It's a movement on the rise.It's no big deal...Just the future of humanity.
Why Girls?
"Adolescent girls are uniquely capable of raising the standard of living in the developing world. Girls are the most likely agents of change, but they are ofteninvisibleto their societies and to our media."
"When everyone-girls, parents, teachers, executives, artists, hairdressers, forest rangers, rock stars, presidents, investors, advertisers, skateboarders, truckers, cowboys, organizations, chefs, teenagers - knows about The Girl Effect, then real change can happen.The site is just the beginning.The end is nothing less than ending poverty."
What can we do?
First, simply watch this 2 minutes presentation, a few animated words dancing at the rythm of our thoughts. Learn how:
Short
Simple
Entertaining
Visual
Presentations can be highly effective and powerful
Then share, speak about it and contribute to the ripple effect.
Want the facts on the Power of Girls?
Go to The Girl Effect site and download the girl effect fact sheet. Very valuable information to discover and share with the world.
Why do I post such a video on a presentation skills blog?
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!
The Girl Effect combines all these words, and want to be speaking about it!
Please share this post, go to the Girl Effect Site and make ripples!
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" :
My life is at stake.
I believe what I say.
I’ve extended my range.
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” by100% 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?
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.
Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick
Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before
Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion
Thou Shalt Tell a Story
Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy
Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
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.
Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
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" RabelaisLaughter 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.
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!
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...
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.
Are these international friends geeks , professional actors, or both? Well, most of them aren't, except maybe@TanveerNaseer..., from StarTreck Production. But look at what they've created, altogether, with "genuine fondness" (@TimDouglasHR's quote!)
Apart from the fact that it moved me to tears of joy, and will remain one my best birthday surprises,it also shows us the impact of new technologies in our daily life and the necessity of adopting with simplicity and confidence this new online media.My tittle, "Millennium Birthday Card" refers to Gen Y, also called "Millenniums", who grew up with social media and the web 2.0. (More about Generations in Five Generations Of Speakers, Which One is Yours? )
Here are a few tips for you!
Recording a video may be easier than you think.
"Maybe your laptop comes with a camera. If you have a Mac, click on your QuickTime Player, select File, and then New Movie Recording. Click on the red button at the bottom of the screen, and viola, you’re recording! Easy, peasy! You can record and trash as many attempts as you need. (I must have tried a couple of dozen times until I got my recording down to :14 seconds.)
If you have a PC, here’s one link that might help you get started. You can search & find others, as well:
You can use a fancy home video camera and upload it to your laptop and then to our site. Even small digital cameras often have video features that allow you to do the same."
by Janice Jensen, Executive Producer , creator of TweetaVision.
Each of them is exceptionally talented, with a genuine gift that can change your whole life. Visit their websites, blogs, twitter streams, believe me, they're precious and you'd better watch them in the coming years, they're going to "Play Big"!
The secret impulse, which triggered this post, is that it's one of my favourite TED Videos, along with Jill Bolte Taylor's Stroke of insight and a dozen of others I will share here in this blog.
What can you learn from this presentation, that you could use in Your Next Presentation?
You can perform on a stage with nothing else but your presence,yourself, no technology.
You can rely on stories and myths to give flesh to your talk.
You can be perfectly structured with elegance and flow.
AnotherNaked Presentation
If you look at this video, you will notice that Elzabeth Gilbert embodies simplicity.
She is all dressed in black, with a very simple and casual black turtle neck (is it the new Steve Jobs Fashion?), black pants,ballerines, no jewels, very little make up.No laptop, no remote control, no visual aids, no notes,not even any back screen image. Black stage. Empty
Yet, she's shining
We follow her expressive face, her hands like butterflies, we watch her "dance" on stage and hear her inspired voice and delicious humour charm us along her talk, very simply.
No PowerPoint, no beam of light except the light that shines through her eyes, and her Passion.
And she's not a one woman show professional actress! She's a writer!
I know corporate settings don't always allow us to make such simple presentations and that when it comes to presenting charts, graphs and results, slides are necessary.
However, speaking in public doesn't only refer to formal presentations settings.
Every time you're asked to speak during a meeting, or in any professional conversation, you're having an opportunity to make an impact, be heard, be understood, make a change.
This TED presentation show us that you can achieve that very simply.
Again, the Power of Stories and Metaphors.
Elizabeth Gilbert takes us back to Greeks and Romans.
She's looking across time, other societies," to see if they might have had better ideas about how to help creative people manage the inherent emotional risk of creation".
When she talks about demons and geniuses, she does it by giving examples (Socrate) and also evocative images (hilarious when she compares the greek Genius divine entity to Dobby the House Elf)( In Harry Potter Publishing JK Rowlands)
How does she make us understand that during the Renaissance, we did a "huge error"? She uses a fantastic metaphor"It's like asking somebody to swallow the sun"
The presence of god in the artists projects ?"It's like rubbing fairy juices on their projects"
I'm going to leave you listen to her two stories of the American poet Ruth Stone and the musician Tom Waits. Commenting on them would only give you a pale idea of the wonderfully evocative power of her words. Her language is multisensorial and it just gives me "goosebumps" (and not "goosepumps", like I thought it spelled...)
She speaks about her meeting with Ruth Stone two extraordinary minutes (from 10 to 12 min in her talk). Really worth watching!It's actually like watching the scene with her playing all the roles. She's miming with her whole body the beautiful phrase:
"Ruth Stone would catch the poem by its tail and she would pull it backwards into her body" (This reminds me of Robert Frost definition of poetry, a way of "taking life by the throat")
Her interview with Tom Waits is also a peak moment of her speech, which brings unexpected laughter.Watch it, it's between 13 and 15 minutes in the talk.
Now, is she just very gifted and just improvising?
How to structure your talk with elegance?
Let me guide you through the underlying structure of this talk, which seems to be flowing spontaneously like a river from her. Again, this hides careful preparation. ( When Elizabeth says her creative process is one of "a mule", I suspect she may have prepared this talk, with "mulishness", in order to be caught by the "glimpse of god")
Observe how she very elegantly, and with humour, keeps her audience on track:
"Stay with me, because it does circle again back!"
She gives us some clues about where she's going to take us, how she will do it, and how she will take us back... Beautiful, very clever!
So her plan looks more like a circle:
Starting her circle with:
Her personal story, how having written this huge success "Eat ,Pray and Love", could have driven her to anxiety or depression.
Brief history of demons and genius in ancient Greece and Rome
The huge error of rational humanism and Renaissance
Story of the Poet Ruth Stone
Story of the Musician Tom Waits
Circles back to:
The impact of these stories on her writing and how accepting this "glimpse of god" could save TODAY creative people from madness.
My tip: The more aligned you are with your words, the better they will flow...
Again:
You can perform on a stage with nothing else but your presence,yourself, no technology.
You can rely on stories and myths to give flesh to your talk.
You can be perfectly structured with elegance and flow.
Just imagine yourself, with your kid or grandchild, reading his (her) favorite bedtime story,with a classic children book
and ...your iPhone!
Watch this incredible (very short 1:53 min) video where a classical children book is being read WITH the kid, thanks to an iPhone touch screen inserted in the book (I love the moment when the little red fishes are attracted like magnets by the finger)
"I was completely blown away by this video the first time through. Such a simple, low-tech, solution produces such an amazingly rich, engaging experience that’s just bursting with possibility for further creativity.
While it’s just a concept at this point, you can see how it can make a new kind of storytelling available to the masses in a way that wouldn’t have seemed possible not that long ago."
Alex Rainert. His twitter bio:"I love design. I'm partial to the intersection of mobility & social behavior. Years ago I co-founded dodgeball. I currently run the Design group at Schematic NY".
So, what does it have to do with Presentation Skills and Public Speaking?
I see the future of Presentations including Storytelling, interactivity and creativity.
I'm not sure yet how it will be implemented, but there is room for innovation, and this could just be fantastic!
Imagine if we could design workshop books and masterclass like that?
Our audience would be able to follow what we say and show and at the same time experience with their touch the discovery of new concepts..., at their own rythm.
Therefore, we need to develop storytelling skills, as well as creative narrative design and skills.
I'd love to collaborate with designers and learning experts to create innovative learning tools...
Mixing the most ancient oral tradition with the most sophisticated technology.
"As Deputy Director of Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG), Lainé has worked to bring renewable electricity and solar hot water to families and agricultural workers in Guatemalan villages, and dry composting latrines to women in the Cap-Haitien marketplace in Haiti. Simple infrastructure projectslike these have a dramatic effect on quality of life."
This lady is on a Mission. This alone has the power to move mountains.
She calls upon our ancient memories, the myths we may have learned at school.
She's excited about it and even laughs just at the thought of it, before telling us her story. We can only listen, in awe and impatient to know more.
Look at her: she is relaxed, she moves on the stage, makes eye contact, smiles, let her emotions show on her face. She also uses her voice accordingly to the effect she wants to produce. Her intention is clear: she really wants us to get involved and act on it by participation,taking action.
100 % Present and "A-Live", here and now.
She creates a sense of intimacy and closeness with us. She invites us in her space.
What about Passion?
Here is what she says about passion:
"Your dedication to the cause is what gets you through those moments," she says. "What you can't learn is passion. If you have that, it will get you so much farther than a degree."
Let it show, share your inner fire with your audience, and people will listen to you!
Preparation
This natural and casual talk is not improvised.
"With AIDG, Lainé attempts to stretch the goals of a traditional NGO by throwing savvy "business acumen" into the mix. She brings her own scientific background to the table when the group spearheads anew project, but she also knows the value of a good old-fashioned sales pitch."
And she must have prepared for this video, just like Steve Jobs does relentlessly before the release of Apple latest toy.
The result is :
Simplicity and natural.
The essence of an excellent presentation
What about you?
Will you use the 4 "P"s for your next presentation?
By naked, I mean without the whole set of classy and sleeky powerpoint slides, latest projector, remote control, laser pointer, giant screen with latest videos and dolby stereo....This post was triggered by reading the brilliant article written by Martin Shovel, "What Power Point can't show you" in Creativity Works Blog.
What happens when technology fails?
Commenting on Twitter last week about Peter Senge 's performance, without Power Point, here are the reactions I got from Angie Chaplin, Leadership Speaker and Trainer
Recently, I had to facilitate a TeamBuilding seminar for International MBAs. I had designed a very “Zen like” short and sleek, design & Chic ppt with pictures purchased in iStock photos, few words, big fonts, very “Steve Job” styled…(without the black turtleneck, though)
I was very proud and eager to “make my show", I had rehearsed and prepared carefully.
I had not anticipated I would spill my coffee on my laptop, the day before, ruining my unsaved ppt.(The laptop, a brand new MacBook, is still alive with a mouse and keyboard transplant). Oh, lala! Désastre! Malédiction! (28 days later, it resurrected. I'm a Re born Mac Believer, now) When I showed up the next morning, after a night trying to bring back my bonniemac to life,apart from my high stage of internal panic and lack of sleep,I had in fact all the presentation ready in my mind and was completely available for the participants.
I felt myself "naked".
Like in naked truth. Simply, naturally,..naked.
I told them many stories, I listened to them and asked them plenty of questions, I was more flexible and available than if I had sticked to my initial plan, which was ,more secretly, to make a Marion show. Of course, I had integrated the components of the presentation and was in fact making it “Live”. It was the best presentation ever. I felt free, natural, spontaneous, close to my audience and gave them more space too.
Why do I think Peter Senge is a naked Speaker?
Watch this very short (2.40 min) video "Closing Circle"
He's speaking with simplicity , he's open and aware of others. Very natural. He's standing in the middle of a circle and telling us a story.
This is called "presence". Conclusions?
If you really have to use Power Point Preparing with visual aids, ppt slides and even better mixing with mindmaps , can be a fantastic way to get sharp and ready . Ready to do without, too...
It enables you to anticipate and structure your presentation, to think about the illustrations you might want to use.Then you use homeopatic dose.
You hand pick the best quality slides, the “wow” effect illustrations. That’s all.
You rehearse and rehearse, and eliminate. You “prune”
It’s a great discipline and framework, from which one has to free oneself and move out of the ppt box.
It’s a means and should be used with only one question in mind: What added value is it bringing to my audience?
A wonderful way to do this is to embrace the Magical Story Frog Prince.
You tell stories, you ask for stories from your participants, you make an imaginary fire and warm yourself around!
As Terrence Gargiulo says “If a picture is worth a thousand words, a Story is worth a thousand pictures.”
Here you see Steve Job's Speech at Stanford, back in 2005.
He very simply starts with: "Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories."
One perfect example of presenting without Power Point. Although he's reading from a lectern,in a robe, the impact of his speech is tremendous because he makes it personal and includes the audience, us, into his life's story.
A great inspiration for "Naked Presentation", with an Orator in Toga...
He's naturally using the Rule of Three.
He's applying his own rule: "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
