Effective Presentation Tool Kit – Business Communication Coaching with Effective Training & Communication

Speak Up … I Can’t Hear You!

September 12, 2022 by Phil Stella

An easy way to make your workplace presentation more interesting is simply to speak louder. Really. That’s all it takes to become a more engaging presenter. Speaking up can significantly impact your audience’s attention, interest in your message … and positive impression of you, the messenger.

Loud is Good

In our culture, we tend to interpret a soft-spoken voice as coming from a person lacking confidence or credibility. Not good reactions for your audience to have about you. Even on a microphone, the soft-spoken voice delivers that weak impression loud and clear. It doesn’t matter if these reactions are valid – remember that Perception is Reality. If you sound weak to the audience – you are.

Slow Down … You Talk Too Fast!

May 7, 2022 by Phil Stella

(Now that many organizations have returned to in-person presentations and pitches, it’s time to polish up those delivery skills that may have gotten rusty with lack of use during the pandemic. So let’s consider that most workplace presenters talk to fast … )

That’s right, it’s time to slow you down. An important component of vocal delivery, your pace or rate of speaking can impact your audience’s attention, interest and opinion of you along with your ability to pause effectively.

Slow Down

Just as audience members tend to perceive a soft-spoken speaker as lacking in confidence or credibility, they react similarly to a fast-talking speaker. It doesn’t matter if this perception is accurate or not, because their perception is your reality. You are what they think you are.

Each of us has a normal comfort zone range of speaking rate, influenced by varying physical, psychological and cultural factors. And for some people, that comfort zone is too fast for the typical audience. It makes listeners work too hard to keep up with them. Since they don’t like to work hard, they often tune out and turn off. They also can perceive fast-talkers as insincere, nervous or inept.

Surviving Q&A (10/19)

April 4, 2021 by Phil Stella

(Our nostalgic trip down memory lane this month replays a popular 10/2019 piece on surviving audience questions. Many of the best practices still work in the era of Zoom presentations. They’ll all work again when we’re safely back in the land of face-to-face. Enjoy …)

This deep dive discusses how to handle audience questions. What you do … and don’t do … with them has a critical impact on your results, often more than the overall message content itself. Here are some ‘Do & Don’t’ Best Practices to help you Survive and Thrive during the Audience Q&A.

Get Them At Hello! (3/17)

January 6, 2021 by Phil Stella

We all learned about the three parts of a speech in high school: the introduction, body and conclusion. You remember … ‘Tell ‘em what you’re gonna say … say it … and tell ‘em what you said.’ Nothing new here.

Each of these three components is important for different reasons, but your Power Intro plays a critical role in the success of your presentation and accomplishing your intended outcomes. On average, it’s less than 10% of your total presentation time. So, with a 30-minute presentation, your intro is three minutes … or less.

Do Your Presentations Suck?

January 9, 2019 by Phil Stella

Based on the positive reaction to last month’s feature, ‘Does Your Marketing Suck?”, we’ll discuss presentations in the same context and style all year. Rather than assume that they do, I’ll ask lots of diagnostic questions so you can decide for yourself if your presentations do suck and, if so, how much.

Be Memorable

January 1, 2018 by Phil Stella

Nationally known PR expert Carol Roth invited me to write a piece for her popular Small Business Expert Forum on delivering Memorable Presentations. It was recently published and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to promote my concepts in such a respected vehicle as her Expert Forum. http://www.smallbusinessexpertforum.com/nuts-bolts/5-tips-giving-memorable-presentation Thanks for a great way to start … Read more

The Eyes Have It

January 11, 2018January 1, 2018 by Phil Stella

(‘Communicate Confidently!’ is off to a great start in 2018 by continuing our deep dive into those delivery skills that help mask Presentation Anxiety symptoms, while projecting confidence, credibility and competency. This month, we dive into Eye Contact.)

If I could only enhance one delivery skill with my executive coaching clients it would be to help them maximize their eye contact. Properly done, it produces several positive results for your audience and for you. Nothing says more about your credibility, power and confidence than what you do – and don’t do – with your eyes. Your eyes … the mirror of your soul. Everything else is a ‘B’ priority.

Managing Your Presentation Anxiety

October 30, 2017October 8, 2017 by Phil Stella

Last month, we discussed why you – and everyone else – has some degree of Presentation Anxiety and what may cause it. Assuming that information didn’t scare you too much, let’s turn attention to the positive steps you can take to Manage Your PA.