Conventional marketing wisdom says: repeat your main message three times so the audience gets it. The saying goes: Tell them what you’re going to tell them. Then tell them. Then tell them what you told them. In her insightful new book, Made You Look, cognitive neuroscientist Carmen Simon, Ph. D., decided to test this idea …
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The Golden Rule: Respect Your Audience. Have you ever attended a presentation where the speaker said something like, “Let’s see… what does my next slide say?” Or where the speaker actually read word-for-word what was on their slides? Unfortunately, I’ve witnessed countless speeches where these or similar scenarios occurred. And it really bugs me! Here’s …
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As presenters, why do we so often bury the lead? In school, many of us were taught to write using this formula: introduction, body, conclusion. It’s a tried-and-true formula that worked great while we were in school. However, this formula works less well in the business world. Why? Because our audience is busy. They’re bombarded …
Have you noticed that fewer and fewer presentations leave time for audience Q&A? I’m not sure if this trend is due to conference organizer rules, presenters not wanting to take questions, or both. But I don’t like it. And if you are a presenter, you shouldn’t either. If you are presenting, audience Q&A is the …
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Why do I continue to attend presentations where the speaker uses poor visual aids or bores the audience with “death by PowerPoint?” There is a ton of advice available about how to use visual aids in presentations. Classes, books, workshops, the list goes on. Even the folks in your marketing department can give tips on …
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