 | |
| |
Presentation Skills Information 
| |
|
Learn about CV writing as an important part of your presentation skills. Find out why getting a Perfect CV is so hard and get everything you need for effective CV writing. |
|
How Storytelling Can Grow Your Business
People love stories. We love to hear about other people, and stories help us to learn, remember and put to use new concepts. Aesop knew this. His fables help us to learn life lessons through tales about others, without having to learn them the hard way. In modern times, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen also understand the power of stories to teach, motivate, and inspire. Their "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books continue to sell in the millions of copies because they tap into our primal need to connect with others through storytelling. What can stories do for you and your business? Stories can educate customers about a need they have and how you fill it, subtly demonstrate your expertise, create empathy, suggest new uses for your products, train new customers and employees, and motivate listeners to take action. I recently observed several group presentations by an insurance agent. He knew many of the people in the audience, and prior to each presentation he would look for someone who had made a claim under their policy and ask them to tell the audience how the benefits had helped them through a difficult time. If there was no one in the audience to do it, he would tell about someone who had used the policy and what it had done for them. The stories the agent told were effective, but hearing the claimants themselves was incredibly powerful. Hearing someone talk about the uncertainty of illness, the expenses they faced which were not covered by other insurance, and what the benefits meant to them was moving. I'm sure he sold lots of policies! Where will you get stories? Stories from your own experience can be effective, and they are unique. You may also get stories from customers, employees, friends and others. The media can be a source of stories. Stories that are familiar because they have been told through the media can establish a commonality between you and your audience, or among members of your audience. Stories unique to your experience provide a personal touch, and can be surprising because they are not known to the audience. Another possibility is creating composite or fictional stories. This may not be acceptable in some circumstances. For example, several newspaper columnists have been fired for making up stories, or creating composite characters, and passing them off as absolute truth. However, if your primary purpose is to educate or entertain, and you are not presenting them as news, you may take some liberties with minor details of your stories or take bits and pieces from multiple stories and combine them into one composite. Remember that it is important to maintain credibility, so don't do anything that would deceive your audience. Once you have your stories, where will you use them? Tell them when you are in one-on-one meetings, in group presentations, and when making speeches. Write them down and include them in articles, brochures, sales letters, on your web site and in other written communications. Record them on audio or video and use them in commercials. Use them when training new employees to teach them about your company and its culture. Publish them in your client or company newsletter to reinforce emotional ties. Stories are a powerful tool which teach and motivate by making an emotional connection with your audience. Use them wisely and well. Copyright Cathy Stucker. As the Idea Lady, Cathy Stucker can help you attract customers and make yourself famous with inexpensive and free marketing ideas. Get free tips, articles and more at http://www.IdeaLady.com/.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How To Make Your Best Ever Presentation The most important tip.. I Love the Smell of PowerPoint in the Morning: The 5 Sensory Approach to Business Presentations You're in a conference room. You're giving a PowerPoint presentation to several of your colleagues. Total Recall: How to Remember Your Speech Without Memorizing We all fear that moment. You look out on a sea of faces and your mind goes blank. 8 Ways to Improve Your Presentation Skills 8 Ways to Improve Your Presentation Skills 1. Join Toastmasters. Cross Cultural Presentations The international flavour of many people's jobs naturally means that there is greater interaction between people from different cultures. Within the business environment, understanding and coping with intercultural differences between people is critical to ensuring that interpersonal communication is successful. Using Your Audience to Your Advantage Regardless of what response technique may be convenient in a given situation, one thing is certain for the aware trainer: different techniques will drive you deeper and deeper into the realm of subtlety, which is precisely where the art of using response points belongs. For most trainers, these direct questions will be the best method to determine how well the idea presentation is progressing. Choosing a Presentation Remote Control If you deliver electronic presentations using PowerPoint or other programs, you can manually move forward to the next slide with the keyboard or the mouse. One way, however, to deliver more effective presentations that improve your connection to your audience is to add a remote control to your presentation tools. Kvetching Behavior and How it Hinders Success Kvetching is the Yiddish word for complaining, hand to the forehead, why is this happening to me, complaining, griping, and mental misery. In marketing it's always time for us to take a serious look at how our attitude affects our business. How to Teach: Lecture vs. Discussion WHEN ONLY A LECTURE WILL DO: Under certain circumstances, of course, the lecture is the only workable format. For instance, when it is necessary to reach a large audience in a short time frame, or when the attendees have no knowledge of the subject whatsoever, there is really no choice. Watch Out For Power Thieves "I'm not an expert on this topic, but . . 5 Breakthrough Marketing Ideas Do you ever get frustrated with your marketing? Are you putting in a lot of effort but not getting the results you want? Don't you wish you could just hit a switch and get a better response from your mailings, sales calls and web site?You hear a lot about breakthroughs; is it all hype, or can you really create a breakthrough in your marketing and sales? I know that you can.I spent last weekend skiing in Vermont with my spouse, nephew and his finance Sonia. Quick and Easy Rehearsal Tips Never rehearse at the last minute. This creates undue tension and nervousness and does not allow sufficient time for correcting mistakes and polishing delivery. Writing The Query Letter The query letter is simply a business letter that serves a dualpurpose. It is an introduction of you to an agent, and an inquiryas to whether the agent would be interested in seeing a particularpiece of your work. Public Speaking Training Tips For Better Business Presentations To Culturally Diverse Audiences Audiences around the world are all different. Cultural, social and religiousdifferences impact on how people learn, take in information and interactwith presenters. Presentation Paranoia "The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public." (Sir George Jessel)Have you had this feeling before? Rest assured you are not alone. Move Key Audiences to Actions You Want How?Try a blueprint like this: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action the very people whose behaviors affect the organization the most, the public relations mission is accomplished. Ancient PowerPoint Secrets: Ask Your Grandma! Yes, there are ancient PowerPoint secrets.. Grand Opening: The Key To Great Presentations Whether you are speaking in front of a civic group or makinga sales presentation, your opening can make or break thedeal. Unless you grab the audience at the beginning, they'llbe sleeping through your most important information. Show the World Your Wares Easily and Inexpensively You've spent a lot of time preparing your PowerPoint presentations and now you're ready to show the world all your company has to offer. You set up some appointments for sales presentations with a few members of the local Chamber of Commerce. Choosing a Company Shirt vendor Where can you choose a company shirt vendor? There are many catalogs out their with more than competent companies selling logo'ed attire for small, medium and large businesses. Online there are many great companies too which have low costs for shirts and then put on your logo and send them to you.
|
| © Presentation Skills 2009 |