Presentation and Public Speaking News

• Public Speaking
• Debate

Misinformation is the scourge of our time. It confuses and divides us and can do irreparable harm. What can we do to fight it? For the majority of us today working in business, life is good. In the last 15 years or so, I have observed huge improvements in the way large companies and corporations respond and communicate with their customers and peers on issues that matter: climate change, DE&I and Digital transformation being the most important. Our leaders now actually tell stories that inspire us and share their vulnerabilities. We have seen workspaces improve both in comfort, facilities and aesthetic. Our working weeks have become more flexible than ever, on average spending 2 days of our working week at home. Our children see us more and many of us no longer have to wait for retirement to do the things we really want to do. All of this, whether you are grateful for it or not, is in direct response to the commoditization of our individual power; from the small devices in our pockets accessing the information that we need to the social media accounts that we use and give us a voice that our peers listen to. We have come far and quickly. But the 21st century, for all its advances, is bringing us new problems, by actors who wish to reverse this empowerment. One of the weapons in their armory is misinformation, a kind of noxious drip-feed of poison, which is causing us irreparable harm.

• Leadership

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has reached the parts that other leaders haven’t reached in a long time. After weeks of an army build-up on the borders of Ukraine from the Russian state, and on the eve of a massive Russian invasion, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy, hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned, made a video statement to his people from the centre of Kyiv which inspired not only Ukrainians, but also the rest of the world to the core:

• Public Speaking

Michael Rickwood from Ideas on Stage on how he got to meet the man who started it all for the presentation world. Once in a while we set ourselves some great tasks. Interviewing my presentation hero was a particularly appealing one. Over the years I have read many great books on business communication and have taken inspiration from authors from all facets of our industry: Nancy Duarte, Garr Reynolds, Patsy Rodenburg, Dan and Chip Heath, Guy Kawasaki, Simon Sinek, Dan Pink, Dr. John Medina, Roger Mavity to name but a few. But there is one author whose books I come back to consistently, who, in my opinion, is the founding father of what we are all doing today in the presentations consulting industry. That author is Jerry Weissman.

• Public Speaking

We have recently completed coaching all the finalists for the latest installment of the INSEAD Venture Competition (IVC), an event where over one hundred teams of entrepreneurs pitch their start-up ideas for cash prizes. This is an internal competition where all MBA students are invited to participate. More than the cash prizes, teams are mentored through the process by experts in launching businesses, investors, and management consultants. Teams gain world class advice and guidance towards launching their start-up businesses.

• Public Speaking
• Debate

Say what you like about Boris Johnson, his style connects with the mob. Our institutional leaders need to put aside their intellectual bias and start figuring out why it’s working. Last month in London, Boris Johnson gave a speech at the Confederation of British Industry in South Shields in the North of England. He stumbled, got lost in his notes, and started talking about Peppa Pig. You might start reading this and assume where it’s going. That a British prime minister talking about a children’s cartoon character, a Picasso-esque hairdryer shaped pig, in an address to senior business leaders, was an embarrassment and makes the UK look weak on the international business stage? Perhaps, but mock Boris Johnson at your peril.

• Public Speaking

Why a 13-year-old speech given by a former US president holds a blueprint solution for our modern problem. In 2008, during his campaigning, Barack Obama gave a rallying speech in Wisconsin on the power of words and resistance to hope. “Don’t tell me words don’t matter! I have a dream, just words?! All men are created equal, just words?!” It’s true that speeches don’t solve all problems, but what is also true is if we cannot inspire the country to believe again then it doesn’t matter how many policies and plans we have.

Business Presentation Revolution covers the five stages of the Presentation SCORE Method, or pSCORE, giving you a simple, proven process to follow to prepare and deliver successful presentations every time. In this extract from Business Presentation Revolution, author Phil Waknell outlines the fifth and final stage: Connection. Having the fastest, best designed and most attractive car doesn’t guarantee you’ll win the race. The performance of the driver is just as important.

Business Presentation Revolution covers the five stages of the Presentation SCORE Method, or pSCORE, giving you a simple, proven process to follow to prepare and deliver successful presentations every time. In this extract from Business Presentation Revolution, author Phil Waknell outlines the fourth stage: Illustration. Humans can only process one linguistic input at a time: this means that if you show your audience a slide while you’re speaking, they have to choose either to read or to listen. So, if your slide features a lot of text and detail, it might make a useful reference document but a terrible visual aid. If you follow my advice and keep your slides simple, with only a few words, they’ll be good visual aids but worthless as handouts.