February 27, 2009 by Jerry
1. Get out of the way. When the demo starts, you become subordinate to the demo and are no longer the focus of the presentation. Shift your position to the periphery, and make the demo the center of attention. Veteran actors get out of the way when children and dogs are involved. The demo in business is the equivalent of the cute kid or the adorable puppy on stage. Step aside and let your demo be the focus. 2. Become the Voice-Over narrator. Take a lesson from how the narratives are done in well-made documentaries. The narrator is unseen, but
(Read More...)
Filed under: Blogs
Tagged:
February 26, 2009 by Jerry
Next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, March 1-3, in Palm Desert, California, The Demo Conference returns with its 2009 edition. Over the past 18 years, the high profile annual gathering has introduced more than fifteen hundred breakthrough technology products, among them, Skype, Slingbox, and TiVo. This year, as usual, 70 brand new products from start-up companies and global enterprises around the world will have their premiere in front of an A-list audience of industry influencers and press. Each demo has the very narrow window of a six-minute presentation, and there is no second chance to make a first impression. As anyone
(Read More...)
Filed under: Blogs
Tagged:
February 25, 2009 by Jerry
Part III: The Art Oprah Winfrey’s powerful appeal that draws 46 million viewers a week is based on empathy, a scientifically-proven human connection discussed in yesterday’s post. To understand how she communicates that dynamic—the art that leverages the science—let’s compare her style with that of other prominent talk show hosts, focusing on seven key presentation factors. Although each of these hosts is quite successful in his own right, none of them has nearly the emotional impact on his audiences as Oprah does on hers. Roles. Because of her grounding in news, Miss Winfrey conducts her interviews by immersing herself
(Read More...)
February 24, 2009 by Jerry
Part II: The Science The science that fuels Oprah Winfrey’s enormous popularity is empathy, the universal human dynamic that has recently been gaining more and more attention in the media and scientific communities. Empathy, evolved from the Greek word for emotion or affection, refers to shared or vicarious feelings, as distinct from sympathy, which is more about pity, and implies separate feelings. On Miss Winfrey’s show, the empathy that resonates between her and her guests—whether they are celebrities or men and women from ordinary walks of life—fairly jumps off the video screen. In a virtuous cycle of emotions, that empathy
(Read More...)
February 23, 2009 by admin
On Thursday, February 26th from 7:30 AM through 9:00 AM, Jerry will be speaking at an event hosted by the Merimack Valley Chamber of Congress in Andover, MA. Jerry’s talk “The Power of Presentation,” is based on his new book The Power Presenter. The event is being held at the La Quinta Inn in Andover, MA. More information on Jerry’s talk is available on the MMVC website.
February 23, 2009 by Jerry
Part I: Oprah, Lucy, and Mary Oprah Winfrey shares a unique distinction with Lucille Ball, the 1950s television comedienne, and Mary Pickford, the 1920s movie actress: all three attained extraordinary popularity in front of the camera, and all three became powerhouses behind the camera, as heads of their own production studios. But Oprah differs from the other two women in that her stardom is based on her own personality, rather than on the assumed role of a character in a comedy or drama. Miss Ball played “Lucy,” a scatterbrained housewife, in her television series, and Miss Pickford, known as “America’s
(Read More...)
February 23, 2009 by admin
On Wednesday, February 25th from 7:00 PM through 8:30 PM, Jerry will be speaking at an event hosted by the Boston, MA chapter of ASTD [American Society for Training and Development]. Jerry’s talk “How to Knock It Out of the Park Each Time You Present,” is based on his new book The Power Presenter. The doors open for the event at 6:00 PM at the Regus Business Center in Newton, MA. More information on Jerry’s talk is available on the ASTD website.
February 20, 2009 by Jerry
Revolutionary Road is a high-powered, high-profile film with a first-rate cast headed by superstars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, directed by Sam Mendes, the prestigious British stage director, who is also Ms. Winslet’s husband; yet the only major Academy Award nomination the film received was for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. While that performance by Michael Shannon as a disturbed man on furlough from a mental institution was admirable, it was a sharp detour from the through line of the story. The central action of the film is the deteriorating marriage of the Wheelers, a 1950s
(Read More...)
Filed under: Blogs
Tagged:
February 19, 2009 by Jerry
After a long, intensive career in broadcasting, I went cold turkey on the medium and stopped watching television, except for news, football, and a few select programs. One of the select of the select, the only series on my DVR, is “The Daily Show.” Its appeal: Format: Pure television, rather than televised radio Intelligence level: Adult, rather than talking down to the audience Expression: Both sacred and profane, rather than bland pap Timeliness: Current, rather than designed for re-runs Point of view: Innovative, rather than imitative And, of course, Jon Stewart, the star and spirit behind the series,
(Read More...)
Filed under: Blogs
Tagged:
February 18, 2009 by Jerry
Matt Vasey, who is the Director of the American Distribution Channel at Microsoft Corporation, was a participant in a recent Power Presentations program at the Redmond campus. During the session on graphics design, one of his colleagues showed a bullet slide arranged in the format above. Matt gave his commentary about the content and then concluded, “I’m not crazy about that glottal stop.” His words stopped me in my tracks. A glottal stop is an esoteric phonetics term referring to an action of the vocal cords snapping shut over the glottis, the space between the cords, during speech. The action
(Read More...)
RSS Feed