This blog a resource for presenters — not pro-speakers, but real people who need to make presentations as part of their 'day job'.
I have to be honest, this blog only gets updated every month or so. If you want a bit more, sign up for the (almost) weekly newsletter instead called "TalkTactics".
“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”
Put simply, the illusion of truth is that we (by which I mean people!) have a tendency to belief/trust those things which are familiar. It doesn’t have to be true for that to work, we just have to remember it. For example, I often say (and hear other people say even more!) “I can’t remember …
Yeah – sorry! This is late… but hopefully you’ll forgive me when you see the output and have a giggle while you learn 😉 Introducing Small Simon, who’s talking about using metaphors in your presentations. He doesn’t get out much as he stays in the lab… so be nice! Say something friendly on YouTube 🙂
I’m writing this on a train. For me, that’s quite unusual, because I tend to use train journeys for consuming content rather than creating it. In part that’s because it’s easier to read my kindle or listen to podcasts than it is to find elbow room to use my laptop to write things and I …
The TES (Times Educational Supplement) on June 2nd, 2017 has a cracker of an article. Dylan Wiliam talks sense about how people (well, school pupils!) learn. Now, given how much tosh is put about by WIKIexperets without any substance I normally make a point of checking the original research in this kind of second hand …
I’m not particularly one for party games. I’ve had too many experiences of coming last. I guess it says more than I’d like to admit about me and my friends that that matters. But I do rather like Pictionary. For those of you who haven’t played, it’s a quick-fire game where partners (in teams, not …
Last week, I started to explore some of the work of Mayer about how to make presentations have more impact, in terms of what audience’s remember and can apply. There’s more though, and it’s all good stuff. In terms of the jargon, it’s what’s called “principles for fostering generative processing” – or to put it …
I’ve seen lots of doctors make presentations and the brutal version of this blog post could be, frankly “not much”. But that’s odd, because there’s a lot of good research that’s been carried out to see how to improve presentations for medical students. Let’s face it, they’ve got a lot of information to take in, …
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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