Looking out into a sea of faces while standing on a stage can be one of the most intimidating experiences of your career. It doesn't matter if it's a group of 12 people in a board room or an auditorium filled with thousands of people -- giving the perfect presentation is no easy feat. It's also pretty critical to your success in delivering the message you want to deliver.
In order to run a successful business, you need to be able to successfully solve problems that arise, find ways to effectively market your products, strive to make your products and services the best they can be and also develop new ones to keep up with changing needs. At the core of all these issues is the ability to think creatively and generate new ideas. Group brainstorming can be a highly effective way to do this if done the right way. Here are some tips to help make these sessions the most productive they can be and maximize creative thinking.
In the course of your freelance business you may be asked to do a concept presentation for your more complex projects. A concept presentation is a pre-development or planning phase where you show your client a prototype or draft of what you’re going to deliver.
If you’re a freelance web designer, a design concept presentation is often referred to as a “mockup.” If you’re a freelance writer, it’s often two or three pages of copy and layout work, or an annotated outline of a planned article or report.
A concept presentation is where you present your development work and decide a particular direction before launching into full-work mode. There are three distinct stages of a concept presentation and you can excel in each of them.
Presentations don't have to be boring. Advice from David Tisch, managing director of TechStars, and Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council.
Many (if not most) business meetings waste time and therefore money, according to Michael St. Lawrence, author of the best-selling book If You're Not Out Selling, You're Being Outsold.
To ensure that a business meeting is efficient and productive, he recommends that the participants agree to adhere to the following guidelines:
Be on time.
Conduct one conversation at a time; avoid "sidebar" discussions.
Respect the opinions of others.
Respond to the topic.
Be solution-minded: When you identify a problem, suggest a solution.
Don't try to "derail" the meeting.
Do not attack other participants.
Avoid introducing tangential topics.
Observe time limits and end the meeting as scheduled.
I estimate that by instituting these guidelines, you get the practical equivalent of increasing your workforce by 10%, or even more--but without increasing payroll costs.
From no projector to awful audio, it's not uncommon to be faced with unexpected "gotchas" when giving a presentation. Here's how to make your presentation gotcha proof.
“The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public,” George Jessel famously quipped. In 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People (public library), Dr. Susan Weinschenk unpacks the secrets of eliciting response from people — the core purpose of design, it’s been argued — through a combination of behavioral science, psychology, and practical examples to alleviate the misery and mystery of public speaking.
This great short animated teaser offers five of the most essential secrets to a great presentation, whatever your discipline or topic. (Not so great? The dishearteningly blatant RSA-style animation rip-off.)
When it comes to making a PowerPoint presentation, there are many things that must be taken into consideration in order to be sure you’re creating the best presentation possible for any particular venue. Some of these things include knowing who you’re presenting to, where you’ll be presenting, how much time you’re given to present, and of course, the ultimate goal of the presentation.
But just like anything else, there is a right way and wrong way to give a talk using PowerPoint as a speaking tool. If you have ever sat in on a presentation where the speaker used PowerPoint unwisely, you know that the tool can become as much of a curse as a blessing to a public speaker. So it’s good to have some guidelines on how to use PowerPoint to help your presentation and not hurt it.
Presenting to a group of people can be a daunting experience.
There are some basic psychological facts that you should know about how people react to presentations — including how your body language affects reception and how to increase the energy level in a room.
Behavioral scientist Dr. Susan Weinschenk gave us permission to publish the best advice from her new book, 100 Things Every Presenter Needs to Know About People, based on posts from her blog, Whatmakesthemclick.net.
Your reputation as a freelancer is pretty much the only thing you have to go on — your bread and butter.
And your reputation is generally based on two things: the quality of your work, and how well you meet deadlines.
Today, we’ll focus on meeting deadlines, as that’s the area that many freelancers have problems with. Sure, you can do great work, but if you don’t turn your projects in on time, you won’t get many repeat customers.
Meetings can be like torture chambers. But they don't have to be.
Web conferencing company SalesCrunch has created a guide to "meetings that don't suck."
It's gathered the data from its management software, which tracks things like if people are really paying attention (looking at the screen or not), and if follow-up materials are opened.
How many people are really good at their sales pitch? Often it’s an unmitigated disaster.
Most businesspeople can’t deliver a monologue to save their life. This might seem like a superfluous observation, like pointing out that dentists often are not amazing welders, but being able to write and perform a decent monologue are incredibly useful for a good sales pitch.
When the daily avalanche of emails and voice messages gets overwhelming, it’s so tempting to retreat to my office and start typing replies and returning phone calls. That’s one of the biggest mistakes I can make.
No matter what industry we’re in, we’re all in the people business. We’ll only be successful if we really get to know our customers and colleagues. Many of my tech marketing clients are so busy that they now prefer texting to even emails or calls. Skype, WebEx and audio calls are convenient and create the illusion we’re actually having a meeting -- but nothing beats the power of a truly personal, face-to-face connection.
Follow these five tips to deliver persuasive presentations. Plus, one trick from Naveen Jain, co-founder of Intelius, a data company.
People hate meetings that waste time. Many meetings don’t start on time. They're unfocused. And they last too long.
When you first begin your freelancing career you might underestimate the aspects of the job. Going from employee to working for yourself will force you to restructure your focus. When you become a freelancer, you become an identify of yourself as well as a brand. Showing clients your creativity/managerial side is quite important for a successful representation. Here are some strategies to follow in order to have a successful first meeting with a potential client. Fake it until you make it will not work here, understanding the major aspects is a must.
Don't want to wait until the 22 to officially hear Mark Zuckerberg debut Facebook's major updates? You don't have to.
Facebook is expected to reveal its music application at this year’s f8 conference, scheduled for this week. While details about the feature continue to surface, The Guardian has some inside information about what else we can expect to see Thursday.
I took a serious break from speaking after last year’s SXSW, because we’ve got a ton of great stuff coming to you from Copyblogger Media this fall. I needed to keep focused on delivering well ahead of those impending launch dates.
But as summer ends and fall kicks in, you can always find me speaking at a few select conferences. This post will let you know where I’ll be and how to save money when attending.
