Home Archives for Words per Minute
November 18, 2011 Leave a Comment

20 Tips for Delivering a Successful Presentation

Presenting to Group

Presenting to Group

Have you been asked to speak or deliver a presentation at an upcoming event? Once you have accepted the invitation to speak or present, you need to start preparing. Where do you begin?

Successful presenters follow a process. They have a system which they have developed over the years. They use a checklist of Best Practices to help ensure that they deliver successful presentations every time!

So, you may be asking … “Where do I get a list of tips? Has someone created a checklist that I can use?”

Fortunately, you have come to the right location! I have created a checklist of “20 Tips for a Successful Presentation” that you can download – for free!

Click on this link to download my 20 Tips for a Successful Presentation as an Adobe PDF.

Here is my list of the 20 Tips that I use whenever I speak or deliver a presentation. These are also the tips that I share with my clients when I coach them to deliver successful presentations.  You will learn about:

  • How to discover your “Words-per-Minute” (WPM) Count
  • The “B-L-O-T” (Bottom Line On Top) Technique
  • The “Power of the Pause”

And 17 additional tips. Be sure to download the complete checklist  of  “20 Tips for a Successful Presentation” to get more information about each tip:

Tips While Preparing Your Presentation

  • Tip #1 – Prepare with your audience in mind
  • Tip #2 – Begin your presentation with “The End in Mind”
  • Tip #3 – Use the classic model to structure your presentation
  • Tip #4 – Prepare by writing out your presentation

Click on this link to download your copy of my 20 Tips for a Successful Presentation

Tips for Delivering Your Presentation

  • Tip #5 – Memorize two sections of your presentation
  • Tip #6 – Communicate and confirm your equipment needs in advance
  • Tip #7 – Get comfortable with the physical setting
  • Tip #8 – Your audience will “Tune-in / Tune out” during your presentation
  • Tip #9 – Remember the “Power of the Pause!”
  • Tip #10 – Maintain Eye-contact with your audience
  • Tip #11 – Pace your presentation

Follow this link to download a PDF of my 20 Tips for a Successful Presentation

Tips for PowerPoint

PowerPoint Tips

Tips for Creating PowerPoint Slides

  • Tip #12 – You are the Presentation!
  • Tip #13 – Do not write complete sentences on your slides!
  • Tip #14 – Take advantage of the “White Space” on your slides
  • Tip #15 – Choose appropriate visual images

Want to get a copy of this checklist – complete with details for each of these tips? Click here to download 20 Tips for a Successful Presentation as a PDF.

Do you want to learn how to use PowerPoint effectively? Click on this link to learn more about my DVD-ROM, “The 50 Best Tips for PowerPoint 2007”

Tips for Engaging Your Audience

  • Tip #16 – Phrases to avoid
  • Tip #17 – Phrases to substitute
  • Tip #18 Encourage audience questions
  • Tip #19 – Audiences remember stories

Get your free copy of this checklist. Click on this link to download 20 Tips for a Successful Presentation

Tip for Delivering a Successful Presentation

  • Tip #20 – Visualize your Successful Presentation!

So, there is the checklist that I use. Be sure to download your copy to learn more about each of these “20 Tips for a Successful Presentation.”

Do you have a favorite tip? What works for you? Add your comment in the area below this article. Or you can send it to me via email: danny@thecompanyrocks.com

Read or Forward this Article from Ezine Articles Website

A variation of this article is purclished on the Ezine Articles Website  – www.ezinearticles.com where you can read it or forward it to your friends and colleagues. Click here for the direct link to the article.

Invitation to Visit My New Online Shopping Website

I have just opened my new, secure online shopping website. I invite you to visit http://shop.thecompanyrocks.com to see all of the products and resources that I offer.

 

 

Link to this post!
Filed Under: Ezine Articles, Powerpoint Techniques, PowerPoint Video Training, Speaking, Words per Minute, Words per Minute Tagged: , , , , , , ,
February 28, 2009

Statistics Do Not Tell Complete Story

Recently, I was asked to contribute an article on persuasion to another blog. It is a text article. And, I like the way that it turned out.

Here, is a video presentation of that article. Increasingly, I am inclined to contribute video blogs – in addition to traditional text blogging. Both forms of blogging are attractive and each attracts its own audience.

I am interested in hearing your thoughts on both: the topic of video vs. text blogging and on the content of this blog on persuasion.

Here are the Words per Minute Statistics for this article.

  • @475 words.
  • Length is 3:27 minutes
  • WPM Count = 136 – This is slower than my “normal” WPM count of 160.
Link to this post!
Filed Under: Business Communications, Communications, Persuasion, Presentations, Public Speaking, Words per Minute Tagged: , , , , ,
April 10, 2008 3 Comments

What is your speaking rate?

No, this article is not a discussion about how much you should charge to deliver a speech. Charge as much as you dare – or at least what the market will bear. But first make sure that your content and delivery are top-notch.

Speaking of delivery. How fast or slow do you speak? Do you speak too fast for your audience to understand you? Or so slow that your audience falls asleep or tunes you out?

Walter Cronkite remains one of the most respected communicators in broadcast history. He paid close attention to his delivery:

“Cronkite trained himself to speak at a rate of 124 words per minute in his newscasts, so that viewers could clearly understand him. In contrast, Americans average about 165 words per minute, and fast, difficult to understand talkers speak close to 200 words per minute.“

How do you rate? The correct answer is that you should match your number of words per minute (WPM) to fit your audience and the setting for your speech. The larger the room and the larger your audience, the slower you should speak. In a more intimate setting (one-on-one or small group around a table) you can speak faster but be sure to watch your audience’s body language. Watch for clues that you need to either speed up or slow down. We listen with our eyes!

Here are four tips to use as you prepare your next speech or presentation:

  1. When you are rehearsing, be sure to time yourself. Record your time. And record your rehearsals (audio /video)
  2. If you are using PowerPoint, take advantage of the Rehearse Timings feature. (Menu – Slide Show – Rehearse Timings) This will record the amount of time you spend on each slide (or each bullet point) as well as the overall length of your presentation. As a bonus, you can incorporate these timings to allow the slides to advance automatically when you do your presentation.
  3. Prepare a shorter version of your speech. Quite often, you will be asked to “speed it up” because the program is running behind schedule. DON’T! Don’t speed up your delivery – a recipe for disaster. Rather, deliver your streamlined-version. Quite often, this will be the more effective speech – you benefit from brevity!
  4. Always memorize – two parts of your speech: Your first two minutes. Your closing minute.

Pay attention as others speak. How do you react as an audience? As a listener? Does the speaker engage you? Do you follow them? Do you understand them? What is their speaking rate?

Of course, variety is the spice of life. You need to vary your rate of speaking to reflect the tone of your content. Speed up when you are excited; slow down when you are making an important point. And always remember “the power of the pause.”

Learn to master your speaking rate and you will achieve your goal – your message will be heard and understood.

Learn to master your speaking rate and you will be asked back to speak again. Your reputation will grow and more audiences will want to listen to what you have to say. And… the rate that you can charge to speak will also improve. You will be worth it. You will have earned it.

Link to this post!
Filed Under: Business Communications, Communications, Public Speaking, Speeches, Training Tagged: , ,