With the explosion in popularity of microblogging tools like Twitter , presenters are now faced with the possibility, or even likelihood, that some members of their audience will be tweeting (posting on Twitter) during the presentation. Initially, that idea is off-putting to many presenters. They sputter, "But that means the audience Or "It will be distracting for me to see everybody typing on their iPhones." Or "What if they say something negative about me or my presentation?"

Everyone has heard the advice about incorporating stories into a presentation to make your message more " sticky " and easier to understand. These same elements are what you have to work with in your business stories.  The story you create should underscore and amplify the business message you're communicating. So we're all on board there. But if you're not a natural story teller [and I count myself firmly in this camp]...you

In a previous post, I explored  common concerns about Twitter usage in presentations and concluded that Twitter offers many benefits in terms of audience involvement and engagement. However, seeing the benefits of using Twitter and being able to incorporate it effectively into your presentation are two very different things. So let's take a look at some best practices for integrating HASHTAGS Set up a hashtag  for the presentation.

When I teach presentation skills classes, I frequently get asked the question, "Should I use notes in my presentation?" [ Said in a tone of voice that assumes the correct answer is no ]. For some misguided reason, people seem to think that if they are delivering a presentation or a speech, they need to be able to do it completely from memory, sans notes. Practically, having notes They seem to think notes are cheating or make them look like they're unsure of their material. Well, my answer to the question, "Should I use notes?" is

                                                                                                                             I'm pretty sure that no one sets out to give a boring presentation. Yet why do so many presentations end up that way? There are a number of classic presentation behaviors that will send you off the charts on the boring meter. Now these aren't mysterious things that we don't know are boring. They are simply behaviors we don't pay enough attention to.

1.   Stand in Your Audience's Shoes    Figure out what they need or want to know. Run all your comments through the filter of what's useful to the audience rather than what may make you look good or what YOU want to talk about. Determine the 3 or 4 key messages that will be relevant to your audience and organize succinct, clear content around them. I recently attended my local ASTD chapter meeting ( www.dcastd.org ) where a panel of CLOs talked about the role of global learning in tough economic times. I'm not usually a fan of panels, because they frequently appear

Participants in my presentation skills workshops typically cite concerns about not being credible to the audience as one of the key contributors to their presentation nervousness and anxiety. won't be able to answer a question from the audience The audience knows more than I do This worry gets expressed in a variety of ways: I

The role of the moderator is critical to the success of the panel, success being defined as how much value both the audience and the panelists derive from the experience. Here are 10 tips that will help moderators ensure that their audience stays engaged with the dialogue and their panelists stay on track. Act as the Audience's Advocate    As moderator, you need to be consistently monitoring the audience Most of you would likely say that speaking on a panel is more difficult and requires more preparation than moderating one. And I'd say you're incorrect.

I've just returned from two trips to Africa where I spoke and ran workshops at the Women in Management and Business  (WimBIZ) conference (Lagos, Nigeria) and the Kenyan Association of Women Business Owners  (KAWBO) conference (Nairobi, Kenya). presentation style, format and approach. The wife of the Governor of Lagos They were both amazing experiences and I thought it would be interesting to make some comparisons between African and U.S. STYLE

Chris Atherton (and more about her here ) has a great blog post on how to give a presentation that keeps your audience’s attention . It’s from the angle of student presentations (she’s a college lecturer), but the points apply to any presenter. Atherton’s slides on slideshare , but they aren’t fully comprehensible without the presentation she gave on the subject.You can read a Dr. Atherton’s research