All About Presentations

5 Ways to Deliver a Better Speech/Presentation

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Thu, 24 May 2012 03:30:00 +0000

I posted the book review of How to deliver a TED talk recently. While the book review talked about the book in general, in this post I share with you five lessons from the book. These five things will help you improve your next speech/presentation.

#1 Choosing a topic for your talk
You have been asked to give a speech or make a presentation. You have to choose one topic and give a 10 minute talk. What do you speak about? You want to inspire your audience and want to share a story. Which story will you share? Don't ask yourself 'What is the most amazing story I can tell?' Ask yourself 'What is the greatest lesson I have learned?' or 'What is the greatest joy/misery I have experienced?' This will guide you a much better topic to speak on. Once you have found it out, encapsulate the topic into one core message. The crux of what you will speak about. Once you have a single message, build a story around it.

#2 Connecting with your audience
You want your story to connect with your audience. You want the audience to care about you, listen to you and do something about it. In order for all of this to happen, you need to connect with their inner need. The author has identified four needs which a speaker can harness and address.

Physical health and safety
Love and belonging
Desire and self interest
Hope in a better tomorrow

You need to address atleast one of the needs in your talk. When Obama spoke he spoke of a better tomorrow. If you are going to talk of overcoming challenges, you will target desire and self interest.

#3 Opening your talk

There are three ways to open your talk. First, share a personal story. Second, make a shocking statement and third, ask a powerful question.

Share a personal story - Watch this opening by Richard St. John. The entire presentation is only three minutes and Richard starts with a personal story. When sharing a story, ensure it is your personal story and the story directly relates to the core message of your talk (as discussed in point 1 above). Make sure the story is emotional and has a few dialogues and not totally in passive voice.

Make a shocking statement - Jamie Oliver, a chef gave this opening statement at TED 2010. He made a shocking statement. In the time that he will complete his talk, four Americans would have died because of the food they eat. When you start with something shocking, you are assured of getting your audience attention. What's important is to ensure the statement relates directly to the theme of your talk. The statement should also be relevant to your audience and it should target one of the four needs mentioned in point 2. In Jamie's case it was about physical health and safety, something very relevant to everyone in the audience.

Ask a powerful question - In this opening by Simon Sinek, he asks a question to his audience. When we ask questions which are interesting, we make other crave for answers. It is what is called 'opening up knowledge gaps' by Chip and Dan Heath in their classic book Made to Stick. When we ask questions to start a talk, we must ask 'Why' or 'How'. These are more enticing.

#4 Getting introduced

Every speaker gets introduced and most of us do not worry much about the introduction. No one plans and gets worried about how to get introduced by the host (emcee). Jeremey Donovan insists we start planning the introduction as well. Your introduction is where your audience starts its journey. The introduction should be short, should talk about things which are relevant to the main message of the presentation, should focus on the benefit audience is going to get out from your speech and should not put you on a high pedestal.

We trust people who are like us. We are more likely to act on a message if it comes from someone who was one of us before he took this step and achieved something extraordinary. Write your own introduction and give it to the organisers and ensure you are not portrayed as a super human.

[I have chosen this point above many others in the book because this is something unique and we must not ignore it. Most of us never bother to plan out our introduction and our organisers take too much liberty and talk too much about us. Let's take charge of what is going to be said about us]

#5 Storytelling

This is the biggest challenge for most presenters. We know we have to narrate a story in our speech. Stories make people pay attention, makes them care and makes them remember and take action. But how do we say a story?

A story is a hero's journey. He is a person like us. He has needs and desires. He faces some obstacles, makes a choice and comes out victorious.

Start with introducing a hero. He should not be you. You should act as the guide. The hero is someone else. Someone who the audience can identify with. Then only will they get moved by the whole thing. Start by elaborately describing the hero. What does he do, what does he want and what he looks like. Make him come to life visually. Once the needs and desires are established, bring in the obstacles and at the end the hero needs to overcome each obstacle one by one before he comes out victorious. Stories with a positive ending are good for inspiration and ones with a bad ending good for teaching (what could have been avoided).

Book Review: How to deliver a TED talk

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Tue, 22 May 2012 03:30:00 +0000

I received a free copy of this book 'How to deliver a TED talk' from Jeremey Donovan and finished it super fast. The best part about the book is that it has got only 107 pages. So if you have to deliver a talk in a few days time, just pick up a copy of the book and within hours you will get lots of ideas to improve your talk.

In this review I cover the contents of the book, who is this book for, how good is the book and what are its drawbacks. I recommend the book for speakers who are preparing for their first TED talk or any other short speech or talk. If you are a veteran speaker, skip this one.

Contents of the book

1. How to choose a topic?
2. How to make it memorable?
3. How to get introduced?
4. How to open your talk?
5. How to construct the body of your talk?
6. How to conclude your talk?
7. How to tell stories?
8. How to verbally deliver your talk?
9. How to add humour?
10. How to deliver your talk (gesture & body language)?
11. How to create visuals?
12. How to overcome stage fear?

The starting portions are pretty good especially on how to get introduced, how to open your talk and how to structure the talk. I wish the book elaborated more on the humour and stories part. It is always a challenge to understand how to narrate stories.

Compliment reading the book with watching the TED videos mentioned in it to really get the most out of the book. Reading about Sir Ken Robinson's humour is one thing and watching him do it is totally another. Watch his TED talk here.

This book is not for you if
If your presentation is just a normal information sharing one or it is very slides heavy. This book is really about talks which are more of you and very very less of slides. The way most TED talks are. So if you are looking for some more tips on slide design, go for something else. Why not The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, my last reviewed book on presentations or the evergreen classic from Garr Reynolds. This book is for ordinary people with extraordinary ideas. Someone who is looking to inspire people. To touch them and to make them act.

Overall I recommend the book and give it 4 stars out of 5. Read it if you are nervous about yout upcoming talk. Read it if you want to quickly improve yourself. This book does not contain everything that can be said on this topic but is definitely a good place to start, especially if you are an amateur. It costs only $9.95 on Amazon. The Kindle version is only for $2.99. If you are in India, you can buy it here for Rs. 420 on HomeShop 18.

Disclaimer: I do not get any commission when you click on these links and buy.

Interview with Deepa Kiran, a professional storyteller

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sat, 19 May 2012 10:43:00 +0000

Why do stories appeal to us?
Stories are how we experience life and how we store the experiences. Yesterday is a story. Tomorrow is a story. Stories are how we connect with ourselves, with the world and with life itself. There is therefore an intrinsic appeal in sharing stories. The medium of sharing varies. Sometimes it is print (books) sometimes multi-media (movies) and sometimes sheer oral medium. Oral storytelling invites you to journey through time and space simply using the power of the listener’s mind to creatively visualize and craft almost-real experiences. It is such a fascinating and magical trip that it becomes infectiously engaging.

Experts say we should say stories in our presentations to engage people. But most people don’t know how?
Communication experts the world-over wholeheartedly advocate employing the potential of storytelling in all rungs of the corporate ladder. What is being recommended is not just including ‘stories’ but imbibing ‘telling……storytelling’. Which means there are two things to it:

Including stories in our presentations, speeches etc.
Constructing a ‘mode’ of sharing information which is akin to telling a story.

These two together are integral to corporate storytelling, considered the key to effective presentations as well as effective leadership.

The beauty and power of stories which is primarily put to use in corporate storytelling is the strength of ‘realization through revelation’. Reason being stories ‘reveal’ and ‘unravel’ truths rather than ‘tell’. Given a choice anyone prefers to ‘figure out things’ for themselves rather than be ‘told what is right and what is to be done’. And so your listener is taken through a trip where she/he gets to discover new insights by herself/himself from the story and not a trip where they are given a list of information and suggestions by the speaker!

Being able to incorporate stories and ‘make stories’ out of the ‘business’ material is a skill that needs to be developed. This can be done on one’s own through self-study and practice or with the help of professionals who would facilitate exploration and development of effective storytelling skills through workshops and courses.

How can professionals tell stories in business presentations?

There are stories for every occasion, subject and issue. Depending on the theme and focal points of the presentation, one can search and build in stories, anecdotes, analogies which either directly convey the needful or are related to the theme.

How do we create stories from supposedly business events?

A business event/subject would have ‘logic’ integral to it. In a presentation our aim most of the time is to simply transmit this logic and understanding expecting the audience to be impressed. But facts and figures can also bore and overwhelm. The purpose of a presentation/speech is to urge the audience to act/take decisions. This is where storytelling comes into play. Making the message simple, giving clarity in the details, tugging at the heart in the course of the delivery, building in message-retention, and following a systematic methodology in achieving this. These can help in ‘creating’ a story out of a business event.

What are the essential ingredients of story? What are its stages? What is common to all stories?

Without going into technical and literary details I will jump to the point that is most significant to the readers. Any good story is inevitably about a journey and the best story ever is ‘the hero’s journey’- A story where the protagonist/s that faces some situations and learns to transact these eventually evolving in the process. Stages of any story basically are the beginning, the main plot and the end, and this is common to all stories. It is as simple as that. It is up to the storyteller (the presenter/speaker) to make the beginning and end effective and to flesh in as much or as less into the skeleton called the main plot based on the target audience and the outcome desired.

Can storytelling be learnt by anyone? If yes, how does one start?

Like any other art form storytelling is both inherent and acquired. Every individual has the potential to tell stories and tell them well. Some people already do. Some tell stories after some assistance from alcohol and some prefer not to! But the truth is we can all tell stories. One can definitely explore and work on the skills on our own or through workshops and programs designed and facilitated by professionals, aimed at equipping the participants with tools and techniques of storytelling.

About Deepa Kiran

Deepa Kiran is an Education Consultant, a professional storyteller and a freelance writer who works with children and teachers. She has been doing storytelling sessions and workshops for children, teachers and parents at schools, libraries, cultural centers, publishing houses, corporate and NGO such as DPS, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan’s, Scholastic, Pratham, Microsoft and Genpact. She builds in music and dance in her telling to bring alive the story time. You can find her storytelling on her website

She truly believes in the magic and healing power of arts and weaves music, dance and drama into her story sessions. She loves the energy sharing of communities, especially children and enjoys exploring the same in her travels. Her two sons are a constant source of inspiration and the testing ground for her storytelling and have recently begun to volunteer as her assistants.

Find free icons at IconFinder.com

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Icon Finder is a easy to use website where you can get good quality icons for your presentations. The user interface is simple (like Google). Click here to visit the website. Type in the keyword (search term). You get a list of icons from which you can choose.

Few years back I made a presentation for a technology company and needed small icons of computers. Let's say if I needed it today. I can go to icon finder, type in computer and I can choose from various images.

What about license? We can filter these images and choose 'Allowed for commercial use (No link required)'. You can now use these images and don't have to provide a link as well. You can also forget about any license infringement. However, I suggest providing a link wherever possible to promote a site which gives you cool stuff for free. To filter by license, look at the drop down menu at the top right corner of the page.

We can also filter images by size and background colour. These options are there on the top just below the search box. Once you click on an image, you can download as PNG. PNG works just like a JPEG or GIF file. Once you download on your system, you can insert it in your presentation.

What do you think about this site? Do you think you will need it in your presentations?

15 Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs [Book Review]

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 13 May 2012 16:26:00 +0000

In his popular book The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, Carmine Gallo shares techniques which made Steve Jobs a great presenter. The Steven Spielberg of presentations is what Gallo calls Steve Jobs. So what made Steve Jobs great? The answer is simple. While most other professionals share information in their presentation, Jobs created an experience. An experience which left his audience informed, entertained and thrilled. You too can rise above the ordinary and present much better if you follow what Steve used to do.

The book is divided into three parts; Create your story, Deliver the experience and Refine & Rehearse. I have carefully chosen 15 things which you can start doing immediately. If you are excited by what you read next, go ahead and buy the book. It's worth it. I give it 5 stars out of 5 because the book is full of practical ideas which can be used by any one of us.

1. Plan in analog: Steve Jobs never started with the software and neither should we. Start on a piece of paper and plan out everything. What will you say, how will you say and when you will say that. Once you are completely ready, open the software.

2. Have a headline: Every presentation has one big idea. Find out what that is and articulate it in one sentence. If your audience could remember one thing, what will it be? For Mac Book Air it was 'the world's thinnest notebook". For iPod it was '1000 songs in your pocket'. This is the crux of what you have to say. Write this and share it multiple times in your presentation.

3. Why should I care?: Your audience is asking itself this question as soon as you start your presentation. Why should I care to what is being presented? Give them the answer and give it early in the presentation. Tell them how you are going to make their life better (or solve their problems).

4. Be passionate: This is perhaps the single biggest reason by Steve Jobs was the best presenter. He loved what he did and he did what he loved. Only when you have passion will you touch your audience emotionally. Passion is infectious. Have passion and you're already 80% there.

5. Twitter-like headlines: We talked about one big headline. This point is slightly different. For every aspect of your presentation have a simple one sentence explanation. You must be able to explain every idea, chart, graph or concept in one simple sentence. This enhances audience understanding and make messages memorable.

6. Roadmap: The audience needs to know what's in store. Help the audience keep track of what you are going to say and what you have already said. Jobs did not use agenda slides. He used to share it with words.

7. Introduce a villain: Every story has a villain. Find yours and introduce it to your audience. It can be a competitor (like IBM for Jobs) or a problem (like rising costs in your company). Start with the bigger picture and bring the villain. Now go ahead and show them how to conquer the villain and bring in the hero (the idea you are selling).

8. Ten minutes: The attention span of your audience is only 10 minutes at a stretch. After every ten minutes, change track. Introduce a video, give a demo, bring in a new speaker or make the audience do an exercise. Do what applies to your case but understand that holding attention for more than 10 minutes on one thing is impossible.

9. Simplicity: Simplicity has been the central theme of all Apple products and it shows in Jobs' presentation as well. Use simple English words, no jargon. Use simple slides. The lesser the words the better. Have only one thing to say per slide.

10. Slide tips: Research has proven that words and pictures used together are better than words alone. It is called the Picture Superiority Effect. Pictures are superior than words. When using words and pictures together, place the words closer to the picture. Use very few words and pictures on your slide. Jobs never used to have many words on a slide and almost all his slides had a picture.

11. Dress up your numbers: Numbers by themselves are tough to comprehend especially if they are big. Convert your number into something specific, relevant and place it in a context which is easy to understand. Jobs did not say iPod had 5 GB storage. He said, "1000 songs in your pocket."

12. Use props: We started by saying our presentation should be an experience. Using props will make your presentation a multi-sensory experience. Why only hear and see why not touch and feel as well. Find out how can you engage the other senses. Jobs could circulate the new Mac Book Air and let people touch and feel it. What can you circulate in your audience? There has to be something.

13. Rehearse & rehearse: This is the biggest secret of Steve Jobs, the presenter. He practised very hard for every presentation. He did mock runs many many times over until he perfected it. It is better not to have notes. Never read from notes or slides. Rehearse so well that you know the content. While rehearsing you can use notes which have only keywords. Later get rid of the notes and rehearse without them. Video record yourself and improve your body language and voice modulation. Seek feedback from friends/colleagues.

On body language: Establish eye contact with your audience. Have an open gesture. You can move around. Do not get stuck behind the podium. Move hands as your normally do. Be totally normal as if you are talking to a bunch of people in your canteen.

14. Be natural: When you present you must remain who you are. No fake accent. No unnecessary jargon. Speak the way you speak always; simple English words. Don't be too fast. Stay calm and composed.

15. Have fun: No matter what enjoy the presentation. Not everything will happen as per plan. It's okay. Don't get tense and don't worry. If you have practised enough you will not have stage fright. You will do well. If something does go wrong, move on. Don't focus your audience on the problem at hand.

There is so much stuff in this book that I would like to dedicate a few more posts exploring it. As of now, all you must do is to buy the book. Click here to buy on Amazon and here to buy from flipkart.

Carmine Gallo, the author, has recently shared 10 tips from the book. Click here to read his article. Tell me how you feel reading the techniques which Steve Jobs used? How will you apply this in your next business presentation?

Sponsorship Proposal Template

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Fri, 11 May 2012 03:57:00 +0000

Sometime back I received an email from a reader Renee. She wanted a ready-made Sponsorship Proposal Template something which can help her make proposal quickly and ensure she is not missing out on anything important.

Since I did not have one already and could not find anything fast on Google, I decided to make one. This one is a basic template which ensures you cover all that is important in your sponsorship proposal presentation. You can view it below and download (for free) this template from slideshare.

Sponsorship Proposal Template

View more documents from Vivek Singh

Here are the headers for your ready reference. Your sponsorship proposal presentation must cover the following:

1. Basic information about the event (what/when/where)
2. About the organiser and their credential (and experience)
3. Who is the target audience (who is going to attend the event)?
4. How will you market the event so as to ensure the target audience comes?
5. What are the benefits of sponsoring? Why should a brand sponsor?
6. What are the sponsorship options and their cost/benefit?
7. Who are the other sponsors?
8. How old is the event? What happened last year? Share images and information.
9. Call to action (what you want the sponsor to do after he/she finishes reading the proposal?)

This is a good list to start working with. What can you add to this list?

How to cut down excess words from your speech?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 06 May 2012 15:35:00 +0000

We all know we should not be verbose. We should be able to say 'more' using 'less' words. But what if you are by nature verbose? I am actually a person who tends to speak more. I use more words in my day to day conversations (at times I repeat myself as well :-). I write so much in my diary that I need many diaries in one year. Luckily I am not verbose with my slides because I know that doesn't work.

If you are verbose by nature and you are giving a speech, you will always end up speaking more. That's your nature and its tough to change yourself overnight. When you speak more, you will speak many not-so-important stuff.

How can you then cut down the number of words you use in your speech?

There is one technique I know of and its simple. The trick is to condition yourself over time. Force yourself to use less words. Example, If you use a big size notebook or diary, buy a smaller size diary. Something very small like size A6 (around 6 inch by 4 inch).

I tried this technique on myself with successful results (so far). My new green notebook is so small that I hardly have any space to write (I was earlier using those large stylish notebooks). When I now take notes in a meeting or write notes to myself on some topic, I am forced to cut down words to a bare minimum. Thus I end up writing what matters and chop off the not so important stuff. Once your verbosity in writing goes down, your verbosity in speech will also reduce.

What technique would you like to use to cut down words from your speech?

Image: nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Agency Pitch Presentation: How much to talk about your company?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 06 May 2012 04:56:00 +0000

Few weeks back I attended three back to back presentations. Three different agencies were pitching for our business. This post of mine is about 'how much time should you talk about your company in a pitch presentation?' It is applicable to all sorts of presentations. These agencies could have been advertising agencies, social media marketing agencies, outdoor agencies or any other agency. Whenever you are pitching for someone's business you will have to share something about your own company.

How much to talk about your company?
Talk only what is important and relevant in the presentation and give a small handout about your company for anyone who wants to know more. Share what is important and puts your organisation in the right light.

In this case, the agency could talk about:

Basic information about the company (one slide) - offices, services, started in...
What's special about the company (one slide) - what makes you special and desirable?
Top clients (one slide)
The team which will work on the account (one slide)

That's about it. Try to wrap this up fast because the prospective client is not interested in how big and great your company is but what can you do for them. Back to the three agencies and their pitch presentation. Few weeks have gone by. The second agency which pitched, an agency of great repute, kept on talking about themselves for 15 minutes at the start and we had to ask them to stop and move on. That's how bad it was.

Image credit: imagerymajestic

Product Review: Slidevana

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:26:00 +0000

Slidevana is a collection of 140+ ready-made slides which aims to make life easy for presenters. I received a free copy of Slidevana sometime back and was asked to review it. So here is my take on this rather new stuff.

My initial reaction to Slidevana was "will people pay for this"? Slidevana costs $69 (Rs. 3650). Not a very hefty amount. But that's not the point. You have some ready-made slides and you can copy paste them onto a new slide deck and start editing them. Kind of saves your time preparing and designing slides. Overall I am a bit sceptical. Unless you are poor at PowerPoint you should not be needing such a product. Just take out some time and design your own slides. But then I know of many people (mostly senior in age) who are not good at PowerPoint and might want to check this product out.

What does Slidevana contain?
Slidevana comes in two themes; Light background and Dark background. Both have the same set of slides but only the colour varies.

There are various kinds of ready-made slides which you can use. There are ready-made agenda slides, slides with bullet points, slides with bullet points and photos, slides which only have one photo. Take a look:

The slide on the left has four agenda items. All you need to do is to type in your text in place of the existing text on the slide. Same for the slide on the right. Delete the photo and replace with what you want there. Replace the text with what you want. All you have to do is type.

There are various slides which help you make lists, tables, diagrams, charts and other standard frameworks. Click here for a detailed tour.

Last week I was making a presentation and tried using Slidevana for it. The timeline diagram (top left) was of help indeed. Did save some of my time.

Overall, this concept seems new to me. Ready-made slides for people who have less time. Will that help? You need to decide whether it works for you or not. Atleast you now know something like this exists.

How did you find this concept? I really want to have your feedback. By any chance, if anyone has ever used Slidevana, enlighten us with your feedback. Did you find it useful? Do you use it often?

AAP now has a Facebook page

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:08:00 +0000

Click here to ask a question or start a conversation or share your feedback about the blog. Welcome on-board.

Fresh or Consistent: Which one will you choose?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:41:00 +0000

Which one will you choose?
Fresh or consistent. Something that's changing (so it does not get boring) or something that's about the same time after time. In the context of a presentation, think about it like this.

You have a PPT with 10 bar graphs on 10 slides. Would you:
a. Present all 10 graphs in exactly the same way?
b. Present some bar graphs in a different colour scheme (to ensure it does not get boring)? or
c. Present some bar graphs vertically (the default option) and make some bar graphs go horizontal (right to left). There can be some 3D as well :-)
d. Both b & c

Which one would you choose? Which one do you usually choose?

Slide Improvement: Part 5 of 5

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 11:53:00 +0000

This slide is from a presentation made by a large Public Relations agency in India. It talks about the key services the organisation offers it clients.

This slide is from a slightly evolved presenter. That's why he/she does not want to use bullets. Any normal presenter would have gone with a list of bullet points. Otherwise, the presenter is trying to make the slide look better and impress the audience.

This slide needs tweaking. The alternative colours (green and grey) is making the slide tough to read. The centre alignment (read more here) is also causing an imbalance. The header 'Key Services' is aligned left and the rest of the text is aligned centre.

Let us make some minor changes and see what we arrive at.

Changes made: 1) Text aligned to the left. 2) Bevel effect removed from rectangular boxes 3) Shadows removed from the boxes and the text. 4) Text unbold. We will now try to improve the slide further.

Changes made: 1) Logo removed. 2) Single colour for all boxes; makes it easy on the eye. This slide is much better than the previous ones. If you are still wondering, what's the need for all these boxes and bullets will do the job. Let us see how bullets look.

Changes made: 1) Bullet points instead of boxes. 2) Changed the template to make the slide look better. The lines all around and a strip at the bottom.

Actually the last two options are both good. Asked to choose between them, I would go with the list of bullets instead of the boxes. What about you?

Slide Improvement: Part 4 of 5

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 04:18:00 +0000

Here is a slide which shares a media plan. A school in my city (Hyderabad) organised an event recently. They were seeking sponsors for the event and this slide belongs to their sponsorship pitch presentation.

This slide talks about how they are going to promote the event through a 360 degree media plan. The key message of the slide is a complete and total coverage of the event across all forms of media thus ensuring a good attendance at the event.

I have tried three ways of improving this slide.

Option 1 is trying to replace the bullets with a diagram. What I have used is a regular SmartArt diagram. This diagram visually cues a 360 degree plan.

Option 2 is nothing but a different representation of Option 1. In essence we have knocked off the bullet and made the slide cleaner. This is also a regular SmartArt diagram.

Option 3 would be my preferred option. This does two things. One, the small list on the right is easy to read and understand. Two, the arrow diagram is a good visual cue for something 'complete' something '360 degree'. If you have noticed, all my options do not have images. The logic is: images are used to explain something. When we hear words like TV, Hoardings, Web and Radio we know what exactly is the presenter trying to say. We don't need an image of the transistor (radio) and TV?

Lesson: Just because we are told to 'use images' in our presentations, we should not try to force fit images on every slide. The image has to play some role. Images of TV and Radio serve no purpose on this slide and hence I prefer to knock them off.

Slide Improvement: Part 3 of 5

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:02:00 +0000

After having looked at maps, let us look at a slide which uses a photograph with some text. We all use photos in our slides accompanied with text. Here is a slide which came to me from a TV channel. I had shared this as a slide improvement example in the presentations workshop I conducted three months back.

This slide talks about the anchor of a new TV show. For confidentiality reasons, I have replaced the original image with a different one.

A pretty normal slide. Has an image and some text about the image. Can this be made better? Let us give it a shot. Remember, the first post in which we used maps. We did two important things with the map. First, made it bigger and second let it merge with the background. We will try the same here.

When the image becomes bigger, it always looks better. Always try to use as large an image as possible. With just the image becoming bigger, the slide has improved in its design appeal. Now try the 'merge the image with the background' trick.

Wow! You see that. The background of the chef merging with the white background makes it even better. To achieve this merger, I had to select the chef's image, go to effects and alter the brightness to make the chef's immediate background as white as possible. The ideal solution it to choose an image whose background is completely white.

To recap today's lesson:
1. To improve a slide which has one image - enlarge the image to the maximum possible.
2. Ensure the immediate background of the image merges with the slide background colour.

Image source: africa

Slide Improvement 2 of 5

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 08:33:00 +0000

This is the second post in the series of five posts. In the last post we improved one slide from real life. Today we will work on another slide. This slide also belongs to the same presentation.

This slide contains list of town names. Instead of making tables the presenter has inserted shapes and typed on to it. The centre alignment and so much of light brown colour is making the slide look bad. Not only is the design poor but the information presented in this manner is not very useful. Here is one possible (and simple) improvement.

Seems quite obvious to me. I have done three things with the list. 1) Made a simple table 2) Got the proportion right. Instead of two long columns, I now have more evenly balanced five columns 3) I have arranged the list in alphabetical order so it is more meaningfully used by the audience. If they are looking for a city, its easier to find in my list now.

While making this table, I also noticed that the town 'Indore' has come twice in the original list which is an error. Had the presenter made it alphabetically, he/she could have spotted it.

I have also tried one more improvement. A simple map.

This map really gives us the total picture. The audience gets the message clearly and the message is 'we are a pan-India organisation'. I haven't plotted all the cities but you get the point I am trying to make. Sometimes a well labelled map does the job better. Go with this option. In case you are short of time, try the earlier one.

Post #350...

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 04:07:00 +0000

My last post on Slide Improvement was the 350th post on AAP. My blog is now 1163 days old. That's 3 years 2 months and 8 days. Feels great to blog and blog to an ever increasing and exciting group of readers. Thanks for reading and thanks for contributing.

Slide Improvement - Part 1 of 5

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:13:00 +0000

During the course of next few days, I am going to share five slides with you. Five slides I have come across in real life. We are going to evaluate the slide and see how it can be improved. It is like the "Before and After" of PowerPoint slides.

Slide Improvement 1
Here is a slide which came to me from a major agency in India. In this slide they are talking about their presence across India. This slide is meant to impress the client about how big the organisation really is.

This is a slide I received a few days back and this is the inspiration behind the five part series on slide improvement. This slide is bad. What is meant to impress actually does the exact opposite.

There are various ways of improving such a slide. One that I am showing below took me under two minutes to modify.

What I have done is to enlarge the map, put the city names along with the red dots. Hence the lines have been eliminated. I have also removed the rectangle which contained the text and let the text merge in the white background. This is easier on the eye and makes it look classier.

Of all the possible solutions, here is one more.

This slide brings the map into limelight (the sole objective of the slide was to talk about national footprint). After having seen the map, people can read the text. I have removed the grey area outside the map and now it merges well with the white slide background. I have used the same map which was there in the original PPT. If we use a better looking map, the slide will look even better.

Lessons:
1. If we are using maps, the larger the map, the better it looks.
2. Label the map well. Label the cities where they are.
3. Only the map should be in the limelight. Make other things merge with the background. Example, how the text in the chocolate rectangle was standing out and drawing our attention away from the map in the original slide.

Are you living in "Default Land"?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:02:00 +0000

Default (noun): A particular setting or value for a variable that is assigned automatically by an operating system and remains in effect unless cancelled or overridden by the operator: changed the default for the font in the word processing program. (source)

If you are going ahead with the default settings of MS PowerPoint then you are living in Default Land. And living in default land is not going to help you at all. To become better at making presentations, the first step you must take is to come out of your default land and explore.

How do you know if you are living in default land?
Go back to your last few PPT slides and ask these questions:

Did I go ahead with Calibri, the default font?
Did I choose a template for my presentation or went ahead with the normal white stuff?
Did I choose the template I always choose or tried something new?
Did I change the colour, alignment or fonts of my data table?
Did I change the font size of my text?
Did I change the alignment of my text?
Did I change the legend, look and feel of my charts? Did I change the line colour and make it thicker?

The list is endless but you get the point. Every time you do anything in your PPT, if you are going ahead with the default choice (the choice which your software does for you) ask yourself if you like it. Ask yourself, can I change it and make it better? You will be pleasantly surprised that the default is so much boring and mundane. To become better, the first step is to challenge the status quo (the default). Come out of your Default Land.

Status quo, you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in'. - Ronald Reagan

5 Tips for Effective Whiteboard Presentations

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 13:19:00 +0000

This is a guest post by David Gerrard. He works for Boards Direct, one of the UK's largest online retailers of whiteboards, glassboards, noticeboards and other office supplies.

In an age where everyone seems to be cranking out endlessly dull Powerpoint presentations, a return to the traditional whiteboard format can often be a more engaging and effective alternative. There are, however, some differences when it comes to using this method and in both preparation and execution, you have to approach it in a different manner.

Here are some tips to help you in presenting effective presentations on whiteboards.

Prepare and Rehearse
In the majority of tasks you approach, preparation is the key to being successful. If you're well prepared you will feel more confident and consequently, present more effectively. When it comes to using a whiteboard, not only do you have to think about what you're saying but – unlike with a Powerpoint presentation – you also have to illustrate aspects of your presentational content. In order to be well prepared you must decide what you're going to draw and what you're going to write. A good thing to do is create a storyboard beforehand, so that you can visually make sense of how the presentation is going to progress and have a clear picture of each particular step.

Be Visual
Rather than filling your whiteboard with reams of text, which your audience will undoubtedly neglect to read, it's important to be visual and include drawings and diagrams to illustrate your points. Don't worry if you don't have an ounce of artistic talent, even the most rudimentary drawings will be more engaging than simply transcribing what you are saying.

Explain
This follows on from the last point and simply involves thoroughly explaining the visual aids you've elected to draw. A simple diagram by itself can be completely baffling, but a simple diagram accompanied by a thorough explanation will be extremely effective. You should always remember that people often find visual-based learning very effective.

Improve Your Whiteboard Writing Skills
It's a widely known fact that the quality of one's handwriting seriously deteriorates when writing on a whiteboard. A beautiful cursive style on paper becomes an illegible scrawl when upscaled and written with a marker pen. Practising your whiteboard writing skills before you present allows you to develop a clear and legible style. If your audience can read what you're writing, they will be much more likely to listen and take something valuable away from your presentation.

Organise and Structure Your Whiteboard Space
Rather than just scrawl notes and sketches in a disorganised manner, you should also structure your visual space for maximum impact. When you watch Powerpoint presentations, you often experience information overload as presenters can include as many slides as they feel necessary, often failing to highlight the most important aspects of the issue they're tackling. With a whiteboard presentation, you will only get one canvas and unless you are continually erasing things, you have to make it count. A clear visual structure will make everything simple for you and clearer for your audience.

If you follow these tips, you'll be well on your way to becoming a whiteboard presentation guru, renowned the world over for your clear and effective style. Ok, so maybe you won't be quite that good, but you will certainly stand out from the Powerpoint masses and learn that engaging your audience is not as hard as it first may seem.

Image source: jannoon028

Diagrammer: The Diagram Store

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:45:00 +0000

Diagrammer is an online store where you can buy diagrams for your next presentation. It is the istockphoto and fotolia of diagrams. You go to fotolia to buy photos, you can visit diagrammer to buy diagrams. To me this comes as a bit of a surprise. This is something innovative. But will people actually pay for diagrams?

What kind of diagrams are we talking here?
While browsing diagrammer I realised it is like MS Powerpoint's SmartArt. SmartArt is a collection of ready made diagrams. Diagrams in which you can insert your own text. While there are only 100 odd types of SmartArts, diagrammer has more than 4000 diagrams.

There are essentially five types of diagrams in diagrammer; Flow, Join, Network, Segment and Stack. These are supposed to denote five different types of relationships.

Within each of these categories there are sub-categories. For example, under Flow you have Linear, Loop, Merge/Divide and Parallel. If you want to show five ideas merging you can choose one of the various diagrams under merge.

The diagrams are both 2D and 3D type. All diagrams are editable. You can change its colour and move it around. The diagram is like any other shape in PowerPoint. You can resize and edit it. Each diagram only costs $0.99.

SmartArt versus Diagrammer
I was curious to check out how good these diagrams are. So I compared similar diagrams from these two resources.

The images are good in both but Diagrammer images are slightly more polished. However there is one drawback with diagrammer. All the diagrammer images have blue colour as their theme. If you want the diagram in any other colour, you will have to manually change it. SmartArt in MS PowerPoint 2010 allows instant colour choices (under SmartArt styles tab on the top). Hence changing colour schemes is faster in SmartArt than in Diagrammer. This manual change will consume time for complex diagrams.

How will you search for the right diagram?
Well these is no search box on the site. You need to know what diagram will suit you and find it out from the five main categories. The search will be fast only when you know what you are looking for. If you aren't sure which diagram will suit you, you probably don't clearly know what you are presenting.

Some samples
Here are a few sample diagrams I downloaded. Take a look. While most diagrams are ok ok, some are really new and different.

Do you really need diagrammer?
If you are an advanced user of PowerPoint, you can always create diagrams yourself. However, most of these diagrams are complex and it will not be easy to create on your own (unless you have the time and skill). Should you then go ahead and buy diagrams online?

The question you actually need to ask yourself is: Do you use such diagrams in your presentation? If yes, how often? and how are you managing these diagrams today?

Check this store out and see whether you like it. Browse through the diagrams and use what suits your need. Don't buy what's there in SmartArt (remember, SmartArt is free!).

Final point: Do not use any diagram to jazz up your presentation. If diagrams help you communicate your point better, use them. Use them in place of long list of bullet points. But don't use them to make the slides look pretty. It will not help.

What questions do you have for my answers?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 08:34:00 +0000

This is a guest post by Leon Potgieter. He is an English Teacher, Christian Minister and Public Speaking Enthusiast who’s been living in the Republic of Korea since 2008. His website effective-public-speaking-tips.com is an ever growing online portal for public speaking tips, speechwriting help and presentation techniques.

What questions do you have for my answers?
The undisputable power of practice and rehearsal for public speaking.

The first shot he saw me hit went in the hole. He said, “You got 50 bucks if you knock the next one in.” I holed the next one. Then he says, “You got $100 if you hole the next one.” In it went for three in a row. As he peeled off the bills he said, “Boy, I’ve never seen anyone so lucky in my life.” And I shot back, “Well, the harder I practice, the luckier I get.” – Gary Player, South African Golfer and winner of 24 PGA Tours.

The often under appreciated power of practice and rehearsal might by now be cliché to you. Redundant advice that deserves no repetition or exposure on the public speaking blogosphere. And yet, the very many speeches that I have heard, where talented and experienced speakers have botched up their deliveries by stumbling over their sentences, juggling between different sets of notes, getting their slides mixed up and using more “uums” and “yaknows” than actual English, still testifies to the fact that many Public speakers simply do not understand the importance of private rehearsal. Either that, or they understand it but still don’t DO it (which is just as useless).

I could flesh out a large list of benefits that this single habit will throw your way, but it boils down to two very important things: Confidence & Smoother delivery.

Regarding confidence, it’s a fact that knowing your material, and knowing that you know your material, is the single most effective way to beat the soapbox shakes. Speakers who approach the lectern with the knowledge that they’ve done their part back home, that they’ve beat the practice drum, done the preparation and went through all the rehearsal they possibly needed, will feel naturally confident. This kind of self-assurance cannot but help you deliver a better presentation.

Regarding smoother delivery, it should make sense that practice will help you do better. Gary Player isn’t the only professional who knows this: Actors, singer, athletes, politicians, cricketers and the weatherman himself knows that the more you sweat on the practice field, the less you bleed on the battlefield. Public Speakers are by no means exempt from this law of reality.

Learning from Pool Tricks
Have you ever seen a pool & domino’s trick? It’s a pastime for bored bartenders and obsessive pool-fanatics, and the basic idea with these tricks revolves around setting up a series of domino’s and pool balls on strategic places on a table. Once the choreography is laid out and each piece of the intricate puzzle is in its exact place, all it takes to set the trick in motion is to knock over the first domino.

The rest is almost magical to look at, as (after hours of deliberate and careful preparation) the trick plays itself out with zero interference from the outside. It creates a stunning effect and I think it’s a great picture of what public speaking should look like. In this case like in ours, the real work, the blood, sweat, tears and cramps takes place behind the scenes, before anyone has showed up or shown an interest in your opinions or the color of your tie.

Whether its research, speechwriting or speech rehearsal, these things make up the bulk of your preparation and when done properly, the delivery itself will most certainly be the easiest part of the whole thing. It’ll take no more effort than knocking over a single domino.

Learning from the Masters
Masterful keynote speakers, like the late Steve Jobs are often known for their great deliveries, their perfectly choreographed performances and their genuinely calmed appearance on stage. But many overlook the fact that someone like Jobs was absolutely obsessed with rehearsal and repetition during practice.

His preparation started many weeks before a keynote and often lasted for hours on end. If someone like Jobs’, with worldwide stage exposure and publicity, saw this kind of preparation as fundamental, how much more should you, who in all likelihood did not reinvent the definition of modern gadgetry!

Private Mistakes leads to Public Victories
The how-to of this is the easy part. Practice privately; days before your actual delivery, by letting your mirror have it! By that I mean you should go through your entire speech (with slides, props and everything else you’ll actually be having during the live presentation) aloud somewhere in the deep interior of your private bedroom or living room. Sure enough, you’ll find the furniture snickering as you stumble over sentences and struggle to keep your eyes off your notes, but it sure beats having a live audience laugh at you.

Personally, as troubling as an initial private delivery is, I always find incredible improvement during a second, third and fourth go at it. Once your mouth, brain and notes are in sync, things get simpler, the words come easier, and the sentences roll out in a smoother fashion. That is of course exactly what you are after.

Henry Kissinger, the American statesmen was known as a spokesman with a quick mouth. The more difficult the situation he was faced with, and the more tough the questions, the sharper and more direct his responses. Once, when asked about this by a curious reporter he gave a telling reply: “What Questions do you have for my answers?” Kissinger understood the power of preparation, and so do all smart public speakers. Never go talking on stage before you’ve been practicing back-stage!

David Ogilvy on Presentations

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:27:00 +0000

David Ogilvy is considered "The Father of Advertising". His writings on advertising are popular across the world. I came across his short note "10 Tips on Writing by David Ogilvy" today and could not resist sharing it here. His tips on writing can as well be applied to presentations. Just replace the word 'write' with 'present' and 'writing' with 'presenting'.

---
"The better you write, the higher you go in Ogilvy & Mather. People who think well, write well. Woolly minded people write woolly memos, woolly letters and woolly speeches. Good writing is not a natural gift. You have to learn to write well. Here are 10 hints:

1. Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing. Read it three times.
2. Write the way you talk. Naturally.
3. Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.
4. Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.
5. Never write more than two pages on any subject.
6. Check your quotations.
7. Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning - and then edit it.
8. If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.
9. Before you send your letter or your memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.
10. If you want ACTION, don't write. Go and tell the guy what you want."

David
---

Check out the Roman-Raphaelson book on Amazon & flipkart.

The lessons I draw as a presenter from these tips are as under. The number before every paragraph relates to that tip by David Ogilvy.

2. Present the way you normally talk. Do not put on an accent. Do not talk fast. Look people into the eye. While you are presenting, you should be your normal self.

3. Use less words on your slides. Speak less but mean more. Do not keep on talking and do not fill your slides with text.

4. Never use jargon in your presentations. You might want to sound 'cool' or like an expert but it does not help. Be clear and simple to your audience.

5. Never make lengthy presentation. Be brief and to the point. The more you say, the less people care and remember.

7. Never be in a hurry to send in (email) your PPT to the recipient. If you have worked late night on the slides, check them again the next morning and edit them. Never go into a presentation without rehearsal.

8. If you are working on an important presentation, take help from colleagues and friends. They will give you feedback which will help you. Let them critique your presentation.

9. You must be very sure what is the objective of your presentation. What do you want the audience to do after the presentation and why? This will bring clarity to your thoughts.

Not to forget, good presentation skill is not a natural gift. You have to learn to present well. Very well said David.

Thanks to my friend Nirav for sharing the link on FB.

Back-to-Basics: 1 - What is a Presentation?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:09:00 +0000

Back-to-Basics is a series of posts where I am going to revisit the basics of making a presentation. The outcome of this series is a step by step guide of making any presentation.

What is a Presentation?
At first I felt weird asking such a question. Then I realised it was not a bad place to start. When you talk of basics, this a great place to begin. So what is a presentation? Think for a while...A presentation is a person talking to a group of people? A presentation is a bunch of slides?

In my view, "a presentation is a communication with an objective." Note the following in my definition: 1. There is no mention of slides. A presentation can be made with or without slides. 2. Presentation is a form of communication. This basically means a presentation is an exchange of information (communication) between two sides. 3. There has to be an objective. Any exchange of information is not a presentation.

A teacher taking a class is a presentation. Giving a speech is a presentation. Pitching to a venture capitalist in the boardroom is also a presentation. Every form of communication wherein two sides are involved and there is a purpose is a 'presentation'.

Are all Presentations similar?
All kinds of presentations are similar. Their goals may differ, their settings might differ but there is a common DNA which runs through every presentation. I had mentioned about it sometime before on the blog. Here is a new and revised version of the same.

There are 7 elements of every presentation.

You (the presenter)
You have a goal (for example, you want to sell a flat to prospective customers)
To achieve the goal you go to your audience (customers)
You give them what they want/expect. You solve a problem or address an issue.
You want the audience to do something (action). In the first meeting you want them to get interested in the project. In the second or third meeting, your goal can be to get them give you the money.
In order to achieve the goal, you need to say something to your audience. This is your content. You talk about the great location and a reputed builder. Not to forget the lake view from the balcony.
How you say is the style. Do you use slides or not? Do you personally go and talk or just email the slides? How do you take the audience through the content? Do you share a handout? This is called the design (slide design) and delivery stage.

That's about it. Every presentation you come across will need you to look at these 7 elements. Spend time figuring each of these out and you will do a better job of the presentation. To summarise, you have to answer these questions before you start preparing for any presentation.

Who is the presenter?
What is your goal?
Who is your audience? (understand them in detail)
What does your audience want? What problem are you solving?
What do you want the audience to do after your presentation?
What will you say to the audience? (so that they do what you want them to do)*
How will you say what you want to say?**

* This is your content and ** this is your design (slide design) and delivery

I call this THE CONTEXT of a presentation.

Since this concept is new I will cover it in a bit more detail. Go back to your last presentation and figure out the 7 elements. My last presentation was a workshop I conducted for under-graduate students. Let me present to you the 7 elements:

Who is the presenter? Vivek Singh, the presentations blogger. I was there because I am a presentations expert. I was not there as a marketing manager (which is my full time role). I had only one image to portray to the audience.
What is your goal? My goal was very simple. First, make students realise the importance of presentations in their career. Second, teach them a step-by-step guide to making any presentation and also share with them common mistakes which most presenters make.
Who is your audience? My audience was under-graduate students who are studying commerce and management. I spent a lot of time understanding how many presentations the students make. I even interacted with their teacher to find out how good they are at making presentations and what mistakes they commit. What to say and how to say depends on who your audience is.
What does the audience want/expect? What problem are you solving? I knew that every student wanted to become better at presentations but most of them do not have the time or interest to research and study on their own. So I taught them something useful and easy to apply within two and a half hours.
What do you want the audience to do after your presentation? They must feel motivated to use the techniques taught in the workshop. They must use the checklist I gave them (as a handout) and apply it to the next presentation they make. I gave the handout because it makes their job of remembering and applying what I taught easier.
What will you say to the audience? (Content) I was clear on what my goal was. I understood what my audience needs were; "give us useful stuff but do not bore us." It should be easy to remember and easy to apply. This helped me shape the content. What to say and what to ignore. Since I wanted to teach less and make my content memorable and understandable, I chose to use lots of examples. I also kept summarizing as I went along.
How will you say? (Design and Delivery) I decided to use slides as I needed to show them examples of good and bad slides. I also decided to give a handout. The handout captures the basic lesson of the entire workshop. They can use it the next time they present. I also rehearsed many times so that I feel confident and finish my content well within the time allocated.

In the next post, I will discuss why these 7 elements make you a better presenter. Why you must spend time and figure out answers to these 7 questions and then jump onto the computer and start making your slides. As of now, just remember one thing. The first step to making your presentation is to answer these 7 questions.

Back-to-Basics: A new series on Presentation Basics

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:21:00 +0000

Back-to-Basics is a series of posts where in I am going to revisit the very basics of what a presentation is, what are the stages of making a presentation and how to excel at making presentations. This post not only includes the lessons I shared in my presentation workshop last week but also takes it forward. It is the crux of my 3 years of blogging. 3 years in which I have written 342 posts.

In this series I am going to cover the following:

What is a presentation?
What are the stages of making a presentation?
What are the do's and don'ts at every stage of making a presentation?
How to make a presentation quickly and yet be effective?

The outcome of this series will be a step-by-step guide to making any presentation. Something which will be of practical use to you when you are about to start working on your next presentation.

Come on then. Let's go Back-to-Basics.

Presentation Survey Findings

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:17:00 +0000

The results of the Presentation Survey are out. 73 people responded to my survey and it is a healthy sample size. Out of 73, 41 were students and the balance were working professionals. Majority of the respondents were from India. Here are the findings:

Question: How do you rate OTHERS on presentation skills? (Rate on a scale of 1 to 10; 1 being poor)
Rating of 5 or less: 40%
Rating of 6 & 7: 36%
Rating above 8: 24%

Most people rate others as average presenters. The weighted average score comes to 6.2. This is pretty poor.

Question: How do you rate YOURSELF on presentation skills? (Rate on a scale of 1 to 10; 1 being poor)
Rating of 5 or less: 10%
Rating of 6 & 7: 45%
Rating above 8: 45%

Most people rate themselves much better presenters. The weighted average score comes to 7.2 but look at the how rating has happened from 1 to 5. We think 40% of others are between 1 to 5 but only 10% of us place ourselves in the same 'poor' bracket. We are clearly over rating ourselves.

Question: What are the areas of improvement for other presenters?
Respondents were asked to share what lacked in other presenters and these are the ones which came up most.

Lack of confidence and fear of presenting to a crowd
Long presentations, too much content and too many words on slides
Reading the slides
Engaging the audience. Presenter is not able to retain audience attention

Question: What are your areas of improvement as a presenter?

Respondents mentioned what they felt were their own shortcomings.

Lack of confidence. Less experience as a presenter.
Lack of convincing power
Poor communication skills
Lack of preparation
Do not know how to tell a story

Most people are aware of their shortcoming when it comes to preparation and confidence but do not realise that their audiences hate when they read slides and make long presentations. I am sure after reading this, you will become aware of these shortcomings as well.