“We have study hall at the beginning of our meetings.” says Jeff Bezos. Staff meetings at Amazon begin with 30 minutes of silent reading. Powerpoint is easy for presenter, hard for audience “The traditional kind of corporate meeting starts with a presentation. Somebody gets up in front of the room and presents with a powerpoint … Read more
I am sitting in an audience at a conference. This third speaker today started well. He seems interesting and speaks with passion. He is now on his seventh powerpoint slide. Each slide is interesting and well designed. He has worked hard to find good images and pithy quotes. My neighbour leans in towards me. I lean towards him. … Read more
The importance of emotion in moving people to take action. This is a video from a recent seminar for the Barcelona Internet Startups Meetup group on the role of emotion in moving people to action. This is a great group to meet entrepreneurs, VCs and techies living in Barcelona. The third pillar of Aristotle’s triad of Persuasion … Read more
In my 8 years as a management consultant at Accenture, preparing a presentation was synonymous with preparing the Powerpoint slides. “Hey Neill! Proposal presentation this Friday…” – I immediately opened Powerpoint and started creating slides… A lot of powerpoint is not Great Powerpoint. Great Powerpoint can be a powerful addition to a great speech. As the saying … Read more
What is Charisma? In the words of Dr. Nick Morgan “Charisma is focussed emotion.” There are 2 ways to increase your capacity to deliver “Focussed Emotion” when you speak: Remove Distractions: remove all distractions 30 minutes before you speak Care: know how the message of your speech can change people’s quality of life Watch the … Read more
How to Start a Speech How to start a speech. How do these five speakers capture your attention and engage you at the beginning of their talks? Watch the first minute of each speaker. How did they begin? What was the first word? What did this achieve? Which speaker is hardest to stop watching after 60 seconds? … Read more
“Tell me about yourself?” How do you respond to this most simple of questions? This is the question that starts many friendships, job interviews, professional relationships and team experiences. However, in many cases… the way that we answer ruins the possibility of creating something great. How do you answer this question? Andrew Dlugan provides an … Read more
This is a guest post from Valerio Flumini. Valerio is a business consultant. He loves learning, problem solving and great people. He combined all three during his MBA at IESE Business School in Barcelona; he will shortly start a new career at Averda. The Super-Power of Persuasive Communication Last night, I was watching an episode … Read more
There are 2 ways to call to action as you finish a speech. It is important in a persuasive speech to leave it clear to the audience what action they can take. There are 2 ways to present that action. Do you use effective call to actions when you communicate? Is can be powerful to … Read more
How should you listen to a speech? What is the most valuable attitude to develop as an audience member? Decide you are going to ask the first question at the end of the talk. Listen to the speaker and look for your question. There are three important benefits of asking the first question at … Read more