Helping Your Audience On The Hero’s Journey September 23, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Let’s take a trip back to your junior high days. If you’re like me, immediately your palms begin to sweat. Your throat tightens. Your heart starts racing and your mouth gets dry as you remember those trying teen years. Imagine that today is that day! It’s the big day when you have to deliver your … [Read more…] Filed Under: Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , presentation best practices, presentation strategies, speaker, speaker tips
They Are The Heartbeat Of Your Presentation: Do You Know Them? September 15, 2011 by Jeff Hurt “Getting to know you, Getting to know all about you. Getting to like you, Getting to hope you like me.” These lyrics from the King and I’s “Getting To Know You” would make a great theme song for every presenter. They clearly articulate one of the very first steps all presenters should take: get to … [Read more…] Filed Under: Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , presentation best practices, presentation strategies, speaker, speaker tips
The Engagement You Need Most At Your Meeting May 12, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Engagement is an overused two-dollar word that has been tossed around like cascarons (Mexican confetti filled Easter eggs). Everyone uses that word. Yet rarely is their consensus on what it is and how we get it. Is The Presentation Engaging? In the conference and meetings world, we struggle with defining and observing engagement during our … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , conferences, engagement, meeting planning best practices, presentation best practices, presentation strategies
The Omnipresent Presentation: Does It Offer Good ROI? May 11, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Presentations are one of the most used and abused instructional methods. They are everywhere. Conferences, meetings, webinars, board rooms, seminars, workshops, exhibit halls, online learning. Worldwide, presentations are the most common method for training adults. (What’s The Use Of Lectures? by Donald Bligh). Most conferences rely 100% on lecture-based presentations. Show-And-Tell Revisited Remember show-and-tell from … [Read more…] Filed Under: Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , conferences, meeting planning best practices, presentation strategies, speaker
Facilitating Effective Audience Interaction With Questions May 5, 2011 by Jeff Hurt “We’re going to hold all questions until the end of the presentation. If we have time, we’ll answer them then.” It’s the generic statement many presenters make that audiences hate. Why Presenters Use This Statement Typically, the presenter’s goal is to cover as much content as possible. They have an agenda to cover. They fear … [Read more…] Filed Under: Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , attendee engagement, engagement, presentation best practices, presentation strategies
Storytelling Isn’t Just For Campfires Infographic May 3, 2011 by Jeff Hurt A brilliant campfire story inspires action in its listeners. Like whittling branches into swords to fight forest ghosts, brands can draw similar emotion from their audience. Every organization has stories to tell. In fact, information can be dramatized to turn boring data slogs into exciting journeys that yield personal connections and changes in behavior. Energy and … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , presentation best practices, presentation strategies, stories, storytelling
Conference Audiences Expect These Things April 28, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Conference audiences of days gone by were satisfied with the gathering of colleagues, a mediocre experience and a few useful tips. Today’s audiences are more demanding and sophisticated. They expect to learn practical and useful information that solves their individual problems. They expect speaker presentations that are compelling and memorable. And they expect to be … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Planning Tagged With: , audience expectations, conferences, meeting planning best practices, presentation strategies
Giving Your Conference Content Handles February 25, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Presentations are a way to move information from my head into your actions. If I do it right, I give my ideas handles, so that you can run with what I’ve started and make it your own. ~ Chris Brogan Do you design your conference content so that it has handles? Have you ever even … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , conferences, Education & Adult Learning, presentation strategies, speaker
Content Reduction: Making Your Presentation Thick To Stick February 23, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Do you want to have a rich finish to your presentation that fills the participants’ mind with an intense flavor that lingers? Like a fine wine reduction, you need to find a way to reduce excess information while intensifying and thickening the flavor of critical content. You need a content reduction. What Is Reduction? Reduction … [Read more…] Filed Under: Speaker Coaching Tagged With: , presentation best practices, presentation strategies
Your Memory: The Engine And Bottleneck Of Learning February 8, 2011 by Jeff Hurt Myth: The more we sit and listen to conference lectures, the more we learn. Fact: Our memory is both the engine and the bottleneck of learning. The more information we receive without thinking about it, the more we corrupt our learning. Three Critical Factors Of Working Memory Working memory is the part of your mind … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education Tagged With: , active learning, active participation, adult learning, conferences, engagement, lecture, meeting planning basics, presentation best practices, presentation strategies
