New Persuasive Presentations Blog

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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

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.

1. 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.

2. 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

3. 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:

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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:

1. Setting an objective
2. Tailoring your message to your audience
3. Developing your topic
4. Structure your presentation
5. Making it persuasive
6. 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!

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:

Name(required)

Email(required)

Telephone number

Comment(required)

Submit

Δ

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:

1. What problem are you solving?
2. Is there a market?
3. 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!

 

Why you NEVER want to read your speech!

I want you to try something for me next time you’re alone.

Stand up and hold a book at waist height and read it out loud. Listen to what happens to your voice. When you lower your head your voice gets squashed and vocal variety is reduced. It’s also harder for people to hear as you cannot project your voice as well. We also tend to fall into a ‘reading rhythm’ which can have the same effect as swinging a pendulum in front of the audience – “You are getting sleepy…”

Here are four ways to deliver your presentation – but only one of them will increase your persuasion quotient.  

1. Read your speech

When we write a speech we tend to fall into report mode. The language and the tone becomes more formal and doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily.

On top of this, we lose all the things that make a presentation engaging: eye-contact, gestures and vocal variety. 

2.  Memorise your speech 

We’ve all seen someone who as delivered a memorised speech. They stand as if super-glued to the spot, beads of sweat break out on their brow as they desperately try not to lose their way and they stare over your head, fearful that if they look anyone in the eye their brain will turn to mush.

Memorising a speech to the point where you can deliver a natural sounding presentation is possible – but do you really have the time for that?

3. Wing it!

Those of us that love to stand up and speak often fall into this trap. We know the topic, we know the audience, why do we need to prepare?

The challenge here is that we can talk too much, go off on wild tangents and before you know it 30 minutes have passed and we have not even touched on the first main point we wanted to talk about! Even if you know the topic well, a few notes with an introduction, some headings for the main body of the presentation and some thoughts about how you would like to conclude will be enough to keep you on task and on time.

4. Have a prepared plan

Hmmm… a prepared plan I hear you ask, what’s that?

A prepared plan provides you with the structure to stay on task and on time. Your presentation is not written out word-for-word, so you can deliver it in a conversational tone. Your notes are in large font, so it’s easy to see where you’re at if you forget the next point. Most importantly, you can focus on the stories and delivering your message with passion to ensure you are engaging and persuasive. I’ll share more tips and tricks on delivering a prepared plan next month.

Stand up, Speak up & Persuade – July 29th 2014

So you want to be a confident speaker? You want to be able to think on your feet? You want to be able to put together a persuasive presentation easily and quickly?

Great! I’ll see you at my Stand up, Speak up and Persuade workshop!

• Date: Tuesday July 29th 2014
• Venue: Education Development Centre, Milner St, Hindmarsh SA (Only 5 mins out of the city)
• Still only $550.00!

This workshop is limited to 10 participants only – so I can focus on your needs.

“Sharon is able to transform people into good presenters that thought they might not otherwise be”

Want more information? Email me for a flyer or call me as I’d love to have a chat.

Authority vs Credibility – Which one will work for you?

Robert Cialdini in his book Influence – The psychology of persuasion, credits authority as one of the pillars of influence. He cites the 1963  Milgram experiment where volunteers were more likely to be influenced by an individual who they perceived had authority.

The challenge for us is that authority in business is in decline. The days of control and command are long gone and many organisations are doing away with corporate hierarchy altogether. Today, in order to get our job done, we need to be able to influence those we have no authority over.

So if we have less authority, what tools do we have to help us be more influential? 

The answer is credibility.

The Oxford dictionary defines authority as the power or right to give orders, to make decisions and enforce obedience. Unless you work in the military or a para military organisation, you may have a little trouble trying to ‘enforce obedience’. Credibility is defined as the quality of being trusted, convincing or believable, which is something that we can earn rather than wait until it is bestowed upon us.

Here are 5 ways you can boost your credibility in your next presentation.  

1. Establish trust

Do your homework on your audience. Understand their jobs and the burning issues that they are facing. Work on building rapport as soon as you meet them. Smile, shake hands, ask questions and listen intently.

Share a personal story that relates to your message. A West Virginia University study by Myers and Brann in 2009 demonstrated the benefits of self disclosure in building credibility.

2. Weave in credibility

Demonstrate that you know what you are talking about. Give us examples of your expertise. Tell us the projects you have worked on and the results you have achieved. 

If you use examples that are relevant to your message and your audience you will enhance your credibility rather than come across as boastful.

3. Ensure your non verbal signs match your message

Now is the time to stand tall, raise your head and look people in the eye. In western culture we instinctively don’t trust people that don’t look at us. We perceive your clasped hands as a lack of confidence and an upward intonation at the end of a sentence makes it sound like you don’t know what you are talking about.

4. Be authentic

Keep it real and accept your humanity and the limitations of your product or idea. Nothing kills credibility faster than if you bluff or promise things that you can’t deliver. If you don’t know the answer, reply with: “I don’t have that information available on me now, but I can email it to you as soon as I get back to my office” This will help maintain your credibility rather than shatter it.

5. Look the part

Yes, you will be judged on how you look. Fair? No. Reality? Yes. Dress appropriately for your position and consider your audience’s perception. So if you’re speaking on personal fitness, you better look better than me in lycra. When presenting to the board, spend a little extra time making sure that you are professionally attired in clothes that match the company culture.

I once asked an Elders employee what would happen if he arrived on a farm wearing his Italian wool suit and silk tie and he replied, “Well, you gotta remember that farmers own guns…”

So… now it’s your turn. What are you going to do to enhance your credibility?

Snipers, Hijackers and Clowns – Managing the tricky personalities when you present

It’s what people fear most during a presentation: Some smart Alec up the back hijacking your presentation, the clown that leads your audience into a giggling fit and the sniper who wants to shoot you down. We have all experienced them at some time. But you can prevent them from occurring. 

Here are 3 reasons you may have a disruptive audience  and what to do about it.  

1. They’re experiencing cognitive overload

Pitching your presentation at the right level is vital. Too much jargon and acronyms quickly increases the cognitive load and can leave your audience feeling overwhelmed. Too simplistic and they get bored and before you know it, the clowns take centre stage to relieve the monotony.

The solution:

•  Do your homework. Speak to as many people as you can to gauge their understanding of your topic
• If in doubt, eliminate jargon – as it can alienate people
• Use stories, metaphors and analogies to explain your topic
• Watch the body language of your audience and check constantly for understanding

2. They’ve been sitting too long

Have a look at the people in your audience. What is their normal job? If it’s not sitting for eight hours a day you better get them moving!

The solution

• Get ’em up. Especially after lunch
• Get them to demonstrate what it is you are discussing
• Have exercises where they can practice the skill rather than talk about it
• Move them around the room to interact with other people. An easy way to do this is with coloured stickers on name tags or workbooks

3. They need to talk and contribute

Adult learners bring a lifetime of experience to the table and they all have Google in their pockets. They need to be able to tie in their experience to your message. Talking enables them to develop the link and cement the learning.

The solution

•  Small group interaction. (Don’t ask ‘any questions?’ to a large group as you you will hear the sound of silence)
• Give them challenging topics to discuss
• Ask them how they would apply this to their workplace
• Ask them what they think – Yes? No? and if not why not? 

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 Good luck with handling your snipers, hijackers and clowns and if you have a particular challenge you have, let me know below and I’ll share some recommendations.