Public speaker and former journalist Graham Jones is an internet psychologist who runs a consultancy helping companies who need to make better use of their websites
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getbusiness: Could you perk-up your presentations?
By Graham JonesOctober 09, 2012
Have you been watching any of the party political conferences on TV recently?
Thought not...!
They are hardly riveting stuff are they? Some of the speeches seem so boring. Is it any wonder that most people are not interested in politics?
The televised speeches of those dreary politicians are in stark contrast to the rousing talks I heard at the weekend when I attended the Annual Convention of the Professional Speaking Association.
Obviously you'd expect people who earn their living speaking at business meetings and conferences to do well on the platform. The politicians could learn a thing or two from them...!
But so too could many business people. Far too often for my liking I have sat in business meetings being bored rigid by someone droning on and on as they read their slides out loud, their back towards the audience. Some people appear to assume that PowerPoint is a device for reading things out, rather than being a visual aid.
At the Professional Speaking Association meeting hardly anyone used PowerPoint. Those that did relied almost exclusively on pictures and spoke directly to the audience without using any notes. That's how a business presentation really should be, yet few are like this.
Is it any wonder that businesses sometimes fail to get their message across? They often have to repeat things time and time again during internal meetings or in sales pitches. Why? Because their presentations made little or no memorable impact.
Thankfully for local businesses there is help at hand because the Professional Speaking Association now has a Thames Valley Region which meets every month at the Malmaison Hotel, opposite Reading Station. You can check out when their next event is being held at: http://professionalspeakingassociation.eventbrite.co.uk
Even if you are not a professional speaker you will pick up some great tips from these folks and improve your business communication as a result.
Visit Graham's blog at www.grahamjones.co.uk
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