Posts Tagged ‘presentation’

How to Give a Great Speech: Part 2 Delivery

An important speech can be a worry. The keys for success are good preparation and confident delivery. If you have prepared your talk well and memorised the key points then you are ready to give a great performance. And it is a performance. Giving a talk should be much more than simply conveying information - it involves an element of drama and of theatre. Here are some tips: 1… Continue reading

October 26 2009 | By Paul | Tagged: address, delivery, keynote, presentation, public-speaking, speech, talk | 12 comments»

How to Give a Great Speech, Part 1: Preparation

If you have to give a keynote speech, an after-dinner talk, or an address to a group of customers or colleagues then preparation leads to success. Here are some key tips: 1. Investigate the audience. Find out as much as you can about your audience, their interests and their likely mood. What is it that they will want from your session - information, entertainment, tips, ideas, guidance? What will they have heard… Continue reading

October 19 2009 | By Paul | Tagged: presentation, public-speaking, speech | 19 comments»

Adobe Moves Closer to Online Office Suite with Presentations, Spreadsheets, Premium Plans for Businesses

Long-time readers of Lifehack know of my ongoing love affair with Adobe’s online word processor Buzzword, since last year part of the Acrobat.com suite of online applications. “Love affair” is not too strong a phrase, either – I like the interface and ease of use so much that I was inspired to write a book, Don’t Be Stupid: A Guide to Learning, Studying, and Succeeding at

June 16 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: acrobat.com, adobe, online-app, presentation, web2.0 | 5 comments»

Six Ways to Transform your Presentation

How many times have you been bored rigid by conference speakers?How can you make sure that your presentations engage and interest your audience? How can you really get your message across?Here are some great ways to liven up your pitch and avoid boring your audience to tears: 1. Throw away PowerPoint. PowerPoint presentations are the norm but are they the best way to communicate your message?The trouble with them is that… Continue reading

May 22 2009 | By Paul | Tagged: audience, interest, keynote, powerpoint, presentation, speech | 16 comments»

From Mind Map to Presentation

I've got a couple big presentations coming up in the next month. For each of them, I have to start from a very broad topic and then focus in on information that will actually be useful to the people I'm speaking to. It's something I've struggled with: I've tried just jumping straight into making a presentation and tossing my thoughts on to slides, but then I've got a very disorganized… Continue reading

May 5 2009 | By Thursday | Tagged: mind-map, presentation | 18 comments»

7 Little Tricks To Speak In Public With No Fear

There was once a time when I had no fear. I was 11 years old and I entered a story telling competition. I was confidently telling the story and captured everyone's attention until suddenly I heard a voice from just in front of the stage commenting about my nose. It's totally disastrous from that moment on. I lost focus and forgot the script altogether. That's the exact time that I… Continue reading

August 26 2008 | By Mohamad Zaki | Tagged: anxiety, nervousness, presentation, public-speaking | 35 comments»

4 Effective Presentation Techniques

Every once in a while, we are entrusted with the task of presentation. It may be to demo a new product, to present a plan or to explain a new process that you've helped create. Whatever the reason and however many presentations you've given before, it's something that not everyone is comfortable doing.Here are some of the presentation techniques that I've learnt in my experience to help you conduct an… Continue reading

July 4 2008 | By Raj | Tagged: business, meeting, presentation, presenting, public-speaking | 11 comments»

5 Key Questions When Planning Your Presentation (Presentation Masterclass – Part 2)

Part 1 of this series is here.Let’s just reiterate our starting position here: MOST PRESENTATIONS SUUUUUUUUUCK! This happens at all stages of the life-cycle of a presentation, but if your base preparation is below par, then no amount of shiny graphics and animation will save you – sucky foundation, sucky presentation.To rise above the background noise of a zillion average-to-bad presentations, here are a handful of key questions to… Continue reading

April 14 2008 | By Rowan | Tagged: howto, powerpoint, presentation, public_speaking, tutorial | 6 comments»

How to Be an Expert (and Find One if You’re Not)

I've been thinking lately, what makes someone an "expert" in his or her field? Apparently Lorelle VanFossen has been thinking the same thing, because she recently wrote a post called What Gives You the Right to Tell Me? at The Blog Herald that explores the issue of expertise in some depth.

For me, the question started to percolate through my mind when I was invited to… Continue reading

April 4 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: experience, expert, knowledge, learning, presentation | 25 comments»

Presentation Masterclass – Part 1: Introduction

I have been observing, delivering and training people in presentation techniques for over 20 years now and my considered, professional, opinion on the subject is this:MOST PRESENTATIONS SUUUUUUUUCK!In almost every sphere of human endeavour, the outcome can be plotted on a bell-curve – a few really skilled people over on the right, a few really hopeless people over on the left and a whole bunch or just-above or just-below average… Continue reading

April 3 2008 | By Rowan | Tagged: howto, powerpoint, presentation, public_speaking, tutorial | 17 comments»

I Won Science Fair with A Failed Project: The Skill of Presenting Failures

For my first three science fairs, I received a participation ribbon — no prizes, no other acknowledgment. For my fourth, I walked away with $600, a first place award from AFCEA, a Discovery Science award and the Yale Science & Engineering Association Award.My science fair project that year wasn’t any different from my past projects: I failed to prove anything, learned nothing about science, and did the project in… Continue reading

February 5 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: failure, presentation, Projects | 36 comments»

13 Tips to Zap Your Butterflies When Speaking in Public

Everyone gets nervous before giving a speech. Unfortunately, the more people in the audience, the more important the speech usually is, making any butterflies in your stomach multiply before you begin. Knowing how to keep yourself calm can make a big difference when giving a speech.I’m not a world-famous speaker. I’m just an introvert who has managed to train himself to stay calm on stage… Continue reading

December 18 2007 | By Scott H | Tagged: courage, fear, nervousness, notes, powerpoint, presentation, speaking, student | 29 comments»

How to Cut Crutch Words When Giving a Speech

“...um...” “...you know...” “...like...” “...ah...”You’ve all seen it before. What would otherwise be a great presentation becomes one interrupted jumble of syllables. Instead of taking those key pauses to let the audience digest, every moment of hesitation is filled with a crutch word. Maybe it happens to you.Eliminating crutch words is one of the fastest ways to improve yourself as a speaker. Not only… Continue reading

November 8 2007 | By Scott H | Tagged: Communication, crutch-words, presentation, public-speaking, speaking | 45 comments»

What Are Your Talking Points?

When I started doing my own research after completing my graduate coursework, I was advised by a mentor to have three descriptions of my work ready to recite at a moment's notice: a three-minute overview, a 12-minute presentation, and a half-hour discussion. The three-minute version is what you tell someone when you're sharing an elevator at an academic conference; the 12-minute version is suitable for giving a conference… Continue reading

October 29 2007 | By Dustin | Tagged: Communication, presentation, project, speech, talkingpoint | 5 comments»