Our First Guest Post on Forbes: 5 All-Star Techniques You Can Use In Your Next Speaking Gig

Our First Guest Post on Forbes: 5 All-Star Techniques You Can Use In Your Next Speaking Gig

Big day for us…our writers at Hook-Line-Sinker are now guest posting exclusive presentation articles on Forbes. Please check out our first and not definitely last blog post on Forbes called “5 All-Star Techniques You Can Use in Your Next Speaking Gig.”

This articles shares with common audiences how star presenters like Steve Jobs, Chris Rock, Martin Luther King Jr. Tony Hsieh, and Bill Clinton work their magic in enchanting audiences.

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Preparing Presentations: 5 Ways to Practice ’til Perfect

“Practice makes perfect.”

We’ve all heard it.  Many, many times, in fact.

Although it has been repeated many times over your lifetime, it still rings truth.  In any skill that you choose to pursue, if you practice it enough, you will be nearly perfect at it.  There’s no way to get around it.  Unless you are naturally talented at something or get extremely lucky, odds are the only way to “sharpen your sword,” so to speak , is through repetition.  Now, we’re not going to lie to you.  It takes a lot time and dedication to be a disciplined practitioner of anything.  However, if you can sit down, focus and try your best, you will see clear results.

This mindset also applies to presentations.  For most people, presentations make them nervous, which is natural.  However, you can significantly decrease your nervousness by taking certain steps, carefully preparing yourself for the event to come.  At Big Fish Presentations, we encourage our clients to practice a variety of methods that ease nerves, which makes them more successful and confident in their presentations.  So, we’ve gathered five of these tactics to share with you today.

Here are five ways in which you can practice your presentation skills.

1. Rehearse in front of a crowd

Standing in front of a group of people, giving your speech and seeing their reactions is a great way to boost your confidence in your material and delivery.  Whether it’s a small group of your friends, co-workers, family or even a random group of strangers, the action of giving your presentation allows you to see reactions and get natural human feedback.  This will calm your nerves and make you more comfortable with the entire experience.  Many times, you’ll find that your worst mistakes will surface on this first go-around, leaving you with plenty of time and feedback to correct mistakes and re-organize your thoughts.

2. Take notes

As you practice, it’s very useful to stop immediately whenever you notice a mistake or an uncomfortable moment and jot down a few notes.  In any practicing situation, don’t hesitate to analyze and re-analyze your presentation as you go.  After all, this is why you’re practicing in the first place.  You can write down things like cutting down on time on certain parts, making sure you enunciate tricky words or refining the structure of your talk.  You’d be surprised by how many issues you can find when you take the time to look at yourself closely.

3. Experiment

Don’t keep repeating the same lines over and over again if you think it sounds boring or awkward.  Let loose and find ways to make your presentation exciting for your audience.  Experiment with variations of words, include a funny story, make a joke or two.  Relax!  Remember, the two most important things in your presentation are being clear and being relevant.  Use the stage or props to your advantage.  Ask a particular audience member a question.  Keep your audience guessing.  You can have a lot of fun if you free yourself from the boring presentation structure and have a little fun out there.

4. Time yourself

Timing is crucial in presentations.  It takes practice to nail down a solid time, but the general rule of thumb is to keep it short, simple and to the point.  Since your goal is to decrease time while maintaining quality, practice trimming your message to include the most important and relevant information without the fluff.  Set up a goal of the amount of time that you think is appropriate for your audience, then refine or beef up your talk accordingly.  The more comfortable you are with your time, the more flexible you can be as you give your presentation.

5. Record yourself

By hearing and seeing yourself, you can judge the inflection, speed and enunciation of your voice.  You always want to put yourself in your audience’s position, seeing and hearing yourself as they would see you.  It’s not so much about perfecting your orating skills, although that is important, as it is about showing your personality through your words.  In order to come across original and confident, you want to show your true character and that you’re comfortable in your speech.

All in all, it comes down to carefully observing yourself and constructively criticizing the elements of your speech.  You’ve got to take the time to truly grade yourself before you can expect to deliver a solid presentation.  The true masters of presentations, such as TED speakers, train themselves and prepare extensively in advance for their talks.  If you want to truly engage your audience, be yourself, but most importantly be comfortable with yourself. It’s all about blending your personality with your message and finding the happy medium between your goals and the outcome.

What do you think?  Was this helpful?  Do you have any additional tips or guidelines about preparing for a presentation? Let us know what you think in the comments below, on our Facebook page or tweet us!  Also, subscribe to our YouTube channel for more awesome content from the Big Fish team!

Presentation Breakdown: Rich Mulholland “Escaping Educational Legacide”

This week’s presentation breakdown features Missing Link CEO and former rock star roadie Rich Mulholland.  After operating lights for bands like Iron Maiden and Def Leppard, Mulholland started South Africa’s first presentation company, Missing Link.  He is also an outstanding speaker and education activist.

In this TED talk, Mulholland speaks about his proposition of reinventing the educational system.  He believes that people should never stop learning.  The traditional model of education, one in which we attend school until our early 20s, then rely on this education to fuel our careers and minds for the remainder of our lives, is a flawed system.  Let’s take a look at the structure of this fun, engaging presentation!

0:08-0:20

Mulholland opens up the presentation by greeting the audience, but then he jumps right into a declaration of his personality.  He says that he always wanted to join the circus, but that he never wanted to actually follow them on stage.  This gives us a brief glimpse into his personality, which we will come to recognize as being light and humorous, but with a sincere glow.

0:20-0:50

Now, Mulholland jumps right into a new idea. Notice how directly he addresses the audience and how lively they become when he speaks to them.  He is very unorthodox in his approach at humor, especially for a TED talk.  Within the first minute of his talk, he has made the audience laugh, while truly engaging them in a scenario that he begins to play out.

0:50-2:30

As we dive deeper into this scenario, which is an interesting one I might add, Mulholland is amping us up with suspense about the “catch” of this “gift.”  He is clearly going somewhere with this, but until he finally reveals the punchline, we are clueless, but enjoying the ride.  He delivers the “catch,” and gets the reaction for which he was hoping.  The audience plays right into the joke.  However, it isn’t simply a joke.  We have been taught something through the joke, and we will spend the rest of the TED talk delving deeper into this idea.  He shifts into the topic of how things change.  Now, we will get to the meat of the piece.  He addresses this shift with the mention of education.

2:30-3:04

Once we have made the shift into the “real” topic of the piece, Mulholland is keen to run with it while he has our attention.  He doesn’t drag it out, waiting for us to wonder too much.  We’ve had a little of that already.  People want to get information when they want it, not when someone decides to give it to them.  By using the clothing scenario, Mulholland has opened our minds to this possibility, and now he has given us a token of wisdom concerning innovation.  He says, “Innovation isn’t about doing something new.  Innovation is almost always about stopping doing something old.”

3:04-4:06

Mulholland turns to giving us some visuals that we can use to compare and follow the points he is talking about.  He shows two graphs that differ drastically.  We see his points clearly and he conveys his message in a humorous way.  Then, he gives us some insights into his personal life as well as his father’s.  He backs up what he is saying by addressing his past.  We believe in this idea, we are on the same page because we see a an analysis of his life running parallel to his points.  He is living and working the way he says that most people are living and working.  After he has convinced us of this, and we see his point clearly, he moves on to another point by addressing the idea of Experience vs. Expertise.

4:06-5:23

Now, we’re getting into the heart of the presentation.  Mulholland digs deeper into the current problem of age and salary. While the former system meant that the older you are the more money you make because of the experience you have, the newer model suggests that expertise, not experience, is the more valuable asset for a company to have.  People are retiring earlier because they have been replaced by younger, more specifically talented and trained new employees.  After showing two more graphs that illustrate his point, Mulholland explains the bigger idea in terms of a real, current problem.  He directly tells the audience that they should be afraid of what’s to come.  By doing this, he is preparing a call-to-action and  instilling a tiny initiative into the audience in order to promote action.  We will see the development of this idea later on in the presentation.  As he makes the declaration, “I think every 30-year-old in the room should be crapping themselves,” the audience begins to laugh loudly, to which Mulholland responds with more humor.

5:23-6:07

Mulholland goes on to explain that everyone is plateauing earlier, including himself.  People in their 20s are so excited to learn and update their skill sets.  They eventually become less valuable to their companies due to more and more specialization by other, newer employees.  At this point in the presentation, Mulholland is once again bringing his personal struggle with this issue into play.  We are invested in the idea because we see that our speaker is also personally invested in the subject matter.

6:07-8:50

We are on the backward slope of the issue at this point.  We have come across the main topic, discussed and setup the climax and then revealed the true problem.  Now, Mulholland is explaining the effects of the problem, and how we can begin to come to terms with the issue.  He puts into perspective the central message: all of the rules have changed.  We can’t keep looking at our careers in the same, traditional way.  He is setting the audience up for a solution.  He uses passion and exciting body language to keep us interested in the subject matter, which will be crucial for him to do as he in the next few minutes.

8:50-9:57

Mulholland has reached a solution.  He has clearly stated the answer to this problem.  We have experienced the build-up of the issue, and now we are about to take action in order to solve it.  Mulholland displays a clear slide with the sentence, “We need to shorten the distance between education and execution.”  The structure thus far has been consistent.  Mulholland has given us examples of how each portion of the problem affects our lives, and now we come to see a possible resolution to the issue.  He proposes that we stop schooling earlier, begin working and then integrate education into the remainder of our lives.  We never need to stop learning.

9:57-12:34

As we wrap up the presentation, we are given a thorough, clear understanding of the necessary steps to change the system.  He gives us an original set of instructions that can be used to change the “business model” of educational institutions.  There are three main points: 1)Sell-by Date for degrees 2)Subscription model for learning 3)Relevance is Key for maintaining functional, efficient employees.  Now, we have a few concrete rules that we could follow in order to fully integrate education into our working adult lives.  Then, Mulholland seals his proposition with a quote.  This is a very good technique for concluding talks because it not only gives the audience a tangible piece of information, but a relevant quotation encompasses the essence of the overall idea.  It reminds and reinforces the goals that the speaker has laid out.  Mulholland closes the presentation in a quick, simple manner, which makes his last words easily digestible for the audience.

So, there you have it!

This piece is rather short, but informative, and most importantly, fun.  Mulholland is a lively, passionate presenter who goes in a clear direction, not stopping or lulling the audience to sleep.  He keeps the energy flowing and the thoughts brewing for his audience, and we are enchanted by his fresh approach to an engaging topic.  Overall, this presentation gives us a chance to experience and learn in a thrilling environment, and we walk away feeling refreshed and informed with a sense of joy at having been a part of it.

Now, the real question is: how do you feel about this presentation?  Are there any key points that we have missed or that you would like to discuss?  As always, subscribe to our YouTube channel, leave us some feedback below or on our Facebook page, or tweet us at @BigFishPresCo!

Download our latest white-paper – Seven Ways to Rock Your Next Presentation

Kenny here. Today, I’d like to give our loyal blog followers, a nice little present from the Big Fish Presentations team.

You can now download our newest white-paper Seven Ways to Rock Your Next Presentation by clicking on the picture above or clicking the link here. It’s our first white-paper, and I personally am rather proud of it. But that doesn’t mean you should hold back on your thoughts. Feel free to leave us any comments, thoughts and opinions, as we’ll be looking to update this whitepaper within the next couple of months.

If you’re new to our blog, feel free to subscribe in the right hand side and get dibs on the latest presentation news and offerings from our team at Big Fish.

Happy presenting!

– Kenny Nguyen, Big Fish Presentations

The Power of the Pause

“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.” – Mark Twain

“Um, you know, like…”

You’ve heard it many, many times in your daily life.  Whether it’s your friend telling a story, your teacher giving a lesson, or even at a professional business pitch or speech.  I bet you say it all of the time and don’t even realize it!

This little phrase and others like it are what we call “filler words.”  You use them when you don’t know what to say.  There is a momentary gap in your thoughts, and you have fallen into the habit of filling that space with small, useless phrases in order to compensate.  We can’t help but to maintain the rhythm of our speech, so we subconsciously resort to sputtering out what we think covers our lack of direction.

However, it does just the opposite. Instead of sounding smooth, we sound as if we have no idea what we’re talking about. We seem unorganized and unconfident.

Why is it so hard to be silent in between our thoughts?  Why does there have to be a constant stream of sound when we speak?

The root of the problem lies in our lack of patience.  Most of us can’t stand to wait in between our sentences because we feel too slow and deliberate.  It isn’t in our nature to pause in our speech because we don’t pause in our thoughts.  However, learning to pause in our thoughts increases our odds of finding the right word, phrase or point.  This is beneficial to your audience, who are listening to you because they want good, clear ideas presented to them.

Although we don’t realize it, the people who listen to us actually crave silence.  Silence gives them a chance to digest the information being presented to us.  It gives them a chance to breathe.  We all have that friend that just can’t or won’t slow down to talk.  They speak a million miles a minute.  You just want to calm them down and get the information out in a reasonable fashion.  It’s the same with presentations or speeches.

Robert Byrd, a U.S. Senator and notable orator once said, “There can be an art in the use of a pause. I find nothing wrong with a pause. It does not have to be filled with a you know. This phrase, like so many others,” Byrd added, “betrays a mind whose thoughts are often so disorganized as to be unutterable—a mind in neutral gear coupled to a tongue stuck in overdrive.”

Slow down.  Breathe.  Think.  Your audience will appreciate it, I promise.

When you are speaking in front of a crowd, your heart rate accelerates (no matter how calm  you may think you are).  Because of this acceleration, every second seems like a minute.  People often get on stage and can’t remember everything they said because they were so focused on getting the information out quickly and walking off stage away from all of the eyes and ears in the room.

If you can train yourself (and yes, it takes training to do this effectively) to pause a second or two longer than you think you can bear it, you will benefit as a speaker.

How, you ask? Well, for several reasons, actually.

Firstly, by pausing in between sentences you are helping your audience listen.  Your audience isn’t worried about trying to grab information or ideas as it comes whizzing by.  Instead, they can absorb information at a reasonable speed, and therefore be more engaged as an audience.

In addition, the pause improves your demeanor as a speaker.  You appear more confident when you get your message across in a direct manner, rather than diluting the meaning of your words.  Ideas are stronger and more valuable when they aren’t littered with irrelevant, essentially meaningless babble.

Finally, the silence allows you to breathe.  Taking a breath before you speak helps tremendously because it allows more oxygen to go to your brain, which allows you to focus on choosing the right words.  An extra breath also gives your voice more gusto, which subsequently makes your words more attractive for your listeners.

In order to master the art of the pause, it takes practice and patience.  An effective exercise involves slowly reading a good, tight piece of writing aloud.  Pick up a newspaper, research a good written speech or just read a children’s book.  Take your time and pause in between phrases that go together.  Do this for a few paragraphs each day and you will begin to notice your heart rate decelerating and your words becoming clearer.

So remember, take your time in your speeches or presentations.  Use your words wisely, and pause to focus on finding a solid, patient rhythm.  Your audience will appreciate your ideas, and you will get your message across more clearly.

After all, silence is golden.

Be sure to leave us your thoughts on the power of the pause!  What do you struggle with the most in your presentations?  We’d love to help!

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5 Killer Ways to Open Up Your Next Presentation

Did you know modern statistics state that you have 60 seconds or less to capture your audience’s attention?

You’ve might have heard it before, but maybe not in terms of presentations.  It’s crucial to understand the importance of grasping an audience’s attention in the first moments of a talk.  Your opening lines set the tone for your overall performance, so a great opener will prepare and intrigue the audience and ensure that your message is effectively received.

So, how do you enchant an audience right off the bat?

Here are 5 methods that we have found work the best for beginning a presentation.  

1. Stories

Stories are always memorable.  We crave stories because we all have them.  Proposing this shared experience with your audience allows them to identify with you on a personal level.  Now that you’ve established a connection with your listeners and viewers, you can merge your message with their thoughts while keeping them engaged and entertained.  Just remember to keep the story relevant to the requested topic/event you were asked to speak about in order to maximize effectiveness.

[For example, our CEO Kenny Nguyen recently spoke at a conference where the talked-about theme was the subject of serendipity. Watch how he opens his presentation here with his own story of serendipity and how his story created a playful and engaging bond with the audience, setting the tone for the rest of the presentation.]

2. Questions

A question is an excellent tool for jump-starting audience engagement.  A simple “How’s everyone doing?” opens up a forum of sorts for the audience, empowering them and making them more receptive to your message.  A question also makes the audience think for themselves about a topic that you control.  This is a great way to set and reinforce the agenda of your choice while giving the audience a sense of power.

3. Quotes

Referencing the words and thoughts of an expert in relation to your message is useful for establishing an overarching theme or general idea aout the topic.  You are imparting wisdom on your audience while creating a segway into your own topic.  Since you have primed the audience with a nugget of value, your information now appears to be equally as valuable. Just make sure you follow up the quote with an explanation of how it empowers your topic and how it is relevant.

[For example, don’t use a powerful quote such as Nelson Mandela’s “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” then go on a completely different subject that doesn’t tie in education. It’ll just seem like a sad attempt to make you seem smarter than you really are.]

4. Statistics

Normally, numbers or any type of data can seem boring in a presentation.  However, when used correctly, statistics can be very effective in illuminating your topic.  The key is to use very clear, accurate and relevant information in order to truly engage your audience.  A solid statistic places your incoming message in a concrete, irrefutable and trusted frame of reference.  Data not only provides your presentation with a trusted source, but also lends credibility to everything you say thereafter.

[For example, during Steve Jobs’ first keynote introducing the first generation Ipod music player, he stated that his new device had 5 gigabytes of data. He then made it relevant to his target market of the common consumer by explaining that 5 gigabytes of data gets you up to 5000 songs. This explanation made a normally boring description of data storage sound simple to understand, exciting (that’s a lot of songs), and most importantly relevant to his target audience. See here for video.]

5. Jokes

Humor is extremely powerful and is often used effectively.  A good joke can loosen up your audience and make them more receptive to you as a person as well as to your message.  Be warned, though, that humor is highly volatile.  A bad joke can be worse than no joke at all.  Make sure you have a scope for your target audience before you dive into a dud of a joke.

[A great resource you can reference is a book called, “Comedy Writing Secrets: The Best-Selling Book on How to Think Funny, Write Funny, Act Funny, and Get Paid for It.”]

_____________________________________________________________

Well, there you have it.  Use these techniques in your next presentation to prepare, engage, control and entertain your audience.  Like all things, these methods are only suggestions and their effectiveness depends heavily on delivery.  Make them your own, and you will appear more natural and fluid in your performance.

What do you think?  Are these useful? Leave us a comment below or on Facebook and/or tweet us your thoughts!  We are huge fans of feedback!

If you haven’t already, subscribe to our blog and our YouTube channel on the righthand side for more intern videos and behind-the-scenes looks of the Big Fish team!

Rory Sutherland: Perspective is Everything

This week’s presentation breakdown features brand specialist Rory Sutherland.  “Rory Sutherland stands at the center of an advertising revolution in brand identities, designing cutting-edge, interactive campaigns that blur the line between ad and entertainment.” (TED.com) We take a look at his newest TED talk as he delves into the realm of perspective, applying psychological solutions to economical and technological problems.  Take a gander, and let us know what you think in the comments below or via Twitter or Facebook as well!  Enjoy!

Rory Sutherland

Perspective is Everything

 

0:00-1:25 – Begins presentation with a personal insight about smoking

• Sutherland’s insights on smoking bans in bars give the audience an immediate sense of where he stands as well as the tone of his perspective.  By giving the audience a solid tone, which includes humor, we are more readily primed for receiving his insights to come.

1:25-1:49 – Transitions from the joke into a broad message

• He has the audience laughing, which is a great way to get them listening.  Once he has them listening, he introduces his first real concept: “The power of re-framing things cannot be overstated.” Now, after having heard a humorous example of the concept and then a brief summary of the concept, we are ready to dive into the subject at hand.

1:49-2:56 – Delves further into the concept by giving an example

• Moving on, Sutherland continues to address the concept, but instead of speaking in generalities, he gives an example, in this case it is about the framing of unemployment in England.  As we all know, using an example is a useful tool in explaining a concept, but it is also an effective Segway from summary to breakdown.

2:56-3:12 –Breaks down his previously mentioned concept with a basic informational slide

• Here is the breakdown we were expecting.  The unique thing about this breakdown is that Sutherland keeps it very brief and  doesn’t overburden his audience with an in-depth look just yet.  We can take a guess and assume that he will refer back to this slide once he sprinkles in a few more examples.

3:12-3:54 – Gives another example of his concept by explaining an experiment

• We are returning to an example.  This time, Sutherland explains a brief, clear experiment that proves his point.  We are given a scenario that reinforces an ideal.  This further solidifies our understanding of Sutherland’s concept, which keeps us interested and curious for more.

 

3:54-5:05 – Addresses another principle, then follows-up with an insight that relates to the principle

• “The circumstances of our lives may actually matter less to our happiness than the sense of control we feel over our lives.” This is a new principle, but it does relate to the previous one in a sense.  Humans perceive happiness based on the amount control they have over their circumstances.  We’re back to the idea of perspective.  After giving a brief, real-world application, we can begin to see how Sutherland is blending multiple angles in order to shed light on a bigger issue.  A great presenter slowly and carefully builds up his case with examples and smaller concepts in order to fully enrich and entertain an audience.

5:05-6:23 – Enters a deeper discussion concerning psychology as it relates to economics and technology

• As Sutherland continues to unfold his ideas, he makes the shift into a deeper discussion about perspective in the realm of psychology.  As an audience, we begin to gain a greater understanding of the big picture, so to speak. 

6:23-7:20 – Gives yet another example of the previously stated concept (psychological solutions to technical and economical problems)

• Sutherland continues to create an easily understandable path for the audience by weaving examples and numerical values with his broader concepts.  Sutherland’s idea of merging Psychology with traditional practical solutions is showcased through the Eurostar example in an engaging, slightly humorous way that informs and entertains the audience.

7:20-8:02 – Segways from the example into yet another concept

• Sutherland has given us a grasp of what psychology can do for practical solutions. Now, he is shifting into what this idea means in terms of the psychological and creative practitioner’s role in the traditional forms of problem solving.  He proposes the notion that creative people have been labeled inferior to the logic-based ideas of technologically-minded and economically-minded people.  There is asymmetry.  This shift of concept is key in terms of explaining Sutherland’s overarching idea.

8:02-9:22 – Reinforces the previously stated concept with two examples

• Sutherland is the king of examples.  As he explains the concept of psychological solutions, he addresses case studies that support his claim, explaining why they work and how they relate to perspective/psychology. 

9:22-10:53 – Refers to a diagram that explains the “Sweet Spot” between Psychology, Technology and Economics, then provides two examples

• Sutherland uses a visual to enhance the audience’s understanding of the concept of the “Sweet Spot.”  It’s important to remember the power of visuals in your presentation.  If Sutherland had merely stated his concept, it would become muddled with the rest of his words.  However, by using visuals he has given his audience a reference point and a distinct symbol that will make more of an impression in their memories.  Also, Sutherland’s concept of the “Sweet Spot” becomes further developed, and therefore understood more clearly, by his use of examples (Google and television sets).   

10:53-11:19 – Proposes a psychological solution to a medical problem

• Even though Sutherland has given examples of possible solutions to an array of problems, in this solution, Sutherland has addressed another realm of problems: the medical field.  By giving a diverse range of problems and solutions, Sutherland has built credibility for his proposed idea.  Throughout the presentation, we have seen Sutherland’s knack for introducing, explaining and reinforcing concepts.  Keep in mind that a consistent and thorough discussion of any topic establishes and reinforces your credibility as a speaker and a source of information.

11:19-13:12 – Discusses the psychological forces behind economic choices

• Sutherland explains that money isn’t just money.  People’s payments are influenced by where the money goes.  Sutherland is slightly shifting the direction of his presentation by speaking increasingly of real-world changes.  This is the first step to calling the audience to action, which is a crucial factor in a great presentation.  He proposes that this mode of thinking could radically alter the current approaches of economics, medicine, technology, etc.

13:12-18:25 – Concludes the presentation by funneling the broad concept of perspective into an analogy, then explains the analogy in terms of the “big picture”

• Sutherland has touched on many, many things throughout the course of this presentation.  Now, in the last five minutes, he is condensing his previous mass of concepts, theories, explanations, examples, studies and exercises into a single analogy made by Dr. Ludwig von Mises.  The analogy is very effective, especially at this point in the presentation because it makes use of everything Sutherland has addressed thus far.  We have seen how psychological solutions to a variety of everyday problems can impact certain situations.  We have seen how perception is vital to the condition of society.  Now, we are seeing all of these elements come together in this specific analogy.  Sutherland is using his previously established credibility to launch us into further thought.  He ends this talk by opening our eyes to the larger concept at work, here.  We can actively participate in this analogy because he has given us the tools to do so.  Having learned and participated, we can now take action, whether literally or mentally, and that was Sutherland’s main objective.

Society has established rules and ideologies based on pure logic and straightforward strategies.  If we applied the principles of Psychology to Economics and Technology, we could radically alter the way we perceive situations and ultimately solve problems more effectively.  Perception can be applied to a variety of social, economical and technological issues in order to increase their efficiency, accuracy and structure.

Rory Sutherland uses a plethora of smaller concepts, explanations and examples to establish a foundation for his overarching discussion of perception.  By building upon easily digestable blocks of information, the audience is able to gather and understand more readily the concepts presented.

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25 Awesome Public Speaking Quotes

Public speaking is the number one fear in America.  Death is number two.

From sweaty palms to cracking voices, speaking publicly can be terrifying, yet it is a crucial skill to have in the business world.  We’d like to alleviate some of this stress by offering up some inspirational, informative quotes.  These quotes are in no particular order, and the speakers range from well-known orators to presentation gurus.  Some are serious, some are classic, and some are short and funny.  Feel free to spread these around, write them in your journals, whatever you want! Enjoy!

“You can speak well if your tongue can deliver the message of your heart.” -John Ford  

“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot.” -D. H. Lawrence  

“Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.” -Dionysius Of Halicarnassus  

“What we say is important… for in most cases the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” -Jim Beggs  

“If you can’t write your message in a sentence, you can’t say it in an hour.” -Dianna Booher  

“There are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.” –Dale Carnegie

“It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.” – Mark Twain

“A good orator is pointed and impassioned.” -Marcus T. Cicero

“Oratory is the power to talk people out of their sober and natural opinions.” – Joseph Chatfield

“He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense.” – Joseph Conrad

“There are three things to aim at in public speaking: first, to get into your subject, then to get your subject into yourself, and lastly, to get your subject into the heart of your audience.” – Alexander Gregg

“The success of your presentation will be judged not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener receives.” – Lilly Walters

“If you don’t know what you want to achieve in your presentation your audience never will.” – Harvey Diamond

“Best way to conquer stage fright is to know what you’re talking about.” – Michael H Mescon

“There are only two types of speakers in the world. 1. The nervous and 2. Liars.” – Mark Twain

“No one ever complains about a speech being too short!” – Ira Hayes

“90% of how well the talk will go is determined before the speaker steps on the platform.” – Somers White

“It takes one hour of preparation for each minute of presentation time.” – Wayne Burgraff

“The most precious things in speech are the pauses.” – Sir Ralph Richardson

“Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.” – Martin Fraquhar Tupper

“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” – Carl W. Buechner

“The problem with speeches isn’t so much not knowing when to stop, as knowing when not to begin.” – Frances Rodman

“Words have incredible power.
They can make people’s hearts soar,
or they can make people’s hearts sore.”
-Dr. Mardy Grothe

“Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.” – Mark Twain

Presentation Breakdown: How Great Leaders Inspire Action

So we’ve got numerous requests to do more of these TED presentation breakdowns, so we’ve thought to ourselves, “Why not feature the latest and coolest presentations?”

And that’s what we’re doing.

Today we’re featuring Simon Sinek’s “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” presentation:

Please see below our breakdown on how Sinek enchants his audience.

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Simon Sinek

“How Great Leaders Inspire Action”

 0:00-0:28 – Begins the presentation with a series of questions to the audience

• Right off the bat, Sinek has engaged the audience with a deep question, one that actually stimulates thought and creates a tiny wisp of suspense.  There is no doubt about where the presentation is going.  Sinek is using the question to make a statement.  This is a very easy and effective way of stating a point.

 

0:30-1:18 – Continues to ask questions of the audience, but refers to 3 specific examples from modern times moving backward to the turn of the century.

• Sinek continues to ask questions of his audience, but has narrowed the focus of his questions.  He has referenced 3 major ideas of success: a company (Apple), a man (MLK) and scientific breakthrough (Wright Bros.).  By questioning very notable examples of success, Sinek has given us reason to doubt why these successes were successful.  This, in turn, has the audience craving the explanation.  Sinek has earned considerable attention.

1:18-1:35 – Shifts his questions into statements.

• He sets up the central concept of the presentation by telling us how it affected him.  We, as the audience, are now more invested in the concept that we are about to understand simply because he told us how important it was to him when he discovered it.

1:38-1:55 – Makes a very strong, clear statement that leads into explanation.

• Sinek has now given us a small taste of the central concept, of the meat, if you will.  He hasn’t yet told us the exact method by which success is achieved, but he has told us that it is the opposite of everyone else.  This is very clear and easily digestible, but it is not fully understood yet.  Sinek is still lingering on the precipice of the central concept.

1:55-2:20 – Introduces the idea of the “Golden Circle”

• We are one step further in terms of understanding the centralized concept.  Sinek has now given us something to hold on to: an image.  He has piqued our curiosity even more, and we are ready to learn.

 

2:21-3:17 – Defines the terms of the “Golden Circle” and explains its meaning as applied to inspirational leaders and groups

• Sinek has defined what he referred to earlier when he said that the great ones acted completely opposite from everyone else.  He has given meaning to his image of the “Golden Circle.”  Finally, he has explained how this concept applies to the previously mentioned subjects.  We are now primed for a thorough explanation from Sinek, which he has expertly constructed and is now prepared to deliver an example.

3:18-5:51 – Delivers a full explanation and example of how the “Golden Circle” concept works.

• Sinek dives into the central concept.  He explains how and why Apple is successful in inspiring their customers to buy the product.  This example and its subsequent explanation give meaning to all of the preparation that Sinek has built up to this point.  He even compares and contrasts companies (Apple vs. Dell) and discusses how the “Golden Circle” concept applies to both.  We are now clearly and tangibly aware of the concept that Sinek is trying to illustrate. 

5:52-7:33 – Discusses the science behind the “Golden Circle” concept

• Now that we have a decent understanding of the concept, Sinek reinforces the significance of this idea by backing it up with fact.  He has gotten our attention with the story and practices of the “Golden Circle,” but now he is justifying his claims with science, which only makes him sound more credible.  We believe in this stuff now, and Sinek is going to keep pulling us deeper into the inner workings of inspirational leadership and the passion that comes with it.

 

7:34-8:14 – Applies the scientific principle of “feeling” to “behavior” in the workplace

• Once the element of scientific foundation has been laid, Sinek shifts briefly to discuss how the “Golden Circle” principle applies to who you hire in your movement, group, company, etc.  He stresses how important it is to know why you do what you do before you actually do it.  Now Sinek is speaking directly to the audience.  He says the word “you” repeatedly, which connects with the audience as he gives them some practical tidbits of advice.

 

8:15-10:57 – Tells the story of the Wright Bros. vs. Samuel Pierpont Langley

• Sinek shifts into a story that deals with the central concept: “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”  He explains how the two attempts at manned flight differed based upon their reasoning.  Once again, Sinek excels at presenting a clear image of contrasting ideals.  Just as in his comparison of Apple vs. Dell, Sinek is highlighting the successes of people who believe in what they do.  At this point in the presentation, we have seen two of the three aforementioned examples being applied to Sinek’s main point.  This story, like the one before  it and the one following it, helps to illustrate and demonstrate the main idea of the presentation.

 

10:58-13:31 – Introduces a new concept: The Law of the Diffusion of Innovation

• Sinek is shifting into another principle and applying it to another practical example.  He draws the diagram, once again giving the audience something to hold on to and use as framework for the information to come.  Sinek is keeping the audience on their toes by introducing a new concept and proposing a new idea. 

 

13:31-15:15 – Applies the Law of the Diffusion of Innovation to a failed attempt: TiVo

• Once more, Sinek is giving us an example of how one of his concepts plays out in reality.  He discusses the premise of TiVo and then why it was a colossal commercial failure.  He not only applies the Law of the Diffusion of Innovation to this example, but also includes the “Golden Circle,” building atop the foundation that he has laid thus far.  Sinek is a master of slowly and simultaneously revealing and building concepts with examples to further illustrate his points.

15:16-17:13 – Applies the Law of the Diffusion of Innovation to a successful attempt: Martin Luther King in Washington D.C. (“I Have a Dream”)

• Sinek has discussed everything thus far in order to illustrate a much larger idea.  He has given the examples, introduced and explained the concepts all so that he can reveal the true meaning of leadership in action, which is the overarching theme of this presentation.  He tells the story of Martin Luther King’s speech in Washington D.C. in 1963.  He tells how it was organized, and more importantly how King himself used The Law of the Diffusion of Innovation to spread his word, and how he used the “Golden Circle” principle to speak his beliefs.  Now that we fully understand how Apple stays innovative, how the Wright Bros. changed history and how Martin Luther King was able to congregate such a massive amount of people for a cause, Sinek is preparing us for his final revelation.

17:21-17:56 – “There are leaders, and there are those who lead.”

• This is it. This is the true and final revelation for which we have been waiting.  Sinek has cut to the core of all of his previous examples, concepts and stories to give us the meat of this presentation.  He has built up with lead-ins, subtle shifts and clear examples.  He has backed up his statements with facts, and he has captivated us with his passion.  We believe what he says because he has so clearly and so cleverly outlined, examined and explained his ideas.  There weren’t any misleading or vague moments in this presentation.  He also repeated “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it” after many of his points were made.  This reinforces his main point, and gives us something to refer to and take with us.  All in all, Sinek is a clear, simple presenter that knows how to delicately and subtly build point upon point until his revelation.

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Great leaders inspire action.  We follow these leaders not because we have to, but because we want to.  We follow them for ourselves because they speak from the “why” of their minds, not the “what.”  In order to lead, you must know why you are doing what you are doing, then you must speak from the heart and others will follow. 

Simon Sinek is a master architect of this presentation.  From the very beginning, his tactic of carefully and consistently adding layers of concepts, facts, explanations and applications gives depth and credibility to his words.  He teaches, but without overburdening his audience with instruction.  In essence, he has built a presentation from the ground up, using the very concept that he has illustrated to the audience.

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Congrats to our Client Red River Bank!

Check out this fun project we did for Red River Bank on their success for hitting the $1,000,000,000 asset mark!

It was the first time our video team did an illustration/time-lapse video, and the response we got from Red River Bank debuting it at their gala was very positive.

Thought we’d share with our readers their success!