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The degree of how effective a presentation is lies with the presenter and not with the all singing all dancing presentation enhancing technology available today. You could have the very best PowerPoint presentation along with absolutely fabulous audio-visuals to impress the targeted audience but if you still do not manage to deliver your message your efforts will be rendered totally ineffective. It is true to say that technology helps and is important in its own way, but only as a means of support for you to get your message across.

You probably have far too many slides to begin with so you should have a good look through them and select the ones most relevant. Once this is done, you can then successfully intertwine what you are trying to say with your slides, ensuring that your message is not overshadowed with technological materials.

Even though being in possession of many slides to choose from is a good thing, the priority has to be crafting the point you are trying to get across with the storyboard. The American Heritage Dictionary defines the word storyboard as “a panel or series of panels of rough sketches and major changes of action or plot in a production to be shot on film or video”. This is why you have to think of your presentation as a production of this type and put your story together first of all.

Throughout the development of your presentation you must take into consideration the objectives you are trying to achieve as an end result. Your storyboard can then be designed with this in mind. Working through it this way will make sure that anything else you add acts as a means of support to your message instead of drowning it out.

When you have your storyboard in order, and have selected the slides which are needed, if you find that multiple slides are required to put over what you want to say, then dig a little deeper and try to pull together just one or two slides which would act as a support for the main points of your message.

You may well look through all your slides and decide that none of them is particularly relevant to what you want to say and this could be a good time to prepare some new slides. Your initial effort is always reviewable and changes can be made wherever you feel it is necessary for the easy flow of the presentation. Keep focusing on your message and objectives and if certain aspects have to be dropped or altered, don’t hold back, simply get the changes made.

Many people get carried away with all the gimmicky assistance which is available when putting together a presentation. Use of such features to add that extra impact to the presentation is great, as long as they do not become a burden to you.

An excellent method to find out if the presenter is more significant than the slides is to make your presentation without the use of slides. This way you know you are delivering a sincere and genuine presentation and that any other visuals you may have in use are there simply as a means of supporting you and planting a firm picture in the minds of the people in your audience.

When you are addressing your audience, look them directly in the eye and make sure you keep eye contact. Think about how you have felt in the past as part of the audience of a presentation where the presenter has little if any eye contact with the attendees, and just simply reads from the slides. You probably wondered why the presenter bothered to turn up to the presentation at all, as you could easily have read the slides and gleaned exactly the same information without him or her being present.

So, you have cut down the number of slides in your presentation and feel confident that you have the right message going out with the important visuals supporting what you have to say. You may now like to use some of the following simple tips to help you deliver an outstanding presentation to your audience.

First of all, give a little thought to why the people may find your presentation interesting. Bear in mind the saying about a picture painting a thousand words and present your information with pictures that the audience will connect with your message and keep in their minds.

Another way to communicate with people and their emotions is by storytelling. Individual pictures are created by the audience and are better remembered in the future as they are their own pictures. A story also makes an otherwise boring presentation of facts and figures far more personal and interesting.

With your presentation prepared and ready to go, take a little time out for a practice run. If you find during this process that any part of your plan is not running as smoothly as you first anticipated, say for example, you discover some of your visuals are not having the desired effect, then pull them out. However super they look, getting your message across has to be the most important part of your presentation.

It is always a good idea to have a fall back plan which does not rely on power supplied visuals. This way, if there should be such a drastic event as a power cut, you will be able to continue, deliver your message and successfully achieve your objectives at the end of your presentation, This is another way of being sure that your visuals were there merely as a support to help you get your message across.

It may well be simpler to rearrange a bunch of slides and save yourself some preparation time. However, you are sure to find that the little extra effort to add some individual touches and your own original thoughts will be rewarded ten fold by way of personal satisfaction, when you use technology in a smart way and dazzle everyone with your well prepared and professionally put together presentation.

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of Be Successful News, a site that provides information and articles on how to succeed in your own home or small business.

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When you think about getting up in front of an audience to speak with, do you start to sweat? Many people don’t realize it but public speaking is actually one of the most common phobias that people have. The problem with having this phobia is that it is difficult to hide whenever you are actually on the stage in front of your audience. This tends to compound the problem which, in turn, shows in the form of further nervousness on your part. Believe it or not, your nervousness about public speaking can be overcome with just a little bit of practice.

If this is your first time public speaking then perhaps you are nervous because you’re not sure what to expect. That is a perfectly natural response to have but be careful not to allow it to run away with your emotions. Depending on your audience, you may actually know people in attendance and would not feel at all nervous speaking to them in a one on one situation. Whenever there is a group of them, however, and their attention is focused on you, you might feel as if they are going to pick apart everything you say. This is not typically the case.

If you are someone experienced at public speaking then perhaps your nervousness is not all that bad of an emotional response after all. A little bit of nervousness is healthy whenever you’re getting up in front of an audience and can actually keep you on your toes. Try to turn those negative emotions into a positive experience for those that you’re speaking to. You can do this in one of three different ways that I like to call the 3 P’s of public speaking, preparation, persistence and perspiration.

The first P of public speaking is probably one of the most important, preparation. If you’re going to be able to speak intelligently about anything in a public situation you need to be very familiar with it. Think about your favorite hobby or perhaps a sport that you really love. How difficult do you think it would be for you to speak about this in front of a group? The same would hold true for almost any subject. The more familiar you are with it, the easier it will be to speak about.

The persistence part comes in after the initial preparation is done. You need to hone your skills in public speaking and be persistent in your practicing so that you are confident whenever you finally take the stage. Yes, you will be nervous to a certain extent but the more persistence you have in your preparation, the smoother you will appear to be. Finally, the perspiration part of your talk comes whenever you are actually giving your presentation. Just sweat it out and do your best and get it done in the best way possible.

Although it may be difficult for you to speak in front of a group, you certainly can overcome your fears to a certain extent with a little bit of practice. Just make sure that you take the time in advance to prepare yourself and you will be more confident with what you have to say. That confidence will show through on the stage and you will be able to feed off of your audiences response.

For more public speaking tips to help cure your stage fright please visit http://www.overcomestagefright.org

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So, you’ve been asked to give an acceptance speech on behalf of your organization and you don’t know what to say. You do know however, that you want to leave your audience with a presentation that is funny, emotionally moving and memorable. But where do you start? Here are a few tips that will get you through the experience with flying colors.

Before you begin crafting your presentation, take a moment to understand the psychology of an award ceremony. Consider the role the people in the audience played in your standing before them with an award in hand. What do they want from you? What do they expect from you? What can you do or say that will make them feel good about themselves and their decision to present you and/or your association with this award? Once you understand the answer to these questions, you’ll be well on your way to giving the acceptance speech of a lifetime.

I’ve had the opportunity to give more than one acceptance speech in my career, and this is what I’ve learned from those experiences. If you do a good job, you will quickly discover that the appreciation the audience had for you before your speech will pale in comparison to how they will feel about you after your speech. Giving a humorous and gracious acceptance speech that makes the audience feel good about themselves, is the most powerful, career enhancing, relationship building experience you will ever have. Please don’t take this speaking opportunity lightly.

Generally you are going to find three different groups of people in the audience. The first group is composed of the people on your staff or within your organization who helped you achieve the award. The second group is made up of the people responsible for giving you and/or your organization the award. And the third group includes people who have nothing to do with your award. They typically include spouses and invited guests. Your job is to make certain that all three groups are acknowledged and rewarded by your comments. That’s all there is to it. And it’s not a bad idea to give them something to chuckle about along the way.

One quick word of warning. It is not appropriate to brag about why you won the award or tell the audience what you did to overtake your competition. This is a time to be gracious and thankful. You’re only goal is make everyone in the audience feel good about themselves and this is how you do it.

1. Start your presentation by immediately thanking the people who gave you the award. Make sure you thank them on behalf of all the recipients of the award if it was given to you on behalf of your team or organization. Under no circumstances is it appropriate to imply that you are not worthy of receiving the award. This is insulting to the people who gave it to you. It is appropriate however, to praise everyone else who was under consideration for the award.

2. Acknowledge the people in your organization who made it possible for you to win the award. If your team is a small group, ask them to stand and acknowledge them individually while mentioning their specific role in your success. If you are accepting the award on behalf of a large group, ask them to stand and acknowledge them as a group.

Here is a quick rule of thumb. If you have time to say something nice about everyone in your group, do it. If you don’t have time to say something nice about everyone in your group, don’t call out anyone individually. It is better to avoid mentioning anyone than it is to forget even one person. The only exception to this rule is if everyone in your group knows that a particular individual played a key role in you receiving this award. Then, and only then is it OK to call them out by name.

3. Tell a story about how you got involved with this organization or how this project has impacted you, your family and/or your business. It’s a good idea to list at least three things and be as specific as possible.

4. If anything funny or inspiring happened during the project, mention it here. What did you learn from the wonderful people you associated with on this project? How are you going to be a different and better person because of your association with this organization? How is the world a better place because of what this association has done and is doing? Answer one or more of those questions in a funny and inspiring way and you will move the audience to tears.

5. Pause to thank the people responsible for giving you the award. This is the most important part of your speech. This is your opportunity to be sincere and thankful and appreciative for the wonderful opportunity you have been given.

If time permits, thank everyone involved in making this award possible. Don’t rely on your memory. Take a piece of paper with the names of everyone you want to thank to the podium with you. You don’t have to look at it, but if you need it, it’s there in your hand.

6. Close your speech with a moving comment. Your audience will remember you and leave the event with complete confidence that they gave the award to the right person.

7. Have fun, be humble and be brief.

Watch Bob Sommers give a live acceptance speech. You can also listen to Bob on the Recognized Expert Marketing show and learn how to position yourself as the expert in your field.

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Public speaking is an excellent way to position yourself as the expert in your field. It’s also a great way to show your audience that you’re likable, caring and funny. The focus of this article, however, is going to be on the importance of public speaking and how to use it to position yourself as the authority in your field.

It’s significant to note that there are two levels of expertise you can convey to an audience if you choose to practice the art of public speaking. The first and most basic level is to establish your expertise in your field of interest. The higher and more profitable level is to apply your expertise to the unique concerns of your audience.

It’s the difference between a media coach speaking to a group of financial planners about how to get media attention and speaking to them about how they can position themselves as financial planning experts focusing on the media their clients read, watch and listen to. The first positions the speaker as a media expert and the second positions the speaker as the financial media expert.

Here are ten tips on public speaking to insure that your audience will see you as the ultimate authority in your field.

Pre-program Preparation
Send your audience a pre-program outline of your presentation and make sure it’s tailored to your audience. Ask them to fill-out a simple questionnaire and encourage them to ask their most burning questions about your topic. Use their questions and answers to demonstrate your ability to apply your expertise to their specific situations.

Introduction
Write your introduction and ask the most respected person in the room to introduce you. Make sure to include your name, the subject you’re going to talk about and why you’re qualified to speak on the matter. The last line of your introduction should read, “Please help me welcome Your Name.”

Opening Statement
You have 30 seconds to make a positive first impression, maybe less. Take that time to connect with your audience by letting them know you respect their time. You can do that by demonstrating that you clearly understand their unique situation as it applies to your area of expertise. Share a statistic, give the results of your survey, share a conversation you had with one of the participants, etc. Let them know you understand.

Industry Jargon
Every field and every industry has its own jargon. You would be well advised to learn the jargon of your audience and use it in your presentation. You can find the terminology used by your audience in their job titles, product names, forms and forums, trade journals, magazines and in one-on-one conversations. Nothing tells an audience that you understand them better than using the words and phrases they use everyday.

Tell The Future
I’m amazed at the level of attention given to psychics, seers and futurists. They’re all very comfortable telling the future and people are only too willing to pay them for their insights.

Ask people where they think their industry will be five years from now and you’ll quickly develop your own opinion. Don’t keep it to yourself. Tell your audience what you think the future holds for them and then tell them how they can make it even better.

Handouts
Give everyone in your audience a professional handout at your presentation. It should include your name, photo, contact information and a Keeper. A Keeper is something of value that no one will throw away. This could include a list of resources, humourous quotes or a to do list.

Examples
Find an industry example to make your point. Real experts don’t use examples from one industry to make a point in another. If you can’t find an industry specific example to make your point, you may not need to make the point at all.

The best way to find an industry illustration is to share your generic example with people in the industry and ask them to give you an example from their industry. You’ll be amazed at how many good examples they come up with.

Humor
I once asked a professional speaker if he thought it was important to be humorous when giving a presentation. He said it was only important if you want to get paid. That was the best advice I’ve ever received.

Most every professional speaker will tell you that the best humor is personal and topical. When you tell a funny story about a situation that people in your audience have found themselves in, they’ll remember you forever. Your ability to use industry specific humor as it applies to your area of expertise will instantly position you as the expert in your field.

Associations
Experts are known by the company they keep. Make a point during your presentation to let your audience know the industry experts you affiliate with. You can easily do this by mentioning that in a recent conversation you had with so-and-so you talked about such-and-such.

Don’t be a namedropper for the sake of showing off, and don’t refer to anyone more than once, it’s pretentious. Talking about your affiliation with other well known experts in your field may only serve to position them as the expert and you as the student. Don’t do it.

Resources
As the expert in your field, you are probably very well read. You’ve reviewed dozens if not hundreds of books, websites, articles, blog posts and reports on your subject. Don’t keep these resources a secret.

Your audience will never read everything you’ve read on the subject, but they will appreciate knowing that these resources exist and that you recommend them. When you mention these resources in your presentation and list them on your handout, you position yourself as a well-read expert. It doesn’t hurt to mention your books and articles either.

Q&A
Make time for questions and answers at every presentation you give. It’s a great time to show off what you know, and a fantastic time to learn about the problems and creative solutions discovered by your audience members. These sessions will provide you with wonderful material for future presentations.

Start the session by reading one of the questions asked on your pre-program questionnaire. Choose a question that you can easily answer or one that you’ve thoroughly researched. By doing so, you will further position yourself as the expert in your field.

If someone in the audience asks a question that you don’t know the answer to, here are a few ways to handle it. You can either tell them that you will research the answer and post it to your website, or you can throw the question back to the audience to answer. When I don’t know the answer to a question I respond by saying, “That’s a great question. Would someone like to take a crack at it?”

At that point one of two things happen. Either no one replies, which is when I tell them I’ll research the question and post it on my site; or someone comes up with a great answer. Either way the audience gets what they’re looking for. As the expert, you don’t have to have all the answers. You just need to know where to find them.

Bob Sommers is the host of the Recognized Expert Marketing show on Maui. Listen to Bob and other marketing experts talk about the importance of public speaking, the art of persuasion, Internet marketing and more.

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In the UK we are passionate about football, we have 6 primary sports channels that are piped into our living rooms and local pubs, national newspapers devote a significant number of column inches to the past time, and now we can download podcasts to our phones and MP3 players.

You would be amazed therefore the pulling power of football stadiums, and in fact how good the facilities are within them. Long gone are the days when the venues catering manager was trying to do his bit to add to the clubs bottom line by doing the odd dinner or meeting, these days it’s big business.

The power of football in the conference market can be seen clearly at Arsenals new ground, or to give its correct name the Emirates stadium. Since moving from its old ground just around the corner the new location has allowed them to quadruple the number of meeting rooms they have to offer. Rather then being conversions of club rooms and members lounges, these are purpose built state of the art facilities which rival any major conference venue.

Chelsea’s stadium, or Stamford Bridge to give it it’s correct name, re-launched its meeting facilities recently, calling them Evolution, and it has certainly evolved to be the best conference facilities in the area, exuding a sense or restrained opulence. And although not the most extensive facilities available, Manchester United has real pulling power and produced the highest number of attendees to a conference I ran, just so people could see the world’s most popular team’s home ground.

St James’ Park in Newcastle is another great example of a stadium with exemplary facilities for conferences and meetings. The stadium has an astmosphere of gravitas and delegates that use the facilities are sure to feel a sense of awe when they enter - even if they are not Newcastle fans and even if they are not football fans. the stadium also accomodates dress up balls and is extremely popular with the local Universities.

There are many many other football grounds with fantastic conference facilities within all the divisions of the premier league, and a marketing and reservation organisation called Stadium Experience can make your life even easier, as they work with over 50 Stadiums and are a great resource for conference and event agents and corporate meetings organisers.

Even for non-football fans there is still a sense of wonderment when you visit a football stadium, the 20-40,000 seats surrounding a small patch or perfectly manicured lawn which is used probably less than once a week is incredible, it’s a good job really that they have great meeting facilities otherwise they would be lonely places.

Shaun Parker has a great deal of experience in finding conference venues for a wide range of different occasions. Why not make life easy by utilising a venue finder?

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People usually prepare sufficiently for a presentation, but not many of them are as equally well geared up for the questions raised during and upon completion of the presentation. Making sure you are ready for the onrush is bound to produce better results as it will reflect your knowledge on the topic. So, how should you go about this?

Anticipation is the key here. Whilst you are preparing your presentation material you will become aware of what questions are likely to be asked. If you know what to expect and make ready your responses you will look professional and well-informed.

To prevent potential panic as to the level of your preparation you should write down what questions you expect to be asked and then carry on with your work. At any point you can go back to the questions and add more as they come to mind. Make a point of telling your audience at which point you will be taking questions, for example, during the presentation or when it has finished.

If you decide to take the questions at the end, do so about ten minutes before your planned finishing time. This will allow you time to answer the questions and then give you the opportunity to draw the presentation to a conclusion. Doing it this way avoids the presentation just drying up when the questions finish, which is what happens if you leave the questions right until the very end.

Show respect at all times to the person asking the question. Make sure you listen to him or her properly in order to understand the intent of the question fully.

Repeat the general outline of the question to show you have understood. This method also allows you a few extra seconds to think about your answer. It also ensures that anyone who missed the question when it was asked, hears it the second time around.

When you answer the question, make sure you look at the audience as a whole, and not just at the person asking the question. You do not want to find yourself engaged in conversation with just one of the attendees which may well result in you losing the attention of the rest of them.

Don’t fall into the trap of becoming too relaxed once the speech is over. This will only lead to you rambling on with your answers instead of keeping them to the point and precise.

If you do not know the answer to the question, be honest and say so. Tell them that you will find out the answer and get back to them by email or on a contact number.

You may find yourself in a situation where no questions are asked. You cannot just pack up and leave, so have a couple of questions prepared and tell the audience that these are typical questions and continue by answering them yourself. This may encourage those who were just thinking about asking a question to actually get on with it and take up the opportunity of gleaning even more information from your presentation.

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of Be Successful News, a site that provides information and articles on how to succeed in your own home or small business.

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