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Monthly Archives: November 2015

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The Worst Keynote Presentation I’ve Ever Seen

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Do you recall the worst keynote presentation you’ve ever seen?

As audience members, most of us have higher expectations for a keynote presentation than someone speaking in a breakout room. I personally hope to be entertained, educated and potentially inspired with a big idea or riveting story.

stop signThe responsibility of a keynote speaker is huge. Before a speaker can inspire an audience they must establish a foundation of professionalism and credibility. It means acting like you belong on stage.

Several years ago I attended and spoke at a marketing conference where the keynote speaker failed on all accounts. Let’s walk through his mistakes:

  1. Showed up at the last minute: The speaker was to begin at 9:00 a.m. and he showed up at 8:59. Seriously? Unless your flight is delayed or something similar, always arrive at least 30-60 minutes before it is your time to speak.
  1. Wasn’t set up: Not only did this speaker show up at the last minute, but he still had to set up his laptop and launch his presentation. It got worse.
  1. No Apple Mac Adapter: He was using his own Apple Mac laptop for his presentation, but didn’t bring a VGA adapter with him. Most A/V vendors expect Mac users to supply their own adapters. So it is now a few minutes after 9 a.m., and the A/V person is looking in his gearbox to see if he has a Mac adapter. Meanwhile, the audience is watching this unprofessionalism unfold as the event host is doing his best to tap dance. All the while the speaker appears oblivious that the audience is becoming annoyed.
  1. Wants to play a video via the snail-paced hotel conference WiFi: The speaker finally gets set up (several minutes after 9 a.m.) and then a few minutes in he makes his next, and perhaps biggest mistake. He has a link to a video he wants to play that is hosted on YouTube. Ugh. This particular hotel, like many, has painfully slow WiFi and so the video the speaker wants us to see never loads. This after the A/V person comes to the speaker’s rescue to even get him connected to the WiFi.The A/V person suggests downloading the video to his hard drive. Meanwhile, the audience is beginning to wonder what the hell they are watching. Is this the first time this person has spoken in front of an audience? Why is he so unprepared? At this point no one even cared what he was talking about – he had lost everyone in the room.
  1. The content was dated and not insightful: The audience learned nothing from this speaker. He was a recently retired executive from a well-known publishing organization and walked through the impact of the Internet on publishing as if it was the 1990’s and a developing concept. There was nothing new or insightful in any of his slides – which were basically a collection of statistics that everyone in the room was already familiar with. He failed to connect at any level and didn’t share anything new or intriguing about the publishing industry in the Internet era or specifically how his past employer responded.

In the last 15 years, I have probably seen 250 keynote speakers. This gentleman was clearly the worst. He didn’t fail because his slides were bad, or that he was a horrible speaker. No he was horrific because he was unprofessional, unprepared and most disturbing, uninspiring.

If you are a relatively new speaker, you probably aren’t going to wow an audience with your amazing humor and incredible story-telling ability. But what you can do is be prepared, professional and craft your story and slides in a way that most everyone in the room will walk away with at least one inspiring idea.

Don’t be that other person.

 

 

 

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Create Your Own Stock Photo Library

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Images are the foundation of every good slide presentation.

No audience member wants to read a bunch of text on a slide, but just as importantly, the human brain processes images thousands of times more quickly than it does text. The right image can also immediately spark a desired emotion – humor, contemplation, sadness, pride, etc. – or bring a concept to life.

The wrong or a poor-quality image can also distract from your presentation – driving audience members to check their email accounts or groan with displeasure.

Access to one or more stock photo accounts is key then to ensure you have a supply of high-quality images. But stock photo services can also get expensive and they don’t always have the image you are looking for. The answer: Supplement stock photos by creating your own personal photo library.

Situations to Look For

The quality of smartphone cRailroad tracks convergingameras today is so high that you need not worry about buying or using a SLR/DSLR camera. You likely already have your smartphone with you at all times, so creating your own stock photo library simply requires a small change in your behavior.

Have your smartphone camera at the ready when you walk your dogs in the neighborhood, go for a hike, walk from the train to your office or tour a city you are visiting on vacation or business. Keep your eyes open looking for photos that can be used for:

  • Simple backgrounds
  • Title/Transition slides
  • Humor
  • Strategic/Big-picture concepts
  • Tactical ideas
  • Emotions

Photo Framing Tips to Keep in Mind

When walking around, keep these tips in mind:

  • Since the 16:9 format is now becoming standard, you will generally want to take a horizontal, wide photograph rather than vertical.
  • Take several shots of the subject form different angles and distances. Get close to the subject. You’ll crop the image later, but if you have to enlarge the photo a lot, image-quality will suffer.
  • Frame with room for text. Most of the images you use will include text somewhere on the slide. When framing the photograph, think about an area of the image that isn’t a focal point where you can place text.
  • Consider the “rule of thirds.” The design principle called the “rule of thirds” simply means that the focal point of your photograph is located in the one-third region both vertically and horizontally. This approach also naturally provides space for text that doesn’t interfere with the key focal point of the image.
  • Be aware of lighting and glare. Snap a shot and then take a quick look at the image. Would it better by finding a different angle, either relative to the sun or whether you are looking straight on or from above, below or to one side.

Organizing Your Photos

You should already have a main folder on your computer and/or cloud storage account for “Stock Photos/Screenshots.” Within that folder, organize your images in a manner that works best for you – by source (e.g., name of stock photo source, your name, client screenshots, etc) and/or by category of what the image conveys.

While you can obviously view the images in a folder by thumbnail, I still recommend that you name each image file with a description of what it is of and potentially the concept it can be used for. Also, add the image source in the file name, such as “Loren,” “”iStock,” “WikiCommons,” etc.

A Few Examples

Below are two scenarios and examples of leveraging photos from my “Loren” stock photo collection:

Bus vs Beach - Tel Avia- Trnasition slides1. While in Tel Aviv, Israel I had a gut instinct that the “inside of a bus” stock photo I had used in other parts of the world might be viewed differently than intended. I don’t know if my instinct was right or wrong, but I didn’t want to risk it. To me, it had a vague look of a bus that may have been destroyed in a bomb attack. So I used a photo  I took the day before of a Tel Aviv beach looking south from Jaffa toward the hotel where the event was held.

Using this image did three things:

  • It helped localize my presentation conveying to the audience that this wasn’t a standard, “given everywhere” presentation.
  • It provided an opportunity for me to briefly chat about my walk the day before and help make the session a bit more personal.
  • It removed any concern I had about the “bus” image.

2. “WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?” I captured this image in the entrance to the Tate Modern museum in London. Several people were protesting BP oil being a major sponsor of the museum by writing quotes and sayings on thWhat Are We Going To Do-Lorene concrete floor entrance to the museum. I captured several images but this is probably my favorite and most usable.

I now use this image frequently to set up the ending of a presentation to talk about how to move forward on the ideas conveyed up to then. I find it much more interesting and impactful than a simple text-based slide.

What are you waiting for, start taking photos!

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How Many Slides Per Minute Should I Use in My Presentation?

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A common question from less-experienced speakers is: “What is the average or ideal number of slides per minute when presenting?”

This is a bit like asking: “What’s the perfect minutes per mile pace when running?” The ideal pace for running and presenting depends on multiple factors including the individual and context of the situation, so don’t believe anything you read that suggests a specific average.

60 minutes divided by 80 slidesIf you follow someone else’s guide you risk finishing a presentation either too early or too late. There is no rule of thumb for everyone, but there are several factors you should consider that will help determine what is a realistic target number of slides to use to make sure you finish within your targeted time.

Variables That Affect Slide Count

The only rule of thumb that matters is the one that works for you as a speaker and the specific event at which you are speaking. Several factors and variables that will determine what is a good target number of slides for your session include:

  • Are you presenting alone or with another speaker?
  • What is your speaking style like? Are you a fast talker? Do you click through your slides at a rapid fire pace, do you stick to a script, or do you like to just talk to slides and see whatever comes into your head at the moment?
  • Do you get fairly nervous when presenting and speak more quickly than normal and end up racing through your slides?
  • What type of presentation are you giving? Is it an inspirational keynote, where you might ad lib a lot and tell many stories? Or is it a tactical tips topic delivered in a breakout room?
  • Is it a short or long presentation? In an hour talk you may have a lot more transition and “quick-point” slides than you would have in a 20-30 minute talk. So in shorter presentations you could have a higher ratio of time per slide.
  • What is the setting like, including the room layout and the expected mood of the audience? Is it a small room providing an intimate feel that may drive lots of questions and interaction from the audience – reducing the number of slides you will be able to get through?
  • What is the layout of your slides like and type of content you are presenting? Do you have slides with a few bullets that you will speed through; lots of visual slides you use as transitions or to make a quick point – or that you use to simply tell stories from that may run a few minutes each?

Rehearsing your presentation like you will actually present it live is the only way to accurately assess how many slides you need for a given presentation.

Individual Styles Can Dramatically Vary Slide Count

Ultimately your individual speaking style determines your usual average time per slide. Two co-workers who also speak a lot have very different styles and hence use a vastly disparate number of slides for a presentation on the same topic.

The three of us frequently present the same topic and start with the same core presentation and number of slides. However, we each customize the presentation to our own style resulting in a vastly different number of slides. One co-worker typically uses 100 plus slides for a 60-minute time slot; another will use 40 to 45; and I might use 70 to 80.

Room and Audience Size Are a Key Factor

Your style may evolve the more you speak. You might use fewer slides as time goes on as you become more comfortable engaging with audiences and ad-libbing or telling stories. Or you might evolve into using the rapid-fire slide approach – or even a combination of the two styles.

Delivering the identical presentation to different audiences and room environments can also significantly change the number of slides you can use. I recently delivered a 35-slide presentation in roughly 29 minutes to an audience of about 125 people in London. A few days later in San Diego, I spoke in a more intimate environment – a small room with about 35 attendees. Even after cutting two slides from the London presentation, this time I spoke for more than 35 minutes because I fed off of the more intimate nature of the room.

Rehearsing is the Only Answer

Rehearsing your presentation like you will actually present it live is the only way to accurately assess how many slides you need for a given presentation. Even then, I recommend deleting some slides if your rehearsal times finish at your targeted time. You need to account for delayed starting times, a longer than expected introduction by the session host, a question from the audience and the likelihood of your ad-libbing and adding additional color to your slides.

The factors listed above will greatly affect your cadence and can produce a very different pace than your normal ratio of minutes per slide. So keep these variables in mind when estimating the ideal number of slides for a specific session – and then rehearse multiple times to gain a more realistic assessment.

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10 Speaker “Tools” to Use Prior To Being, or While, on Stage

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One of the key traits of successful speakers is having a significant focus on preparation. When you reduce the chance of things going wrong, you are more relaxed and can better focus on the audience and how you are going to approach your presentation once on stage. One important element of preparation is having a selection of “tools” that contribute to a low-stress presentation. Following are 10 tools that you should bring with you to every speaking session:

1. Laptop: While many event organizers will supply a laptop from which to run your presentation, many ask you to use your own. But even if you are certain you will be presenting from the organizer’s computer, their version of PowerPoint might mangle your slides or you might discover that you need to make a last minute tweak. I know of some keynote-type speakers who only travel with an iPad, but for most of us having your laptop as backup is vital.

2. Presentation Clicker: Owning your own clicker is a must. I continue to be shocked at how many event organizers don’t supply them, especially for non-keynote sessions. I’ve aLogitech Presentation Clickerlso found that the A/V personnel often forget them or leave them in a box far away from the room in which you are speaking. I’ve also witnessed a keynote speaker being forced into stalling for several minutes because the previous speaker walked off stage and put the clicker in his pocket. Finally, the last thing you want is to have issues with a clicker. Each type has a slightly different feel and can cause brief moments of panic if you click the wrong button or click too many times. Using your own clicker ensures you’ve got it down.

3. Adapters/Converters: If you use an Apple Mac laptop, make sure you always carry a VGA adapter as many A/V vendors may not have one. Consider bringing an HDMI adapter as these are starting to become more popular, especially in smaller room settings. Also, if you are speaking in another country make sure you bring your own electricity converter/adapter so you can plug in your laptop.

4. USB Flash Drive: Always travel with a couple of USM flash drives (memory sticks) and save backups of your presentation as you work on it. Then save your final version into a folder with the name of the event. Even when event organizers have received your presentation in advance, half the time it doesn’t end up being loaded on the machine in the room you are speaking. Or often you’ll discover they don’t have your final version. In addition, you will often have a last minute inspiration based on a conversation at the speaker dinner, or after watching the morning keynote and you will need to update your presentation. Having your final/updated presentation of a USB stick makes life easy for the A/V person.

iPad Kitchen Timer App

iPad Kitchen Timer App

5. Timer: While the room you speak in might have a confidence monitor, timer or person that will hold up a sign, I recommend not relying on the event organizer or supplied timers to tell you how much time you have left. You need to own time tracking as much as you own your slides. I, for example, like to use a kitchen timer app on my iPad. I set the countdown timer to my desired duration and set it on stage or in the front row where I can see it. Use whatever works for you: smartphone clock, setting your watch on the podium or iPad app – but do make sure you can track your progress at all intervals throughout your presentation.

6. Lip Balm: I often find that my lips are drier than normal before I go onstage. Dry and chapped lips can make speaking a little more difficult and awkward if you are licking your lips or just thinking about how dry they are. Carry lip balm with you and apply it early and then again shortly before going on stage.

7. Water Bottle/Bottle of Water: Water is critical while speaking on stage and I recommend using a bottle over a glass. A bottle is easier to drink from, hold in your hand and less likely to spill. You can also set it on an angled podium, unlike a glass. Bringing your own refillable bottle is a great and greener alternative to a plastic bottle.

8. Evernote/Box/Dropbox: I like to use an online notes service like Evernote to keep all of my speaking session details handy and accessible across all devices. Uploading your slides to a service like Dropbox, Box or Evernote is imperative for transferring large file-size presentations, but also makes it easy and handy to view your slides that one last time on a mobile device before you walk on stage.

9. Tablet/Smartphone: As mentioned above, I am especially found of using my iPad Mini for three things: 1) As a timer; 2) To access and make notes about the event and speaking session; 3) And to view and practice my slides before going on stage.

10. Gum or Breath Mints: Carrying gum or breath mints with you is always a good idea. But since you will be interacting with event organizers, people introducing you and audience members before and after your talk – not having horribly bad breath is good for your brand as a speaker but also contributes to your confidence both on and off the stage. A small thing perhaps, but you don’t want to be on stage thinking about your garlic breath. Are there other tools that you are never without when presenting?

Please share in the comments.

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