 |
 |
 |
           |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
I Love the Smell of PowerPoint in the Morning: The 5 Sensory Approach to Business Presentations
You're in a conference room. You're giving a PowerPoint presentation to several of your colleagues...and your boss. On a scale of 1 to 5, how sensual is this experience? And just how important is sensuality in business-related PowerPoint presentations? Believe it or not, live PowerPoint presentations can be sensory, full-bodied experiences. Sadly, many presenters focus primarily on the visual elements of PowerPoint, adding a dizzying display of wild backgrounds, pictures, charts, animations, and bullet points...simply because PowerPoint makes it easy to do so. While focusing solely on visuals may stroke a presenter's ego, it does very little to provoke a positive emotional response from the audience. That's because information arrives in our brains through all five of our senses: taste, touch, sight, smell, and sound. Just how sensual are you willing to be when you give a PowerPoint presentation? Put another way, how well do you address each of the following five sensory areas? See PowerPoint Run... The best sensual presenters only use visual elements to activate the audience's imagination or emotions. As an audience member, when you feel your brain cells spark or your heartbeat increase upon seeing a graphic, you've been visually stimulated! Great visuals can stir your emotions?and spur you to take positive action. Sensual presenters skip endless, needless, hard-to-read, or boring visuals. They might be easy to add, but they do nothing positive for the audience. Now Hear This... Sound is an incredibly important part of any presentation. I went to hear a widely recognized expert on PowerPoint design speak last week...and almost went straight to sleep! It wasn't his visuals, it was his voice! His slides might have been eye candy, but they weren't enough. His bored monotone didn't match his widely purported passion for demonstrating and promoting excellent multimedia visuals. The most sensual presenters use a voice that projects enthusiasm for the subject matter at hand. And they skip the cheesy "ta-dahs" and other trite sound bites that inspire groans and eye-rolls! The Aroma of PowerPoint... If you think that you can't smell a PowerPoint presentation, think again. Oh, the fragrance of dry-erase markers on a white board! The odor of perspiration, day-old pizza, and stale cologne that lingers from the coworkers who met in the room before you! What kind of scent best compliments your message? An aromatherapist I know anoints her room with essential oils that elicit audience attention and interest. If this sounds too new-age goofy for you, how about a fresh pot of brewed coffee, a vase of flowers, a bowl of fruit - there are many business-acceptable ways to improve the aroma of your PowerPoint! PowerPoint is a Banquet... What's a business meeting without a nosh? Tasty little treats can really win over an audience. Sensual presenters score big points for providing a box of donuts, pizza, pastry, boxed lunch or other edible goodies for their audiences. Feel the PowerPoint... As an audience member, you're always touching or feeling something during a PowerPoint presentation. Super sensory presenters provide pleasant or useful items for their groups to feel. If you're presenting, consider pencils and paper, product samples, and porcelain cups instead of styrofoam. Make sure the room temperature is a little cool...the more bodies you have in the room, the warmer it will get (and warmth can make the audience sleepy!) All five senses provide a portal to the human mind. The more you can awaken and enliven your audience's senses, the more powerful your PowerPoint presentation can be. Since 1999, over a million people have accessed free PowerPoint tips, tricks, techniques, and templates at Laura's website, http://www.maniactive.com. Now, you can learn even more about using PowerPoint more effectively by listening to Laura's PowerPoint Podcasts or by subscribing to her PowerPoint blog
MORE RESOURCES:
Presentation - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Eight Success Tips for Your First Trade Show Booth Exhibiting in a trade show can involve a major investment of money and time. But the financial returns for your business can be excellent if you learn some of the secrets of trade show booth success before signing up for a show and investing in your displays. 35 Surefire Ways to Kill a Meeting 1. Play "find the meeting" by changing the location and time of your meeting at the last minute. I Love the Smell of PowerPoint in the Morning: The 5 Sensory Approach to Business Presentations You're in a conference room. You're giving a PowerPoint presentation to several of your colleagues. After the Speech Usually the emphasis on making an effective speech is what you do in preparation before the presentation begins. But if you speak very much, what you do after the speech can help you become a more effective speaker. PowerPoint Presentations: How to Use This Tool More Effectively Many of us use PowerPoint to convey a message to both small and large groups. Too often we see "death by powerpoint" in the corporate environment where people don't use it effectively. Presentation Power Does Not Come From PowerPoint You speak before a group. You present your message. Speech in Business The social skills of a small businessperson, franchisee, independent contractor or manager are all important. Speech and body language are first impressions and weigh heavily on the decision making process of a potential prospect or customer. Presentation Paranoia "The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public." (Sir George Jessel)Have you had this feeling before? Rest assured you are not alone. 8 Ways to Improve Your Presentation Skills 8 Ways to Improve Your Presentation Skills 1. Join Toastmasters. Super Preparation - Keys to Getting a Great Start to Every Presentation Super Preparation -Keys to Getting a Great Start to Every Presentation Novice and expert presenters alike have had the experience of feeling a little (or may be a lot) nervous before giving a talk. In working with hundreds of people to help them improve their presentation skills, one consistent theme has emerged: once people get started, assuming things go relatively well, they begin to relax, become more natural, less self conscious, and therefore more effective. Improve Your Bottom Line with What You Say When was the last time you thought about what you were actually saying to potential clients? Are you closing the deal more often than not? Or maybe it's time to revamp your elevator speech or introduction.Remember potential clients do not want to hear statistics about you and your company; they want to know how your product or service will benefit them and make their life easier. Trade Show Victory! So you're going to have a booth at a trade show. How exciting - or how terrifying - depending on your state of mind!First of all - remain calm - you're not the first person to do this. Death by PowerPoint! The most critical job of a manager, when you boil it all down, is communication. To be successful, a manager has to be effective in communicating one-on-one, in writing and in groups. Creating a Powerful Sales Presentation The quality of your sales presentation will often determine whether a prospect buys from you or one of your competitors. However, experience has taught me that most presentations lack pizzazz and are seldom compelling enough to motivate the other person to make a buying decision. Business Presentations - Use Power Pitching - Get the Personal Edge Whenever and whatever you're pitching, dozens of factors will figure in the final decision of your prospects. All else being equal, you have the edge if you can establish a personal connection. 10 Tips For Bringing Your Event To Life Your job as an event planner doesn't stop with the meeting in the company boardroom. You may be call upon to organize an employee appreciation event, an awards dinner, a product launch, the celebration of a company milestone, a gala recognizing a longtime employee's retirement, an incentive event for the company's sales force, a fundraising event, a holiday celebration?the list goes on and on. The Right Speaker Makes a BIG DIFFERENCE MORE and more corporations in Malaysia have awoken to the necessity of training and developing their people these days. Hence, many local speakers have emerged in recent years just as many foreign ones have already been flocking to Malaysia as far back as two decades ago. Building a Trade Show Display If you are taking your newest products to a trade show then you will need to come up with some ideas on how to build a trade show display in order to adequately market your products. You might seem at a loss and cannot think of anything, however building a trade show display is not so difficult if you sit down and think about it. Nonverbal Communication in Business There are five key elements that can make or break your attempt at successful nonverbal communication in business: Eye contact Gestures Movement Posture, and Written communication Let's examine each nonverbal element in turn to see how we can maximise your potential to communicate effectively.. Four Different Ways People Process Your Information There are four different ways that audience members assimilate information. They are: visual, auditory, auditory digital, and kinesthetic.
|
 |