Why make a fool of yourself?

I was in a workshop this week with 14 other people . Our presenter started off by declaring "Let's start off by introducing ourselves, and a brief background".

So far, so good. We have probably all been in this feared situation of "Let's start off by introducing ourselves and our little known secrets", or "Turn to your neighbour and ask about their favorite pet/childhood memory" or something equally nauseating that workshop leaders find amusing.

I was pleased. We were 2 minutes into the workshop and my breakfast was still intact. I consider this a win/win situation, given my experience of workshops over the past few years.

Then, the inevitable happened. Our presenter declared "I will not remember your names, but go ahead and introduce yourselves anyway".

OK. So now what? Why bother introducing ourselves if it will add no value to the workshop? (Fortunately bad presenters give me truckloads of material for this blog, so I did not complain).

Don't do this to your audiences. Take a class or read a book on memory techniques. It is not rocket science and is a mandatory skill for a workshop leader.

Memory techniques that work for me are to find a distinguishing facial feature and relate it to something else. For example, I met a person with first name of Mark. His nose looked like a checkMark and I instantly had his name for easy reference. You can also relate a new person to some one you know - If you meet a "John" with a big beard, think of him as "John the Baptist", and you will astonish him when you recall his name.

Of course, you can also request everyone to wear the tried and true method of name tags. Tent cards have also worked for me in workshops.

Whatever you do, do not ask your audience to introduce themselves and then tell them you will not put in any effort to remember their names. It is unprofessional and easily corrected.

Why would you want to listen to a presenter who has informed you that you are not important in her little world? I am proud to admit that I was onboard for the first 2.5 minutes of this four hour workshop.

Strategizing

I am in the process of strategizing and setting new directions for this blog and my newsletter. For the past few months I have felt that we are now beating dead horses concerning PowerPoint, Toastmasters and public speaking. It appears that everything we need to discuss about PowerPoint presentations has been said and much of the current information is on my blog and website and book.

Of course, even though many of us presenters who support the PowerPoint Visual Revolution have shouted our message from the rooftops, in outstanding books such as Presentation Zen, and Beyond the Bullet Points and products such as "Give a better speech", the vast majority of PowerPoint slides shows drive the audience to snoozeville, and leave them there.

So, the bottom line is that I can add no more value to this Visual Revolution. Anybody who wants to give a better PowerPoint presentation has many tools available, and can contact me for personal coaching as well.

I am moving on to new things now. You will see new service offerings on my website and the theme for my newsletter and this blog will also change. I will be focusing more on bringing additional value to Project Managers.

Of course, I still enjoy Toastmasters and public speaking and will continue to help presenters wherever I can.

Donate Blood - Play Ice Hockey

Last night I enjoyed a Wolf Pack Ice Hockey game at the XL Center in Hartford, with my son. They won with 2-1 against the Portland Pirates with the deciding goal coming in overtime during the sudden death playoff.

Three Pirates were bloodied during the game. Pucks, hockey sticks and fast-moving human bodies produced bloody mouths and pain that I imagine requires strong pain killers this morning.

We enjoyed the game and the atmosphere. Even though I have no connection with the players, you can't help but to be swept up in the victory when the winning theme blasts through the stadium and fans weap tears of joy.

Good job to both teams.

Exit Slides

Last week I presented at the East Windsor Rotary club. What a great group of people!! I enjoyed talking with this club and hope to be invited back again. I hope that the club also learned about my topic - the History of South Africa.

I created the PowerPoint slideshow to be presented from start to finish. We normally start the slideshow at the beginning and keep going until it the last slide is done. One problem with this approach is that the slide show is not flexible. We can only shorten the presentation to a point, if for example, the prior speakers go way over time and we have to start 20 minutes late in a 40 minute presentation.

It is a common situation to have the presentation time cut, to keep the program on schedule. For example, prior speakers often do not pay attention to the time at all, and you are expect to adjust accordingly. Fortunately, as experienced speakers, we are all aware of this common occurrence and are prepared for it.

My situation last week brought me to realize the need and value of building "Exit Slides" along the way, in the presentation. For example, if a slideshow has 50 slides, then I am goping to experiment with creating "Exit Slides" after every 10 slides. In this case, if I see that time is running out faster than we are progressing through the slide show, then I can stop on an "Exit Slide", and gracefully move into my presentation conclusion.

The audience has not seen the presentation before and we are serving the audience better by being ready to exit at multiple points during the PowerPoint slides, rather than being forced to show all the slides through to the end. We are not serving the audience by either rushing through the slides, or by sticking to the presentation timing and then going way over the time allotted for our speech.

So, the lesson from this blog posting is : "Think about how you can create exit points in your slideshows, so that you have graceful options to shorten your presentation if desired".

Go forth, and keep safe out there on the platforms. Time challenged speakers are already scheduled to speak before your next presentation...

Value of certification

Should you work hard to improve your education and get a certification? A certification confirms that you have met a minimum criteria of expertise in your field of expertise.

I believe that certifications help you to get more interviews. Read this article if you are debating whether or not to obtain a project management certification.

Hanging out the dirty laundry

Here in Connecticut, Governor Rell has announced budget cuts in an attempt to balance the budget. I don't envy this job in this economy. Overall, Jodi Rell has done a good job of leading Connecticut after John Rowland's disgrace and conviction.

With the announced budget cuts, some of the current State government spending is being highlighted. I am sure that some people will be offended about what I write below, but really, "what were they thinking?" is a phrase that comes to mind here. Who thought, and why would you use my tax money to fund any of these initiatives? How long would we continue to have thrown money down these drains if the current economy had not brought Governer Jodi to analyse them, and cut them?

Funding will be cut for the following:
1. The Commission on Aging. That's right, we apparently have State employeess that get paid and hold a seat on the Commission on Aging. What do they do? Get paid to watch people grow old? Get paid to watch each other grow old?
2. The tax credit for making Films in Connecticut. Wow! When last did you see a blockbuster from Connecticut.

I suspect that cutting the budget for these two initiatives will leave me with a feeling "Why didn't we do this a long time ago?"

P.S. I am concerned about the cuts to the Child Advocate's office. I believe that we need Child Advocates, and while we can do without the Commission on Aging, Child Advocates are speaking for the children who can't speak for themselves.

All things taxes

Darn!!. As an honest tax-payer, I am preparing my 2008 taxes returns this week.

This means that I don't qualify for a seat in the Obama administration.

(And I sure wish that I earned enough to owe $120,000 in taxes) I would be the happiest blogger alive if my income resulted in $120,000 of taxes, and I would smile broader than a kid in a Lindts chocolate store as I spent the "After Tax" heap of dough.

Why do politicians believe that they are exempt from paying taxes? Just because you have a government job at the highest level, you don't have to follow the rules like the honest people that you are supposed to be serving? How can a dishonest politician make judgement calls on "Stimulus packages", when they are not accountable for the results, and don't have to pay taxes to fund it?

I say "Throw them out". Every politician that is found guilty of owing taxes should be thrown out of the administration in disgrace. And then forced to pay taxes, like the rest of us.