Vivid Visuals Bring Words to Life

A vivid visual is one of the most powerful and universal means of communicating with impact. Whether it's sharing a photograph of a special event, or explaining how to assemble your flatpack furniture, nothing beats great a picture (or frustrates as much as a bad one!). But instead of just telling you about them, let me help you experience it for yourself....

Think of an elephant.

No, not one like that.

An especially vivid one: a tiny, purple and silver striped elephant, shiny and crinkly, about 2 inches tall and standing in the palm of your hand right now. She's called Betsy and is trumpeting, pa-pah pa-pah as she stomps around in a circle, which kind of tickles your palm a little bit and makes you smile. She keeps looking at your for reassurance - with her deep black eyes and soft eyelashes, and her big ears billowing. How cute is she? Did the image of her make you smile? Did you (almost) hold your hand out to look at her more closely (I did!).

How real is this elephant to you now? When it comes to your brain, the purple Betsy elephant you have imagined is just as real as if she had really been in your hand - you used the same bits of your brain to imagine her as you do to see her for real.

And will you remember her? You bet!

Imagine then, how a few simple words, specifically designed to create clear and vivid pictures can transform the impact you have when you communicate with other people. A few words can literally bring something alive inside their minds.

So before you start crafting a letter, an email, a presentation, decide on the image you want to create in the minds of your audience. And if you can link a number of images to make a story, or movie, even better.

Dear Santa..... My Christmas List for 2010

This year I have been generally good, with a few episodes of overindulgence all to report on the bad girl front. Whilst I know this is the season for giving, could you do some taking instead? If you take a few features in PowerPoint away, you will be giving back thousands, if not millions of hours of life to those who might otherwise suffer from Death by PowerPoint next year. I know they are big asks, but if anyone can do this, you can.

Please, please delete the Word Art function - it's about as clever as writing your name using an etch-a-sketch.

Ditto clipart - those bean men might have seemed clever in the days when an electronic typewriter was the height of fashion, but honestly, have you seen technology nowadays? Would the iPad have clipart?

Please delete the function that lets people print out their PowerPoint slides as handouts - it only panders to lazy presenters and bores us all with prose-ridden slides (when did the "visual" part of a presentation become a page of a book?)

Please also delete all the hideous PowerPoint design templates - which I think is pretty much all of them - a blank white screen is preferable in many cases, especially that one with the annoying ball that moves across the screen for every single bleeding slide.

Please also delete the following functions:
* adding sound effects - unless operated by a skilled sound effects guru
* animating words so that they spiral in front of our eyes - unless part of a Derren Brown hypnosis
* and finally bullet points - nuff said

Thank you very much in anticipation of a much more inspiring year of Presentations.
Yours humbly
Sparkie

I am sure I will think of a few more, but these would make me very happy in 2011.

The Story Develops for Pecha Kucha Night

Last time I had decided to present on the topic of communication - it's history etc. Pecha Kucha is too fast for a "this is the history of communication" presentation. In putting ideas onto post-it notes, I counted dozens before I have even reached cave paintings.

Tip #1 - Pick a topic small enough to fit into 6 minutes (+) yet with enough substance to satisy your audience

Playing with various ideas involved intense and active pondering - despite outward appearances!

Tip #2 - Try talking off the cuff about your chosen topic and see how much you have to say - time yourself and then work out what to cut out.

After much editing, revising and some practices that helped me learn just how little I can say in 20 seconds (without a machine-gun delivery), I came down to using the Seven Deadly Sins of Presentations.

Tip #3 - Practice the timing after you've done your slides - does the story flow?

For each sin, there is a virtue, so without effort I had 14 topics/ slides at my fingertips. I searched the net and found images of slides, and presenters and some random images to suit the presentation. With a few more hours refining and altering the build-up and finale, it was done (phew!).

Tip #4 - Practice the story - do you stumble over any of your ideas or phrases?

As I did a dry run, the actual names of the sins and virtues was causing me too much anxiety, so after creating the slideshow, I ditched the Sins and changed the title to "Presenter Heroes and Zeroes". Perhaps another night to think would have improved that one!

Tip #5 - Remember, it is only Pecha Kucha night!

Today is the day that I present at Huddersfield Pecha Kucha night #2. Wish me luck!

Selecting Images that Speak to Your Audience

This week I've been creating a very 'Zen' style presentation on the topic of Parent Advocacy.

I love 'Zen' design and my slides were looking good.....

• Simple.


• Stylish.


• Strong beautiful images.


• Powerful phrases.

I was feeling pretty chuffed with myself until I noticed one thing.....

I had tin cans connected with string for communication.
A power of books for information and advice
A megaphone for parent voice.

But not as single picture of either a parent or a child.

This entire presentation is based on reminding parents how important they are, and how we want to give them a new voice in our region. How could I have missed that?

A few minutes later and the revised version is much stronger - showing images we have taken at our events, and people (young and old) my audience will relate to.

Now, all the powerful phrases such as "Giving Parents a Voice" are next to images of a parent holding a microphone.

I put the audience in the picture, so to speak!

Say What You Need to Say

"Nobody cares if you can't present well. Just get up and present. Great presenters are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion!" ~after Martha Graham

Martha's quotation was about dancers, but the same thing applies whether its painting, science, yoga, cooking or presenting.

The message is simply to start.

All too often we let our need to be perfect get in the way - we wait until we are sure, or ready, or some such thing that is far away....

Don't expect to be the best presenter in the world straight away - just get in touch with the passion you feel; the words and skills and knowledge you yearn to share with the world, and get out there and share.

Share it because people need to hear it.
Share it because you need to say it.
Share it because someone needs to hear you say it in order to really hear it.

Start NOW: book a room, phone someone and offer to speak for free. Just get out there and share. You might just find you fall in love with it!

Curiosity Might Have Killed the Cat....

But it is without doubt one of the most important states that you can create in your audience before any sort of training, meeting, presentation or event.

How do you create curiosity?
I'll tell you in my next post............

Do the Opposite of What They Expect!

Today I saw a wonderful article on a children's art programme - all about Green Graffiti - where an artist sandblasts a dirty wall (in this case at Brighton's marina) using some templates to create a work of art. The shapes are formed from "clean wall" against the lichen, moss and dirt of the wall.

What a genuinely novel idea - a wonderful example of reversing ideas and coming up with something better..... Burnley has also reversed ideas about art - by creating works of art called Invisible that magically comes alive in the dark, as it is painted in UV paint.

It is the same for presenters and trainers - the very people you wish to engage and inspire have probably seen and been to dozens of presentations and training events. It all becomes rather predictable - been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

So how do you get their attention?
How do you make them curious?

Simple - do something different.

I can remember the excitement and curiosity when I brought a room full of trainers into a room that was pitch dark, using torches to light their way. It was eight o'clock in the evening after a full day's work and they were at an evening class - tired and just dying to go home. But the dark signalled that something different was about to happen and they perked up brilliantly.

Think of the "norms" and turn them upsidedown:
* If they are expecting 127 PowerPoint slides, give them none.
* Instead of sending them an invite - send them a puzzle to solve
* Instead of starting off with an energiser - give them a really difficult task to solve
* Instead of giving out handouts - get them to write they key points on a credit card sized piece of paper and laminate it as a ready reminder
* Instead of using a happy sheet - get them to design a quiz to test their own knowledge at the end of the day and use a "runaround" quiz to explore what they are thinking and feeling

Today - think of just one thing that you "normally do" during your presentation or training, and then think of the opposite. Then work out how that might work to grab your audience's attention and engage their hearts and minds.

It's not what you do that counts...

As an entrepreneur building your connections through socialising and networking, how many people ask you this question: "So what is it that you do?"

How do you respond?
Do you sigh and reel off your standard response? I wouldn't blame you if you did. After all if I were to answer that honestly, it would sound something like:
"I listen and observe people, I type keys on my computer, then I stand up and talk to people."

Here are a few others ways I could answer it:
* I am a presentation skills coach (my job description)
* I am am CEO of Light the Spark (my position)
* I coach people who want to improve their presentation skills (what I do but not really what they want to know)

If I leave it like this, the person listening will make their own mind up about how I could help them (or why they don't need to talk to me anymore!).

What people actually want to know is the answer to this question:
How do you help people like me?

Think about it.
People do not spend money on diet food - they spend money to feel better about themselves when they look in the mirror, or to be able to climb a flight of stairs without being out of breath.

People don't hire a dating coach - they spend money to find someone they can spend the rest of their lives with (and to avoid excruciating dates with totally unsuitable people)

People don't hire a presentations skills coach - they spend money to make sure that when they make that sales pitch, they get the sale.

So work out what it is that you do that helps people. And the next time someone asks you "what do you do?" give them a powerful, succinct summary of who you help and how their lives improve by working with you.

Let Your Audience Teach You

Today's blog is inspired by a quotation I recently posted on Twitter by Marva Collins:
'The essence of teaching is to make learning contagious, to have one idea spark another.'

To be a great teacher or trainer you could do worse than let your audience teach you. To do that, you must create opportunities to interact with them, and them with you.

The more you can interact with your audience, the more you will learn from them. They will spark off new ideas in you and enhance your teaching a thousand fold.

Teaching is not about filling someone's head with facts - such as the seven different leadership styles.

Teaching is about inspiring people - about setting off a spark in them - a curiosity to learn more, to observe others, to reflect on their own experiences, to help them see through new eyes the world that has always been around them.

One of my favourite lecturers was a man who rarely gave me information, or answers. He almost always posed questions and let us debate our views. When we stated our point of view (so confidently, awaiting his agreement, for him to validate our position), he normally responded with a counterpoint- another question. He made me think more deeply, made me go beyond the obvious, the superficial and really work things out for myself.

He sparked more thoughts in me than he could ever have managed by telling me things.

Ask questions.
* Open questions.
* Controversial questions.
* Challenging questions.

Treat all your students as teachers and you will be amazed at how much more everyone will learn as a result.

Beautiful Simple Images combined with Powerful Words

This is a great example of a mid-week pick-me-up.
What's not to like?

* Beautiful, simple, high quality photographs of gorgeous scenery that echo and enhance the phrases
* Touching, inspirational words that really connect with all our lives - who hasn't ever felt like quitting and needed support to keep going?

In just two minutes, without rushing, this presentation speaks to us personally (notice the prevalence of the word "you" in the poem).

Please post your comments below - what would you improve?

Sparkie's Ten Commandments #10

Thine presentation is not about you, tis about thine audience - how will they benefit from what you are saying?

Firstly, let's cover nerves. Nerves are vanity. If you are feeling nervous then where is your focus? Your focus is probably on making an idiot of yourself, or your mouth drying up, or you forgetting something.

If you focus on your audience, on how you can help them, or make their lives better then your nerves will calm down significantly.

This brings us to the What Is In It For Me (WIIFM)? factor.
Every speech, every presentation, every workshop you deliver should explain how it will benefit your audience. Speak about how their lives will improve and watch them sit up and pay attention!

However interesting your life story, or your battle to succeed in business, or your ten minutes of fame on Big Brother, your story needs to connect with people, to tell them something new, even change their minds or inspire them to action.

WIIFM might include:
* reducing some pain (costs, bills, time, hassle, junk mail...)
* increase some gain (money, clients, leisure, happiness)
* creating more good feelings (pleasure, joy, energy, inspiration)
* reducing less pleasurable feelings (sadness, frustration, anger)

So how does what you say improve the lives of those listening to you?
What Is In It For Me if I listen to you?

Sparkie's Ten Commandments #8

Neither shalt thou get thine audience jumping around after lunch, nor shalt thou put on a long video in the dark

As a facilitator or presenter, one of your core jobs is the manage the energy of both the group and yourself.

To do this well, you need to be able to assess energy levels: to know when your audience are bouncing and when they are slumping. Here are a few signs to look out for:

1) Body language - are they slumped, doodling, eyes vacant? Or are they alert, engaged and following your movements with their eyes?
2) Level of interaction and engagement - what happens when you ask a question or set a task?
3) Your own energy levels - if the room has low energy you might find your own levels are drained as you try to raise theirs.... Conversely when their energy is full-on it tends to make you feel great too!

There is always a balance to be struck, as reflected in the title. After lunch there can be a significant lull in energy levels, as blood moves to the digestive system (if you can, choose a lunch with less stodge). Don't put the lights out and show a video unless you want them to have a snooze. After lunch is a great time to get them working on a case study or interactive exercise.

What signs and evidence can you find or have you noticed that reflects the energy levels of your audience when you are presenting? Post your comments here....

Sparkie's Ten Commandments #7

Thou shalt not show thine audience how much thou knowest.

No-one likes a show off. Not since school days.

There's a saying that seems appropriate here...
People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care.

Really, I couldn't care less what celebrities you have coached, until you have shown me a simple tip that will make my life better.

I don't want to know how many qualifications you have, or letters after your name, unless you can give me a piece of sage advice that I can use straight away.

An expert knows alot.
A teacher knows how to break down something complex into simple steps that anyone can master. A teacher can take something other people find hard and make it easy.

Be both an expert in your topic and a great teacher - so that your audience can benefit from your years of experience in a way that will transform their life.

Sparkie's Ten Commandments #6

Thou shalt not bore thine audience with irrelevant fluff - thou shalt concentrate on the real NEED TO KNOW data.

This commandment is easily demonstrated using an example - let's use Swine Flu as the topic of your presentation.

Think about what your audience really needs to know about this potential pandemic.
If your audience is the general public, then what they really NEED TO KNOW must be about the symptoms, treatment and what to do if you think you have it.

If that is the NEED TO KNOW information, how do the recent news reports stack up:
* Information on the genetic make-up of swine flu
* That swine flu is a variation of the H1N1 virus
* How the disease spread from pigs into the human population and why
* What the difference is between an epidemic and a pandemic

Lots of this is fluff. It's not offensive, but it's not NEED TO KNOW either.
It confuses the issue and overloads us with facts that are not going to save us.

For everything you are thinking of saying in a presentation put it through the NEED TO KNOW filter.

It doesn't matter how interesting the story is, or how funny your statistics are, or how much research it took some lab rat to discover the origins of the theory. If your audience, in this situation do not NEED TO KNOW, then leave it out. Please.

Sparkie's Ten Commandments #5

Thou shalt prepare for (nearly) every eventuality and be flexible in thine approach to thine event.

It doesn't well you have laid your plans for your presentation, or workshop - the law of sod will sometimes intervene.

As a presenter, it pays to be adaptable. To be flexible. To go with the flow.
The more you consider and even plan for such changes, the better you are likely to react when at the last moment:

* swine-flu puts half your audience into quarantine the night before your event
* the electricity fails five seconds before you power up an incredible video clip (or more likely the bulb blows in the projector)
* the person before you overruns and your time is cut in half and what's more they nearly killed your audience with PowerPoint and they are now semi-comatose
* you find out that your delegates have just been given 30 days consultation before the organisation closes for good

The key to being a great presenter is to be able to think on your feet, and change your direction.

For each of the elements you have planned in your session - your chunks of talking, discussions, interactive exercises, planning or coaching sessions - consider the "what if" options.

What if I have twice or half as long to do this - what would I do?
What if I have more or fewer people at the event - what would I do?
What if the technology fails - what would I do?

By thinking through these options, and having an answer in most cases, then you will be a whole lot better prepared and able to respond if (not when) something does change.

If you have designed your session around core NEED TO KNOW information or skills, then making these changes is much much easier than if you have a long script that rambles. But more of that in commandment #6.

Sparkie's Ten Commandments #4

Thou shalt honour the fact that all people are different & create variety at the heart of your talk.
People are magical. They are wonderfully diverse in what they like and how they prefer to learn. Some people sit in silence, absorbing the content, without ever needing to hear their own voice. Some people like to get engaged with a topic, and start trying things out from the getgo.

I know that until I learnt about the different styles, I tended to design workshops that appealed to me. Fine for those with similar styles, but with little to appeal to the rest of the people present. Appreciating the differences and how they want to learn was a huge eye-opener for me and improved my presentations and workshops beyond all recognition.

There are alot of different ways of characterising people, and today we are just going to discuss one - the preferences we have for how we communicate - our VAK or VARK style. Are you a visual person, an auditory person, a read-write person or a kinaesthetic person?

If you don't know, then follow this link to find out: http://tinyurl.com/yajq53 (on one of my personal favourite websites)

A visual person will benefit from slides, flipcharts, video and colourful handouts.
An auditory person will benefit from discussions, brainstorming and music.
A read-write person will benefit from quizzes and handouts.
A kinaesthetic person will benefit from touching things, movement and interactive elements.

We are a wonderfully diverse people and the more we appreciate our uniqueness, the better our presentations and workshops become. If you design in variety at the very heart of what you do, you increase your chances of inspiring and engaging everyone who is listening - in fact you can Light the Spark in everyone.

Sparkie's Ten Commandments #3

Thou shalt not talk to thine listeners or treat them as if they are your troublesome children

It is amazing what adults can do. They hold down a job, run a household, pay into a retirement fund, look after their parents and children... So why is that some presenters treat them like they are four years' old?

A smatter of condescension, some "guidelines" (read rules) at the start to keep everyone in their place... It's enough to bring out the worst in your learners. Drone on like a school master of old and watch as people start to fiddle and play up!

Your adults know an incredible amount and have decades of life experience. They might not be experts at what you do, but they are experts in their own right. If you choose to treat them as experts (in another field) then your focus grows. Not only do you think of how you can help them, but also, what you can learn from them.

I used to teach a short module on data protection - despite knowing very little about it. At the start of each session I would get groups of around six people to write down everything they knew or thought they knew about Data Protection. Without fail someone in each team would have plenty to say, because either it was or had been part of their role. All I had to do then was to correct any misunderstandings and draw out their own expertise.

The best way to use the experience and knowledge already present in your audience is to ask them questions, set them tasks and get them working in groups. The person with the most relevant knowledge then teaches the rest of the group and you simply correct or add in where there are gaps.

Plus, you treat them like the knowledgeable experts they are.

Sparkie's Ten Commandments #2

Thou shalt not drone on for more than fifteen minutes or thou wilst lose thine audience's attention.

Adults are independent, self-determining beings. We are used to being in control of our lives. Until it is evening and men go to watch the tv (fire) after a long day at the office (hunting), few people want to sit (without moving) and listen (in silence) to someone talk for hours on end. With a few exceptions (comedians or entertainers).

If your speech or workshop lasts more than about 15 minutes, then you need to chunk it down. Split it into segments, with some talking, some discussions, some exercises or interactions - with none of the talking bits lasting more than about 15 minutes.

Even with an audience of 500 people, you can intersperse your session with:
* discussions - ask them to talk to their neighbour/ the person in front or behind
* questions and answer segments - how might they do X? what is their experience of Y?
* polls - use either hands up, or a jack-in-the-box (stand up for yes, sit for no) approach to get people thinking about the questions and information
* small movements - even if it's something as simple as getting your audience to cross their arms, notice which arm is on top, then asking them to do it with the other arm on top. An old faithful for pointing out how new things always feel weird at first.

Think about the attention span of your audience before you plan your session. Last thing on a Friday (for instance) you may decide to have no speaking longer than 10 minutes. Whatever the time of day, design in sections to get them involved, get them thinking for themselves, get them moving and you will not only help keep them awake, alert and attentive, but you'll stimulate the blood flow to their brain and support their learning.

Sparkie's Ten Commandments #1

Thou shalt not shoe-horn thine favourite activities into every workshops thou runneth.

Tempting as it is, your favourite activity or exercise may not going to be relevant nor appropriate for every workshop you deliver. I urge you not to get lazy and rely on your old faithfuls.

Sure, it's better to include a brainstorm that just to talk non-stop, but rely on the same thing all the time and your workshops will suffer from the "Law of Diminishing Astonishment" - or being boring in other words.

Would you teach a child to ride a bike with 57 PowerPoint slides and a brainstorm?
Not if you wanted them to be able to ride it anytime soon!

Teach people about writing, by getting them writing.
Teach people about making difficult choices, by outlining a situation and helping them make a choice.

Try this combination to build confidence in any new skill: some step-by-step instructions (concepts), observation (watching someone else) then doing (practice), then reflection.

How to Remember What to Say

As a presenter you want to remember what to say during your presentation or workshop. The more nervous you are, the more you may want to use extensive notes, or even a script to make sure you remember it all. But please put the script down if you really want to connect to your audience.

There are only two occasions when reading off a script is acceptable:
1) If you are a political or business leader such as President Obama
2) If every single word or nuance must be spoken exactly as written

The rest of the time, it is far better to be spontaneous and ad-lib. Here's why:
* Your tone and pace will be more natural
* You will have more eye contact and connection with your audience
* Your personality and natural charisma will shine through

The problem with a script is that it is rarely written in words or phrases that you would use naturally when speaking. Sentences are too long. By reading it out you may stutter or sound stilted, never mind lose your place as you talk.

One of the worst solutions is to write a series of PowerPoint slides with bullet points on to remind you what to say. Sure, lots of people do it, that doesn't mean it's a great idea.

These are some great options to help remember what to say:
* Use brief notes on A5 paper, or blank cards - just a few reminders will do
* Create a brief plan of what to say and when (with times to ensure you stick to your timings)
* Practise, practise, practise until you know what you need to say and can say it in the time allowed, without any reference to notes at all. The sooner you start practising each element of the presentation, the more confident you will be when push comes to shove.

A passionate, authentic delivery of any information is better than a stilted script-driven reading without eye contact. So go on, put the script down and back away from the podium.....