New Persuasive Presentations Blog
Thank you for following me on The Grab
My blog has now been incorporated into my website, you can view it here www.persuasivepresentations.com.au
I look forward to seeing you there!
Regards
Sharon Ferrier
Stand up, Speak up & Persuade. New Public Workshop – August 19th, 2015
Does the thought of delivering a presentation scare you?
Do you want to learn how to be confident in front of a group, think on your feet and deliver a persuasive and engaging presentation?
Then this course is for you!
I only do a few public workshops per year – my next one is at the end of July – Stand Up Speak Up and Persuade works and the lessons learnt stay with you for life.
“I was fortunate enough to attend the “Stand Up, Speak Up and Persuade” course at Scholle. Have attended many courses during my career, but this one has been a clear stand out, and has really stood the test of time. It has continued to resonate with me, and I continue to use the principles when preparing any presentation I do. I couldn’t recommend this course more highly to organisations and people who want really want to make an impact.” Randall Pearce – strategic Sales and Marketing Professional
Now is your time to shine – and I can help.
For more information or to discuss your in-house training needs, flick me an email:
Want to be a leader? Then you’d better speak up!
There are many skills you will need to master if you want to be a leader. You will need to be able to manage change, be a strategic thinker, have high integrity and of course, be an exceptional communicator.
Great leaders listen, empathise and consult, but they also need to be confident and have the ability to inspire and influence people. This is where public speaking comes in. In leadership, it is a deal breaker – if you are not seen and heard you cannot lead.
Here are three examples of people speaking up and demonstrating their leadership.
- Fix the feelings
What would you do if you were piloting the first flight after the Germanwings flight 4U9525 was purposely crashed into the side of a mountain?
This is what pilot Frank Woiton did.
He greeted and hugged each passenger as they boarded the plane. He openly spoke about the incident and said:
“Sure, I will take your from Dusseldorf to Barcelona. You can rely on the fact that I want to sit this evening with my family at the dinner table.”
Another unnamed pilot on a different flight stood at the front of the plane and spoke about how the incident touched him and the whole crew, how queasy they were all feeling but they all volunteered to be here. He spoke about his family and that ‘..he was going to do everything to be with his family again tonight.’
It’s hard when you need to speak when emotions are high. Great leaders don’t ignore how people are feeling,
they speak up.
- Own it
Great leaders deliver clear, strong messages. They do not mince their words, and they do not shy away from delicate issues.
When Chief of Army General David Morrison addressed the issue of reports of abuse of women in the army he made his stance very clear:
“Female soldiers and officers have proven themselves worthy… they are vital to us maintaining our capability now, and in the future.. If that does not suit you, get out!”
“Show moral courage and take a stand against it..the standard you walk past is the standard you accept”
I also like the medium he chose to deliver the message. Speaking on national television wan’t enough, he posted the speech on YouTube and it now has over 1.6 million views
If you haven’t seen it yet, it only goes for three minutes and it will make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. You can view it Here
- Be true to yourself
Regardless of your political stance you can’t help but admire Julie Bishop. As Australia’s first female Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs she is highly educated, smart as a whip and has a travel schedule that would bring Richard Branson to his knees. And she manages all of this in pearls, heels and a killer suit.
She is not afraid to say what is on her mind and speak up.
“…women can’t have it all. They can have plenty of choices, but at the end of the day, they choose something which means they can’t have something else…”
“I’m a great supporter of free speech, but there are limitations on free speech. There are legal limitations on it, and we’re trying to strike a balance in this country. But if someone is promoting (terrorism)… we want to make that an offence in Australia.”
And if you ask her a stupid question, be prepared for her famous death stare!
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I’ll also sneak in a special commendation to Pat Rafter from Tennis Australia who was verbally assaulted earlier this month by Bernard Tomic’s father for his ‘hard line funding stance.’
He came back and said:
“We’ve talked amongst our team and we have decided we are now not going to support kids whose parents are vocally against everything we’re trying to do.”
and followed it up in The Weekend Australian with:
“Tennis Australia is about opportunity not entitlement.”
Well said Pat!
Stand Up, Speak Up & Persuade 22nd July 2015
Does the thought of delivering a presentation scare you?
Do you want to learn how to be confident in front of a group, think on your feet and deliver a persuasive and engaging presentation?
Then this course is for you!
I only do a few public workshops per year – my next one is at the end of July – Stand Up Speak Up and Persuade works and the lessons learnt stay with you for life.
“I was fortunate enough to attend the “Stand Up, Speak Up and Persuade” course at Scholle. Have attended many courses during my career, but this one has been a clear stand out, and has really stood the test of time. It has continued to resonate with me, and I continue to use the principles when preparing any presentation I do. I couldn’t recommend this course more highly to organisations and people who want really want to make an impact.” Randall Pearce – strategic Sales and Marketing Professional
Now is your time to shine – and I can help.
For more information or to discuss your in-house training needs, flick me an email:
Is It Time To Ban PowerPoint?
Last month in the Australian Financial Review Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer was quoted as saying “I think one of the dangers in large companies is that people start to think that their job is to create PowerPoints, [rather than] to make decisions and improve things for customers…. I am seriously considering turning PowerPoint off completely,”
He is not the first CEO to feel this way. In 1997 Scott McNealy, then president of Sun Microsystems, banned the use of PowerPoint throughout his company.
Should you be doing the same?
Or maybe you just need to get a big stick and empower your team and beat PowerPoint into submission
1. Look at your company communication culture
Often when I suggest to a client that they need to change the way deliver their PowerPoints they respond with “Oh, we can’t do that. Our manager supplies the templates and slide headings and we MUST do it this way!”
Forcing people to use PowerPoint is forcing them into ‘lecture mode’. People start telling rather than selling and presentations become predictable long winded and boring.
Your company communication culture starts at the top. Are your managers delivering great presentations or are they presenting with PowerPoint circa 1995?
2. Put PowerPoint last
Many people, when asked to deliver a presentation, open their laptops and start cranking out slides. Instead you should be:
- Setting an objective
- Tailoring your message to your audience
- Developing your topic
- Structure your presentation
- Making it persuasive
- Including a call to action
PowerPoint should be the last thing on your list before you start practicing and you may find that your presentation is better off without it!
3. ‘Flip’ your meetings
This idea comes from the flipped classroom model, where instead of teachers delivering lectures, information is sent out before for the students to read and class time is dedicated to discussion which the teacher facilitates.
How this would work for you
Instead of your team delivering a PowerPoint presentation they would instead email an executive summary of their recommendations and then facilitate discussion on the pros, cons and recommended improvements for the idea.
So there is no need to ban PowerPoint – you just need to learn how to use it to your advantage. If all this sounds a little scary, it’s okay, I’m here to help!
LinkedIn Etiquette
I LOVE LinkedIn!
For a small business owner it’s the ultimate in free advertising. Google my name and you can find me! How good is that?
When I spoke last year at a conference in India I was able to connect with other speakers who were attending from around the world. In the speakers lounge I was able to meet with people who I had connected with and felt I already knew.
But with every new technology comes new challenges
Below are three points for you to address on your LInkedIn page:
- Keep it real
There was a trend a while back for people to give themselves weird job titles. A dinner lady became an Education Centre Nourishment Consultant. And I can’t help asking myself “But what does that mean?” Confusion increases frustration, and when we’re frustrated we disengage.
In the bio section tell me what you do and then tell me how it will benefit me.
If you’re an accountant specialising in tax you might want to add something like:
“I’m an accountant with HR Block specialising in tax. I do the stuff you hate. If you have a box of receipts hidden in your desk drawer I can process them and get the tax return to you within 5 working days.”
Hmmm now this sound like a person I need to know!
- Be professional
LinkedIn in is not Facebook.
For me, Facebook is purely social. It’s about keeping in touch with friends I may not see that often due to time or distance. Facebook is where I let my hair down and can be a little silly.
LinkedIn should reflect your business brand. Think of LinkedIn as your online CV. Would the company you work with approve? Would you want a recruitment firm or a client to read that article?
Here are some points to consider:
- Get a decent photo. Save the selfie-taken-at-the-traffic-lights and the here’s-me-with-my-BFF for Facebook and include a smart looking picture. It doesn’t have to be a professional shot, I was complementing a colleague on her new snap and it was taken by her 11 year old daughter in the garden!
- Include your qualifications. Resist the temptation to embellish – It’s too easy for people to find out the reality and ‘ping’ there goes your credibility
- Keep it current. Just completed a post grad qualification? Wrote an interesting article about health in the workplace? Great! Time to let your LinkedIn community know.
- Give before you get
Just as you would not approach people on the street to promote your services, neither should you approach people who you have just linked up with. LinkedIn is relationship based. Be seen, contribute, give your expertise and develop a working relationship first. Spam me and I’ll unlink you.
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Now you may be thinking “But I work for a company or a Government department – what benefit is there to me?”
Well, if you’re looking to progress your career, LinkedIn helps you get noticed. People who get promoted and headhunted are not lucky, they work hard and are visible.
So go ahead and get seen!
Stand Up, Speak Up & Persuade – March 26th 2015
Does the thought of delivering a presentation scare you?
Do you want to learn how to be confident in front of a group, think on your feet and deliver a persuasive and engaging presentation?
Then this course is for you!
I only do a few public workshops per year – my next one is at the end of March – Stand Up Speak Up and Persuade works and the lessons learnt stay with you for life.
“I was fortunate enough to attend the “Stand Up, Speak Up and Persuade” course at Scholle. Have attended many courses during my career, but this one has been a clear stand out, and has really stood the test of time. It has continued to resonate with me, and I continue to use the principles when preparing any presentation I do. I couldn’t recommend this course more highly to organisations and people who want really want to make an impact.” Randall Pearce – strategic Sales and Marketing Professional
Now is your time to shine – and I can help.
For more information or to discuss your in-house training needs, flick me an email:
Facts Tell, Stories Sell
There has been a lot written recently about the importance of corporate stories. And there is good reason for this. One of my favourite quotes is “People buy on emotion and justify their purchase with logic.”
Stories are sticky. By triggering emotion they light up the neural pathways in our brain and become memorable. Stories make meaning of what we hear: they link one dimensional data with our three dimensional experience.
Stories engage us, inspire us, motivate us and ultimately move us to action.
Here are three tips to help you be a better storyteller.
1. Collect
A study published last year in the Harvard Business Review showed that lecturers who told personal stories had greater credibility with their students than those who did not. In business it’s not just about your war stories. Weaving in your personal experiences as well can make you more approachable, increase your likeability and, as this study shows, increase your credibility.
Stories can come from anywhere. A client from an accounting firm was telling me recently how he and his family had just returned from a holiday in the Northern Territory. One of the highlights was feeding crocodiles.
It involved poking a dead chicken on a pole through a fence where the crocodile would jump up out of the water and snatch the food. He said all he could think about was the croc latching onto the pole, pulling down sharply and flinging his seven year old daughter over the fence and into the water.
FABULOUS! (The story that is, not the daughter as croc bait…)
I then explained to him how he could use this story in his presentation about mitigating risk. Feeding crocs is risky, you need to ensure you have barriers and procedures in place to protect you. The same with financial management in your business – you don’t want to have a client flung into the croc pit!
See the link? It makes your message stick.
2. Structure
Putting some structure around your story makes it easy to follow and easy for you to remember.
Here are two to try:
People, Place, Event
- Who are the main characters?
- Where did this happen?
- What happened and what was the outcome?
Ok, Bad, Better
- OK – this is where we are now
- Bad – But things are going to deteriorate if we don’t act soon
- Better – Here’s where we’ll end up
Keep your stories short and simple, it’s the message and meaning that counts.
3. Connect
A great story on its own will not make you an effective speaker. The story needs to be relevant to your objective and also address the audiences’ WIIFM (What’s In It For Me).
Remember:
Message + Relevance = Great Corporate Story
Want to know more? Give me a call to see how my ‘Facts Tell Stories Sell’ workshop can help you and your team engage and inspire, or you may want to attend my Stand up, Speak up & Persuade public workshop on March 26th
Perfecting your pitch
For several years now I have been speaking to the budding entrepreneurs competing in the Adelaide University eChallenge. The biggest challenge they face when preparing for their pitches is clarity. Most participants try to cram their 20 page business plan into a 5-7 minute pitch with disastrous results!
When you look at the fundamentals of a pitch, they consist of these three components:
Let’s look closer at these three points to help you to achieve pitch perfection.
1. Opportunity
Investors want to know:
- What problem are you solving?
- Is there a market?
- How big is the gap?
This comprises the business opportunity. You may have a brilliant product, but without understanding the market and gap you will not succeed. Steve Jobs predicted that the Segway personal mover would have as great an impact as the PC.
The company forecast that their first year sales would be over 500,000 units. But although technically brilliant, the team misread the market and after seven years the company had only sold 30,000 units. They didn’t research and understand the ‘need’ and their product was not the global success they expected.
When pitching start with the consumer’s wants and needs – if there are no wants and needs you’ll have a hard time selling the opportunity.
2.Idea
This is your product or service. You need to be able to explain clearly how you solve the problem highlighted by the opportunity. Focus on the benefits to the consumer, explain how unique your solution is and how you plan to support its longevity in the market. If your product is anything like these, you may want to start again.
3. Team
Now it’s time to sell you and your team. Have you covered all bases? Do you have finance, marketing, sales, strategy and manufacturing experience in your team? If not, you need to be able to explain how you will meet these deficiencies.
The investor is thinking: “Do I know, like and trust this person?” They want to see ‘skin in the game.’ They want to know if you’re fully committed, passionate and driven to succeed, after all, they’re giving you their money!
Showcase you and your team or else they may take the opportunity and your idea and give it to someone else!
Speaking at a conference? Here’s what NOT to do!
I love speaking at conferences. It’s an opportunity to meet new people, challenge myself with new ideas and to travel.
Wherever possible I stay for the day so I can listen to the speakers before me. I love hearing and seeing other people present and understand how nerve wracking it can be to speak to a room full of strangers. But a keynote requires some special preparation and there are rules you need to adhere to.
Here are 5 things you should ever do in your keynote
1. Make it all about you
Let me tell you how faaaabulous I am!
Some speakers remind me of a bad first date – you know the ones when all they want to talk about is their house on the beach and the car they drive? I recently saw a keynote speaker show a rah rah company video and then proceed to talk about himself for a full 20 minutes. He did not start on his topic until 30 minutes into his presentation. The audience was not impressed.
Solution: Focus on the audience’s WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?) and your credibility will speak for itself.
2. Deliver a report instead of a presentation
This is a mistake I see a lot of novices make. They have done some research that has had some great outcomes and as a result they’ve been asked to present their findings at a national conference. They then proceed to deliver their research in its entirety and bore the audience until they are catatonic.
Solution: Deliver a ‘Persuasive Executive Summary’ and relate it to the audience. Those who want the detail can read the paper.
3. Let me show you the spreadsheet…
Keynotes and PowerPoint abuse seem to go hand in hand. Here’s a quick tip. Open your PowerPoint make the slides full screen and stand six feet away. If you can’t read the detail on your slide, neither can your audience. It’s time to escape PowerPoint purgatory.
Solution: Have a look at the blogs I have written on how to “Escape Powerpoint Purgatory”
4. You MUST do this!
There is a saying in sales: ‘Telling is not selling’. When I’m in an audience I take off my evaluator’s hat and enjoy the moment. But every now and then something will punch through that causes discomfort. I was listening to a speaker recently and I thought: “Maybe it’s just me…” but when I noticed the person on my left checking her emails and person on my right playing solitaire, I thought “Maybe not!”
I asked them after why they were disengaged and they said:
- “She came across as preachy and a know it all”
- “I don’t appreciate being told what to do”
Solution: Tell stories. Share your challenges and what you learnt from them. Use inclusive ‘we’ language rather than ‘you’. Pose questions to the audience and increase interaction.
5. Go over time
Several years ago I spoke at a conference where the two previous speakers went over by 20 minutes each. I was the last speaker before lunch and you could see the audience was getting testy. I checked with the conference organiser first and then I stood up and said:
“I’m going to tell you what you need to know about delivering a persuasive presentation and I’m going to do it in 20 minutes” I received my first standing ovation when we broke for lunch on time.
Solution: Franklin D Roosevelt’s advice to his son on public speaking was “Be sincere. Be brief. Be seated.” Conferences are planned down to the last minute – if you want to be invited back, you’d better be on time!
This year I have delivered keynotes across Australia and overseas on topics ranging from persuasion and making your message stick, through to presentation skills and “escaping PowerPoint Purgatory’.
My audiences have consisted of accountants, lawyers doctors, CEO’s, HR professionals, trainers and managers. If you have a conference coming up I’d love to have a chat to see if what I deliver can meet your needs.
THE GRAB - How to grab their attention and make your message stick! 