Oral Communication
« Previous EntriesThe Elevator Speech: Your 60 Second Pitch
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010Diane DiResta, President of DiResta Communications, writes: Imagine you’re in an elevator and you meet a perfect prospect. As the doors close you have 60 seconds to introduce yourself and attract their interest. How do you succinctly and clearly get your message across when you only have a minute? A good elevator pitch tells the [...]
Give a Knockout Acceptance Speech
Tuesday, August 31st, 2010When you’re an award winner or an honoree you might be expected to give an acceptance speech. Most speakers ramble or speak too long. Take a lesson from Sandra Bullock’s Academy Award acceptance speech for The Blind Side and notice the elements that make it effective. View the original here.
Why Some Presentations Really Connect With You
Thursday, August 19th, 2010If you ever wondered why some presentations and keynote speakers really connect with you, it’s often because they use the power of storytelling and great images (rather than bulletpoints) that help their audiences to visualize their message. In this fascinating Ted Talk recently posted online, information designer Tom Wujec discusses why animation, graphics and illustrations [...]
Starting a Presentation with a Bang
Monday, August 16th, 2010In a recent ABC News story by Matt Gutman, he describes how Miami Dade Police Officer Gene Lopez opens each of his presentations on airport security. Officer Lopez interacts with a video clip to dramatically get the attention of his audience. I encourage you to read the description in the news story. Here are a [...]
Blah, Blah, Blah: Teachers Top Talking Tests
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010Human vocal cords can vibrate more than 150 times per second, potentially racking up a million vibrations in just over an hour of speaking and damaging the membranes involved. New research shows teachers spend nearly a fourth of their time at work talking in and outside the classroom—not including the silent pauses that occur between [...]
Presentations: Does Great Content Trump Poor Visuals?
Friday, July 23rd, 2010I was at an academic presentation recently and it presented a dilemma in terms of evaluating the effectiveness of the presentation. The presenter is an expert in the area and had done some ground breaking research in the area. The conclusions were interesting and he could back it up with evidence based on data that [...]
How to Captivate an Audience
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010Nancy Duarte knows how to make killer presentations. She and her husband, Mark, founded Duarte Design, Inc., a firm that helps everyone from Google to Al Gore master the art of captivating audiences. Her recent book is called slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations. In this interview, she shares the secret to [...]
Influencing Change Through Presentations
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010Download this PDF file Travis Isaacs (left), an interaction designer, discusses how to influence change through presentations in this nicely illustrated presentation.
Seven Little Tricks to Speak in Public with No Fear
Friday, July 9th, 2010There was once a time when I had no fear. I was 11 years old and I entered a storytelling competition. I was confidently telling the story and captured everyone’s attention until suddenly I heard a voice from just in front of the stage commenting about my nose. It’s totally disastrous from that moment on. [...]
Rethinking Presentation Design
Monday, June 28th, 2010Download this PDF file This graphically exciting presentation rethinks presentation design.
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