What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation I was sitting across the table from a Silicon Valley CEO who had pioneered a technology that touches many of our lives — the flash memory that stores data on smartphones, digital cameras, and computers. He was a frequent guest on CNBC and had been delivering business presentations for at least 20 years before we met. And yet, the CEO wanted to sharpen his public speaking skills.
How to Elevate Your Presence in a Virtual Meeting Executive Summary Communication tactics that work well among colleagues in a conference room may not translate seamlessly to a virtual meeting. Elevating both your point and your presence in a Zoom, Skype, or similar virtual meeting requires engaging in video conference-friendly tactics. How conscious are you of the differences between presenting online and presenting face-to-face? Are there important distinctions between presenting online and presenting face-to-face, in person, in the same room as your audience? We’ve done a lot of thinking about this recently as we are coaching business presenting far more online currently, than face-to-face, and the answer to us seems to be that there are many differences between the two, but they are mostly ones of which we are not even conscious! However, when we do become conscious of the differences between presenting online and presenting face-to-face, we believe it really helps us get to grips with presenting online more fluently, confidently and persuasively. Which, of course, most of us are now having to do much more regularly than we did. So, we hope our 10 thoughts that follow might be useful in helping you become a better, more engaging, online presenter. 1.
6 dos and don’ts for strong slides, from a TED presentation expert iStock Want to prevent yawns and glazed-over eyes? Before you deliver your next speech, pitch or address, learn how to create exceptional slides by following these rules (with real before-and-afters). Slides are an expected and crucial part of most speeches, presentations, pitches and addresses. They can simplify complex information or messages, showcase relevant images, and help hold an audience’s attention. But quite often, the best slides aren’t those that make people sit up and comment on how good they are; instead, they’re the ones that people take in without really noticing because the content is effortlessly conveyed and matches the speaker’s words so well.
How Timeboxing Works and Why It Will Make You More Productive Executive Summary In a recent survey of 100 productivity hacks, timeboxing — migrating to-do lists into calendars — was ranked the most useful. Timeboxing can give you a much greater sense of control over your workday. You decide what to do and when to do it, block out all distractions for that timeboxed period, and get it done. The benefits of calendarized timeboxing are many, varied, and highly impactful. The practice improves how we feel (control), how much we achieve as individuals (personal productivity), and how much we achieve in the teams we work in (enhanced collaboration). Matt Abrahams: Tips and Techniques for More Confident and Compelling Presentations The ability to present your ideas in a clear, confident, and authentic manner can make a huge difference in your business (and personal) success. Yet many people are anxious or under-practiced in presenting effectively. The best way to feel more confident and deliver engaging presentations is through smart and thorough preparation and practice.
A BBC reporter on how to be a video conference rock star Video conferencing has proven invaluable for the army of workers sent home to work there, but it didn’t take long for the buzz of seeing everyone on Zoom, Teams, Skype, WebEx, or Meet to wear off. Many of us who learned to perform well in person are struggling to adapt to working with others through a webcam. “A video conference is definitely more taxing” than an in-person meeting, says Richard Taylor, who reported for the BBC for nearly 25 years before founding SuperRichMedia, a boutique video consulting and training company in San Francisco. Other experts have weighed in on the format’s inherent drain on workers’ energies.
How to Engage an Audience in an Online Presentation I once made a sandwich, responded to an email, and let the dog out--all while “watching” an online presentation. I’m not proud. And I’m not alone. InterCall, the world’s largest conference call company found that audiences are engaged in a number of activities while on conference calls. hbr Executive Summary Nine out of ten people admit to daydreaming in meetings. Seventy-three percent do other work. What It Takes to Run a Great Virtual Meeting Not being able to work together in the same room with colleagues may become a major challenge due to the coronavirus outbreak. To make virtual meetings work, you might need to adjust how your team conducts them. Prioritize... As companies scramble to protect employees from the spreading coronavirus with travel restrictions and remote work arrangements, there’s a distinct possibility that in-person meetings with teams, customers, or suppliers may be canceled for days — or potentially weeks. Under the best of circumstances, as soon as one or two attendees “dial in” to any meeting, productivity starts to suffer.
Microsoft's CEO Knows How to Run a Meeting. Here's How He Does It "Ugh, another meeting. Can't I just get some work done?" On the other hand, if done right a 10-minute meeting can save dozens of emails, prevent major miscommunication, and even give birth to wonderful ideas and solutions. When Nadella took over, Microsoft was in the midst of an identity crisis. The company was lethargic, plagued with infighting, and had lost its innovative edge. 13 etiquette tips for video conference calls Due to the coronavirus, virtual meetings are now standard for employees working from home. Follow these video conferencing tips on staying connected and professional. Video or audio, Zoom, Skype, or Google Meet--being a part of virtual meetings has become the norm, as companies have sent employees to work from home for the foreseeable future, or at least until there's confidence COVID-19 is under control. Especially for those more familiar with in-person meetings, remote conference calls can be a challenge: There are often participants who struggle with the technology or their at-home bandwidth.
The 6 Qualities Meetings Need to Have to Be Effective If you want to make your organization more productive, there’s arguably no better place to start than meetings. Think about it. Research has found the average professional spends about a third of their time in meetings. And that number only increases as people climb up the ladder, with managers spending half their time in meetings and CEOs spending nearly 70 percent of their workday meeting with others. That’s a lot of time, particularly from an organization’s most influential and most expensive employees.