I want to stop the slide madness! How many times have you been in an audience and pleaded with the universe to free you from another boring presentation overloaded with slide gimmick after slide gimmick?
Talented and thoughtful experts promote unique ways of creating slide presentations and the use of technology to create interactive presentations. YET--none of them address the real issue which is that no slide deck, interactive technology projected on a giant screen or slick webinar or video conference is really as meaningful as smart, creative people engaging their audience from the depths of their passion and authenticity.
Listen to experts talk informally to a group. You hear their enthusiasm and feel their energy and you're infected with the desire to learn more, have the benefits for yourself, or bring them in to work with you. Then put those same people in front of a slide deck and what happens to them? Way too often, the natural language is lost, the body language becomes stiff and distant, and they sound no different from the hundreds of other business presentations you've listened to.
This happens because we've bought into the idea that the slides are the presentation. Every day I hear people say "I've got a presentation coming up--got to work on the slides." When I ask them how much time they'll allocate between creating the slide deck and practicing/rehearsing they look at me with surprise. If left to their own habits, they'll use 90% of their time on the deck and barely 10% practicing/rehearsing to deliver their content.
Please--stop giving all your power away! No slide deck is better at communicating than YOU are!
Try it and see. Promise yourself that for each of your next 5 presentations, you'll create a schedule for your preparation. Then allocate 25-30% by hours or minutes for slide work and all the rest of your time for crafting your oral content and practicing/rehearsing.
If you make this promise to yourself and actually stick to it, you will be delighted that you've been successful beyond your wildest dreams. And let me know how it goes.
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