Are Bullets Coming Back?

- Joel Heffner

For years, we have heard how bad it was to use the dreaded bullets in PowerPoint. And now…we have a new way to present…virtually.

Do the old “rules” apply to this new form of presentation?

I’ve seen several online presentations where the speaker has used bullets. Some even read the bullets as they appear on the screen.

Although I don’t like bullets when speaking with real people in front of me, I must admit that I’m tempted to use them more often now that we are online. Bulleted text alone does not look very good. However, when you put an interesting graphic next to it (like Camille) it looks pretty good…at least in my silly opinion.

How about you?

What’s wrong with this picture?

- Joel Heffner

If you are going to be speaking online, please consider these basic tips…to make you LOOK better.

  1. Before you speak, look at yourself. You may not like what you see. [Sorry.]
  2. NEVER sit with your back to a window during the day. As you can see, the camera in your computer will not show your face clearly.
  3. Find a plain background, or create one.
  4. Even though you can speak with or without your pants on (I suggest that you do have them on), your shirt/blouse is important and should not be a distraction. Solid colors, except white, are best. Keep your pockets empty and avoid jewelry (unless you’re known for your glitz).
  5. Before you speak, look at yourself. [It deserves to be said twice.]

Just because you are home doesn’t mean that you should look like you just rolled out of bed. First impressions online mean as much as they do in person.

Simple pushpins can help your next PowerPoint presentation…

- Joel Heffner

You either use them or have seen them holding a picture or paper on a wall. Pushpins are all over…including in your PowerPoint Presentation. Thanks to Indezine. Using their pushpin template you can add pushpins to your pictures. They come in different colors and take seconds to add to your own photos. Your images will have a subtle boost with pushpins.

Try it.

Adapt while you’re waiting for your next speaking gig…

- Joel Heffner

Conferences and meetings are being canceled or postponed. True.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t continue to work…on your PowerPoint slides.

You don’t have to be a PowerPoint MVP to create slides of the highest quality. All you have to do is find places that already have great slides and adapt them!

One way to create better slides is to use some of the templates that are available from Indezine and SlideModel.

And remember…PowerPoint is not just for presentation slides. You can use them to create ebooks and infographics for Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. For example, the original for this slide comes from SlideModel’s duotone-gradients template. All I added was the word!

What can you adapt?

PowerPoint isn’t for dummies…

- Joel Heffner

Some people are experts at using Powerpoint. Some people think they are experts at using PowerPoint. It’s silly to think you are an expert because you use PowerPoint frequently.

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of features of PowerPoint that you probably don’t even know about. Although you should NOT try to incorporate as many features as possible in your next presentation, you might want to include one…that you don’t know exists right now.

Learn to use PowerPoint. Start with indezign.com and go through some of the tutorials. There are also plenty of books to look at.

The more you know…the better a speaker you will be.

One, Two, Three, Four, One … Speak

- Joel Heffner

If you have a fear of public speaking, try the One, Two, Three, Four, One Plan to help you.

One … volunteer to speak. Yes, I know it’s uncomfortable. The best way to face your fear is to FACE your fear.

Two … plan what you are going to say carefully. Practice. Ask someone you trust give you feedback.

Three … Speak. Record yourself. Video if possible.

Four … Review what you said. How could you have improved it?

Go back to One!

Toastmasters is great, but…

- Joel Heffner

Toastmasters is a great organization. It has probably helped hundreds of thousands of people on the years. Toastmasters is great in helping people overcome their fear of public speaking.

Toastmasters is great, but it probably won’t help you become a really good speaker! After each Toastmasters speech, you get feedback from a fellow

member. The problem is that the evaluator may not be very qualified or may miss important aspects of your speech. Getting a title from Toastmasters simply means you have competed a certain number of speeches…even if they are terrible!

If you really want to become a professional speaker, explore the National Speakers Association.

Public Speaking: The Best Way to Help Yourself

- Joel Heffner

If you search for “public speaking” on Google, you come up mostly with information about the dreaded fear of public speaking. The real problem is not the fear of speaking it is the ability to speak in public effectively.

Speaking at meetings or conferences is probably the best way to skyrocket your career because so few others want to do it or can do it effectively!

So, how do you become a better public speaker? Here are some tips:

  1. You must be able to write down what you want to get across on one Post It. Doing this will make you focus on what’s important.
  2. Create an outline of what is important. Eliminate what isn’t important.
  3. Consider different ways of getting the points across. You may want to use stories, statistics, quotes, graphics/pictures, videos, and more.
  4. Stories work best! People remember a stories best.
  5. If you use PowerPoint, make sure you are looking at the Post It sheet to keep you on track. Incidentally, giving away your PowerPoint slides as a handout doesn’t make sense. If the slides make sense without you, they didn’t need you to speak. If the slides don’t make sense without you, it silly to give it away.
  6. Always provide a handout…either digital or on paper. Regardless of how good a speaker you are, the audience will forget most of what you said…quickly. Handouts are the best way to help them remember.

Need help? Please contact me.

Don’t Practice!

- Joel Heffner

Practicing is a waste of time, right?

Who needs to practice? You know your stuff. You know what you want to say. You are definitely ready.

As ready as professional baseball players. The work out all winter. They go to spring training in February or March. The have trainers help them exercise. The play practice games to tune up.

Imagine if a baseball player showed up for the first game of the season. What are the chances he would be in the starting line-up? What are the chances he’d still be on the team.

Don’t practice if you don’t want to be in the game.

Speaking requires practice…plenty of it.