The next day test

I gave a speech the other day that was fine.  I said what I wanted to say, made the points that I wanted to make.
But fine, I fear, is forgotten.  Fine isn’t remembered when a person walks out of the room.  Fine is checking the box.
I think I went wrong in the preparation: spending so [...]

1-4-5-2-3

Here’s a reasonable-sounding process to go through when prepping for a big presentation:

Figure out what you want to say
Write this up in slides, with some combination of words, charts, and images
Refine those slides
Rehearse the presentation
Present

Unfortunately this doesn’t work.
What happens is [...]

Everything I really needed to know about presentations…

…I learned from a band that plays for 5 year olds.
I had a wonderful summer evening with my family, listening to the much-acclaimed (by my kids) Jeffrey and the Bossy Frog Band play an outdoor free concert as the sun went down.  It was great.
Here’s a list of things that Jeffrey gets right:

Engage your audience [...]

The sound of silence

One of the newest, and most interesting (also potentially most unsettling) phenomena for public speakers is the prospect of your audience tweeting your presentation in real-time.  If done right, it can serve as instantaneous feedback for parallel conversations that enrich discussions in real time.
But before going all high-tech on you, let me ask: 140 character [...]

On Gene Zelazny (or, Career Advice from the Front Car of the Train)

I commute by train to and from work every day, and I can’t help but notice how the first car of the train is always much more crowded than the second car.  Crowded enough that people are willing to stand, to squish together, and generally to be uncomfortable.
Logically, you’d think people would be balancing how [...]