Illogical Insanity

Do you have slides in your PowerPoint Presentation that you gloss over, ever time you present your slideshow? Even a photo can detract from your presentation if you constantly flip through it and never stop to build your message with this slide. All slides in your presentation must support the main message you are communicating.

We just got back from purchasing a new vacuum cleaner. Our first stop was my favorite electronics store. I won't mention the name, but it was not the Best place to Buy a vacuum cleaner. We experienced illogical insanity in the store which reminded me of pointless slides in a presentation.

Among the 14 available vacuum cleaners, we selected one that suits our needs. We did not see any new vacuums on the shelf, only the dirty demo model. We took it off the shelf to make sure it is light enough to carry up our stairs. After my lovely wife hunted down a youngster posing as a salesperson, we asked if he had one in stock.

After looking at the same shelf that we did, he reached the same conclusion that we did - no new vacuum cleaners on the shelf of the desired model. He promised to order one and we could pick it up next week. We said "Sure - perfect timing".

He went off and returned to tell us that this model of vacuum cleaner is on back order with no estimated date of delivery. We may have to wait months if we ordered this model from him. We thanked him for his trouble and decided to look for a vacuum cleaner in a competitor's store.

Then he put the dirty demo model back on the shelf, ready for the next customer to go through the process of selecting this model and finding out that new vacuum cleaners are not available for purchase. I have heard that doing the same thing over and over again, each time expecting a different result, is the definition of insanity. Well, our salesperson qualifies. His actions were completely illogical. Why not take the model off the shelf? Why not put on a label "OUT OF STOCK"? Who knows.

As presenters, we cannot allow slides to remain in our presentations if these slides do not add value or support our main message. If you cannot provide your audience with a story, or example to support your slide, then remove it from your slideshow. Do not repeat your performance with the next audience, and expect a different result.

Project Management Opportunity in Toastmasters

Now that we are neck-deep into Spring 2008 Speech Contests in Area B2 (Toastmasters District 53), I clearly see the similarities between successful club contests and successful Project Leadership. I am a Project Management Professional (PMP) and passionate about Project Management. I am planning our Area B2 contest for April 1, 2008 and mentoring a new member to organize his club's contest.

When you enjoy a club speech contest, you don't see the days of preparation. A successful club contest is the result of careful planning and execution of the plan. The contest leaders must lay out a plan, get the forms ready and call on people to fill the roles. Contestants need to create and rehearse speeches. All of this starts weeks before the contest.

Planning a speech contest at your club or higher level is the cheapest Project Management training that you can get anywhere. I don't understand why so few people step up to lead the planning committee and take on the role of Contest Chair. (As a bonus, Toastmasters gives you feedback and credit in the Competent Leadership Manual).

If you want to drastically improve your Project Management skills, then volunteer to organize your club speech contests. This is the cheapest Project Management training you will get in your life, and certainly fulfilling when you experience your well-run contest.

Giant-Size Root Canal

During a check-up visit for a root canal done last year, my endodontist showed-off his new Kodak imaging equipment. He took an X-Ray (if you can call it that) with an electronic receiving device that is wired into his computer system. No plates to develop. No negatives. Just instant imaging.

The image of my root canal is then displayed on a 19 inch screen before my eyes. The image of the tooth would make any T-Rex proud. I jokingly asked if I could have a copy on a disk, and he said "Sure, bring in a disk or flash device on your next visit".

Which got me to thinking. Obvious first thought is "Wow, technology is great. Instead of a 1 inch by 1 inch XRay of a tooth that is too small to see, now he can see exactly what he needs to see with this magnification".

Second thought is "How will this display in a PowerPoint slide?" - What can I say, as a Presentations Junkie I see PowerPoint displays in everything, including XRays :). I think the tooth will display very well in a PowerPoint slide. I am going to find out and will make a special trip to my endodontist and get a copy of the image and try it out on an audience.

Painful Pleasures

Winter storm Destiny provided the perfect opportunity for sledding. We have a water catchment valley close to our home where children can sled in absolute safety. My son's snow tube is five feet in diameter and sledding down the one side of the valley across the bottom and up the other side is pure bliss for children.

Of course, I was dragged along as well. We spent numerous hours yesterday and today flying down the sides of the valley and then pulling the tube up to repeat. We built a 12-inch high snow-ramp to get airborne at the bottom of the run.

The result of this fun is a sore body. I am in pain in places that I did not know I had places because I am unaccustomed to such exertions. The pain is worth if for the pleasure that I had with my son, including laughing harder than I have in years when I set the example of how not to dismount an airborne sled.

We have had no good sledding days this winter. It has been cold and very rainy. Winter storm Destiny was our first opportunity for a good snowfall on a weekend, giving us the opportunity to enjoy father-son bonding.

It is only possible to enjoy times like this together if you live in the present. You cannot enjoy times like this when you are concerned with the mounting workload at the office. You need to let go of whatever you cannot change or mistakes that you have made in the past.

How do you live in the present fully, and enjoy every day without a cluttered email inbox and constant interruptions from your cell phone? I find this Alan's advice in this interview to be inspirational and pragmatic. Listen to the full interview and then enjoy the benefits of living in the present, so that you can also take advantage of the painful pleasures when the opportunities present themselves.

Contributing author

Just received notification that my story will appear in the upcoming book Living the Law of Attraction.

My story details how I used the Law of Attraction to reach our dream. My wife and I have wanted to live in the USA for as long as we can remember. But how? Neither of us had the money to get up and leave South Africa and we did not have work permits to seek employment in the USA if we were to find ourselves here. This was the impossible dream for middle class employees in South Africa.

Yet, here we are - making a new life in the USA. We did it by following the Law of Attraction. You can also reach impossible dreams by following the Law of Attraction. I am living proof that the Law of Attraction works.

Living the Law of Attraction comprises the best 62 stories chosen from hundreds of stories submitted. Bob Doyle from "The Secret" has written the Foreword. I can't wait for my copy to arrive and learn how other people, from a dozen countries have benefited by Living the Law of Attraction.

If you want to turn your dreams into reality, then pre-order your copy of Living the Law of Attraction now, at the special price of only $12.95.

Winter Storm DESTINY

Winter storm DESTINY hit Connecticut about 4 AM this morning. Scot Haney (our trusted Channel 3 forecaster) predicts 4 to 7 inches. It was snowing when we woke up and the snow is still falling in the late afternoon as I write this.

My wife and I still marvel at the snowstorms. Growing up in the Transvaal, in South Africa we are not used to snow. The first time we saw large quantities of snow was when we landed at JFK on Jan 21, 2001 after 17 grueling hours from Jan Smuts International Airport.

After seven years in Connecticut we see each snow storm as a reason to take photos and be impressed by the beauty of fresh snow on evergreen trees. (And we have also not yet acclimatized to seven months of cold weather, every year - Brrr!!)

The photos above cannot do justice to the serenity that I see out my window as I work today. I have not been outside today, so I have not trudged through the snow yet. I will go out over the weekend and clean the snow off our vehicles. For now, I am content to enjoy the cozy indoors and marvel at the beauty outside.

The "Hard Slides"

We all know that some topics lend themselves to showing photos on slides instead of text.

For example, when you are telling a story and making a point about the statue of Liberty, you can put up a photo of Lady Liberty and have instant audience recognition. This is dead easy for experienced presenters like myself and fellow members of the Powerful Presentations Alliance. (Although most presenters still resort to a 200 word description of Lady Liberty in 10 point font and then read the description to the audience - shudder!!)

Some slides are more challenging. For example, when you convey statistics to your audience you may tend to display all the statistics that you have. If you try to convey too much detail, your result will be that you convey no detail to your audience. These are the "Hard Slides"

Craig Strachan recently posted a fabulous blog entry to help you when creating the "Hard Slides". Check it out. I could not have written a better entry myself :)

Data Dumps

This week, I again saw two data dump presentations, one after the other. Both presenters were blissfully unaware that the audience is literate.

Why does the typical PowerPoint Presenter follow this process:
1. Open PowerPoint.
2. Type in (or Copy and Paste) all the data known about a topic,
3. Get up and read the slides to the audience?

I don't know if most presenters are too lazy to plan the presentation before creating the slides, or just don't yet know about the Pow'Rful Philosphy that is documented in Dodging the Bullet Points for everyone to follow.

Either way, don't allow yourself to become one of the Data Dump Presenters. When you prepare a presentation, and each slide, use some common sense. Answer these questions while creating your presentation.
1. What is the purpose of this presentation? What do I want my audience to think, do or act differently when they walk out of here?
2. What slides best suit my purpose? Should I use graphs, or photos, or black slides?
3. What is the purpose of this slide. You must answer this question for each slide, so that you can craft the best slide for your audience, on every slide.

Have you been in presentations when the presenter wants to show you a website, or a spreadsheet and suddenly hit a technical glitch? The presenter frantically tries to produce the desired result while tech people start to fiddle and the flow of the presentation hits a brick wall.

Remember that Murphy lives in your laptop. Don't "go live" in front of your audience without tons of rehearsal. Rather, when you need to show your audience the intracies of your whiz-bang spreadsheet, then record it with Camtasia so that your PowerPoint slides go smoothly and you are not puzzled by the laptop's embarrasing gyrations when Murhphy sticks up his ugly head and while your audience waits patiently.

Whatever you do, do not do a data dump slideshow for your audience. Stand up, stand out, and do it right - think before you create your PowerPoint Presentation.

Contest season is underway

The Spring contest season is underway in District 53. Toastmasters in ProSpeakers competed last night in Tall Tales and International Speech contests.

I believe that ProSpeakers is leading the way because most Toastmaster clubs are in the planning phases of club contests. Club contests must be complete by March 21 in District 53.

I am honored to server as Area B2 Governor for 2007/2008. One of my responsibilities is to organize the Area Contests. To fulfill this obligation, I am busy planning Area B2 Contest which will be held on April 1, 2008 at CIGNA in Bloomfield, Connecticut.

When I joined Toastmasters, I did not realize the magnitude and import of contests. I saw a club contest held every once in awhile (I did not realize that we held contests every six months), and then I did not hear about contests until the next club contest came up.

As Area B2 Governor, I have insight into the tremendous planning and leadership opportunities that contests provide. From February through May and from August through November each year Toastmasters from all over the District are planning and holding contests.

As a club member you only see 5% of the contest effects. But the other 95% of leadership opportunity is waiting for anyone who is looking for leadership training. Step up and join us. Volunteer for a club chair position to get credit in your Competent Leader manual. Then become a club officer next year, or Area Governor. (Oh yeah, on a side note, you will experience the pleasure of participating in a well run contest and the 2008 World Champion of Public Speaking may just come from your club).

Color on Slides

As I have said before, plain dark text on a light background is the best option for slides. Black text on a white background has served us well in printed media for generations. Why mess with a winning formula?

Today I realized again that common sense is not that common. I saw slides with shades of flourescent yellow through green. I was suprised at how hard it is to read text in this color.

Please, please stand out from the crowd and use your common sense. Keep your fonts and color simple. Put your energy into delivering a memorable presentation with stories and photos.

Lessons in faith from an RV show

We went to an RV Show today in Springfield, Mass. Wow. Row upon row of RV's trailers and campers. From the "barely sleeps four" fold-outs to the Leather and Mahogony Class-A $180,000 models and everything in between.

We walked in 20 degree overcast weather - Which is below zero celsius and still colder than my South African blood understand :), with ice crunching beneath our cold feet into heated halls, believing that summer will come again. We have faith that the weather will once again become conducive to camping and enjoying the outdoors although we have no sign of summer at this time. We have faith that if we prepare our camping equipment then we will enjoy the coming summer. We prepare for the summer while we trudge through snow and ice.

It is the same with our presentations. We must prepare our slides and speeches in advance of our presentations, with faith that thorough preparation will result in a successful performance. We cannot 'wing it" or underestimate the amount of time that we will need to prepare for our speech.

Are you setting enough time aside and preparing your speeches in faith that you will deliver knockout performances and your diligence in the "winter" will come through clearly in the "summer" months?

Division B Club Officer Training - 2/16/2008

We held our second round of Division B Toastmasters Club Officer Training this morning. Great turnout again. Thank you to all club and District officers for making this event so productive.

Tips that we heard today, for club officers who missed this event:
1. Successful Vice Presidents of Education have a spreadsheet of some form to schedule meeting roles in advance.

2. Successful Vice Presidents of Education also have a spreadsheet to track member progress towards Educational Awards. VPE's use this tool to call up members and say something like "Joe, I see that you haven't spoken in 2 months. I miss the humor in your speeches and your vocal variety. We have an opening at our next meeting for a speaker just like you. Can I put you down on the agenda?" To which Joe usually responds "Gulp!! Why sure".

3. Leadership includes sometimes pushing people along when they are distracted and not working towards the goals of the group.

4. Theme meetings are a must. Clubs get bored of the same old, same old meeting format. Some suggestions for your club meetings - April 15, the last day for filing taxes in the USA. A backwards meeting. Start with the General Evaluator and work backwards. My home club had a backwards meeting in Dec 2006 and we are still talking about it.

5. "Don't leave home without it" That is, do not leave home without your Competent Leadership Manual. Get credit for every role that you fill at your Toastmasters Meeting.

6. Have a greeter at the door. Attendees today testified that they joined Toastmasters because someone made them feel welcome before the meeting through a phone call or email, and when they walked into the meeting. Make guests feel welcome, and you have a member. (Remember Maslow's Hierarchy of needs? We are social beings and want to belong to clubs)

In summary, we had a fantastic training session today for District 53 Toastmasters in Hartford, Connecticut. We worked with leaders in all shapes, forms, sizes and backgrounds. Although we are from many countries and cultures we have a common commitment to provide the environments for our club members to find their voice.

Oh yeah, we also practised our public speaking skills again - and I marvel at the improvements made by today's presenters. Toastmasters works. Join your local club.

2 questions

Today - short and sweet questions.

1. Are you making a presentation, or a paging through a PowerPoint slide show? What is your PowerPoint Presentation style? I see so many presenters merely paging through slides and wish that I could reach into his or her brain to educate them. Your PowerPoint presentation is firstly a presentation and secondly supported with striking visual aids.

2. Valentines day - My family celebrated at a local restaurant chain store. 14 years ago I took my wife-to-be on our second date. Sweltering hot summer evening in Pretoria, driving a 20 year old dented and rusting Chevrolet 3800. If you had told me that one day we would be blissfully married and living in the USA, I would have told you that you had been out in the sun too long. Us live in the USA? We worked in entry level positions in dead-end departments in a South African Government service. I struggled to put petrol in the car let alone buy an airplane ticket. The sun was certainly powerful enough on that day to cause delusions.

Well, here we are in 2008. MBA certifcate hanging on the wall, helping clients all over the world to dramatically increase business presentations through effective PowerPoint Presentations. As Alan Weiss says "Ya never know". You have to try.

You have to try and pursue a higher traditional degree if you need it for your career. (Starting my path towards my MBA through years of part-time study proved to be a wise decision, hence my steadfast belief that everyone needs higher education). If can do it with my checkered academic record, then most certainly can get your next degree as well. But I digress.

If you being tells you to move to a different country to fulfill your destiny, then you have to try. You won't know how successful you can be, unless you try.

What is your being telling you? What is your next step? Are you willing to act despite your fears, self-doubts and the abundance of people around you "advising" you on your foolishness? True, you may fail. But I bet you that you have a greater chance of succeeding if you "burn the boats" and put your mind towards success.

Presentation Dragon

What is your enemy during your presentation? Notice that I said "What", not "Who is your enemy?"

Your enemy is not the heckler in the room or the A/V crew. Your enemy is the dragon called sameness. Sameness in your slides is your worst PowerPoint enemy.

If you have the same monotonous tone when you speak and the same level of energy then your audience will become numb to your message. You must add variety to your presentations with audience interaction activities and stories and so on.

In your slides text is the root cause of sameness. Line after boring line after boring slide of bullet points numbs your audience. Who can remember what you said on slide 32 as you read slide 65 to your audience? No-one. Not even you.

Overcome sameness in your slides by designing each slide to be unique and memorable. Use high-resolution photographs, limited colour and place slide components assymetrically.

Review your latest slideshow. With this knowledge, how can you slay the dragon of sameness in your PowerPoint slideshows?

Video clips in PowerPoint Presentations

I recently enjoyed a very good PowerPoint presentation. The slides were varied and the presentation included volunteers from the audience in numerous exercises. There were only a few slides with text on them and these did not distract from the overall presentation.

We also enjoyed video clips in the presentation. These clips were embedded in the PowerPoint slideshow - which is the very best method to utilize video during your presentaion. No fumbling around to open the video player software and find the correct starting point.

I noticed that the atmosphere changed during the video clip, which strengthens my belief that including video clips in your PowerPoint Presentation increases your risk of losing control of your presentation.

Here was the situation:
1. Audience is fully engaged with speaker.
2. Speaker runs 3 minute video clip.
3. Audience is interested in video clip.
4. Audience becomes engaged in video. (Atmosphere changes and video clip becomes the center of attention)
5. Video ends abruptly and speaker steps in. (Audience takes a moment to refocus and think "Where were we again?")

If you include video clips in your PowerPoint presentation, then:
1. Test your sound equipment ahead of time, so that the whole room will be able to hear the clip.
2. Introduce the clip and transition into it. Tell the audience what you want them to get out of the clip, what they should pay attention to, and so on.
3. Run the clip. Keep it under 4 minutes.
4. After the video has run, realize that your audience is not where you left them before the clip. The video took them somewhere else. Bring them back with a transition by saying, "Let's recap - what did you observe during this clip?"

Next time you are tempted to include video clips in your presentation, follow these four steps to ensure a successful experience for your audience.

What happens at a Toastmaster Meeting?

Now that I have participated in Toastmaster meetings since October 2004, I have forgotten what it feels like to a first timer. A new Toastmaster notices the following at a well-run meeting:

1. Lots of applause.
2. Fast paced progress through the agenda.
3. Many speakers. Prepared speeches, Table Topics, and Evaluations.
4. Although everyone seems to know what to do and what is going on, the new Toastmaster is
mystified as to how everyone knows which ritual to perform at the given time.

Along my Toastmaster journey, I was told that watching a Toastmaster meeting resembles a hunter looking over the veld.

At first, everything is peaceful. Then a tail pops out above the grass and the tail begins to move. The hunter watches the tail go back and forth, sometimes in a straight line with purpose, and sometimes in random movements. Puzzled, our hunter investigates and find that the tail is attached to a warthog who is following a trail.

When our hunter was looking over the grass, a moving tail made no sense. But watching a warthog work resolutely towards a goal makes perfect sense.

A new Toastmaster has the same impression at a well-run club meeting. Many seemingly unrelated activites are merely the tail in the grass, indicating a group of individuals working resolutely towards improving communication and leadership skills while having fun.

The next time you see activities that don't make sense to you, but the participants are growing and having fun at the same time, remember the tale of the warthog tail. Then investigate to see if you can find the warthog, because you may just want to and join in the fun at Toastmasters.

Please review my slides

Can you review someone's slides and predict the outcome of the presentation?

Slides and stories and delivery style are intertwined like wind, a sailor and his sailboat. Some sailboats are faster than others, but can a good sailor in a slow boat win a race against a bad sailor in a fast boat? Of course. Looking at photos of a slow boat and a fast boat won't get me place bets on who will win a boat race.

When I review a client's slides, I take pains to point out that the slides are merely one component of the presentation. Unless the client is simply reading the slides to the audience then I cannot determine the resulting presentaiton from just reviewing the slides.

I have learned that when I review slides that eliminating text is the easiest path to dramatically improve a presentation from Audience "Aggravation" to "Toleration". I have not yet met a presentation that suffers from reducing the volume of text on a slideshow. After removing text though the next levels of improvement become harder as we implement increasing levels of the Pow'Rful Philosophy.

The Pow'rFul Philosohphy advocates for your audience by developing slideshows with unique photos, images and supplementing your presentation with personal stories and examples. Stories and examples are not captured in the slideshow. All that a good slideshow has is photos, giant text and unique images. A good presenter works off this minimalistic slide show to devilver a great presentation by adding stories. A poor presenter mumbles through the slides, clueless as to what the photos represent.

When you review your slide shows, what do you see? Can another presenter take your slideshow and deliver the same presentation? If so, go back to the storyboard. No-one else should be able to deliver your presentation, even if they have your slideshow. You need to create a slideshow supports your unique presentation with your unique stories and examples.