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Jonathan Altfeld is an internationally known trainer of communication skills. He recently released his latest creation, the 4-CD set “Creating the Automatic YES”. In this program, Jonathan teaches how to elicit and influence emotional states in elegant and natural ways. Although the program focuses on one-on-one communication, all of the skills and knowledge taught can be applied to product demonstrations and group presentations as well.
The program starts out with the two modules The Power of Context and People Only Take Action in Action States. The listener will quickly understand why emotional states in communication are key to getting a message across. The course then continues to educate the listener about the importance of emotional awareness in all of our communication — and especially in our persuasive communication.
Listen to this sample track from CD 1, Our Ability to Influence is Proportional to EQ. In it, you will hear Jonathan say: “Lead your audience to an Action State in a way that aligns with their values and beliefs.” With that sentence, Jonathan sums up what you will get from the program: the ability to elicit and influence emotional states in your audience.
“Creating the Automatic YES,” not surprisingly, is all about emotional states. You will learn how to lead someone from an Encounter State to an Action State — not in one big step, but through the chaining of smaller state changes in between. This is a skill that will set you apart from other presenters. Thinking about how your audience will feel when they watch your product demo will most certainly help you add great stories — and sequence them for maximum impact — when preparing your demo script.
Although I didn’t plan on it, I listened to the entire course in one sitting. It takes a little under four hours and the quality and logical order of information, bundled with Jonathan’s entertaining presentation style, makes this program seem shorter than it actually is.
For me, this program is a keeper! I recommend it to any product demonstrator as a secret weapon. Armed with it, you will be able to elicit and change the emotional states of your audience with elegance. I consider this the main ingredient that will lead to truly memorable demos. Here’s a link to Jonathan’s product page.
“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.”
Alexander Graham Bell
A memorable product demonstration requires adequate planning and preparation. Preparing for a demo typically involves some creative writing. Writing down your key messages, relevant stories, and the main benefits your customers get from using your product is a cruicial step toward demo success.
Writing a demo script requires a focused mind and concentration. But with many windows open on your desktop, instant message and feed notifications, and social networking status updates, it’s easy to get distracted. If only there would be a text editor that lets users truly focus on the task at hand: writing a compelling demo script…
Meet Ommwriter, the text editor that helps you concentrate. Watch the video below and then head over to www.ommwriter.com to download this nifty freeware. It is only available for Macs, so if you need one of those as well, head over to the Apple Store.
Whenever I work with a client on their presentation or demo script, I first create a mind map. It helps me understand the different chunks of information and their relationship. And mind mapping software makes it easy to change the sequence and flow of a presentation or product demo.
To my delight, a new application has entered the mind mapping scene. MindMeister is a web-based mind mapping application that lets you work on a map collaboratively from any location. All you need is a web-browser. And the Offline Mode even lets you work on your maps when you’re not connected to the internet. Once you’re online again, the maps will automatically be synced with their online versions.
The user interface is well designed and the functionality is what you would expect from a full featured mind mapping software. The top menu bar includes buttons to add, delete, and connect branches, basic text editing functions, as well as an export feature, which converts your map to a document (rtf, pdf) or an image. MindMeister also supports the popular MindManager and FreeMind file types.
On the right side of the workspace, users find:
- Navigator
Lets the user zoom in and out of a map, center the map, or switch to another map. - Text Formatting
MindMeister offers three different text sizes in regular, bold, and italics, as well as an option to change a font’s color. - Icons and Images
There are almost 300 built-in icons available, as well as the option to upload your own image files, to make your maps more memorable. - Extras
- Notes: Attach a note to any branch of your map.
- Links: Add hyperlinks to your branches
- Attachments: Upload a file as attachment to a specific branch.
- Tasks: Set priority and schedule/assign tasks. - Information
Lets the user share and publish, set the title, description, tags, and notification options for a map.
MindMeister is so easy to use, no manual is required. There are a few easy to remember keyboard shortcuts:
- TAB – add new child idea
- ENTER – add new sibling idea
- DEL – delete an idea
- SPACE – open/close ideas
- cursor keys – move between ideas
- + / - – zoom in / out
Collaborating on a map is fun, as users see each other’s modification of a map as it happens in real time. And just in case you need to roll back time to see who added which topic in what order, MindMeister lets you step through a map in its History View.
MindMeister also developed two applications for the iPhone:
- MindMeister for iPhone
This is essentially the same functionality of the web-based application in the palm of your hand. It lets users create, view, and edit maps, then share them right from the iPhone. - Geistesblitz
A very cool, free add-on. The application has one text field and a submit button. Entering a thought in Geistesblitz will send it straight to your default map and add it to a branch called “My Geistesblitzes”.
Geistesblitz is also available as a browser plugin for Firefox and Internet Explorer, as well as an option to send your Geistesblitzes via SMS or Email.
The Basic Edition of MindMeister is free and naturally has some limitations. Users can only have 3 mind maps, can’t export in MindManager or FreeMind format, and have to endure a small advertisement in the upper right corner of the screen. To lift these limitations, users can upgrade to a choice of subscription-based plans, based on their needs. MindMeister also offers an Academic Edition.
This morning I came across the blog post “From Telegraph to Twitter: The Language of the Short Form“ by Roy Peter Clark, the author of the book ”Writing Tools” and producer of the hit podcast by the same name.
In his post, Clark writes about the impact Twitter has on language. As a late adopter, Clark just recently joined Twitter and in his article, he thoughtfully discusses the value Twitter offers to language, despite (or perhaps because of) its 140 character limit.
Clark’s main message is that
The brevity of an e-mail message, a blog post, a text message,
even a tweet, is no obstacle to powerful information,
a persuasive argument, a literary moment, a zinger, a joke.
This made me think of presentations and product demonstrations…and how they could benefit from this long known, but too often overlooked, understanding: less is often more.
Did you know, the book Giving Memorable Product Demos, written by Nathan Gold and yours truly, is now available on Amazon.com? Although local Amazon stores do not carry the title, people abroad can order it on Amazon.com for worldwide delivery.
I am especially proud of the feedback we have received from our early readers. Here are a few of the kind words we were sent:
| “Giving Memorable Product Demos is the difference between being forgotten and generating raving fans and profits through every word and action.” Joel Bauer, Author and Infotainer |
| “The authors have given a career’s worth of memorable product demos and generously shared their expertise with hundreds of product pitchmen. This book captures all that experience in a concise, valuable, highly-useful text. Giving Memorable Product Demos is a Must Read for every product manager, no matter what your industry.” Chris Shipley, Executive Producer, The DEMO Conferences |
| “ANY salesperson will profit from this wonderful book. It talks not only about Product Demos but how to put ideas and feelings in the head of the customer to make them want. Great job done Nathan and Claudio!” Chris Mulzer, CEO kikidan media, Berlin |
| “In all things, your growth is limited by the quality of the experts you choose to learn from. To give powerful and compelling demos, you can do no better than learning from Sennhauser & Gold. This is it; this is the pinnacle. If you don’t want to leave your future demos to chance, get this book!” Jonathan Altfeld, Trainer of targeted uses of NLP, & author of NLP & Hypnosis home-study programs such as “Finding Your Irresistible Voice” and “The Metaphor Machine.” |
| “Finally a book dedicated to the art of giving successful product demos. The advice given by the authors is right on and will make even the most seasoned presenter more effective while planning, preparing, and executing their demo.” Kate Purmal, President, Kate Purmal Consulting |
| “If giving technological demos is important to your business, then ‘Giving Memorable Product Demos’ is a lifesaver. In it, Nathan and Claudio arm you with all the strategies you need to educate, entertain, and influence your audience, so that they’re excited to do business with you.” Mark Levy, Founder of Levy Innovation LLC, and author or co-creator of four books, including “How to Persuade People Who Don’t Want to be Persuaded” |
| “This is a bible for all people who think they understand how to demo products. It shows you exactly how to KISS!” J. Dennis Wolfe, Insurance Broker-Owner and Author |
| “Open this book and you’ll find that it’s much more than a primer for young entrepreneurs. It starts out with a simple idea: inventory and critique your presentation skills using a video camera in one continuous take. From that point on, Gold and Sennhauser show entrepreneurs and other presenters how to build and deliver effective live product demonstrations using basic and proven techniques.” Jim Forbes, Executive Producer of the DEMO Conference |
If you have read the book already, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to comment below.
Some projects just take a while to finish. The book Giving Memorable Product Demos was one of those projects. The hard work and careful attention to detail was worth it though. I’m very proud of this book and tickled to see it now listed at Amazon.com.
Check it out. It’s a great gift for your friends!
