Visually Speaking

In 2006, in conjunction with New York University, Dr. Leila Jahangiri and Tom Mucciolo collaborated on an extensive research project to identify the skills that contribute to a speaker’s effectiveness. From the findings of that published study, the authors designed a series of interactive assessment tools which measure as many as 80 independent skill elements to arrive at effectiveness ratings across multiple audience types.

These assessment tools were peer-reviewed and recently published, supplementing the efforts of the original research. Read more… →

In a presentation, the majority of the message is in the performance of the content. Your physical actions help bring your words to life. In a featured article published in the PresentationXpert newsletter, Tom Mucciolo shares some techniques for using body language, positioning, movement, and gestures to enhance the delivery of content.

Read the whole story: All the Right Moves: Use Body Actions to Capture Interest

Many wonder when, where, or whether an identifying “logo” should appear on visual content. Some contend that after a few slides, the logo is no longer noticed, prompting others to argue “then why is it there?” Read more… →

The actions of the body can add or detract from the speaker’s words, depending on the level of consistency in the movements. A recent Charlie Rose interview of Bill Gates offers an opportunity to see how the hands are used to emphasize key points, and where the challenges exist when the actions are inconsistent.

Click on the image to navigate to the video clip.

There is a fine line between the use and the abuse of technology elements. In a featured article published in the PresentationXpert newsletter, Tom Mucciolo shares some techniques for incorporating animation, video, sound, and slide transitions into presentations.

Read the whole story: Keep multimedia from morphing into multi-mania

If you want your message to have the most impact on the greatest number of people then you must match your message to what is most basic to your audience. One way to achieve this is through the use of CONFLICT, because people have some type of “conflict” in everyday life. Read more… →

Once upon a time… a speaker claimed it was difficult to get an audience excited about information simply because the content was so boring. Content is never boring — people are boring. A boring presenter delivers boring details. While there are a number of ways to bring content to life, the most obvious method is to smile. You can choose from any of the three kinds of smiles: outside, inside, and in-depth. Read more… →

Tom Mucciolo is interviewed by Mark Ragan, CEO of Ragan Communications on Ragan TV. This is part of a series (see the “Interviews” category). This clip features a discussion of how to be more effective on camera. Read more… →

Using our research-based assessment tools, which measure the effectiveness of presenters, there appears to be a significant drop in quality when even highly rated “live” speakers deliver online content, specifically webinars, where the venue is limited to voice-over driven content. Read more… →

Part of the challenge of interaction is guiding your audience into asking the right question at the right time. While you may be able to anticipate possible questions, based on prior experience with the topic, you really can’t predict which people will ask what, when. But, you can increase your chances if you use a strategy of forced choice.  Read more… →