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Presentation video

Telecommuting: are you ready for your close up?

Owing to global weirding, those who can are making plans to telecommute today. If you’re a writer, teacher, or communicator: you might have access to tools that allow you to do your jobs remotely. In a pinch, remote tools can often allow ‘the show to go on’.

I remember speaking at an out-of-state conference a few years ago: one of the conference organizers approached me and asked if I would mind switching my allotted speaking time to another time slot. It seemed that there was a travel glitch: another out-of-state speaker couldn’t arrive to speak on time.

Of course I agreed to switch time slots. One look at the anxiety on the organizer’s face told me I needed to do whatever I could to make her life easier. I watched as she and her team scrambled with the hotel staff to set up a Skype connection to a large screen data display.

The scheduled speaker ended up speaking remotely via Skype. It was a smart and successful adaptation to a trying situation.

Similarly, a number of weather-related and travel-related emergencies have cropped up in my life over the past year. While I agree that face-to-face client meetings are necessary — it’s also time to learn to smoothly integrate telecommuting into your work schedule if it’s possible.

Before scheduling a face-to-face meeting, I often find myself asking, “Is this something we can do over phone? Or Skype? Or Google Hangouts?”

Clients are usually pretty delighted to at least give it a try. In a pinch, remote meetings and classes can work very well — especially when you have practice using them in non-crisis situations!

Why not try scheduling a few meetings remotely when you don’t absolutely have to? Make them more matter-of-fact? Personally, I find remote meetings to be huge time-savers: the tendency to linger or sidetrack seems to diminish online. And the costs associated with travelling (time and energy) also disappear.

How can we more smoothly integrate telecommuting policies into our day-to-day business life? And could it be that we’ve arrived at a time and place in our evolution where learning how to effectively communicate on-camera is a key business skill?

“I’m ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille.”

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Presentation

7 Reasons Why You Might Not Be Sleeping

“Help me! I can’t sleep!”

I see variations of the “I can’t sleep” post on Facebook almost every week. I know that some friends have serious health problems and need medical help: this post is definitely NOT for them. This is just a “hey, friends — if you’re having a tough time sleeping lately, here’s some easy baseline stuff to check that might have escaped your attention.”

These seven observations are based solely on my personal experience. I’m an excellent sleeper — but this wasn’t always the case. This is what works for me:  I hope it helps you.

1. Check your coffee intake. I notice that people who complain the most about sleep problems on Facebook also like to post frequent check-ins to trendy coffee houses. It seems so obvious, but near-constant coffee consumption may play a huge role with your inability to sleep. (I dropped down to two cups in the morning with breakfast. That’s it. If I make a mistake and have more, I usually pay the price in erratic behavior for the rest of the day. Decaf exists for a reason.)

2. Check your caffeine intake. As a label-reader, I was surprised to see “caffeine” listed on quite a few skin and hair products. I don’t use any of those and my skin and hair seem acceptable. Read labels: you may be unwittingly taking on caffeine in some surprising places! For more details on ‘caffeine in surprising places’, check out the caffeine content in a number of products at  the Center for Science in the Public Interest.)

3. Check your conscience. “People with a guilty conscience don’t sleep” was one of my dad’s sayings. And he’d always say it whenever I had a bad night’s sleep. As a teen, this would make me seethe — until I figured out what Dad said was true. (Proof: if you feel angry or upset when someone merely insinuates that you have a guilty conscience, that’s a huge giveaway. Burning with self-righteous indignation is going to keep you up at night. Don’t deny your guilt: acknowledge it and address it before you go to bed.)

4. Check your blue screen time. Spending too much time around electronic devices can mess with your head. If you can, shut it down. If you can’t, find out why you can’t. How can you put TV/internet/phone time into balance? Tools like flux help reduce the eerie blue glow that may be messing with your sleep cycle — but shutting your devices down altogether can be a viable option, too.

5. Check your humidity levels. Personally, I find that keeping the humidity at a comfortable and stable level is critical to a good night’s sleep. In the summer, we often manage high humidity with an air conditioner. But I’m often surprised to learn that many people don’t manage winter’s low humidity with a humidifier. Try it. Decent humidifiers are often inexpensive, quiet, and effective. (On the downside, they’re often a pain to keep clean.)

6. Check the noise and light. Keep your sleeping area dark and banish noise. I live in a quiet neighborhood, so I’m lucky. But I travel with earplugs and a sleep shade, just in case I end up in a hotel where I’m not-so fortunate. I don’t use sleep shades or ear plugs at home, but I do use light-blocking window shades to keep out light that may creep in from a full moon or shooting star.

7. Check your food, drink, & exercise. Moderation works for me. Eat too much and I can’t sleep. Eat too little and I can’t sleep.  Same deal with exercise. It took me some time to find a sweet spot of eating/exercising/drinking. However, I see some friends habitually post extreme eat/exercise/drink habits on Facebook, which inevitably leads to their “Help! I can’t sleep!” post. (If by drinking you think ‘alcohol’ — I do very well without it altogether, but too much is always a problem. I tend to drink a lot of water, but I need to stop drinking after 7pm…or else.)

These 7 tips might seem obvious, but you might be surprised at how much resistance you’ll get for suggesting a few of these ideas to someone who is complaining about a lack of sleep.

“I WILL NOT stop drinking coffee! I DO NOT have a guilty conscience. Plenty of people sleep with their iPhones – that CAN’T be it.”

If your first reaction is a cranky denial, just smile and say, “OK, cool. Just thought I’d mention it.”

Because you really don’t want to lose any sleep over this…

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Presentation

How can you positively frame your core message?

A number of people and organizations have gone out of their way lately to tell me that they are non-violent. They remind me of people who go out of their way to tell me that they are not racists. Not sexists. Not homophobic.

It’s a tell.

Let’s take a look at what a person who earnestly professes to be non-violent might actually be telling you:

  1. I am unaware that all human beings, including myself, are violent. I am also unaware that I am suppressing or re-channeling my violent tendencies to participate more fully in a civilized society. Because my self-awareness is low, I’m unpredictable and dangerous.
  2. I know darn well that I’m a violent person. I’m going to lie and pretend to be I’m something I’m not. I am a wolf in sheep’s clothing: don’t trust me.

Either way, if anyone seriously tries to sell you that they are non-violent: it’s a cause for suspicion. Actually, if anyone ever leads with a line about being anti- or non- anything (in a way that isn’t meant as parody) it’s a cause for suspicion.

Perpetually speaking in the language of non- and anti-  is feeble, defensive, and reactionary. Instead of speaking in terms of anti-violence, anti-GMO,  anti-gun, anti-fracking, anti-bullying, anti-wimp, anti-war, anti-poverty, anti-vaccine, anti-science, anti-anything: why not start by stating what you actually stand for, instead of what you stand against?

Reframe the conversation.

If we only live to rail against some cause, action, person, or principle that we don’t like, we’re a huge part of the problem. Our words and actions can support and strengthen the frame of what it is that we say we are against.

Here’s an exercise for positively framing your core message: state what it is that you stand for. If you can only frame what you stand for in terms of what you are against, try again. And keep trying.

Hint: this exercise may or may not be easy, but it’s worth the effort. With a deeper understanding and awareness, we may find ourselves participating in more meaningful, truthful, and helpful conversations.

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Coaching fun Presentation

Beware the uncanny valley of presentation design and delivery

uncanny valley

A performer and presentation can be overly polished and perfect. Creepily so.

Borrowing from the world of robotics, I call this phenomenon the uncanny valley of design and delivery. This is when a presenter looms a bit too near perfection. I don’t run into the uncanny valley of presentation design and delivery too often, but when I do — my hair stands on end.

Yours will, too. Presentation perfection is creepy. It’s just not human.

When presenters carefully design and deliver a flawless presentation, the audience will dislike both the topic as well as the presenter. I’ve seen that happen twice in my lifetime.

throat punch

See? It’s not just me. Presentation perfection can be off-putting.

If you find yourself making a mistake during your presentation, rejoice! You’ve escaped the uncanny valley.

If you find yourself tirelessly rehearsing the smallest gestures and facial expressions before your presentation — be warned! You might be unwittingly entering the uncanny valley!

As you rehearse, remember that your goal is not to deliver a perfect speech or presentation. The perfect speech or presentation does not exist.

Rather, what’s your real goal? To educate? Inform? Persuade? Entertain?

Being human will help you achieve these goals better than striving for perfection.

And hey — it may save you from a punch you in the throat!

Have you ever encountered a presentation that was a little too perfect? How did it make you feel?

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Coaching Presentation

How long do you plan for Q&A?

Cats with questions

Q&A — questions and answers — is my favorite part of any business or training presentation. I’m curious. I like hearing what’s going on in the heads of the audience. I like learning from the audience every bit as much as learning from the presenter.

When I give a presentation or training session, I almost always plan for Q&A. I first offer the audience some content to chew on, so that we can enjoy a conversation near the end.

But just how much time do you plan for questions and answers?

Over time, I’ve discovered a formula that works for me.

  • When I’m speaking to professionals, I plan for 15-20 minutes of Q&A.
  • However, if I’m speaking to students (college age or younger) I plan for 5-10 minutes of Q&A.

I find that professionals will often ask more detailed and specific questions based on their work experience. Students are more likely to ask for broad clarification rather than specific advice.

This formula works for me to keep things from ending too late/too early. Also, I never end on Q&A — I reserve a minute or two for a more formal close.

I’ve found a Q&A timing formula that works for me — but your results may vary. What works for you?

 

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fun Presentation

OK, so never start a sentence with these 10 words…

No offense, but I recently had to leave a lecture because the speaker began every other sentence with either “So…” or “Alright, so…”

His information may have been spectacular, but after a half hour, I felt too distracted to listen anymore. When your audience starts playing a mental drinking game based on taking a sip every time you say “so” and downing the whole glass every time you begin a sentence with the word “so” — and they’re hammered in 5 minutes — you might want to face the problem.

Saying “so” is so over.

The dreadful part about saying “so” is that it’s insanely catchy. A half-hour of listening to someone repeat so like a neurotic cuckoo clock, and you’ll find yourself doing the same damn thing.

The “so” phenomenon has spread like wildfire over the past few years. If we’re conscious of it, maybe we can make that little devil go away.

I’m trying like mad to drop that absurd little word from the start of my sentences, and it’s going pretty well. But all I have to do is listen to an interview on NPR for 10 minutes in the car, and it comes galloping back at my next meeting.

Vexed, I scrawled a list in my Moleskine: Top 10 words never to begin a sentence with —

1. So…

2. OK. So…

3. Alright, so…

4. Alright…

5. OK.

6. No offense, but…

7. I think…

8. I feel…

9. Ahem…

10. Just…

It’s a hastily scrawled list, based largely on my own annoyance that these words have actually flown out of my mouth. It’s a monkey-hear, monkey-say situation: I hear these phrases and I repeat these phrases.

I’m going to make a conscious effort to stop saying these phrases with any kind of frequency. If one slips into my speech a time or two, that’s acceptable. But I don’t want to have it escalate into a drinking-game distraction!

What “stop words” are on your Top 10 lists?


Laura Bergells is a professional story finder. She writes, coaches, teaches, and speaks. Check out her online courses at LinkedIn Learning. If you’re a LinkedIn Premium or Lynda.com member, these courses are free! If you’re not a member, you can either become a member or buy each of these classes à la carte.


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PowerPoint PowerPoint Presentation Presentation

Who else remembers a world before PowerPoint?

Who can remember the first presentation they ever gave using PowerPoint? Can you remember with any specificity, or is PowerPoint so ubiquitous that you can’t really remember?

For those of use who are over 23 years of age — we are not PowerPoint natives. Some of us can remember a time before PowerPoint existed…and we gave presentations, anyway.

My first PowerPoint… it was in the early 1990’s. As a leader of a corporate IT user group, I was charged with giving the team’s recommendations to the executive staff.

I gave my first PowerPoint presentation a yellow background. I used few words — mostly pictures and headlines — and picked the “dissolve” transition between each slide. I gave it on a computer, as the executive staff circled around the monitor, amazed by the potential to use this whiz-bang new technology to tell a convincing story.

I remember a lot of “oooooh’s and aaaah’s”, followed up by “Neat. How’d you do that? Can we do that for sales? How about training?”

The executive staff approved our proposal. And PowerPoint became a global standard for business presentations.

Are you a PowerPoint native? Where were you when you delivered your first PowerPoint presentation?

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Coaching Presentation

Where were you when the tech went out?

Well, it happened again. The event coordinator gave me a firm 50 minutes to speak — no wiggle room! — and a nifty state-of-the-art presentation system. I love walking into a building with shiny new equipment! Just plunk in a thumb drive, do a simple sound test, and I’m ready to go on with the show.

Except that 5 minutes into the presentation, the brand new computer system decided it needed to do a Windows update. And nothing could stop it from shutting down and doing its own thing.

The update might take minutes, it might take hours — but I only had 50 minutes, so I didn’t waste time. I whipped out a standard sized piece of paper. The night before, I had rehearsed my presentation. I jotted down my key points on paper and tucked it into my briefcase.

When the computer system went down, I acknowledged its crazy behavior to the audience.

“Oh, man. Windows update! Did you ever notice that Windows will update whether you want it to or not? Well, that’s a computer for you. While the computer and tech crew are doing their thing, I can continue without visuals…”

…and I went right on with my presentation. About 15 minutes later, the computer finished updating itself, and I said,

“Now let me show you what some of the approaches I’ve been telling you about actually look like.”

Was this ideal? Of course not! (Especially when the computer updated itself again 10 minutes later! Argh!)

But rehearsing my presentation (with brand new material) the night before helped my recall, as did my low-tech written cheat sheet. Acknowledging the tech failure helped me emotionally connect with the audience (hey, who among us can’t empathize with the frustration of a tech melt down at an inappropriate moment?) And because I had 50 minutes, I only planned to speak for 30. I find that no one is ever upset if a meeting runs short (but heaven help you if it goes long!)

Sure, I had a thumb drive and a laptop as a backup. But with a tight 50 minutes, I couldn’t take 5 minutes to re-wire the presentation system. I simply went on with the show while the tech crew valiantly tried to reason with an unruly computer.

I’ve delivered presentations with tech failures before, so I know the importance of backups. However, when the electricity completely fails or time is tight, a thumb drive and backup laptop won’t help you.

You’ve got to go low-tech. Know your topic cold and keep your soft skills sharp.

Remember, you’re in a position of leadership when you stand in front of a crowd. How you respond to an unplanned or stressful situation is an opportunity. It speaks volumes about your ability and willingness to lead.

How have you responded to a tech meltdown? Where were you when the tech went out?

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Presentation

How I followed the Tampon Guy…

At the start of a corporate training session, our leader initiated an icebreaker. Nobody in the room knew each other, so the leader asked us to get up and “share something about yourself that no one would know from reading your resume.”

Most people I know hate icebreaker games like these. Me? I’m a good sport. Sure, icebreakers can be a little hokey, but I like the interaction. I also enjoy listening to other people’s offbeat stories, learning a little about them, and maybe even getting a good jump on remembering names.

I quickly thought of something unusual to share about myself when it became my turn. I then listened to the first speaker: a big, burly man. He blurted out,

“I’m Mike. When I was in college, I was the guy who stocked feminine hygiene products in public restrooms.”

feminine hygiene

 

photo credit: Dani P.L.

The audience burst into laughter. It seemed so unlikely: Mike was very big and masculine! And what a tale to blurt out in front of a room of 20 new colleagues. I admired his guts.

Mike went on to explain that he didn’t put that job on his resume. He never even told any of his college chums about his job.

“It paid good money,” he admitted. “But I’d rather have my friends think I was a small time drug dealer than the tampon guy.”

This just made everyone laugh harder. I was no exception.

But when Mike sat down, it was my turn to get up. The room was still laughing.

“Hi, I’m Laura,” I said. “This one time in college, I was in a public restroom. When I left the stall, I saw a huge man standing in front of the tampon machine. He had his back to me and I didn’t know what he was doing, so I clocked him on the head with my purse and ran. Was that you, Mike?”

The room laughed. Mike nodded with a grin.

“Occupational hazard,” he said. “Happened all the time.”

I sat down, enjoying the continued laughter. I wished the guy who followed me would have told a story about how he accidentally walked into a ladies’ room and found a gigantic man passed out on the floor, covered with tampons.

But he didn’t. I don’t remember what the guy after me said. Something truthful, I’ll bet.

The point of the icebreaker wasn’t necessarily to tell the truth. The point was to connect with the other people in the room. When I saw an opportunity to make a personal connection to Mike and my new colleagues, I didn’t tell the story I had planned to tell.

Is it really lying if everyone knows it’s a joke? Or if an outrageous lie serves a higher purpose?

You can plan your presentation content for months, weeks, days, or even minutes — but you also need to be flexible. Be present. Practice improv. Watch and listen for late-breaking opportunities to give your presentation a little more impact.

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content ideas fun Presentation

What’s the exact opposite of what you’re saying?

When you edit a business presentation that offers a numbered list or step-by-step instructions, here’s a fun way to make your content more satisfying. In your head, ask yourself, “what might the exact opposite of that action be?”

  • “Communicate with employees” might become “Leave employees in the dark.”
  • “Follow the company policy manual” can be “Ignore all laws and rules.”
  • “Remain calm” might become “Have a complete nervous breakdown.”

Freak out

photo credit t0 Frau Shizzle

When I play “the opposite game” as I’m editing a list, I can easily spot weak writing. If my “opposite” advice sounds ridiculous, I know I’m saying something too vague to be valuable.

I might as well not say it at all!

Other than simply eliminating weak writing, I might also want to consider a re-write. A great way to pack more punch into a sloppy call to action is to move from the general to the specific. For example, instead of the first two bullet points, I might write “3 Company Policies to Review with Staff on May 1”. A specific headline or bullet point is often more memorable, actionable, or valuable than a generic one.

Try playing “the opposite game” with your latest business presentation or article. Take a look at your bullet point lists or headlines. What insights does “playing the opposite game” give you? How did it help you make your presentation stronger or more specific?

(And help me out — how can I re-write “Manage Expectations”??? As opposed to what?)