Geronimo Leadership Coaching

4 Presentation Lessons From Dynamite Scott Berkun

 

The only thing I knew from Scott Berkun until now, from France, was the huge success of his latest book with the provocative and teasing tittle "Confessions of a Public Speaker".

I read somewhere on Twitter that this guy reminded someone of Tom Cruise 's character in Magnolia.Not a big fan of Tom Cruise, let alone of The Preacher ' style, so I didn't investigate further.

This guy looked a little like dynamite for me, red and dangerous!

By mistake, I picked up one extract in Spanish, but actually, since I don't understand Spanish, it's less insulting to watch!(sorry the Spanish speakers, the content might be very rude). Just check the first minute and the body language gives you enough clues to understand what's going on...

Then I read "How to be Passionate" (when you open your mouth) and stopped to watch Scott Berkun for the first time. I made my own judgement. Make yours!

Scott Berkun 's 4 "lessons" :

1. My life is at stake.
2. I believe what I say .
3. I’ve extended my range.  
4. I have great respect for anyone who voluntarily listens to me.

Here's what I wrote on his blog:

"Now I understand why people talk so much about you and why you make such an impact.
It’s the first time I’m watching a video of you, and frankly, I expected you to come across much more excited and “like a preacher on cocaine”.
Instead, I see simplicity, honesty and humility wrapped into pure dynamite, “ignited” by 100% PRESENCE."

Triggered 3 ideas :

      1) In business presentations too,the most essential is to believe and care about what you say and why you say it.

No wonder we, as presentation coaches and trainers, find it so hard for corporate clients to express themselves with Passion. Do they believe in what they say? Do they actually feel that put their life at stake when they present? Do they respect those who listen to them?…
Our role is to remind them of the fire which is burning inside of them.Why do they CARE?
Taking them back in touch with their inner child is one way.Telling their story is another.

      2) There’s a cultural dimension when you’re speaking in public.

I agree with Olivia Mitchell's comment that there’s a cultural dimension when you’re speaking in public. We each need to find what is the most comfortable with our personality and our culture and pay attention to the audience’s culture. But point 4 (respecting anyone who’s listening to me) should take care of that! More on cultural dimensions with my blog series on 12 Women Speakers, 12 Communication Styles , based on the SPM approach.

      3) There are other kinds of energy.

Scott Berkun talks about volume, about gestures, postures, facial expressions.Smiling and making eye contact are also potential “dynamites”.Using my background and training as a theater actress, I’ve discovered other sources of energy. It comes from within, from your desire to share. It can be turned off or full watts, just like a light bulb.You hardly need to speak very loud or gesticulate when you find it. Actually you could very much stay still and silent and be intensely present.

Tap into your desire to share and contact this energy.

What does it look like? How does it feel? How does it sound like? How could you make it grow in intensity? How could you translate it so that people around you get it and act on it directly?

I started writing this post last Friday. Meanwhile I gave two days of training in Stress Management that ended just yesterday evening.

Stress is like the fire burning inside of us which ignites the energy and the passion Scott Berkun is talking about. Too little and you're invisible or boring, too much and you're burning yourself and others!

I spent two days helping managers to "play with this fire" and learn how to handle it with great respect and courage in order to share it with honesty, simplicity and effectiveness.

Having read Scott Berkun's 4 presentation lessons helped me give this talk.I made sure that each of the participants recognized the powerful energy there was inside of them and learned how to channel it and spread it,respecting their personal rythms and differences, according to the cultural environment they were into.

I hope it will help you, too!

What sort of reactions does it trigger, for you?

How do you connect with this fire? Does it look, feel, sound like dynamite or like camp fire?

What kind of fire are you willing to share today?

About "fire", read a warming and delightful post and short video from Terrence Gargiulo in Story Matters Stories & Fire.

Only One Woman CEO out of The 100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World!

Happy to be back to blogging after one week "on the road", (snowy road!) giving 5 days training in a row. Team building and then leadership seminar for International Generation Y business school students from the CEFAM, Franco American School of Management in Lyon.French, American, African, Asian students... Incredible shift among young women, and men, too, in how they picture themselves as leaders in the next 5 years...

I will share some insights from this experience with you very soon, but first, let's start with Women Speakers Series!

Before writing on my blog, I like to check my tweets and favorite blogs, about women, presentation, learning and leadership.This morning, I clicked on a link:

"The 100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World" from the Harvard Business Review.

Not very surprised, I discovered the top of the list with Steve Jobs ' picture showing up.

Much more surprised, then, when I figured out how many women were on that prestigious list.

How many? Out of one hundred? Have a guess!

One!...Only one woman...Incredible! And this woman is Margaret Whitman, ex CEO of eBay.The woman on top of the 12 women leaders list I decided to blog about this year.

If, like me, you're wondering why there's only one woman nominated, take 10 minutes to read another article from HBR,

"Women CEOs: Why So Few?" especially the comments, coming both from men and women.If you're more interested by Margaret Whitman Communication Style, skip to the bottom of the page, or even better, wait for my next post!

I can't help but quoting Anne Perschell, from Germane Consulting, whom I "met" via twitter(@BizShrink).

"We need to change the lens and reframe this entire discussion. Let's begin with a review of the criteria for best performing companies and best performing CEOs. Under what cultural rules were they determined? What are the underlying assumptions about what "best" companies and CEOs do and put into the world? Do they include a measure of the social or environmental good vs harm; building strong families and communities; raising moral standards? As long as the lens for determining goodness is based on the predominant culture, those who are seen as successful will for the most part be members of that predominant group that creates the rules. Women in business are creating a parallel economy that is changing the lens, the culture, the rules and the way we measure business and CEO success. For evidence, consider Andrea Jung's mission for AVON - "To improve the lives of women globally." It may take a while but we'll get there. Harvard Business may see the light some day but is not currently a leader in transforming how we define successful businesses and the leaders who create them. If they were, we'd have a different list based on different criteria and more women would be included."

For presentation skills, I believe there's a similar bias.

What used to be the predominant model of Communication Style for leaders ?

• Assertive
• Determined
• Speaks at a fast rythm
  
• Free flowing body movement
  
• Vocally forceful without raising their voice
  
• Direct and straightforward
• Self-confident
• Competitive
• Convincing
• Influencing others to share their vision and objectives
  

According to Spony Profiling Model, an integrative management model sensitive to both personality and cross-cultural differences, this communication style matches the "Persuader" Leadership style.

I've been using this model in my training and coaching for 6 years now, especially at Cranfield School of Management with L'Oreal Executives.

This model reveals 12 styles of Leadership, and 6 Dilemnas.

Given the large part of women Marketing directors among L'Oreal, who were looking for role models, I decided, after asking the permission to Gilles Spony, to illustrate freely his model.

I researched and found 12 women leaders, illustrating each one "archetype" of communication and leadership style.

The ideal would be to ask each of the women speakers and leaders to take the questionnaire on-line and get an objective result.

This series of post is based on my perception and personal interpretation of how these leaders communicate, based on interviews, articles, testimonies and sometimes videos.

While I think the Persuader communication style is still one of the most successful in a corporate western environment, I believe each one of us has to speak according to our values, our personality and also respecting our culture or the cultures we are communicating with.

Next Post: Why is Margaret Whitman, "Meg" Whitman a perfect illustration of this communication style?

Meanwhile, some questions for you:

• Is there a predominance of the anglo-saxon leadership and communication model in your company, or with your clients?
• What about non-western cultures?
• Latin and Mediterranean cultures?
• Scandinavian cultures?
• Do you sometimes find it difficult to relate to assertive styles of communication?
• How comfortable are you with a wide range of original communication styles?
  

A Short and Funny Presentation: Women Super Powers

Do you know the "She-conomy" blog ?

They created "Marketing to Women quick facts" a short animated film presenting the growing power of women in the economy today.

Impressive!

Watch!

This video makes an ideal transition with my last series about the Future of Presentations.

Have you noticed?

• It's simple
• It's short
• it's interactive (we tweet about it and hopefully comment it , too!)
• it's collaborative (shared on you Tube, on Blogs, etc...)
• and it's fun!

If I chose to post this video to start twenty ten (ah, I don't care I'm French, so I can say twenty ten as much as I want!),with WOMEN, it's because I am writing a new series of 12 posts about women speakers.

Yes! Twelve Women for Twelve Months in Twenty Ten.

I like to give myself challenges!

Twelve women  to illustrate 12 communication styles :

• Meg Whitman
  

• Carly Fiorina
  

• Andrea Jung
  

• Arianna Huffington
  

• Charlene Li

American but also... French, British, Spanish, Corean, Chinese ,Indian women, etc...

I believe women's voices need to be expressed and heard all around the world, in very different styles of communication, according to various styles of leadership too.If you have examples of women in business who are remarquable speakers, you're invited to comment and leave me a short note, a name, a link to a video or an audio if you have.I'd be happy to write a post about it and help other women understand how they could improve their public speaking.Our voice is UNIQUE, just like our finger prints.

We need to express it, confidently and with enthusiasm! 

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]

What Matters Most for YOU in 2010?

Take the time to read again Seth Godin eBook, a collection of wonderful, inspiring ideas to help you make big things happen in YOUR world -- your business, your personal life, your community.  More than seventy big thinkers have contributed to this amazing eBook, each sharing an idea for you to think about as you head into the new year.

"Now, more than ever, we need to shake things up. Now, more than ever, we need a different way of thinking, a useful way to focus and the energy to turn the game around." Seth Godin

Ask yourself: what matters most for YOU in 2010?

Pick up 5 key words for your 2010 Project.

Mine are:

  Generosity   Women

Speaking (((((RIPPLE))))) eDO  

  Generosity 

"When the economy tanks, it’s natural to think
of yourself first. You have a family to feed a
mortgage to pay. Getting more appears to be
the order of business.
It turns out that the connected economy
doesn’t respect this natural instinct. Instead,
we’re rewarded for being generous. Generous
with our time and money but most important
generous with our art.
If you make a difference, people will gravitate
to you. They want to engage, to interact and to
get you more involved.
In a digital world, the gift I give you almost
always benefits me more than it costs.
If you make a difference, you also make a
connection. You interact with people who
want to be interacted with and  you make
changes that people respect and yearn for.
Art can’t happen without someone who seeks
to make a difference. This is your art, it’s what
you do. You touch people or projects and
change them for the better.
This year, you’ll certainly find that the more
you give the more you get. "   Seth Godin

Women

"We live in a world that is owned by men, designed by men and managed by men, and yet we expect women to participate.

But did you know … 

1. Women dominate higher education. Most college and university campuses across North America are 60-40 female. 

2. Approximately 70% of all American females work outside the home, and women make up nearly 50% of the total workforce.

3. During the recent recession,82% of job losses befell men and mothers are the major breadwinners in 40% of American families.

4. The earning power of women globally is expected to reach $ 18 trillion by 2014.

Paco Underhill is the CEO of Envirosell and the author of "Why We Buy" and soon to be published "What Women Want".

Speaking

"Here’s the final measure of your success as a speaker: did you change something? Are attendees leaving with a new idea, some new inspiration, perhaps a
renewed commitment to their work or to the world?
Be honest, be authentic, and speak from your
passion. Yes, it means taking a risk. But the results
might surprise you. "
Mark Hurst runs Gel  and founded Creative Good, a customer
experience consultancy.

(((((RIPPLE)))))

"Education has a ripple effect.  One drop can initiate a cascade of possibility, each concentric
circle gaining in size and traveling further.
If you get education right, you get many things
right:  escape from poverty, better family health,
and improved status of women.
Educate a girl, and you educate her children and
generations to follow.
Yet for hundreds of millions of kids in the
developing world, the ripple never begins. Instead,
there’s a seemingly inescapable whirlpool of
poverty. In the words of a headmaster I once met
in Nepal:   “We are too poor to afford education. 
But until we have education, we will always be
poor.”
That’s why there are 300 million children in the
developing world who woke up this morning and
did not go to school.  And why there are over 750
million people unable to read and write, nearly 2/3
of whom are girls and women.
I dream of a world in which we’ve changed that.  A
world with thousands of new schools.   Tens of
thousands of new libraries.  Each with equal access
for all children.  
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. 
The second best time is now. "

John Wood is Founder & Executive Chairman, Room to Read,which has built over 850 schools and opened over 7,500 libraries serving 3 million children.  He is the author of Leaving Microsoft to Change the World.

eDO 

"The 21st Century challenge for education is to integrate
learning into the growing richness of digital life where
students are active and engaged every day.   The Internet is
where they already enjoy autonomy, where they see
themselves as doers.  Combining cell phones and web
services, students are hands-on learners who adapt
technology to their own personal uses." 

Dale Dougherty is the founding editor and publisher of Make
Magazine and the creator of Maker Faire.

  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!

What are YOUR 5 Key words for 2010 ?

Do take the time to read the eBook and pick up the five most relevant for you, thinking of what you value most, but also what you want to focus on next year, personally and professionally. You might be surprised...

 It's free. Download it here. Seth's big goal is to get this free eBook in the hands of 5 million people. Share with anyone in your world whom you care about. 

Wishing you all a Happy Happy New Year!

En vous souhaitant à tous une très douce et heureuse année 2010!

J

Je vous souhaite à tous une très douce et genéreuse année 2010!

Fun is Incredibly Powerful in Presentation

I thought this post would be the easiest to write, in the series of Six Trends in 2010 Presentations.

Incredibly hard! I've been struggling with it for one week. Okay, there was Christmas in between, and a house still full of teenagers, their friends and a husband in holidays, all hungry all the time and wanting to be entertained...Still...I thought I'd have fun writing this last post of the year and "end in beauty" 2009.

 What is Fun? Is putting a silly hat and making jokes fun? Mmmm, NO!

(By the way,the title of this picture is fun "overexcited nerd")

What is NOT Fun? Serious-Hard-Tedious-Soporific-Moralistic-Preaching-Self-centered-Righteous-Perfection-BORING!

Why is Fun so hard? It's because it's often unpredictible. If I tell you I'm going to write a post about fun , I find myself seriously paralyzed by the injunction I need to find funny stuff to say...

Why is it so powerful in presentation? It makes us human and alive! And we're craving for humanity in our virtual world...

                      

What is Fun? Fun is the "E" in TED. Fun is Entertaining.Fun is humour. Fun is play. Fun is light. Fun is creative. Fun is joy. Fun is freedom. Fun is free!

Here are The TED Commendments - Rules that every speaker needs to know, thanks to Tim Longhurst.

1. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick
2. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before
3. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion
4. Thou Shalt Tell a Story
5. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy
6. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
7. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desparate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
8. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
9. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
10. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee

What is NOT fun? You would think statistics, graphs, data, figures are not fun.Or announcing the decline of Occident.Think again!Have you ever heard and watched Hans Roesling talk about statistics and the rise of Asia?

So you've got it. Anything can be fun, entertaining. Even the most boring business report.

Why is Fun so hard? Especially when we're speaking in public.

• Hey, we want to be taken seriously! We present our personal selves in front of others, publicly...at work!
• Work is supposed to be a serious place, (Working is for adults-Playing is for Children...)
• We don't want to make a fool of ourselves!
• We want to be in control and "masters" of the situation!
• We're supposed to be the Experts...
• We don't want to show the others that in fact...we don't know
• We are afraid of humiliation in front of our peers
  

Why is fun so powerful in presentations? And especially online?

"Le rire est le propre de l'homme"   Rabelais Laughter is unique to man said Rabelais(and not" laughter is the cleanser of man", like I found in Wikipedia!)...although laughter can clean the soul...

When we're funny and making people laugh, we are saying:

"Hey! I am a human being! Just like you!"

We make mistakes. We fail.We're authentic. REAL. VULNERABLE. ALIVE.
Opposed to the remote and virtual perfect image on our desktops...

Fun has become part of our life, personally, socially and professionally.

• Just read Peter Bregman 's article in The very academic Harvard Business Review "How to Make Problem Solving Fun?"

• Or Michael Deutch in the Mindjet 's blog "Become a presentation Superhero"

• And a last one, before this post gets too long, Carmine Gallo in Business Week "Your next presentation Should borrow from Broadway".

What are you waiting for?

When you prepare for Your Next presentation:

1. Make it Simple
2. Make it Short
3. Make it Personal
4. Make it Interactive
5. Make it Collaborative
6. Make it Fun!

And I'm still working hard on point 2!

Bonus! If you are a presenter and want to learn more about Making Presentation Fun, join Lisa Braithwaite's  Ning Network at  Speak Schmeak 

You will find, among many others, Olivia Mitchell, Steve Cherches, Cliff Atkinson, Rich Hopkins,Tony Ramos sharing stories on what they have done to add fun to a presentation.

You can share your own stories right now, in the comment box just for you!

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve

Have Fun!

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!

Top 5 Reasons Why Your Next Presentation Should Be More Interactive

  We all know that the more you interact with your audience  the greater impact you  have on them.The more you relate to people, the more they will be able to memorize and take action after your presentation. What used to be true with "classical" offline presentations, speeches, conferences and seminars, will be all the more relevant for online /remote/virtual communication.

Right, let's assume you already manage to establish a good "rapport" face-to-face, what happens when you go "virtual"?

 Did you know that an increasing majority* of people today in business don't work in one place but they communicate virtually from anywhere?

*"In fact the mobile workforce in the U.S. — which has the largest percentage of mobile workers in the world — is set to become 73 percent of the nation's workforce by 2011." According to the International Data Corporation

What does it mean for YOU and for presentations?

Next time you will be speaking, chances are high that you will be by yourself, alone, speaking from a computer microphone, using a bluetooth headset, watching a webcam and checking one or two flat screen monitors at the same time. Scary?

Looking more like an overwhelmed air traffic controller than a Roman Orator at the Agora (I know, there should be space for something in the middle, like a cheerful effective and inspiring speech, clear and simple).

Top 5 Reasons Why Your Next Presentation Should Be More Interactive:

•  People will be multi-tasking: How to create and maintain interest when your audience is ALSO doing many things simultaneously? Checking their emails, tweeting about you or about anything else, polishing their own presentation,(if not their nails!) reading, writing, drinking, eating, doing absolutely what they want, as long as nobody watches!

  Or worse, they will be tweckling ! " Tweckle (twek'ul) vt. to abuse a speaker only to Twitter followers in the audience while he/she is speaking. " by Steve Wheckler in Weapon of mass detraction

•  They will be listening to you from anywhere in the world: How to create and maintain interaction with people separated from you by space, time and cultures? How to be still relevant when you relate to people who have almost finished their day when you're just having your first cup of coffee? How to make appropriate cultural connections when radically different maps of the world meet ?

• They will be connected via their laptop or mobile device: How to bring the human factor in electronic technologies? How to bridge the gap created by physical, but also emotional distance? How to balance the "Robot" effect and simplify, personalize sophisticated technologies?

 

• They will be out of TOUCH, not sharing the same SPACE They might not get the same "feeling" of you as if you were physically in the same room. How could you add your personal "touch" and warmth? More on this innovative approach of what used to be called "proxemics" (from Edward T Hall' studies) to include now Virtual Distance . This might concern you and the person at the closest cubicle from you.

"Virtual Distance^TM is the perceived distance between two or more individuals when their primary method of communication and coordination is not face to face

  Virtual Distance can exist regardless of whether people are separated by millimeters, miles or continental masses."

• You probably won't SEE them! How will you be able to read their non-verbal cues?  You used to "read" people's faces and measure their satisfaction by the non verbal messages they sent you.Now you will have do this differently and develop other skills.Imagine you're speaking blindfolded, people's contexts being totally invisible for you if you don't explicitly ask for them.How will you do that?

This is the fourth post about the Next Presentation trends

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

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

Next post is going to be about collaborative presentations...

And before Christmas, how to add fun into your presentation!

My purpose is to bring you solutions to manage these new challenges, and offer you a step-by-step online presentation class.

What kind of comments does this post trigger in you? What other aspects of interactions challenges do you see in the next future? Have you already experienced confusion, discomfort or stress while communicating online? Have you ever faced an intimidating silence while giving your webinar? What worked well for you?

How NOT to Make a Fool of Yourself when Speaking in Public

When Overconfidence meets Arrogance...

Thanks to one of Olivia Mitchell's tweets a few weeks ago, I read a provocative article in The Financial Times, by sarcastic  Lucy Kellaway.

Every Monday in The Financial Times, Lucy Kellaway makes fun of  management fads and jargon, describing with irony the office life in her management column.

This time it was called:

"How to land on your feet when speaking in public"

This is what I mean by sarcastic: "While nearly all men are poor at public speaking, women are even worse. This is partly because women cannot tell jokes, but also because we are better at self-awareness and therefore know that our speech is average and the audience would rather be doing something else – thoughts that do little to enhance performance."

I'm absolutely not sure about "women cannot tell jokes" and Lucy Kellaway certainly makes me laugh,but the reality is that a majority of women are still lacking self confidence.

• Women might then spend more time seeking for advice,reading self-help books( and eBooks) getting prepared, participating to training courses, getting personal coaching. In consequence, in the next years, women should improve dramatically their communication skills!

• They will also be less likely to make a real fool of themselves, because "more self-aware"...

I thought it would make perfect sense then to bring an illustration to this point.

One of my favorites British TV series is The Office.It represents for me the animated version of Dilbert Cartoon...I have often found myself in situations very similar at work, during seminars, endless meetings, meaningless trainings where I wish I had someone like Ricky Gervais to laugh with me at the absurdity of the Office Life. When I watch The office, when I read Dilbert or when I read Lucy Kellaway's column, I smile and I feel less lonely.

Ricky Gervais plays David Brent, a pathetic self-centered office manager who pretends to know it all.

In this short episode, David Brent is pretending to give a motivational speech...

What you don't want to happen to you is this :

• Getting caught unprepared 
• Growing from confident to arrogant
• Telling bad jokes
• Reading platitudes and inspirational quotes aloud
• Worse: ignoring your audience and your colleagues

Look at the audience 's faces, they express interrogation, growing from bewilderment to agony.

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?