I saw an excellent article this weekend on giving a big presentation on speech. You can read the entire article here (there are 10 excellent tips).

But I wanted to highlight two points that I found the be the most relevant and important.

A long time ago I had a post entitled, How To Deliver A Presentation Like Steve Jobs. Part of what we touched in, a la Steveo, was how convincing and energizing he was as a speaker because he was so passionate and convinced about what he was saying.

Sure enough, tip number 1 is as follows:

1. Be Your Passionate Self

Audiences are perceptive. They can even sense enthusiasm from back in the nosebleed seats. “Even if you’re reading off the slide but you’re really excited about it, the audience will give it to you,” Bayer says.

What’s the other tip that I find most important whether it’s a big presentation or a big speech to the entire company? Keep it loose. Practice what you’re going to say, but don’t be afraid to move and adjust to the energy of your moment. Sure enough:

6. Go Beyond Memorization

“A lot of times people look at this and think it’s some exalted task with some magic to it,” Pink says. “But it’s like playing the piano, or laying bricks, or hitting a good tennis serve. It’s about knowing what you’re doing, doing it for the right reason, and practice, practice, practice.”

Sound advice.

Related posts:

1. Ask Brian – How Much Notice To Give When Quitting An Overseas Job?
2. How To Deliver a Presentation like Steve Jobs
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Did you know that this week is officially “Just Say No To PowerPoint” week?

I didn’t know either, but there are plenty of references to it on the internet. I couldn’t find who, exactly, is behind this movement, but I’m willing to lend my support.

I’m not sure PowerPoint is any better or worse than any other Microsoft product, but it does inspire deep hatred in people. I wonder if this is a case of blaming the messenger… or at least the messenger’s tools.

Presentations are boring, awful things. Just because PowerPoint is the vessel that delvers these awful things to us in animated, graphical form doesn’t mean it’s PowerPoint’s fault. Maybe we just need a “Learn to Give Better Presentations” week.

Nonetheless, get your fill of PowerPoint hatred here: Ten Reasons I Hate PowerPoint

My favorites:

When is a PowerPoint not just a PowerPoint? When it’s a deck, of course! Not only do you need to master the master slide versus the build slide, you also have to learn the lingo. PowerPoint presentations are built on templates, you can populate the slides. and also embed elements. Once you are finished, you should always scrub the deck before projecting. Is it any wonder I hate PowerPoint?

And…

Why must people hand out advance hard copies of their presentations? It’s just foolish to think folks will simply “follow along” when they can flip ahead and start trashing proposals on page seventy-three when the speaker is still on five.

Related posts:

1. Making PowerPoint Better
2. Where To Get Free Document Templates
3. What People Are Forwarding This Week- Bill-O Edition

Now you too can captivate an audience like the Turtle-Necked One does!

BusinessWeek has a quick tutorial that I might re-title, How To Speak Like A Cult Leader For Fun and Profit (though, if you’ve seen Apple’s stock since the last MacWorld presentation, maybe the mojo has worn off).

All joking aside, there are some really useful tips in here:

Make numbers meaningful. When Jobs announced that Apple had sold 4 million iPhones to date, he didn’t simply leave the number out of context. Instead, he put it in perspective by adding, “That’s 20,000 iPhones every day, on average.” Jobs went on to say, “What does that mean to the overall market?” Jobs detailed the breakdown of the U.S smartphone market and Apple’s share of it to demonstrate just how impressive the number actually is. Jobs also pointed out that Apple’s market share equals the share of its top three competitors combined. Numbers don’t mean much unless they are placed in context. Connect the dots for your listeners.

And

Give ‘em a show. A Jobs presentation has ebbs and flows, themes and transitions. Since he’s giving his audience a show instead of simply delivering information, Jobs includes video clips, demonstrations, and guests he shares the stage with. In his latest keynote, the audience heard from Jim Gianopulos, CEO and chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment, and Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel ((INTC). Enhance your presentations by incorporating multimedia, product demonstrations, or giving others the chance to say a few words.

For all his other gifts, maybe Steve-o’s biggest asset is his rhetorical talent.

Deliver a Presentation like Steve Jobs (BusinessWeek)

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