Tag Presentations

Think About This…But NOT for Too Long

Steve Keating 5 Comments

Thinking is a very good thing to do. It seems as if a whole lot of people would be better off if they did more of it. Everyone knows that it is best to think before they speak. Clearly not everyone knows it’s best to think before they post. I am shocked by what people will tweet or post to Facebook (is that still the name?) and other social media sites. I can’t believe they thought at all before posting some of what I see and if they did we are in worse shape then I would have ever believed. 

But doing too much of a good thing can turn it into a bad thing. So it is with thinking. 

Overthinking can be as bad as not thinking at all. Sometimes it’s even worse because overthinking can create problems that were not there in the first place. It can even create problems that are nothing more than a figment of the over-thinker’s imagination. 

The most surprising thing about overthinking is that it seems the smarter you are the more prone you are to fall into the overthinking trap. All that knowledge can cause you to over prepare and over analyze. 

It’s good to be thoughtful and use your experience when making a decision. Just be mindful as well of the danger of paralysis by analysis that too often comes with overthinking. 

Overthinking is the most common way smart people sabotage their own success. 

Partly because of what I do for a living a attend a lot of conference type meetings. That’s where I see smart people endlessly toiling away in front of a screen trying to create the perfect PowerPoint slides. Thinking and rethinking and thinking some more about exactly what they want to say. Changing one slide after another to get the exact “look” that will make their message connect with their audience. 

In 1000’s of meetings like that with a countless number of attendees I have never heard “wow, that was the most awesome PowerPoint I’ve ever seen, it totally made the presentation.” 

If you think your PowerPoint is the centerpiece of your presentation your thinking has missed the mark. PowerPoint should be a bit player behind your staring role. Whenever I see people fussing with their PowerPoint right up until the second they are presenting I know they are over thinking their presentation. WAY overthinking. 

Just an aside to all the presenters reading this. If you know what you’re talking about then use your slides to merely support your presentation. If you don’t know what you’re talking about then don’t be doing a presentation. 

Napoleon Hill wrote one of the all time greatest books titled “Think and Grow Rich.” He lived long ago but his principles still perfectly apply today. Obviously I never met him but I’ll bet if he would have written a sequel to that book it would have been titled “Over Think and Lose The Riches You Earned by Thinking. (Okay, I know his editor would have made him shorten the title but you get the point)

Do not limit your success by overthinking. Once your knowledge, your experience and your instincts tell you to act then act. Don’t let the same brain that informed you of what to do take that decision away from you by thinking and rethinking. Act!

Are you an “over-thinker?” Think about it…but not for too long.

Do You Hide Behind PowerPoint?

Steve Keating 2 Comments

Before PowerPoint was PowerPoint it was called Presenter and available only on a Mac. The name changed in 1987 and soon after the software was acquired by some little outfit named Microsoft. 

 

Considering how the product is used today they should have kept the original name. Today way too many people try to let the software do the presenting for them. 

 

That was never the intent of the developers. Presenter and later, PowerPoint was designed as a visual aid. The key word there being “aid.” It was supposed to help a person make a better presentation; it was never intended to be the presentation. 

 

Too many speakers today forget the fact that their most important and impactful visual aid is themselves. What they say, and especially how they say it, should easily outperform even the most stunning PowerPoint slide. 

 

I know speaking if front of a group can be a scary thing to do. I also know that some presenters use PowerPoint as a crutch to lean on. Others use it as a shield to hide behind. Many speakers use slides as their presentation notes. 

 

None of those were the intended purpose of the original software. 

 

The original purpose was to have a tool to quickly develop slides that could be efficiently changed as data, statistics and other information changed. The slides could be used to show graphics and photos to make concepts simpler to understand than mere words ever could.

 

But even the best graphics cannot compare with the eye-to-eye impact even just a competent speaker can have when at center stage. No disembodied voice from the shadows will ever come close to matching a highly skilled presenter adapt at holding an audience’s attention.  

 

Slides have become so easy to prepare and so embedded in the average presentation that most people don’t invest the time and hard work required to think through what they want to say. Many people actually create their slides first and then determine what they want to say.

 

That’s why it’s common to see a speaker settle for a bunch of wordy slides. They are loaded with statistics most people don’t care about and lots of “cool” motion and even a few funny noises.

 

If you want to be a better speaker then you have to do more than read from the screen. You need to remember that with visuals less is more. You’ll need to make some tough decisions to weed out any slide that doesn’t add clarity to your message. Never add a slide that takes the spotlight off of you.

 

Odds are, you have invested a ton of time in developing your own competence on your subject. Never let that competence be overshadowed by a slide deck. Your physical presence, and how you say what you say will ultimately be what you’re judged on.

 

If you don’t believe that then let me ask you… have you ever said of a presentation, “well, the presentation and presenter were bad but the slides were awesome?” 

 

Yeah, I’ve never said that either. Let your slides be your helper. Let them help you clarify difficult concepts and complicated ideas. But never never let them be your entire presentation. 


Oh, and one more thing…if the first words out of your mouth when a slides pop up are “I know this is an eye chart but….” then get rid of the slide completely.

Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah

Steve Keating 2 Comments

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In 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered one of history’s most famous and remembered speeches – the Gettysburg Address. It was 273 words. It took 2 minutes to deliver. The main address that day (the one Lincoln followed) was given by Edward Everett (known to be one of the greatest speakers of the time) and lasted 2 hours. His note to Lincoln on the event…“I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes.”

If you’re making a presentation, any kind of presentation and your audience is only hearing blah, blah, blah then YOU have a problem.

Are you a Lincoln or an Everett? Let me ask that another way; how long was your last presentation? How could it have been shorter without losing impact? (I’m assuming it had impact.)

Over the next couple weeks invest some time examining the length of your presentations (both formal and informal versions). For every point and every line ask, “Why is this needed for my presentation?” If you’re unsure of the reason, cut it, lean and effective should be your goal.

If you don’t have it written, planned, and practiced, get that done soon. The chances of a rambling presentation skyrocket without a formally developed presentation.

Time is money and effective presenters know it as well as anyone.

Tic toc…

That was 238 words, they sure add up fast!