These are the moments that take us from the heat of summer to the relative cool of winter.
Hailing from the northern hemisphere, our autumn days here seem very heady and summery.
Wondering where the madness of Brexit will go next?
I love the UK, and having been brought up in Scotland and England in about equal measure, I feel an affinity to both.
I’ve lived around half my life in sunny Australia now. So I am clearly a bit of a mongrel (in the nicest sense).
I would have been a ‘remainer’ with the UK vote, but now just would like it all to be over… for everyone’s sake, including us watching public.
How do those News Editor’s and commentators come up with anything new to say (barring of course May’s potential resignation offer yesterday).
The sadness is that our world seems to be more polarised than it has been for some time.
I have friends who love Trump and loathe Trump.
Jacinda Ahern said today it’s all about ‘humanity’ not domestic issues or ethnicity at the Christchurch memorial ceremony.
I think we need a little dose more of those thoughts around politics generally…
On a lighter note, I have ordered several beautiful full length cotton dresses to take with me to India, and am currently trying out three different pairs of ‘comfy’ shoes to walk around in.
I’m not necessarily of the ‘comfy’ ilk generally. Yet, I would not call myself vain (ha ha).
Plus, I have ordered a new body for my camera.
A Nikon DX750. It seems to cover all my needs and I can use my existing lenses, speedlights etc with it.
15 tips on How to Rock a Presentation courtesy Jeff Sieh, Peg Fitzpatrick and Rebekah Radice via Blab 6 May 2016 AEST
1. Start with a joke or light hearted banter to engage your audience in the first two minutes. This will capture your audience and calm your nerves.
2. Practise all your material well beforehand. Know your topic and what you are there to share.
3. Rebekah Radice records her presentations on her iPhone and listens to them fully to tweak any alterations that need to be made well in advance. Her presentations are made up to a month ahead and only small changes made closer to the time.
4. Talk it out loud to yourself in the mirror so that you can see what hand gestures you are making (watch out!) 🙂 or faces you might be pulling… ‘sometimes I feel like an Italian – nail that hand down’! says Rebekah.
5.Prepare, Prepare, Prepare. Peg Fitzpatrick agrees with Rebekah that is the best way to create a successful presentation.
6. Know your stage. You will present differently according to the size of your setting. Your energy has to reach the back of the room, whether that is an auditorium or a small intimate space.
7.Match your energy to the size of the room advises Jeff Sieh.
8.Make sure you know how to use the tech. Are you bringing your own laptop? How does the clicker work? There is more than one variety. Make sure you are comfortable with your equipment.
9. Even with the best preparation, tech can fail and slides you have created for your presentation might not be available on the day because of technical issues. Make sure you know your material thoroughly so you can still be comfortable with your ‘story’ if this happens.
10. Tell a story in your presentation and one that is appropriate for your audience. If you are re-using material be sure that is tweaked for the people who are listening on that day.
11. People are coming to see YOU. Your slides should be an extension of everything you are talking about.
12. Use text on your slides when you are ‘mentioning a resource or hard facts‘ advises Peg, so people can refer to it if they missed something you just said. Or if you want to emphasise a particular point or piece of information.
13.Wear suitable clothing that makes you feel good. Get your hair done, present yourself well. The better you feel, the better you will come across.
Women need to consider where the microphone pack will go as often you have to attach it in front of your audience. Clothes with a pocket are helpful. Be ware of wearing a skirt or dress if your audience is below you – watch the length!
14. Re-watch your presentations/live video like Jeff Sieh does. He checks out the footage however uncomfortable that might make him feel. This way you can learn what crutches to cut out in future like too many ‘um’s’ and ‘ah’s’ and see where to improve.
15. ‘Nerves can be good as they give you extra energy’ and Jeff advises taking that negativeenergy and harnessing it to turn it into a positive. Peg takes a sip of water if she feels herself talking too fast and everyone suggested taking a breath as a good thing! Breathing is always useful!
TAKE AWAY MUST DO’S
Practise, Preparation and Knowledge of your material.
Do what it takes to make you ‘feel’ confident.
Check your Tech.
Turn your nerves into Positive Energy and remember even seasoned Professionals can struggle.
Fonz apparently threw up before every performance and went on to give a stellar show.
For more information on How to Rock a Presentation visit Jeff Sieh’s site http://manlypinteresttips.com/
ps. if you are a guy and don’t want to get your hair ‘done’ rocking a beard might help 🙂
Here are some essential tools for getting active on social media. Some basics for beginners just like me.
Everyone is currently talking about visual and video and how much traction they attract when you add them to a post.
Clearly that is a no brainer. Add a visual!
I love live streaming apps like Periscope and Blab and can see they are a great way to communicate with people.
Nothing better than actually seeing people live, faults and all and being able to connect directly (or not) with them.
This is some up to date info on how Blab.im is changing as it grows, dictated mainly by its users requests and suggestions.
It was the brainchild of Michael Birch who had outstanding success with Bebo before selling the platform in 2008. He re-bought it in 2013 with a view to re-vamping and the birth of Blab…
Brian Fanzo is pretty much an ideal when it comes to promoting this sort of material.
Very authentic, and passionate about his values. I love his positive values about making the internet a place for good, and his great enthusiasm.
I also watched a great Blab today with Rebekah Radice about powerful visual marketing.
Lots of great tips in there and she comes across, as did the other co-presenters as really genuine people, who have great messages to share.
One thing that also makes complete sense to me though as well are PODCASTS.
You can listen as you drive to an appointment, walk or run on a treadmill or just when you have that odd spare moment, or perhaps laying awake at night plotting world domination on social media, and simply cannot sleep!
This is a really good and easy explanation about how to get started using a Podcast from Hubspot.
It explains what equipment you need to use and a step by step guide that even the most technophobic person (like me!) can understand and use.
I’m going to buy a Blue Yeti microphone but check out their post and see what suits you.
Apart from that, you perhaps only need a stand for your smartphone, or simply use your laptop.
It doubles up for use with the live streaming apps so makes sense as an investment.
I think we need the armoury of video (live streaming or not) to amplify our messages or those of our clients. Let’s face it You Tube has being doing this well for decades.
Some people are obviously more suited to this than others. But now it is entirely acceptable to publish content that isn’t fine tuned to a second of it’s life, this opens up a world of opportunities for marketers.
Especially if you have a client who might take to this sort of approach.
I have a particular Chef in mind, who I am going to suggest should use Blab or Periscope as he will be brilliant in front of the camera and I have no doubt will be a really positive marketing tool for him. He has a big personality and clear presence in front of a camera.
Not THAT long ago, there used to be some pretty terrible television advertising in Australia on occasion. The idea was you took a car sales man (often plus son or other family member) and basically shouted on screen at your audience.
Clearly it was ‘vanity’ advertising. Some poor soul was parted from his money who had deep pockets and not much sense.
I guess they probably sold some cars, as any publicity is better than no publicity right? But happily, those days are over.
Advertising has transformed beyond recognition here in the last 10 years and a I can see a similar change in on line marketing.
As little as five years ago, landing pages were all about HUGE calls to action and aggressive in-your-face lead generation.
We now are in another stage, where customer relations and building relationships are the keys. In-bound marketing is where we are at currently.
Mad Men would have raised a perfectly groomed eyebrow.
It is great that now if something goes wrong with a product or customer service is lousy, we can address this verbally and very openly online. In a customer centric world, how we respond to complaints and how quickly is becoming increasingly important.
This is also from Hubspot and contains a vast amount of really useful ‘stuff’.
Highly recommend you take a look. If this out of date by the time you read it, then I have a feeling there will always be brilliant updates. These guys have their finger/s on the pulse.
My first encounter with social media was with Social Media Examiner If you haven’t subscribed to their newsletter/podcast/Blab, then go do it.
They come across as nice people, their conferences are affordable and have proven a really good ROI.
I’m enjoying Mike Stelzner’s Blabs on a Friday. Although unfortunately they are live at 3am Saturday for me here so have only caught one as it happened, but there are always the repeats.
I highly recommend you have a look & listen to these. I’ve picked up information in an enjoyable way, and it is really ‘of the moment’ and covers a lot of topics in short that can save you a heap of time.
When Pinterest decided to add a ‘search’ option to the site, so that if we see something we like we can find out where we can purchase it, or something similar – these guys were onto it straight away.
There is SO MUCH to read and keep on top of. This is a bit of light relief, finding things out without having to plough through acres of script.
I was followed by these guys today. They call themselves ‘Unscrambled’ and are actually very funny. Check out their podcasts.
They cover hot topics, like ghost apps, for example, but in a really easy to listen to way. Mainly they talk about social media, but sometimes get diverted (but in a good way). There is a lot of laughter, so not for the too serious minded.
I don’t know about you, but I am happy to get my knowledge through a bit of light hearted banter now and then.
They remind me a lot of a couple of Australian radio dj’s called Hamish and Andy
These guys are hysterical. Nothing to do with social media at all, but if you want a bit of a giggle on a gloomy day – they’re your men!
Another podcast, you may not have come across that is very informative is created by a company called Newsmodo .
These are journalists, headed up by Rakhal Ebeli who make podcasts that cover specific topics in social media.
I will put my hands up and say, I have a vested interest in promoting this as I occasionally write for the company.
They interview top global social media influencers and definitely worth checking out.
So my last tip of today, is that apparently when you add eight (not seven or nine) photos to your blog, you get more attention.
This will be a little experiment, in whether this is so 🙂
Fairly, hard to tell with my band of stalwart followers that I can actually count on two hands…
But, another little nugget from the multitude of posts, podcasts and whitepapers etc. that I am covering, is to consider social media, in this way.
You have a hot tub and everyday you are adding a glass of water. At first it seems as if nothing is happening, but after a couple of years (yes sigh! a couple of years) then it is full and overflowing. That is when the magic happens.
Can you remember seeing this? Were you even alive when it happened? I was a little girl in 1969 and can’t remember any of it ‘live’ but have seen countless re-runs since.
It must have been really exciting to be part of the build up and then to see Neil Armstrong take those first steps. Apparently NASA is recruiting new astronauts with plans to get someone to Mars by the 2030’s. Incredible
Quite a few of the predictions foreseen in fairly recent times have come true. George Orwell’s 1984 foretold the prevalence of CCTV all over the planet,and the collection of (meta) data about us all through government institutions. Internet providers gathering every last bit of information about us and regular wiretapping echo ideas about keeping tabs on the ‘proles’ (population). But goodbye News of the World (UK) and hello Edward Snowden showing that it isn’t all a one-way street…
The planet isn’t overrun by airborne cars flying Jetson style all over the place…more’s the pity.
Hanna Barbera cartoon c.1962
But we do have high speed trains that run via magnetic levitation. The Shanghai Maglev reaches an eye watering 500kms/hour. I often (well sometimes) wonder if people feel sick when moving so fast?
Personally, I’d like the invention of a transformer that can ‘beam me up Scotty’ and get me safely to where I want to go (anywhere on this planet is fine, I’ll leave interstellar travel to someone else at this point…).
No more jet lag, no more stressing about getting on a plane. Just instant travel.
Clearly, a great deal of potential to end up in a shrunken state like Mike Teavee
tvtropes.org
after being processed through the airwaves in Mr Wonka’s factory or even worse… but hopefully there will be a pill to numb any pre-transformer anxiety and another one to get rid of the potential nightmare ‘hangover’ that total body disintegration then reformation might bring about. I wonder if Magnesium tablets would help? They are pretty useful after a work-out.
So, what invention would you like to see come about in YOUR lifetime to make your world a better place?
