Tag Archives: Advice

guest blogger, Observations, Presentations, Training

Want to know the secret of a great presentation?

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What’s the best way to keep people interested in your presentation?

Have you got a big presentation coming up? Are you worried that your audience will think you’re boring?

Would you like to know the one thing great presenters do all the time to keep their audience interested?

The secret is a technique used by great public speakers, performers, comedians, politicians – even top salesmen.

When you give a presentation you also give a performance.  So you need to mimic the techniques used by performers.

So what is it?

Well, it’s already been used four times in this article so far. Have you spotted it? (clue – that’s the fifth appearance)

No? (that’s six)

The trick to keeping your audience engaged is to ask questions.

You don’t have to wait for the answer. But each question makes the listener subconsciously answer it for themselves  and they want to know if your answer agrees with theirs.

Right?

You can introduce questions to the driest of subject matters.

Imagine you are presenting annual sales figures.  Instead of saying “You can see here that sales rose by 10%” why not switch it round?

Try “Can you see here that sales rose by 10%?”

Your audience will pay close attention because they want to congratulate themselves that of course, they can see the increase.

presentation

Asking a question also changes the tone of your voice. It can help add variety to your tone and your pace. Your voice will naturally rise at the end of a sentence which asks a question. (go on, try it)

It’s almost impossible to present in a monotone way if you ask a few questions.

No-one expects you to be a stand-up comedian when you present. In most cases it would be wholly inappropriate. But you can watch them and see the techniques they use to get a roomful of strangers on their side.

I’d bet my house that few of them manage more than a minute on screen without asking the audience at least one question.

Watch some of the best speech makers and presenters in action.  While heavy Churchillian rhetoric is out of fashion you’ll still see some of the greats asking questions.

Of course by asking the question you give yourself the opportunity to provide the answer – the answer you want your audience to agree with – and the one you want them to remember.

Is this a powerful way to convince someone you are right? You bet.

Another benefit to asking questions during your presentation is they give you the opportunity to breathe. Sounds obvious, but many people who are giving a presentation become so nervous they forget to do the basics – like take a breath. Nerves are natural – part of the human body’s in-built survival mechanism.

Giving a presentation can be scary and it’s only natural you should feel nervous.

But you don’t want to gallop through your presentation. If you do there’s a risk your audience won’t understand what you were trying o say.

Asking questions in your text will help introduce natural sounding pauses. While you momentarily pause after your question to allow your audience time to reach their answer, you can breathe.

If you’re still nervous about presenting or want more advice on how to improve your technique you should consider taking specialist advice. Training courses on presentation skills which provide interactive sessions that allow you to practice your skills can be worth every penny. But make sure you choose a course that’s tight for you. www.skillstudio.co.uk is a good place to start.   The skills you learn will be with you for life and, because they’re transferable skills, can be applied to more situations than just presenting.

Careers Advice, guest blogger, Interviews

How Body Language Makes or Breaks an Interview

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We may think that what we say in an interview is most important, but how we say it is what really counts. A famous study, known as the 7-38-55 rule, states that 7% of a message is conveyed through words, 38% is through tone of voice, and a whopping 55% is conveyed by body language (Wisebread.com). How you move your hands or hold your posture can therefore be deciding factors in whether you get the job. Here are three pointers to keep in mind during your next interview.

Handshake

Our first impressions really do count. According to Wisebread.com, studies show that many employers can spot the right candidate in the first 30 seconds! The way you introduce yourself is, therefore, pivotal. Everyone knows to make eye contact and not to shake hands limply, but research shows that the most important factor is, in fact, making palm-to-palm contact, not necessarily firmness. According to Patti Wood, author of SNAP: Making the Most of First Impressions, people who shake with only their fingers (not the full palm), are perceived as trying to hide something (Money.USNews.com).

Shake hands

Mind your Head

Although agreeing with what your interviewer has to say is recommended, excessive nodding is not. Studies show that over-enthusiastic head bobbing comes across as too eager to please, and even weak. What’s more, if you’re just blindly nodding the whole time, your interviewer could catch you off-guard by asking you to explain why you agree with a particular point. If you haven’t been listening, you’ll look like a moron. According to Forbes, you should only nod once or twice in agreement, while adding a smile. Remain centred and focused on what’s being said at all times.

Mirror on the Wall

According to Wood, an easy way to subliminally convince your interviewer that you’re The One is to mirror what they do. The key is not to imitate everything (that would be weird), but to just subtly copy them. For example, lean slightly in the same direction or smile when they do. Wood also suggests that you start mirroring right at the beginning of the interview, as this will put your interviewer at ease and make them feel comfortable with you. They should get to like you, right off the bat (Money.USNews.com).

When preparing for an interview, not only is it vital to think about what you’re going to say, but it’s also important to practice how you’ll come across. Sometimes it’s hard to be aware of our body language, as most of it is unconscious. So, it’s advisable to look at your actions in front of a mirror, or do a practice round with a friend. Most importantly, try to remain calm, and, hopefully, put your best foot forward.

Written by Ang Lloyd on behalf of Dynamics Careers, a niche job board that specialises in Microsoft Dynamics jobs.

Happy work environment, Hiring Manager, No, Remote Working

There’s no business like snow business

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This year we have been hit by snow on a few occasions causing disruption throughout the UK, seeing villages without power and major road networks grinding to a halt. Businesses have had employees stuck at home, whether snowed in or looking after children because the schools closed and there’s more snow to come. So what are businesses doing to ensure they can keep operational during these inconvenient weather spells?

Speaking to a head of projects last week, he told me that he has worked hard with his business (a major blue chip) to ensure all project staff can be mobile. He said that although there is a fundamental requirement to be on site for effective PM – senior management keen to keep everyone together (and where they can see them I am sure), he had convinced the SMT that the project team can also benefit from working remotely. He stressed that being in a very rigid environment where reporting, rigorous analysis and updating of the project library for the PMO was mandatory that quiet time can be very beneficial for individuals to get on with often technical and tricky pieces of work with less interruption. This was his business case a few years back and now as unavoidable circumstances leave staff stranded at home – they can still get on with their work and reduce impact to the business. Another part of his business case was to introduce a trust ethos and make a happier employee.

Snowed in

Forcing employees onto the road in treacherous conditions, having them arrive hours late because of traffic and leaving early in the hope of getting home without any incidents is a waste of valuable time and effort plus it says a lot about how the employer views you and your safety over the business. Most project teams, especially the delivery staff tend to be mobile and can work remotely these days due to project on/off site requirements, however a great deal of the support staff and PMs in other industries are still expected to be in the office 5 days a week. An issue seen by employers is that they would need to supply staff with equipment and internet access to make the move – however if you approach staff and say the opportunity is there for you if you have a PC and internet access (let’s face, who doesn’t these days really?) and most employees have work mobiles or commonly use their personal mobiles for work.

Snow days do not necessarily mean no work days – sorry to put a dampener on it, but in times of austerity needs must. Keep calm and carry on!

Job Hunting, Motivation, Planning, project management recruitment, Redundancy

Employees facing redundancy – 7 things to think about

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It is never a good time to hear that your job has been put under threat of redundancy, most of us have been there at some point in our career and just when you think you are doing a great job the news hits. One thing to remember is that this could be the change you need to make a positive move forward – how long have you been thinking that you would like a change / more money / progression / a boss who really appreciates all the hard work? By being forced out into the cold you have to take action and this is a perfect time to really take stock of your career to move into a new challenge.

Some things to assist you in your transition are listed below:

  1. It is not your fault – it is easy to take things personally when you are faced with redundancy. However, no matter how good you are in your job there are always other factors that management need to take into consideration for the good of the business and as such departments are removed. Especially when it comes to project management, how many projects are still realising their benefits? Are the right people running them? How can we improve outcomes and cut costs?
  2. Take stock of your skill-set – performing a skills audit and writing a list of your accomplishments to date will help you re-evaluate your position, feeling kicked to the curb means you lose sight of you as a professional and running through your achievements and abilities will help you get back on track mentally.
  3. Make a plan – take a good look at how you can tackle your circumstances, research the market for roles which meet your abilities and create a spreadsheet to list job boards and start noting down roles to apply for. Remember now is time to look for something which will meet your expectations in terms of progressing, whether it be in seniority, money, potential for progression and/or training.
  4. Work on your CV – make sure you use your list from your skills audit and also look at the job descriptions, what are they asking for? If you have done these things have you articulated them in your CV?
  5. Keep motivated – remember it is not you; the business has to make changes for whatever reason. Now it is time for you to demonstrate to others how good you are, harsh but recruiters and employers do not like to hear and see candidates down in the dumps.
  6. Keep up momentum – your plan should have clearly marked out sections to tackle such as xx hours on job adverts, xx hours searching company websites for direct applications to employers and also other routes such as looking for opportunities which aren’t advertised. Keep to it – make sure you set aside a good few hours a day and really work on each application; applying for everything rarely works but a good tailored application to fewer roles really does harvest results.
  7. Seek help – if you are finding you are yielding little results from your approach it may be time to seek help, your CV is a first port of call. Get a free CV review, talk to others about their approach to finding a role and see if you are missing anything.

Once you have been notified of your redundancy payout you should look to structure how to use it effectively, after covering your mortgage and bills for a number of months you should look to see if you need any additional training, a professionally written CV and careers advice on applying for positions and interviewing can be a very effective investment too.