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“Creating Successful Leaders”

Tag Archives: Margaret Smith

June 27, 2013 How To Give A Presentation People Will Actually Remember

I talked about the importance of telling a story with your presentation a few weeks back.

This week I came across a book that adds more insight to this topic: Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds. Using the principles of Zen, Reynolds calls for an approach that covers the entire process of making a presentation, from preparation to delivery.

Most presentations are neither exciting nor inspiring. “The dull, text-filled slide approach is common and normal, but it is not effective,” says Reynolds. And I think he’s right. I can’t tell you how many presentations I’ve sat through where I had no idea what the main points were even a few days after the fact.

Presentation Zen is a more basic approach to giving presentations, i.e., less is more. Your slides aren’t giving the presentation for you, but serve as a visual reference for you to keep the talk in context and to entice the audience. The moment you begin relying on your slides to inform the audience with content is the moment you can be sure you’ve put your audience to sleep.

Reynolds thinks we should take on a minimal design for our presentation slides. Don’t clutter your slides with colors and pictures and “fun” moving images. All of this just makes visual noise and takes away from the main points. Instead, slides should point back to you, the speaker, for insight and clarification.

Sure, there are some cases where you’ll need to put statistics and data on your slides. But do so in a way that points back to you, the story-teller, the informer, otherwise the audience isn’t bound to remember why your pie chart was that important.

Reynolds three main points in the book are:

Restraint in preparation 

We tend to go overboard in the research and scope of our presentations. Hold back, focus the discussion, and trust the process.

Simplicity in design

Pictures and text are suggestions and visual cues to the main point of the presentation: what you have to say.

Naturalness in delivery

This part takes practice. It has to do with public speaking, with teaching, with telling a story. None of these things come naturally. Yet with practice, you can become comfortable being yourself before others.

Reynolds, Garr. “Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery.” Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2012.

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June 19, 2013 The Myth of Multitasking

The motive behind multitasking is noble. If we have a lot on our plates, it makes sense to try to take on many tasks at once so we give each task equal time and effort.

The problem is, this doesn’t work. What’s more, multitasking actually lessens the quality of your work.

We multitask to feel emotionally productive, according to a study mentioned in a Huffington Post article, even though we aren’t actually being productive. So while we might feel better about ourselves when we multitask, the truth is it adversely effects our productivity.

Here are a few ways to get yourself out of the habit of multitasking:

1. Prioritize

The worst thing you can do when bombarded by obligations is address them equally and simultaneously, even though we’re naturally inclined to do so. Decide what task is most important, and then do that.

2. Focus and Finish

You might feel yourself getting pulled out of this first, most important task and back into the pile of others things. Don’t get sucked back in! You have one thing to do now; nothing else matters. Do not allow yourself to be distracted until the most urgent task gets checked off the list. Then, move on.

3. Let go of the  little things

Under stress, it’s natural to lump a bunch of unrelated stressors into one big, scary beast that wants you to fail. In reality, most of the time you may have 3-5 very important things to do, and then perhaps another handful of not-so-important things to do. By prioritizing, focusing and finishing, you’ll begin to discern between the big things and the little things, and the scary beast will start to evaporate (since it was all in your mind anyway). Then, you’ll be able to let go of the things that merely add to your stress but don’t necessarily need immediate addressing.

If you’re used to multitasking, at first you may feel less productive after adopting a singularly-focused work-style. But soon you’ll get used to it, and see how much more efficient you are when you give one thing your undivided attention.

Huffington Post. “Multitasking Makes People Feel Better, Even Though It’s Not Efficient: Study.” Posted May 1, 2012. Accessed June 17, 2013. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/01/multitasking-emotional-feel-better-_n_1467945.html

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June 12, 2013 Promoting Your Potential

Just because you might not have a list of awards or credentials under your belt doesn’t make you an unfavorable candidate for the job. In fact, quite the opposite.

A study conducted by Zakary Tormala and Jayson Jia of Stanford and Michael Norton of Harvard Business School reveals that potential has more of an alluring power than achievements do.

Although going for the individual with more achievements is the safer option, Tormala et al. argue that “the uncertainty surrounding individuals with high potential makes them more interesting, which draws people in, increases processing, and can have positive downstream effects on judgment.” High potential gets noticed.

Sure, with an old pro you can feel more confident that they’ll perform up to standard, but pruning a new recruit reflects better on your own resume. But if you think about it, wouldn’t you rather bring on an undeveloped talent and have them flourish under your supervision than recruit an old pro who’s already done it all before?

If you’re just breaking into a new field, don’t be intimidated by a veteran’s long and decorated list of achievements. A common mistake inexperienced applicants make is downplaying or entirely ignoring the fact that they are a new face.

Use your inexperience as a distinguishing advantage. Instead of saying, “I must admit that I haven’t worked in this area before, but…” say, “With me, you’ll get the rare opportunity to train me in ways tailored precisely to this business. No bad habits here!”

Tormala, Zakary, Jia, Jayson, and Michael Norton: “The Preference for Potential.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 103 (2012): 567-583. Accessed June 10, 2013. doi: 10.1037/a0029227.

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