make was either red wine or white? shall I do another few lengths of the pool to cool down? …
Welcome back. Part one is here. 😉 So now we know the problems faced by charities in their presentations, what’s the solution? To be honest and brutal, they’re not very different from the ones faced by any business. For reports which are basically reports, the rules are pretty much exactly the same (in principle). The …
At the risk of being obvious and boring, I’m going to split this blog into two, big parts.This week it’s why charities need to be particularly good at presenting, and then their particular presentation-problems. Ready? Next week I’ll look at what charities can do about it all… Why charities need to be give presentations and …
There’s a group on Facebook called Speakers’ Corner. In it there are some interesting conversations between professional speakers (and would-be professional speakers). Before you rush off there, let me warn you that there’s also sometimes a lot of fluff and tosh and and even some BadVice. 😉 One of the more interesting conversations recently was …
“Scars not scabs” is a phrase I picked up of Episode 115 of Beth Below’s “Introvert Entrepreneur” podcast where Beth is chatting to Esther Choy of the Leadership Story Lab. It rang a bell with me because of a couple of things I’ve posted in the last few months. (It’s one of a fistful only …
Read more “Personal stories in your presentations: Scars not scabs”
I’ve had a few invitations to speak recently (some paid, some asking for a favour), and it struck me that when I followed up and said “Okay, what about?” and unusually high number said something like “Anything you like!”. Now, I know that some of them are saying that to be nice, but some of …
Read more “Make a presentation about anything you like, Simon”
Leading a team or doing your own marketing? Awesome! But not having the impact on the world you think you should? Less Awesome.
StoryMaking is my new book that looks at how to tactically use stories in your presentations, your marketing and your sales. It's my usual light-weight style over heavy-weight research!
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The StoryMaking System is the result of reading (in mind-numbing detail) over 400 peer-reviewed research papers, dozens of books, thousands of ours of observational research and blood sweat and tears!
It's the framework for designing a presentation which gives you the fastest way to getting something is (almost) guaranteed to work. It gives your audience what they need - and only what they need - to be impacted.
The key elements are:
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