Ask the Expert

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.  During these challenging times, this means that you need to take charge and lead your team or department accomplish your goals and overcome challenges. But what’s the best way to be a leader?  According to The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner, the No. 1 trait people look for in a leader is honesty. There is more to being an honest leader than just telling the truth. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Be proactive about telling people what is going on. If the rumor miss is running, arrange a meeting to share what you know.
• Rehearse what you will say and stay factual.
• Minimize your personal bias toward the circumstances.
• Ask questions.
• Let people share their feelings and ideas.

Remember, to be the kind of leader people will willingly follow; honesty is always the best policy.

Make every presentation great!
Sheri Jeavons

To keep your virtual audience from tuning out of your presentation, consider using interaction tools every one to two minutes. This lets your audience know that you’ll be asking for their input, looking for their response and requesting questions.

No matter what web-based meeting platform you use, it surely offers tools for interacting with attendees. These tools are the key to keeping your attendees focused and engaged.  The following tips will help you plan for interaction and help ensure your attendees are focused and getting the most out of your presentation

1. Strategize – Ask yourself:

• Who is going to be on the call? How many attendees?
• What do they want to know?
• From whom?
• When?
• At what point might my attendees lose focus?
• What is the best way to ask questions? Live questions, use chat or polls?

2. Build in time for interacting instead of powering through your presentation.

3. Plan on creating more slides with less information on each. This allows for more movement on the screen.

Make every presentation great!
Sheri Jeavons

The No. 1 way to keep your audience’s attention is to focus your content on what THEY need to know.

It’s easy to develop your content based on what you want to tell them, but it is critical that you take a step back and think like your audience.

• Think about who will attend your presentation.
• What benefit will they receive from learning what you have to tell them?
• They must understand how your information relates to them specifically.

To really bring your message home, use someone’s name. For example, “Mary, you’ve always said that it takes you two hours to generate the weekly report, and no one runs reports faster than you. With this new software, you’ll be able to do the weekly reporting in thirty minutes or less.”

Make every presentation great!
Sheri Jeavons

Between layoffs, budget cuts, shortened work weeks and more work than we can handle, chances are someone is going to catch you off guard with an issue that you’ll need to deal with on the spot. When this happens you may tend to ramble, make excuses or just get flustered.

Keeping our four-step Impromptu Process in mind will help you organize your thoughts and diffuse a potentially difficult situation:

• Step 1: Opening Statement: Your opening statement must be in response to the question or problem.  Make it a positive one or two sentence statement that addresses what the person originally wanted from you, but has not yet received.
• Step 2: State the Problem: Clearly state what you believe the problem or request to be.
• Step 3: Give Solutions: Present at least two solutions. Avoid giving excuses.
• Step 4: Close: Summarize what you have said and state your willingness to solve the problem. Give specific direction as to what needs to happen next.

Make every presentation great!

Sheri Jeavons

We’ve all been there… You’ve survived your presentation. You’ve delivered all your content, and you feel like things went well. Then, you utter the daring phrase, “Are there any questions?” That’s when you feel your confidence slip away.

So, how do you handle difficult questions? The following four-step process will help keep your confidence up and position you as the expert you are.

1. Listen to the entire question. Don’t start formulating your answer until the questioner has finished.
2. Repeat or rephrase the question to the entire audience. Shorten the question and use more neutral language to remove hostility and emotion.
3. Answer the question. Be honest, concise, and answer to the entire group.

When you’ve completed the Q&A session, go back and repeat the conclusion and action steps from your presentation. This helps leave the audience on a positive note, telling them your presentation was good for them and what they need to do next.

Make every presentation great!
Sheri Jeavons

If you’ve attended webinars or web meetings, chances are you had a hard time paying attention. It is my opinion that the responsibility for holding attendee’s attention falls solely with the presenter. 

If you find yourself in the position of having to conduct virtual communications, here are a few tips to help keep your audience on track and engaged in your presentation.

1. Set guidelines for focused participation. A few ground rules go a long way in managing the expectations of your virtual audience.
2. Quit “um-ing” and “ah-ing”.  Instead of using these distracting non-words, pause.
3. Build in time for interaction.  Plan on reaching out to your attendees using the tools available in your online meeting software including polls, chat, emoticons and the whiteboard.

For more in-depth training on how to conduct dynamic webinars, sign up for our Webinars that Wow Virtual Public Program.

Make Every Presentation Great!
Sheri Jeavons

There’s no doubt that we’re addicted to e-mail.  However, in this on-demand world we have become extremely informal in our communications. This can pose a real problem when it comes to credibility and professionalism.  Here’s how you can make your everyday e-mails stand out from the rest of the clutter:

1. Use a specific subject line.
2. Have a clear purpose.
3. Check punctuation, sentence structure and spelling.
4. Read e-mails 3 times before sending.
5. If it’s an important correspondence, leave it for a while and come back to read it again before you click send.
6. Add the “to” address after you’ve completed the e-mail. That way you won’t accidentally send it before it’s ready to go.

Implementing these simple steps can help increase your productivity and credibility.

Make Every Presentation Great!

Sheri Jeavons

In response to the questions I received regarding my previous blog about communicating with executives, I’d like to provide some additional guidance on these critical communications.

In order to make your recommendations short, sweet and to the point, consider using the Ten-Minute Solution Process. If you organize your information in the following way, you’ll be able to concisely pitch your idea, increase your credibility and improve your chances of success:

1. Identify the pain or change opportunity

2. Propose goal-related solutions

3. Quantify solution options

4. Describe the pros and cons of each solution

5. Urge specific action steps

Make Every Presentation Great!

Sheri Jeavons

When communicating with an E-Level professional, you must be decisive, persuasive and concise. Time is the biggest issue for any executive. So how do you make the most of your meeting?

1. Respect their time. Be early and end on time.
2. Have a prepared agenda. State early on what decisions need to be made and what timeline applies.
3. Present your issue with several recommendations.
4. Be honest, direct and concise.
5. Be prepared to edit your agenda.

Preparation and a positive attitude will create the best image for you and will allow you to achieve your desired results. Establish yourself as someone your top executives can rely on for business solutions.

Make Every Presentation Great!
Sheri Jeavons

I often receive questions about PowerPoint slides and how they should be used.  Some people believe PowerPoint is simply an awful tool.  I maintain that the problem is not with the tool or the technology, but rather with how it is used by the presenter. 

If you cram a bunch of content that your audience can’t see or read onto your slide, of course it will be a distraction.  That kind of material isn’t valuable to you or your audience.  What should you do instead?  Here are a few of the top tips I offer regarding making the most of your PowerPoint slides:

• Use bullet points only (no sentences)
• Minimum font size guideline is 28 point
• Use color
• Use one simple font
• Use upper and lower case
• 4 x 6 rule: Use either four lines of text with six words per line, or six lines of text with four words per line
• Enlarge one section of a diagram or spreadsheet for easy explanation and comprehension

The bottom line is to keep it simple.  Think of your audience. What do they need to know and how can you communicate that information in a clear, concise way?

Make Every Presentation Great!

Sheri Jeavons