There’s a bad thing going ’round.

It’s been with us for a long time. In plain sight, but mostly ignored. Or actually it has been excused with a phrase something like this:

“Everybody’s PowerPoint sucks. Mine is probably as good as everyone else’s.”

This downplays the immense value of having good-looking and effective visuals for your online pitch or presentation.

There are four main points I want to make here:

1. Visuals have to carry a greater load in most online presentations. They have to move faster and deliver more information. They also have to build that elusive audience engagement.
2. Excellent visuals immediately set you apart as top-notch. Your audience will know you are different, you care about details and your professionalism. You are someone they want to listen to, work with and give oodles of money to.
3. Effective PowerPoint will deliver your message powerfully. They will “get it.” If you do this right, your viewers will quickly buy into your message and ideas. They will follow the logical path that leads them to your call to action.
4. You will shine. You will have the confidence that comes from having superior tools to work with. You will stay on message. You and your team will be the rock stars of your pitch or presentation.

In my new live MasterClass, there is an entire module about building and delivering your very best visuals in our new online world.

My 4-Day Live MasterClass: Secrets to Delivering Brilliant Online Pitches and Presentations starts Monday, July 13th, 2020 and extends to the 16th (1 hour per day, 4 consecutive days at 1 pm ET) . Everything will be recorded if you can’t make it or want to be review later.

Registration (and a sizable discount) ends Saturday at midnight, July 11th, 2020 Eastern Time.

This MasterClass will be the proverbial dive deep into crafting, practicing and delivering presentations to your audience, clients or industry that set you way ahead of anyone else.

We will also cover:

• Learning how to build your confidence while you build and rehearse your presentation so that you will appear the ultimate professional
• How to practice the right way – I call it “Smart Practice”. This module alone, if followed even a little, will be worth 10 times the course fee.
• What the major differences between in-person and online offerings are and how to adjust every part of your presentation to fit your medium.
• How to craft a simple 1 or 2 sentences that will avoid the biggest problem almost all people face when constructing their presentation.
• How to use the not-so-secret trick used by MLK Jr., Steve Jobs and some of the world’s most influential pros to burn your message into your audience’s brains.
• How to begin your presentation – the most critical 60-120 seconds of your comments. I will offer you at least 25 options and show you my five go-to openings. (By the way: the requirements to begin effectively online are substantially different from in-person.)
• How to structure of your presentation to address the new world of online. You must grab their eyeballs and make them not want to leave.
• How to handle all the dozens of details that make up a successful online event.
• What are the requirements for an inexpensive but professional studio in your office or home.
• What are the on-camera skills you must develop to appear both professional but approachable for your best delivery. And how do you develop them most effectively.
• What do you need to do to modify and update your PowerPoint presentation for maximum online engagement and retention.
• Understanding your audience on a deep, emotional level so that you can develop your comments specifically to address their needs.
• Plus, a whole bunch more.

I invite you to learn about all this for the brave new world of online.

It’s all in my upcoming 4-Day Live MasterClass: Secrets to Delivering Brilliant Online Pitches and Presentations.

FIRST A WARNING: This course is very inexpensive, but if you want to actually get great value from it, be prepared to put in some work. Becoming better at anything requires work and focus. That’s why this will be so rewarding for you: your wimpy competition will be either to lazy or too scared to do it.

Go here to find out more and register: https://ready2speak.com

• 4 live, 1-hour presentations delivered over 4 consecutive days with live Q&A
• Begins Monday, July 13, 2020 — 1 hour, 1 pm ET.
• If you can’t make it, everything is recorded for later viewing
• Sign up closes Saturday, Midnight ET July 11, 2020
• There is a sizable discount coupon and a no risk guarantee.
• Plus instant access to 3 valuable bonuses to help you get started
• Register. Become an online presentation superhero.

Your success is waiting…

Tom

This is going to seem like the most obvious piece of advice ever offered – and in a way it is. But it is so often overlooked or flat out ignored that it should be repeated every time before you sit down to create your next webcast, pitch, presentation webinar or whatever.

Make sure it’s all about them. In their minds they are always asking “What’s in it for me?”

If you are telling your audience about you and your services, your products or your ideas they are not listening.

If you tell them about how your stuff will address their world, their needs, then they will “get it”.

Learn as much as you can about who your speaking to and then make it about them.

What problem of theirs are you solving? How are you helping to improve their business, their relationships, their lives?

I will spend a bunch of time talking about this critical topic with the registrants of my upcoming 4-Day Live MasterClass: How to Deliver Brilliant Online Pitches and Presentations.

We will discuss how to know your audience way beyond simple demographics. How to understand what makes them tick and what keeps them up at night.

This MasterClass will be the proverbial dive deep into crafting, practicing and delivering presentations to your audience, clients or industry that set you way ahead of anyone else.

We will cover:

• Learning how to build your confidence while you build and rehearse your presentation so that you will appear the ultimate professional
• How to practice the right way – I call it “Smart Practice”. This module alone, if followed even a little, will be worth 10 times the course fee.
• What the major differences between in-person and online offerings are and how to adjust every part of your presentation to fit your medium.
• How to craft a simple 1 or 2 sentences that will avoid the biggest problem almost all people face when constructing their presentation.
• How to use the not-so-secret trick used by MLK Jr., Steve Jobs and some of the world’s most influential pros to burn your message into your audience’s brains.
• How to begin your presentation – the most critical 60-120 seconds of your comments. I will offer you at least 25 options and show you my five go-to openings. (By the way: the requirements to begin effectively online are substantially different from in-person.)
• How to structure of your presentation to address the new world of online. You must grab their eyeballs and make them not want to leave.
• How to handle all the dozens of details that make up a successful online event.
• What are the requirements for an inexpensive but professional studio in your office or home.
• What are the on-camera skills you must develop to appear both professional but approachable for your best delivery. And how do you develop them most effectively.
• What do you need to do to modify and update your PowerPoint presentation for maximum online engagement and retention.
• And, of course, understanding your audience on a deep, emotional level so that you can develop your comments specifically to address their needs.
• Plus, a whole bunch more.

I invite you to learn about all this for the brave new world of online.

It’s all in my upcoming 4-Day Live MasterClass: How to Deliver Brilliant Online Pitches and Presentations.

FIRST A WARNING: This course is very inexpensive, but if you want to actually get great value from it, be prepared to put in some work. Becoming better at anything requires work and focus. That’s why this will be so rewarding for you: your wimpy competition will be either to lazy or too scared to do it.

Go here to find out more and register: https://ready2speak.com

• 4 live, 1-hour presentations delivered over 4 consecutive days with live Q&A
• Begins Monday, July 13, 2020
• If you can’t make it, everything is recorded for later viewing
• Sign up closes Saturday, Midnight ET July 11, 2020
• There is a sizable discount coupon and a no risk guarantee.

Go. Register. Become an online presentation superhero.

Your success is waiting…

Tom

It is a little counter intuitive, but in the YouTube world we live in (which by the way, extends into the Zoom, GoToWebinar and the deliver anything online world) people will excuse a bad video image. But…

They won’t put up with bad sound.

If they have to strain or put up with bad echoes, static, humming or any of the other dozens of audio gremlins that plague amateur video production, they will bail out.

So, when I am asked about studio equipment for online presentations, I suggest upgrading to a good USB microphone first.

The difference between that quality of microphone and the lousy mic built into your laptop will be very noticeable and will help you look and sound more top-notch.

This is just the kind of practical, ready-to-use information I will offer my registrants in my upcoming 4-Day Live MasterClass: How to Deliver Brilliant Online Pitches and Presentations.

It will be the proverbial dive deep into crafting, practicing and delivering presentations to your audience, clients or industry that set you way ahead of anyone else.

We will cover:

• Understanding your audience on a deep, emotional level so that you can develop your comments specifically to address their needs.
• Learning how to build your confidence while you build and rehearse your presentation so that you will appear the ultimate professional
• How to practice the right way – I call it “Smart Practice”. This module alone, if followed even a little, will be worth 10 times the course fee.
• What the major differences between in-person and online offerings are and how to adjust every part of your presentation to fit your medium.
• How to craft a simple 1 or 2 sentences that will avoid the biggest problem almost all people face when constructing their presentation.
• How to use the not-so-secret trick used by MLK Jr., Steve Jobs and some of the world’s most influential pros to burn your message into your audience’s brains.
• How to begin your presentation – the most critical 60-120 seconds of your comments. I will offer you at least 25 options and show you my five go-to openings. (By the way: the requirements to begin effectively online are substantially different from in-person.)
• How to structure of your presentation to address the new world of online. You must grab their eyeballs and make them not want to leave.
• How to handle all the dozens of details that make up a successful online event.
• What are the requirements for an inexpensive but professional studio in your office or home.
• What are the on-camera skills you must develop to appear both professional but approachable for your best delivery. And how do you develop them most effectively.
• What do you need to do to modify and update your PowerPoint presentation for maximum online engagement and retention.
• Plus, a whole bunch more.

I invite you to learn about all this for the brave new world of online.

It’s all in my upcoming 4-Day Live MasterClass: How to Deliver Brilliant Online Pitches and Presentations.

FIRST A WARNING: This course is very inexpensive, but if you want to actually get great value from it be prepared to put in some work. Becoming better at anything requires work and focus. That’s why this will be so rewarding for you: your wimpy competition will be either to lazy or too scared to do it.

Go here to find out more and register: https://ready2speak.com

• 4 live, 1-hour presentations delivered over 4 consecutive days with live Q&A
• Begins Monday, July 13, 2020
• If you can’t make it, everything is recorded for later viewing
• Sign up closes Saturday, Midnight ET July 11, 2020
• There is a sizable discount coupon and a no risk guarantee.

Go. Register. Become an online presentation superhero.

Your success is waiting…

Tom

You may not be able to slow down. At least insert some pauses to let your audience catch up.

I recently attended a conference where a number of speaker-experts presented. These people, in general, were brilliant and many of them presented well. A common issue that I saw however (and I must say, I see this all the time) is they had way too much information.

In the future, I will write about the problem of the “curse of the expert”, having too much information and why it is an almost universal stumbling block for presenters. But for now, I want to focus on one aspect and how it can be partially corrected.

The problem arises when the speaker knows he or she has a lot to share, knows there is limited time and speaks quickly. For the audience this is an immediate overload – content is flying at them at a speed that does not allow assimilation or understanding. They are quickly overwhelmed.

The best solution is to severely edit the material, practice the art of slowing down and inserting generous pauses which will allow the audience to catch up. If you can’t do all of that … at least insert a few pauses.
Look for places where you make a profound point, a humorous comment or are ready to transition to another facet of your topic.

You will be giving your audience a spot to catch up and to process your brilliance.

Gary Keller is the co-founder and chairman of the board of Keller Williams Realty and best selling author of The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results. In his book he describes his process that allows him (and us) to discover and focus on the one thing that will make all the difference in the short-term and lead us to our big long-term goal. It is a recipe for sharp focus and mono-tasking. A powerful book, well-written.

As presenters, we often get lost in our vast knowledge of the subject matter and fail to focus on that one thing that the audience needs to move forward. What can they take away? What is your one big idea for them?

All your slides and indeed, your entire presentation, should be measured against this yardstick. Then you need to put on your big-boy editor’s pants and trim away anything that doesn’t get you there.

What is your big message?

What is your ONE thing?