Audiences don’t care for quick answers
Many presenters fear Q&A sessions for a couple of reasons. One of them is loss of control. You give control over parts of the content
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What is it that I absolutely need to remember from your pitch?
Ok, got it. Now, how likely do you think it is that I will actually remember all of these things? But wait, here’s a deal:
What you say vs. how you say it
I keep reading this but it’s still as wrong as the first time: “It doesn’t matter what you say but how you say it!” What
This is where we go
How many of your team members are able to say in a few simple words why they do what they do? While most companies have
Do they care?
Often, they don’t. We have gone to great length to elaborate on any possible argument. We have shown all the facts. Proven all the cases.
Dealing with bullshit
There’s the truth. There are lies. And there’s bullshit. To the bullshitter, the appeal of bullshit is that it doesn’t care about true and false.
Digging deeper
Yeah, sure, inspire me! But please don’t stop there. At every corner of the internet, people want to inspire us to reach our true potential,
Mastering complexity
If you are passionate about what you do, there will always be more interesting things to say than time to say them. But what to
Speaking to audiences means talking to people
The old way of presenting was the lecture. The monologue. The speaker preparing a speech and delivering it to the audience. The audience’s role was
Don’t sell bad news as great news
A question I get asked a lot is how to offer bad news. The thing with bad news is that they won’t magically turn into
Showing up in times like these
Many people think about marketing as being about winning. As manipulating people into buying their product. This has never been more wrong than today. In
The driver’s seat
Time’s serial. It just passes by. When we read a book, we are in control of the pace with wich we process the information. We
The loooooooong pause
Many people tend to believe that tension is created by holding back information and having people wait for the reveal. Casting shows love to do
Do you mean what you say?
They often say things like: “We care for our customers”. Yet, when you interact with them you don’t feel like they actually do. Others do
The 5 most important things are probably not as important as you think
If your service is anything but trivial there’s a lot you could tell us about it. I bet you could easily fill an hour speaking
Contagious behavior
His employees immediately knew when Martin was onto something. It showed in his eyes, his voice, and his gestures. Not that it was a big
What will they say …
… when you leave the room? When you’re not there to correct them? Or to explain what you actually meant to say? Or that this
It’s pronounced “creativity”, but it’s spelled “effort”.
When we see a brilliant headline that just nails it and puts in words what we feel in just the right way, we tend to
Cute and clever is a trap
Cute and clever is a trap that businesses easily fall into. It’s deceptive because it seems that this is what the others are doing as
Someone’s got to suffer
The journalist and language teacher Wolf Schneider famously said: “Someone’s got to suffer, the writer or the reader.” The same is true for speakers and
What’s her job?
When doing a sales presentation to a group of people, it really helps to understand what each person’s role in the meeting is. Who is
Not my fault
“On slide 19, I clearly stated this …” Of course you did. But your audience didn’t get it. And that’s the end of the story.
How to decide what to leave out
If you’re anything like me you could probably speak for days about your topic without you getting bored. Most likely, your audience won’t grant you
How to serve your audience well
Here are four ways that make your audience’s life so much easier. Keep it short! How often have you been frustrated by speakers who just
Answers and questions
There are at least two kinds of people: Those that have more answers than questions and those that have more questions than answers. Given that
Tell me only one thing
The default mode for presenting is this: “I’m going to tell you everything I know and when I’m done, you are going to be convinced.”
The long valley of hard work and despair
“The Dip” is what Seth Godin calls that long valley of hard work and despair that you have to get through before being able to
A diamond needs to be polished, not decorated
Purity is what makes diamonds beautiful. You polish it and shape it to take it’s purest form. What you specifically don’t do with diamonds is
About authenticity
When people work on appearing more authentic what they often actually do is become less authentic. Because what they do is to treat the symptoms
Thanks for confirming my opinion
The other day I stumbled upon an article that someone shared on social media with these words: Thank you for this article which confirms my
Know it all, know it quick?
It’s the default mode in Q&A: Know it all and know it quick. The common intuition is that as an expert you just have to
Being right vs. getting it right
Being right feels good, doesn’t it? Being wrong not so much. In fact, for many being wrong feels so bad that they will go to
What kind of “yes”?
What kind of “yes” are you seeking with your presentation? Are you looking to just close that deal? Or are you looking for deep commitment?
3 percent
What if you improved your next speech just a little bit? Let’s say (just to put a number on it) by 3%? It’s not much.
It’s the hero we look at but it’s us who we see
Take a moment to think of a hero of yours. What is it that you admire about her? What did she do that you would
So what?
A presentation can be brilliantly argued, beautifully designed, masterfully delivered … … and still fail because it lacks a compelling answer to one simple question:
If time runs out …
If time runs out, we tend to switch our attention to what’s urgent. But it’s precisely then when it matters most to focus on what’s
Hard choices
Many people believe that a great presentation makes it easy for the audience to choose you. The easier, the better. Yet, the most satisfying decisions
WOW vs. AHA
A wow effect is relatively easy to achieve – if only because you can always throw money at the problem of making a show more
Is it worth it?
Is it worth it to go through the hassle of preparing a presentation? To research material, craft a story, design the media, rehearse, gather people
Good and bad is still alive in marketing
When I think back to when I was a teenager, a lot of TV shows had this very clear distinction between good and bad. Today,
The Game of Netflix
Speaking is quickly turning into the game of Netflix. It used to be that as a speaker we could rely on our audience to be
Leaders who struggle in front of a crowd
Why is it that some leaders who are brilliant, passionate communicators in 1:1 settings become stiff and monotonous when speaking to audiences? It’s not that
Top of mind
So, you’ve done a great job at communicating your idea. People are pumped. What you said is the #1 topic during the coffee break. But
It’s still story first!
For many of us, the new world of online communication feels like a restart. We have to get used to new technologies and accustom ourselves
How to get your audience to like you
Often, I get asked how one can work towards ensuring that your audience likes you. In general, people are much more open towards people they
From bad to good to great speakers
What separates a good teacher from a bad one? Here’s Keith Johnstone’s take – one of the pioneers of improvisational theatre: People think of good
Tips to conquer the fear of public speaking
Here are a few tips if fear of public speaking is holding you back from achieving your goals: First thing I’d ask you is this:
Reading list 2020
Here’s a list of books I enjoyed recently which you might find useful as a communicator: four novels loosely arranged around the topic of empathy,
The future, now!
Many people think of pitching as the act of selling an idea or a product. It’s not. Because pitching is not about you making a
Fixed worldviews
When we listen to someone, a basic process that happens in our brains (in very simplified terms) is that we compare what we hear with
Who’s gonna decide?
When you have an awesome product, it’s tempting to decide for your customer. To just assume that if only your audience knew what you know
It’s their time
At the time I published this post your day had 900 minutes left. When you finish reading, it will be down to 899 minutes. Why
What your audience cares about
… is not you, but themselves. A few of the more obvious things they might care about: They want praise and recognition from their boss. They
The often overlooked reason why pitches succeed
The most overlooked reason why someone wins a pitch is that their product is actually good. If your competition won and you didn’t, it’s easy
The final hurdle
Too many great ideas, products, and projects fail at the final hurdle if the pitch doesn’t convince the decision maker. This is kind of frustrating
Speaking is a privilege, not an obligation.
It’s an opportunity to get access to the exclusive attention of an entire audience. It’s the opportunity to make them see and feel what matters
The big stage
It used to be a privilege to be the speaker who gets to stand on the big stage, in front of an audience of 2,000+.
Duracell bunny won’t stop drumming
Duracell provides 25% of all batteries worldwide. When you think of Duracell, what do you think of? Quite likely it’s one of these commercials: The
Best presentation award
As a film director, you can fail at the box office and still win the Oscars. Winning the Oscars can hugely benefit your future projects.
Natural born pitchers
You’re pitching ideas for as long as you can remember. You pitched the idea of owning a PlayStation to your parents. You pitched the idea
It’s the 1% I’m interested in
Turns out that the 1% were, in fact, golden. The 1% that music publisher Dick James was referring to in the movie “Rocketman” turned Elton
The Servant Speaker
The common way of presenting is the selfish way. It’s all about what the presenter wants. She wants the audience to buy her product, to
We’re online, but we’re human
Sometimes, things heat up in meetings – especially when important, existential questions of the company are at stake. Today, when we all meet online, things
Honestly now, what did you spend your youth dreaming about?
There are at least a hundred good reasons why a Porsche would be a better car than either a Mitsubishi or a Nissan. The opposite
Keep it simple
Pitching was complex before. These days, it has only become more complex. Transitioning most of our communication to online meetings brings in new sources of
Changing the game
In many pitch presentations, there’s a struggle between how people perceive the decision maker’s status and how they want the decision maker to perceive their
One more thing
It’s been a great presentation so far. Time’s up. But: You can say one more thing. What will it be? Will it be a thank
Keep it small
Meetings have a bad reputation as time wasters. That’s not going to magically improve when we transition to online meetings. It’s even harder to coordinate
Thoughts on commodities
Is your product a commodity or is it something special that people will go the extra mile for and pride themselves for having done so?
The moment the lights go down
Today is the first time in months that you go to the movies. You’ve decided that this is a movie that just has to be
How to look at things
Objectively your brand may be quite extraordinary. It may be innovative, years ahead even. It may adhere to ethical work practices. It may foster sustainable
3 Decades of Business
There’s this small shop in town. It’s got a writing on the window that says “We make hand-crafted shoes“. Through the window you can spot
Shouting is easy
Shouting is easy, getting people to listen is not. Yet, it’s all about being heard and not at all about talking louder. Or talking more.
Walking in their shoes
Hope, you are well! How does it feel to walk in someone else’s shoes? It’s a question that we don’t ask as often as we
Reflections
Hope, you are well. So much is turned upside down these days. Businesses all over the world are struggling to understand what the current situation