Happy New Year!  May 2010 be the year where you see your dreams come true!

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Daily firework displays in Pattaya from December 25th until the big one at Midnight on December 31st.

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Peter E. Cohan is the author of Great Demo!, one of the few books specifically written for product demonstrators. As of today, he is also the author of the first ever Christmas Story for product demonstrators:

‘Twas the Night Before The Big Demo
(with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore):

‘Twas the night ‘fore the demo and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, ‘cept my SC and his mouse;
I’d proposed a big licensing deal with great care
In hopes a big order soon would be there;

Management was restless and not in their beds
As visions of bonuses danced in their heads;
And my VP with his forecast and me with my own,
Had just started a long EOQ roam,

When out from my mobile there came a great ring-tone,
I sprang from my chair to answer my phone,
What could it be? Was it good news or no?
A last-minute order? A contract? PO?

Greetings, said my assistant, who spoke on the line,
It was someone to see me, offering help at this time!
Who could it be at this late eleventh-hour,
To make the deal sweet and avoid something sour?

Away to the door I flew in a flash,
And swept it open in my quest for fast cash,
When who to my wondering eyes should appear,
The DemoGuru! And standing so near!

He came in my office and, while dusting off snow,
Said, “I have some news that you’ll want to know.”

You will want to know too… So head over to Peter’s blog to read the rest of this entertaining story.

I’m quite a fan of the TED website and often find videos that are relevant to presenters and product demonstrators. Either because these videos are first class examples of great presentations, or they provide insight that is relevant to improving your own presentation skills.

In the video below, Tim Ferris, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, explains how, with a few adjustments and the right question on our mind, we can learn anything. Simply shifting our own beliefs about what’s possible can lead to drastic results. Tim demonstrates this with examples from his own life.

How is this relevant to a presenter? It’s simple: many people believe that great presenters are born that way and that they simply don’t have the gift of telling. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is not one person who is a “born communicator”. It’s all learned. Granted, some learned it at such a young age that it appears to be a natural skill, but it isn’t.

In the video, Tim Ferris explains how he has learned to swim at a rather late age, how he found ways to acquire languages in a relative short time, and how he has mastered ballroom dancing. Watch the video and get inspired. You can learn anything, even if it seems scary at first, like giving remarkable presentations or product demonstrations.

This past week I had the pleasure of meeting Carmine Gallo. Well, kind of… I attended a Sliderocket webinar, in which Carmine took a full hour to present the highlights of his book The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs and answer questions from the audience.

Although my local time was already past midnight, Carmine kept me alert and at the edge of my seat throughout his fast paced and informative talk. He not only teaches how to expertly pitch, present, and communicate the vision behind your brand…he does it himself in a masterful way.

Carmine started out with the premise that a person can have the greatest idea in the world, but if that person can’t convince enough other people, it doesn’t matter. This clearly resonated with me, and most likely with the majority of the other attendees. After all, knowing just how important presentation and communication skills are in this world is what led me to this event in the first place.

The main points Carmine made about the Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs:

First: Jobs Creates a Story

• He maps out each presentation first.
  Before Steve Jobs even start his presentation software, he plans his presentation first with pen and paper. He wants to have a story to tell before he creates the first slide. He visualizes the entire presentation first: the story, the look and feel, the flow of your information, and the main messages.
• He creates an antagonist.
  In every classic story, the hero fights a villain. Steve Jobs uses this formula and positions Apple as the protagonist in all his stories. When creating his presentations, Jobs thinks of Apple’s products as the hero that is here to save the world. Every story Steve Jobs creates has a villain, which doesn’t necessarily have to be a competitor. It can be a problem in need of a solution. What’s important to him is to have an identifiable enemy.
• He sticks to the rule of three.
  Three is the magic number. Each of Steve Jobs’ presentation is divided into three points. When he introduces new products, he focuses on three features. There is a reason for this: scientists have found that people cannot keep more than three or four chunks of information in their short term memory easily. If you give people too much information, they won’t remember a thing. Jobs knows this and focuses on the three key points he want the audience to remember.
• He creates Twitter-friendly headlines.
  • iPod: 1000 songs in your pocket.
  • iPhone 3G: It’s twice as fast at half the price.
  • MacBook Air: The world’s thinnest notebook.
• He sell dreams, not products.
  Jobs knows that customers don’t care about Apple, or its products. They care about themselves. They care about their dreams and their hopes. Steve Jobs doesn’t sell computers. He sells tools to unleash your creative potential. Jobs is driven by a desire to create experiences and to change the world. This desire leads to passion and emotion that will attract and motivate other people.

Second: Jobs Delivers an Experience

• He keeps things very simple
  “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Steve Jobs
  Jobs doesn’t use any bullet points on his slides. He knows that bullet points are not all that effective. He rather shows one powerful slide for each of his points than grouping them together on just a single slide. He uses his slides a simple (but powerful) backdrops to support one message each.
• Picture Superiority
  Steve Jobs uses extremely powerful visual slides with just one word or short headline. He uses the slides as a backdrop to support his words — and not the other way around. He only uses high resolution photography, not clipart. Jobs understands that ideas are better remembered when they are presented with an image and his slides are a reflection of that knowledge.
• He dresses up numbers
  Jobs gives meaning to numbers by putting them into a context we can all understand. Instead of talking of Giga Bytes when he discusses storage capacity, he talks about the number of songs a device can hold. He always breaks down numbers to make them more visual.
• He makes his own metaphors
  Steve Jobs creates his own analogies and metaphors to put his information into a context that people understand:
  • “Using Keynote is like having a professional graphics department create your slides.”
  • “AppleTV is like a DVD for the 21st Century.”
  • “Genius Mixes is like having a professional DJ mix songs in your iTunes library that go well together.”
• He reveals a holy smokes moment
  Steve Jobs does this like nobody else! Like the writer of a great novel, he never reveals the entire plot on the first page. Rather, he creates moments that leaves everyone in the audience in awe. When he introduced the MacBook Air, for example, he unveiled the product by pulling it out of an envelope to demonstrate just how thin this new computer really was. It’s moments like these that everybody remembers.

Third: Jobs Refines and Rehearses

• He masters stage presence
  63% of the impression that you leave is based on non content related factors, like body language, gestures, and verbal delivery. Jobs uses his body and face to deliver his story:
  • Eye Contact
    Even when Jobs is demonstrating a product, he only pays brief attention to the navigation of it, and then immediately returns to eye contact with his audience.
  • Open Posture
    Jobs very rarely stands behind a podium. There is nothing between him and the audience to create a more intimate setting, even in large venues.
  • Hand Gestures
    Scientists have found that complex thinkers use complex gestures. Jobs seems to know that this increases the audience’s confidence in the speaker and uses big, clearly identifiable gestures.
• He practices, practices, and practices…
  Steve Jobs rehearses over many hours, days, and weeks. He expects excellence from himself and those around him. He takes nothing for granted. Every slide he uses is written like a piece of poetry…and he carefully practices to deliver it as such.

After a close to one hour presentation, Carmine summed up the presentation with the following words:

“Have fun and genuinely enjoy your presentations!”

Great advice, because your own enjoyment in your presentation will come across as passion and enthusiasm. And those are the type of emotions that will lead your audience to action.

Thanks again, Carmine and Sliderocket!

As a presenter, I’m always looking for some items that can make presentation more memorable. Here is an item I just found that could come in handy as a prop during your presentations: Bucky Balls.

Watch the video below to see the amazing magnetic toy you can’t put down:

Bucky Balls are available at Amazon.com.

Here is a funny take on mind mapping by Lunchbreath, who admits to having a love-hate relationship with mind mapping:

Check out Lunchbreath’s Photo Stream on Flickr for more of his amazing work.

When I was browsing through Slideshare today, I found this gem. It’s simply too good not to share, because it offers some real solid advice on how to make your PowerPoint slides work for you instead of against you.

Alexei Kapterev gives some solid and practical advice:

• Present to make meaning:

  Without providing the necessary meaning about the subject, why it matters to you, and why it should matter to your audience, your presentation will be kept at a level too abstract to really attract attention. You will make your presentations real when you put your content in the appropriate context through stories and real life examples. That’s when people can relate; that’s when people will give you their full attention.

• Significance leads to Passion attracts Attention leads to Action.

  When you present with meaning, you are presenting with enthusiasm and give significance to your topic. Such passion automatically  will get you attention, which in turn will lead to action in your audience. It becomes easier to guide them to the action you would like them to take.

• Give only 3 to 4 reasons supporting your point.

  It doesn’t really matter, how you structure your presentation, as long as you keep in mind that 3 to 4 discussion points are the most your audience will realistically remember.  A structure that always works is a Memorable Opening and Closing with 3 to 4 arguments in between. Each of these arguments should be supported by 2 to 3 details. This is an easy and practical format to scale your presentation without losing focus of your 3 or 4 main points.

• Less text, more imagery, wild imagery.

  When you design your slides, forget about the words initially. What kind of image could you use to symbolize your message? Just one image that’s powerful enough to convey enough meaning even without words. Then find that image and think of just one word that describes the point you are making. Then put that word on the slide. Just that one word. Less is more.

• Rehearse to get feedback.

  You will never get it right the first time. Rehearse your presentation early and often. If at all possible, rehearse in front of your colleagues, friends, and family to get valuable feedback that will make your presentation all that better.

• Simple Design Rules:

  • One point per slide
  • Few matching colors
  • Very few fonts
  • Photos, not clipart

Whenever you are introducing a new product or idea, you are proposing change. Change, however, is often met with skepticism.

You have to invoke strong mental images in your audience to which they can relate to in a good way, or otherwise your proposed change may not be perceived as positive change at all. Facts and figures may only get you so far here… But once an audience sees your message in a context that translates into a sensory experience, it will literally make sense. As a result, you are bound to get the necessary emotional response that will lead to action.

“People don’t really buy
your product, solution, or idea,
they buy the stories that are attached to it.”

Michael Margolis, author of Believe Me

So storytelling is important and stories can be useful in all aspects of communication, not just presentations and product demonstrations.

How to become a better storyteller in your presentations?

• Actively Listen to Good Stories
  You will find them everywhere… Great stories are what makes the world go around and they are found in large scale as well as on a very small scale. The key is to become a good storylistener. A listener who has a good ear for the words and ways in which a story is delivered. What is the plot? How are the characters described? How is the story chunked and sequenced? Those are all aspects that will make a difference in how a story is being received. Start to tune into those finer details in other people’s stories and your own storytelling will automatically improve.
• Hang Out with Storytellers
  The world wide web is a fabulous place for people of like minds to gather. Drop in to some of the places that cater specifically to storytellers. Places like the International Storytelling Center, the National Storytelling Network, and the Society for Storytelling are great places to find inspiration and information to make you a better storyteller.
• Join a local theater group
  Great storytellers often have a theatrical way in which they deliver their stories. I’m not proposing you should present your next product demonstration in the ways of Othello. What joining a theater group will give you is a greater appreciation for the elements of your voice (volume, intonation, pitch, modulation) as well as the knowledge and skills to better use these elements.

Where to find your stories?

• If you are in a large company, ask your co-workers to tell you the stories they know that relate to your business or industry. If you have access to the founder of the company, even better – ask him or her what made them so passionate to end up starting their company. Look out for those stories that people tell with passion, laughter, and enthusiasm.
• If you are the founder of your own company, take a trip down memory lane. What were the stories that led to the company in the first place? I’m convinced there are many neglected stories worth telling in there…
• Ask your customers and prospects about their issues. What are some of the stories around your field of activity that they are passionate about?
• Look at any area of your business and then chunk up and chunk down. What do you see when you look at the bigger picture? What do you find in the details? Taking different perspectives will often lead you to discover some interesting facts just waiting to be told as a story.

The power of stories doesn’t end with the presentation or product demonstration. There is room for great stories at every step of the sales cycle. I worked for a few companies that provided high quality products that came with an appropriate price tag. As a result, I often had to deal with discussions about the price of our products. I never did it in a direct way. I rather told a story:

What stories are working well for you? Can you find even more to add real life context to your demos and presentations? I bet you can.

The above presentation was created with Prezi – my favorite new slide show alternative.