Read the whole story: Mediocrity to Mastery: Use These Vocal Techniques to Set Yourself Apart

Virtual space lets you connect the audience to invisible objects. In essence, you use virtual space to show the audience how you visualize the concepts you’re explaining. Although you see the concepts in your mind, the audience has no idea how to distinguish among them. Virtual space helps.

For example, let’s say you mention to the group that three separate departments will be involved in a decision: marketing, sales, and finance. To get the audience to see the three different departments using virtual space, you physically place the departments in the air for the audience to reference.

As you say the word “marketing”, your right hand places the word in the air to your right. As you say “sales”, your left hand places the word in the air to your left. As you say “finance,” you might use both hands to place the word in the air in front of you (below your face), as if cupping the word. The three departments are now floating in virtual space and you can immediately reference any of the three by physically retrieving it from its floating position.

Until you move your body, the audience will remember where you placed these references because the points of reference have been established. The concepts are floating in virtual space for the audience to “see” and they are easier for you to reference, as well.

You must be consistent and remember where you “placed” a reference. If you placed “sales” on your left, you cannot gesture to that virtual space and then say the word “marketing” because the audience will be confused, thinking that the space to your left temporarily refers to “sales”.

Similarly, multiple gestures to the same virtual space using different references will make the references seem equal, even though you intended them to be different. Thus, by saying the words “sales”, “marketing”, and “finance” while moving only one hand into the same place several times, will suggest the three words are all the same, because they will appear to occupy the same virtual space.

Once you move your body to another physical location, even a step or two away, the virtual space falls to the floor, allowing you to use new space to reference new objects.

I operate under the assumption that I should be on-time for whatever activity or responsibility I have planned. While some delays can’t be avoided, they could be anticipated. Over the years, I have built a vast database of travel nuances, patterns, and habits that have become my guiding principles in getting from place to place. One of these precepts is my CONNECTING FLIGHT THEORY.

This concept is based on TIME and DISTANCE. I postulate that when taking more than one flight to get to some destination, the connecting flight is always on TIME. It doesn’t matter when I depart from my original starting point, it makes no difference how delayed I might be in taking off, it really doesn’t matter how much time is “made-up in the air” during the first part of my journey, an on-time departure of my connecting flight is virtually guaranteed!

The second part of my theory is that the departure gate of that next flight is always at a DISTANCE that exceeds physical punctuality. The mathematical geniuses of airport design have deemed that the greatest distance between two points is usually my connecting gate. In most cases, I have just enough time to make it to an area where my gate is visible, but the door seems to be slowly closing, as if whispering “if you only got here a minute ago….”

Knowing that a short connection time is a recipe for failure, I always make sure I have at least 90 minutes between connections. But, I go to the gym regularly to maintain my ability to sprint, just in case!

The phrase is shown below. You can also hear an example by clicking the play icon.

What a to-do to die today
at a minute or two to two

A thing distinctly hard to say
yet harder still to do

For they’ll beat a tattoo
at twenty-to-two

A ra-ta-ta
ta-ta-ta
ta-ta-ta-too

And the dragon will come
at the sound of a drum

At a minute or two to two today
At a minute or two to two

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

In January 2010, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) accepted our Presentation Skills Assessment Tools for online publication on the MedEdPORTAL site, a peer-reviewed publication service and repository for medical and oral health teaching materials, assessment tools, and faculty development resources.

The MedEdPORTAL site is NOT restricted to medical institutions. Therefore, any individual or organization can register (create an account) and have access to the educational materials. Many of these resources are not specific to medicine, such as our Skills Assessment tools, which are designed measure the level of effectiveness of a presenter (who may be a teacher, trainer, speaker, etc.).

Measurements are audience-specific. For example, attendees at a seminar or conference have different preferences from those involved in a training session or a university lecture.

Therefore, certain sets of skills are more effective with different audiences.

To test the validity of the instrument, 120 individuals across several professions volunteered to be surveyed using the same study criteria as in the original research, and the results were consistent with the published findings. To further explore the usability and applicability of the tools across an even wider spectrum, the assessment was offered and used with 1,280 individuals in diverse fields internationally, in over 15 different countries. As a result, further refinements of the assessment tools were made to reflect global preferences.

Applications

Organizations continually seek quantifiable, objective measurements to evaluate skills. These peer-reviewed, published assessment tools provide instantaneous feedback and numerical scores as a method of self and peer evaluation. The utility and design of the forms allow anyone to self-evaluate or evaluate someone else, in order to improve presentation skills. To experience an analysis, a free Skills Assessment is offered. 

To account for a variety of presentation situations, there are THREE versions of the skills assessment:
STANDARD - for lectures, presentations, or seminars, where the presenter is seen and has accompanying slides.
SPEECH-ONLY - for lectures, speeches, or broadcasts, where the presenter is seen but does not have accompanying slides.
WEBINAR - for online presentations, or podcasts, where the presenter cannot be seen (only heard), and has accompanying slides.

These interactive assessment tools are designed to be user friendly, non-labor intensive, while providing immediate feedback and a measurable pathway to self improvement, regardless of profession. Typically used to complement other evaluation methods, the feedback from these assessments can improve general presentation/teaching/training skills, and provide input regarding online presentations and public speaking.

From a professional perspective, MediaNet uses these evaluation tools in coaching workshops and in Digital Coaching sessions to identify specific challenges and opportunities, while offering constructive advice for self-improvement.

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

In essence, any graphic element that takes up visual real estate ideally should add value to the content in some way. In that respect, the logo is usually self-serving, offering less utility and sometimes added distraction.

However, the logo serves a greater purpose regarding identity of ownership, which is necessary if the media is tangible property that can be shared or used by others.

The rule is simple. If the public can physically touch it, take it, move it, copy it, or reproduce it in some other form, then you should label it.

One approach to this rule is to decide if your visual content is “hard” (overheads, print materials, flip charts) or “soft” (electronic images, videotapes, software applications). If it’s “hard”, put the logo on each component that can be separated from another component, such as each page of a multi-page handout. If the content is “soft” then the logo makes sense on the first visual or at the very beginning of the electronic event.

Thus, in a PowerPoint presentation (electronic images) there is no need to identify every slide with a logo since the images themselves are not tangible, making the media a “soft” format. The audience cannot extract or take the slides, unless they are provided in some other format (hard copy) or made available electronically. So, if you plan to upload your PowerPoint presentation to the web, you should put the logo on every slide, since each screen can be captured (taken) and therefore, reproduced.

Thus, “soft” formats can be repurposed. For example, a TV show is a “soft” format that bears the identifying logo of the broadcasting network because TV signals can be copied or reproduced, making the visual content “hard”. YouTube is a perfect example of video content that is labeled with a YouTube logo, displayed in what seems to be a non-tangible format, but able to be copied, downloaded, shared or reproduced.

Of course, if you still insist on using a logo on every slide during a live presentation, then don’t stop there. Be consistent. Why not wear the logo on your clothing and verbally say the logo every so often as you speak? After all, your body and voice are part of the presentation, just as visibly as the content. 

In fact, based on the commercialization of our society, perhaps it won’t be long before we present dressed like race car drivers, sporting huge logo patches while narrating commercial messages in-between our changing slides!

The very thought borders on the ridiculous!

And now — a word from our sponsor…

Click on the image to navigate to the video clip.

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.

There are three “dramatic perspectives” or types of conflict — global (man against nature), local (man against man) or inner (man against himself). There is only ONE type of conflict used in any given story.

If you identify the overall message or theme, you should dominate your stories with the type of conflict that matches the theme or the objective behind the message.

For example, a message targeting an “industry” practice is an example of global conflict. A message focusing on abuse in the workplace can be inner conflict (to the organization itself) or it can be shaped as local conflict between people (superior/subordinate). An introduction of a new software program to increase group efficiency is an example of an inner conflict, as each person identifies with the need to self-improve by learning the new process.

Know the message and you will be able to build stories using the type of conflict that matches the message.