World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.
Hey guys,
Jai Swaminarayan! You may know how much I like Seth Godin's stuff, he is a mover and shaker. He just put out a new e-book that really goes over a lot of the things we've started conversations about...Here is an excerpt:
Speaking soon? Keep this in mind: people at events are hungry for authenticity. Saying something you might not have said elsewhere is a good way to find your authentic voice.
For my own conference, I often give advice to speakers before they come on stage. Here’s an exercise for anyone who wants to connect with an audience.
A few weeks before the event, when you start preparing the talk, write out everything you spend your time doing - professional work, side projects at home, everything.
Now pick the one thing you’re most excited about.
Now consider: why is that so important to you?
Design your talk from that point, as if you started by saying, “My name is X, and I’m passionate about XYZ because...”
The rest of your talk should fall into place easily enough. Yes, it’s important to know your audience, use A/V materials wisely, watch your time, and so on. But you have to build the talk around your passion.
Here’s the final measure of your success as a speaker: Did you change something? Are attendees leaving with a new idea, some new inspiration, perhaps a renewed commitment to their work or to the world?
Be honest, be authentic, and speak from your passion. Yes, it means taking a risk. But the results might surprise you.
Mark Hurst runs Gel and founded Creative Good, a customer experience consultancy.This does not do this eBook justice, it is REALLY good. You can read one page in about four minutes!
Engage your audience
Get to know your audience
Stay positive
Be concise
Give your work a captivating titleThat picture got you itching for more? Read the article in full below.
As 2009 draws to a close, most of us are thinking about ways to improve in 2010; especially in the context of project marketing. Below is a link for a talk given by Rory Sutherland asserting that a change in perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we consider 'real' value. It may sound manipulative when put as such, but he speaks on topics, such as rebranding, that I think are valuable and valid in our current discussions.
Hope you find it thought provoking and inspiring in your planning, if nothing else, the last example provides a good laugh [and that's coming from a Canadian :)].
Shalu Wasu's article tackles the age-old issue of sprucing up Powerpoint.
- Lawrence Lessig: He is a monster slider! He can use up to 200 slides for a 10 minute presentation and he makes them really good.
- Seth Godin: He follows a style which has a lot of visuals, little text and likes to surprise the audience.
- Guy Kawasaki: 10 slides, 10 ideas, one idea per slide, not more than 20 minutes.
- Takahashi: Super size font sizes (more than 120) and obviously very little text
Do not stick to your story. Make the story sticky. Try to follow at least 4 out of the 6 essentials that Chip and Dan Heath talk about in their book Made to Stick. Here is a quick summary.Made to Stick strikes again!
Oh, you want me to join your meeting for a quick info download? Great. Don’t forget to tell me to build a PowerPoint presentation.
Instead of letting me speak to the group for three minutes to explain the new initiative, make me present a slide deck. With bullet points. And, preferably, with cutesy little graphics. Bonus points for animated slides.
Make sure we take time to futz with the A/V setup, pull the blinds, and make sure everyone in the room has a good sightline. Burn a little time by making me stand up in front of the group and assigning some random person to click through my presentation for me.
By all means, have me read verbatim from the PowerPoint slides. After all, it would be heresy for me to be spontaneous, natural, or (God forbid) collaborative with my audience.
Remind me to make 14 hard copies of the slide deck to pass out at the conclusion of my talk, which has now taken 20 minutes instead of the anticipated three. Why? Because no one was paying attention to the presentation anyway, so they might want to read it later.
Also, it makes people feel important to walk away from a meeting with a sheaf of paper. Let’s not worry about the trees or the company’s “Go Green!” initiatives.
And above all, never mind that it took me a grand total of two hours — building the slide deck, making copies, and presenting — to convey information that, again, should’ve taken three minutes, max.
What a great use of my time and a fabulous way to boost my productivity! The corporate reliance on PowerPoint for all purposes is clearly a wonderful, wonderful thing.Link: http://blogs.bnet.com/teamwork/?p=1301&tag=col1;post-1301
I think these John Zimmer extracts speaking habits from Kate Mosse’s writing tips.
Link: http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/public-speaking-tips-weekend-review-2010-01-02/
- Do something every day.
- Set goals.
- Have a structure.
- Carry a notebook.
- Be comfortable.
A good statistic is one that aids a decision or shapes an opinion. For a stat to do either of those, it must be dragged within the everyday. That's your job -- to do the dragging. In our world of billions and trillions, that can be a lot of manual labor. But it's worth it: A number people can grasp is a number that can make a difference.See what they mean below.
