Geronimo Leadership Coaching

In A Silent Way : The Future of Presentations?

The title is a reference to Miles Davis 's extraordinary piece "In a Silent Way".

It is beautiful, fragile, fascinating. The tension is  built up very slowly, by each of the musicians who are  all intensely mindful of one another. We feel captured, raptured and taken to a blissful state...

Would you feel the same if you were attending this new form of corporate event, The Silent Conference?

This video was brought to my attention thanks to Angela Dunn, alias @BlogBrevity, via Twitter directing me to her blog post New "Silent" Multi-Presentation Conference Not Mindful of Speakers.

At first sight, it seems quite strange indeed...and even scary!

A bunch of people with headsets, switching channels and rotating their head, rolling their eyes silently from one presentation's slides to another... Not very different of 747 plane passengers, with a fixed menu of DVDs and music playlist they can choose from, completely indifferent to one another, but very close physically.

As I'm writing that post, I'm reminded of one of my favorite animated movie lately, another excellent Pixar movie: Wall-E.

There, the future of humanity is apocalyptic. The planet Earth is a giant bin, deprived of any form of life.The only human survivors are all on a space ship .They have become obese, boneless, passive, spending their days lying on a big "pod "connected to screens feeding them with information, commercials, food and drinks, via headsets & straws.They're indifferent to one another, unable to even stand up and walk by themselves, glued to their screens...Does it ring a bell?

Where is Miles Davis 's magic?

In the silent conference imagined by Patrick Dixon, each speaker is also indifferent to the others and they even cannot actually connect with their audience, who keeps on switching. What a nightmare!

So what's the point of setting up this sophisticated conference for happy few?

Reading the tweets from Patrick Dixon, the idea was to be innovative and to offer a solution to a problem of limited space. It only shows a part of the event, there were also plenary sessions and an exhibition area. Fair enough.

Overcoming my first negative impression, I can also see the benefits and future developments of this new tool.

• Imagine the impact it could have, if a real dialogue was to be fostered between people sitting at the same table, and then between the tables?
• Imagine if people were asked to immediately take action and start working in mini project teams and actively involve themselves personally ?
• Imagine the possibilities of broadcasting this kind of event in multiple cities at the same time and also facilitating a discussion, an open forum? I see huge possibilities and applications ahead!  

It's a reality that people's attention span is getting shorter and shorter, and long conferences conducted by one single speaker will become more seldom. People are already switching anyway via their blackberries and their iPhones, iPads, via twitter back Channels!

The future of Presentation is about delivering shorter and more entertaining presentations, making them more personal and interactive.

If you're planning to give a presentation soon, launching your business and wanting to be more visible, I wrote a series about it : The 6 Trends of Presentations in 2010.

How would it look like? Definitely not like a PowerPoint, but not like Wall-E either!

• More simple
• Shorter
• More personal
• More Interactive
• Collaborative
• More Fun

Here, I guess the question is : "When do they take off their headsets and stop acting like robots?!!!"

Waiting eagerly for your thoughts, stories and comments!

Welcome

I am Marion Chapsal and I am passionate about Women in Leadership.

The purpose of this blog is to share this passion with you in a unique way, informative and entertaining.

My Focus? Leadership Coaching and  Communication Skills for Women.

Here's what you will find:

• A series on 12 Powerful Women Leaders

• A tool for Developing a Global Leadership Mindset

• A series on 6 presentation trends for The Next 10 Years

• A series on  Presentation Recipes

• Video Tips with Flip

• Mind Maps,   Cartoons,  TED Videos

• Inspiring Role Models Stories for Girls and Women

• A Powerful, Fun and Creative Online Coaching Tool

Please make your self at home, muse in the different categories thanks to the tag cloud and share your questions, opinions and ideas in the comments here or on Twitter or LinkedIn

"My purpose is to coach women, using my generosity, creativity and passion, to find their voice, communicate with confidence and enthusiasm, and develop fully as 21rst century women leaders."

How a little Flip Camera can Save Your Presentation

  

Who said "guys like gadgets/tools, women like shoes"? Wake up to 2010: this is not true anymore! Women would spend more on gadgets than on designer shoes, especially if the gadgets are designed for them!

Look at these models... Dr Freud and "Live Your Dreams"!

Better than a new pair of designer shoes!(which, by the way, I would NOT recommend wearing for giving presentations!)

For Christmas, I ordered the same gift as my 12 year old girl: a flip mino camera.

I'm using this device because it's affordable, reliable and plain basic to use. Plus it's small,cute and I like the name!

What I learned from my 12 year old girl

She uses her Flip Camera to create short movies of her and her brothers and her friends skate boarding and snow boarding.They play these short videos over and over again. They laugh and giggle endlessly...

Guess what also happens when she does that?

• She gets immediate 100 % honest FEEDBACK about her performance
• She clearly sees what she's good at and what needs to be improved
• She acts on this feedback and corrects by practicing again and again
• She's LEARNING incredibly fast

Then, she uploads the best ones to YOU TUBE, and promotes herself on her blog! Clever girl!

How can a flip camera save Your Presentation?

On why you need to video yourself, read my previous post!

If you have more sophisticated cameras, and know how to use them, or if you can be filmed by a pro, even better.

But you can already improve your next presentation by rehearsing with your flip camera.

You'd be tempted (as I was!) to use your build-in camera in your laptop . Very tempting because then, you just have to look at the little green light and speak, without worrying where the tripod is...

Don't do that for presentations! I did...It's awfully hard to look natural! When you're going to be presenting in front of your audience, will you be sitting behind a desk? No, the first thing speakers do when they are called is to stand up.

Unless it's an interview,you want to be standing to speak up!

Here's what you will be looking at, passionately:  a weird cyclops on 3 legs = flipcam on tripod!

If you could persuade your best friend to sit in front of you and listen to you while you rehearse and record yourself, it would be a big advantage!

Then, you will have someone to look and to speak to. Make sure they sit very next to the tripod where you install your flip.

If you are on your own at home, or in your hotel room, rehearsing before the big Day, then imagine your best friend, or your "ideal client" is watching you and imagine you look at him/her.I know, it's hard :-)

You could imagine you had a friendly audience listening carefully  ...

Believe me, after practice and a lot of imagination, it works!

Maybe this picture could help...

What will YOU learn?

• To see yourself like others see you
• To increase your self awareness
• To memorize your speech and then be able to improvise, if necessary
• To spot details you were not aware of and work on your blind spot
• To be ahead of the learning curve!

Then, just like my 12 year old daughter, you could upload your company's presentation to YOU TUBE or promote yourself on your website and on your blog!

Next week, it's my turn! Watch out this space!

The Girl Effect

Have you heard of The Girl Effect?

It's a movement on the rise.It's no big deal...Just the future of humanity.

Why Girls?

"Adolescent girls are uniquely capable of raising the standard of living in the developing world. Girls are the most likely agents of change, but they are often invisible to their societies and to our media."

"When everyone-girls, parents, teachers, executives, artists, hairdressers, forest rangers, rock stars, presidents, investors, advertisers, skateboarders, truckers, cowboys, organizations, chefs, teenagers - knows about The Girl Effect, then real change can happen.The site is just the beginning.The end is nothing less than ending poverty."

What can we do?

First, simply watch this 2 minutes presentation, a few animated words dancing at the rythm of our thoughts. Learn how:

• Short
• Simple
• Entertaining
• Visual

Presentations can be highly effective and powerful

Then share, speak about it and contribute to the ripple effect.

Want the facts on the Power of Girls?

Go to The Girl Effect site and download the girl effect fact sheet. Very valuable information to discover and share with the world.

Why do I post such a video on a presentation skills blog?

Remember Seth Godin's eBook big buzz earlier this year? What matters for me most in 2010:

  Generosity   Women

Speaking (((((RIPPLE))))) eDO  

  Geronimo Leadership Coaching

 I  use my Generosity, Creativity and Passion to Boost Your   Next Online Presentation !

  And I really love to work with women from all generations, speaking all languages or with men who believe in women's leadership and actively support them!

The Girl Effect combines all these words, and want to be speaking about it!

Please share this post, go to the Girl Effect Site and make ripples!

A Creative and Powerful Way to Boost Your Presentation Skills Online

1. Would you like to  develop confidence in giving online presentations?
2. Are you aware of the impact you have on others when you speak?
3. Would you like to create a presence virtually as powerful as face-to-face?`
4. How would it be if you turn silence into participation and foster audience interaction?
   
5. Would you like to find your own style of communication which fits you like a glove?
   
6. Wouldn't it be nice to have some one guiding you, step by step, at your own rythm, at each stage of the preparation?
   
7. Can you imagine if you could have access to the latest resources,greatest  tips and most entertaining videos, personalized and made easy just for your needs?
   
8. Have you ever dreamed of having a personal virtual and friendly coach within a mouse click? 
9. At your own rythm?
10. Just for you?
    

There's a Simple Way to achieve successful presentations without spending hours attending Presentation courses,workshops, Public Speaking seminars reading self help books, or spending precious hours struggling on a poor presentation and eventually building stress.

This  successful presentation programme will help you to: 

• Understand what you are good at and play to your strengths
• Develop greater confidence live and online
  
• Design Presentation Zen like slides
• Know which media is most appropriate
  
• Create a presence with Impact
• Win your audience
• Tap into your Creativity
• Create a winning pitch
• Eventually increase your communication skills in conferences, speeches, meetings, any interpersonal interaction.

Clarity-Confidence-Enthusiasm

Call me                          00 33 6 73 70 53 09

Contact me on Skype     marionchapsal

Email me                       [email protected]

Bye Bye Competition, Welcome Collaboration!

"Biology is war in which only the fiercest survive"

"Businesses and nations succeed only by defeating, destroying and dominating competition."

"Politics is about your side winning at all costs."

Sounds familiar?

This how Howard Rheigold started his TED Talk in 2005.He called it "The old story".

Howard Rheigold is a writer, an artist and a designer, a theorist and community builder and he is one of the driving minds behind our net-enabled, open, collaborative life.

He has helped us see" The new story "emerging. Let's take a big leap of faith, for Christmas!

"It's a narrative spread across a number of different disciplines, in which cooperation, collective action and complex interdependencies play a more important role."

"And the central, but not all-important role of competition and survival of the fittest, shrinks just a little bit to make room..."

How does it look for public speaking and presentations?

• No more emailing around of presentation files. Share your presentations with your friends/colleagues and the shared presentations can be viewed/edited with just a browser.

• Open source: "In general, open source refers to any program whose source code is made available for use or modification as users or other developers see fit. Open source software is usually developed as a public collaboration and made freely available." It is almost a synonymous for peer-to-peer , online, open, shareable, etc...

"B2B Sales & Marketing has traditionally been driven by withholding information. A tradition that is turning on its head rapidly. Social Media is changing all that. People who use to run filters now drive feedback. We’ve moved from a world of exclusives to one of inclusives.

My bet is that people who share information will out perform those who horde."  

                                         by Ross Mayfield, in Slideshare's blog, December 23rd 2009

How can you share your presentation online?

• Share your presentation on your company 's website

• Share your presentation on your blog

• Share your presentation on You Tube

• Use presentation sharing websites like Slideshare

  Slideshare is turning the whitepaper industry on its head with a Business product called LeadShare. Lead generation is done in the context of a professional sharing community. You can provide the lead form in the middle or end of a presentation, whitepaper or webinar. This lets marketers engage through sharing the actual content before posing a more natural, “want to learn more?” to an engaged prospect

• Collaborative presentation software:  Too many to quote them, but let me give you two examples of softwares I have tested. First one is the most famous, it's free and it's Google Apps.Google Docs is Google's "software as a service" version of an office suite. Simple and basic, very user friendly. The other is SlideRocket. Fantastic, have a look!
  

• Collaborative presentation platforms: All you need is a browser and a good internet connection. No additional software is needed: just like with  Present.io It has "dead simple rich web-presentation functionality. no registration, no downloads, no installs. You can upload your presentation files (documents, pictures, video, audio, and more) and be giving your demo or walkthrough in seconds. With a free conference call line and rich chat functionality, you have just what you need." Or Zohoo Show 2.0.

How to protect your work?

Creative commons licences, copyrights When you think of presenting your content online, you may also want to make sure you protect your copyrights.For more information on copyright, watch this great and simple slideshare presentation about copyright and creative collaboration

Story of how I started as a facilitator and trainer:

When I started facilitating  Leadership and Communication Skills for MBA students and executives at EM School of Management of Lyon,more than 15 years ago,I had a fantastic mentor.

Her name is Marie-Claire Gaittet, she's still consulting and coaching, and still my mentor, at a little more than 70 year old now...

If it hadn't been for her generosity and collaborative spirit, I would never have learned the key teaching and facilitation skills required in our profession.

She invited me into her training and master classes and gave me a floor to express myself.

She also shared all the documents I needed, the articles for the bibliography, but also the participants handouts and , most precious, her slides.

These were not slides but "transparents" for retro projector (it seems so long ago!). As soon as we started to use powerpoint, she would also share them with me."The value",- she would tell me, "is in the facilitation and teaching you're doing, not in the visual aids!"

However, I also remember a colleague of ours, who would never share any PPT, systematically erase every note on the white board, and even (this is true!), tear down the paperboard she had used and take it with her so that nobody could "steal" her ideas...

Crazy, isn't it?

How do YOU share your presentation? What tool do you use?

Have you ever had bad experiences of sharing? Or, on the opposite, excellent surprises?

Do you use any other web conferencing software?

This is the 5th part of a series about Your Next presentation, a look in the Future!

In the very near future, presentations are going to look:

• More simple
• Shorter
• More personal
• More Interactive
• Collaborative
• More Fun

Next post will be, after Christmas, on why  your presentation should be more fun with some tips!

A little teaser, thanks to John Zimmer. A short video with Lucy and Linus from the Charlie Brown soundtrack. Enjoy!

Wishing you a Happy Christmas! Joyeux Noel!

Bring Your Personality When You Speak!

In the very near future, presentations are going to look:

• More simple
• Shorter
• More personal
• More Interactive
• Collaborative
• More Fun

Today's lesson: Bring your Personality when you speak!

It's Sunday afternoon and after a long and delicious traditional Sunday lunch, we're relaxing by the fireplace, reading and listening to Glenn Gould playing Goldberg Variations by Bach.

The snow is gently falling on the vineyards and orchards, kids are playing. It smells Christmas cookies and I am sending tweets about my life, because I care about the new connections I have made online, and I believe they care, too. I care about the precious information, links to articles they share with me. But not only.

I value the discovery of a kaleidoscope of different life styles, cultures, languages, humour, sensitivities, social backgrounds, educations, visions of the world. Different Personalities.

Next time you prepare your presentation,make it more personal, include a story involving you.

"It used to be that women thought they had to check their personalities at the door. But the more you need to hide, the less fulfilled you'll be. We need to bring more of ourselves into that door, into our workspace, so we feel more at home. " Charlene Li (Co-author of Groundswell, thought leader on emerging technologies)

Why Personality matters?

When people start talking about what happens to them, they become real. You can identify and you feel connected, closer. I am not speaking about disclosing your private life and secret garden, but moving from strictly professional to "more of YOU" into your professional life.

Here are two examples of how to bring Personality into presentations.

If I tell you "Everyday Revolutionaries-Hot Mommas", don't you want to know more about them ?

Rather than "Emerging Executive Women Leaders from Fortunes's 500"...well, I do. Sounds a little less boring...

This is a personal presentation. Watch!

Everyday Revolutionaries-Women Making a Difference

View more presentations from Hot Mommas Project.

Watch also this excellent Presentation where 40 extraordinary women tell their stories and how personality has played a role in building their own successful careers and businesses. You may also recognize Kathy Korman Frey , Chief hot Momma from Hot Mommas Project ,the World's largest library of virtual mentors & role models.

The Personality Project: Women of Personality 2

View more documents from Rohit Bhargava. Next Post What's an Interactive Presentation?

 

Learn To Speak Less. Speak Better.

In the very near future,presentations are going to look:

• More simple
• Shorter
• More personal
• More Interactive
• Collaborative
• More Fun

Today's lesson: Learn To Speak Less. Speak Better.

• Shorter

TED conferences last 18 minutes maximum. I love them, and posted a few on this blog.I used to watch them entirely, now I switch to shorter extracts, and wish they also offered "MicroTED".

Audience attention spans have grown shorter and shorter, so unless you have been assigned a talk of a specific length, make your talk as short as possible.About 10 minutes is ideal for a "classical" presentation, unless you are an exceptional speaker.

If you want to create an online video presentation, (a pitch, a tutorial, etc...), aim for 3 minutes. That's the maximum of time we will give you :)

Recently, I had to answer a tender for a major European bank. It was in a very challenging and innovative way.I had been asked to include a short 3 minute video of myself, presenting my CV and why I was  best suited to do the job. There was a very short notice to perform this exercise, and most of my colleagues, who also got the tender, had no clue on how to start with this video and eventually, missed the opportunity.

Among those who courageously took the challenge, they admitted the result was a poor reflect of what they expected.Anyway, it was an excellent experience which taught us to be ready, prepared for new way of presenting ourselves in the Corporate World as consultants and coaches.

I believe presenting with video in a limited amount of time requires a minimum of training, mentoring and coaching.

And practice, naturally...

If you really want to get attention, create micro presentations, lasting just a few seconds. Ridiculous? Not at all!

Do you know Ellen McGirt ? She's the Dean of a very special MBA The 30 Second MBA on Fast Company.

Yes. Thirty little seconds!

Yet, every week, Ellen McGirt and her team interview a very eclectic range of "30 Second Professors" who answer a question like "Leaders born or made

Look at what Andy Dunn , CEO of Bonobos, says: 

For Twitter, you have Bubble Tweets.
Bubble Tweet add Videos to your Twitter profile, called bubble messages. They are 30 second video clips that appear on a side when someone visits your profile.You may notice that I already have created mine, couldn't resist! It's at the top right of the blog navigation bar.

Still not convinced that we need to learn to make shorter and shorter presentations?

Have a look at what Robo.to .They aim for ...4 seconds!

"We have microblogging, so why not microvideoblogging. That's the idea behind Robo.to, a website that lets you publish micro videos - or visual status updates - that are no longer than 4 seconds in length. The videos can be distributed on Twitter, Facebook and other social media websites."

Okay, I stop there!

• How comfortable are you with watching a video of yourself?

• Have you ever tried recording a video presentation of you in less than 3 minutes?

• Why don't try, right now, from your office or from your home, with a flip cam, hand held or simply with your integrated video camera?

• What added value would it bring you if you were be able to present yourself shortly and efficiently?

Read related post How to pitch Yourself in less than 5 minutes

You know how to make me happy before Christmas? Join the discussion, and start right now by commenting, sharing YOUR stories of short (or too long!) presentations. Thank you! :)

Augmented Presentation

Let's imagine you're Dan.

It's 8:15 am.Dan is in his bathroom.

He's getting prepared for his next presentation at TAT.

He checks himself in the mirror, and also looks at his own reflection in his mobile mirror, (which looks like an iPhone on steroids).

He selects which social networks he wants, including Twitter, Slideshare, Facebook, YouTube,etc...

As he clearly comes out of a very joyful and busy party night, he doesn't want it to show on his public profile. So he switches off face book and Twitter and morphs into more professional appearance, leaving only slideshare and contact infos (he could have added LinkedIn)

It's 9:30 am. The presentation has started.

Through their mobiles, people can now easily find and use Dan's information.

They can also rate Dan's presentation and comment ("Backchannel on Twitter"), and even chat while Dan's presenting.

So, imagine you're Dan. How do you get ready for the backchannel?

• I received yesterday this link via Twitter " @cliffatkinson Free webinar Dec 18 "Getting Ready for the Backchannel – with guest @OliviaMitchell" 

• If you want, you can also read at Pistachio How To Present While people are Twittering by Olivia Mitchell or better, download her free ebook on her site

This is happening now, not in 2020...

When I first watched this video on Michelle Martin's  Blog, The Bamboo Project, I thought it belonged to Science fiction. Even now, I must admit it still scares me to "scan" people like  a bar-coded product...

Images of Minority Report, George Orwell's 1984 and even excellent Wall-E rush to my mind (as you can see, my tastes are quiet soft, because that's the scariest it gets!)

• Read in Fast Company  if you want to understand what augmented reality is

" Augmented Reality Is No Longer Science Fiction" 

• Oh, and just when I'm writing this, on friday afternoon, I google "Augmented Reality" and discover an Article by Kit Eaton, from Fast Company, written today... Read more Exciting new examples of applications to travel and Art...

As he says    "The mind boggles as to how this will get used." 

Change  is happening now. Let's understand it and be prepared.

Picture Yourself Doing A Presentation...In Ten Years!

Picture yourself in 10 years...

 

You've been selected to present for a major professional event, high stake for you and your company.

 Chances are high that your presentation will be live and online.

It could be broadcasted on many media, corporate social networks, may be on The Next Corporate "WeTube" and directly on personal mobile electronic devices, in your clients' pockets.

Your presentation will be at the same time global and local, "glocal". You might even perform from your home office, or from any virtual room, rather than from a big convention center.

You're likely to reach thousands or more rather than dozens. Their attention span might be even shorter than it is now...They (your audience) will be able to switch and zap you in seconds, too! They will comment and even grade your presentation, publicly chatting while you're speaking...

You'll have to be entertaining as well as informative!

It's likely that the content will be completely free and sharable on web 2.0.

How would it look like? Definitely not like a PowerPoint!

• More simple
• Shorter
• More personal
• More Interactive
• Collaborative
• More Fun

Why?

Because Gen Xers, Millennials and Gen 2020s will integrate at work their social and personal lifestyles, the totally Milennial approach.

What is " a totally Millennial approach"?

" It's optimistic, proactive, innovative, and it utilizes social media."

(Quoted from MillennialGeneration.org)

Here are some questions for you:

• What does it mean for presentation training , NOW?
• What are the skills we need to develop to be ready?
• How to protect professional data?
• How to deal with challenging  time zones? (you're in US, east coast , your team is spread between San Francisco, India and Europe )
• Will pandemic diseases reduce dramatically the corporate travels?
• How will the companies be able to pay the ecological and financial costs for travel expenses?
• When will face to face meetings and presentations will really be essential?
• Will physical PRESENCE become the ultimate luxury?

I am sure you have other ideas and suggestions in your own crystal ball, please add them in your comments!

Meanwhile I'm going to answer my totally Millennial Birthday Card!