All About Presentations

[Super Tip] Change fonts on all slides with a single click

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:07:00 +0000

Question: "My 10 slide presentation has fonts; Arial and Calibri. My header and body text are in Arial. The text boxes and shapes (including SmartArt) is in Calibri. I want to change all Calibri to Helvetica. I don't like Calibri. It's boring and too common. How do I do it at once?"

Solution: Under the Home Tab -> Replace (on your extreme right) -> Replace font (click down arrow to choose this option) -> Choose which font you want to replace with which new font -> Done! (MS PowerPoint 2010)

You can use this technique to change any font you have used in your presentation.

Save time while making slides... Customise quick access toolbar

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:19:00 +0000

I am going to share one tip today. This one tip is going to save you a lot of time in making PowerPoint slides.

There are some tasks which you do many many times while making a set of slides. This tip reduces your time in doing such 'regular' tasks.

Example: I convert my PowerPoint slides into PDF regularly. These are the steps do this in MS PowerPoint 2010.

Go to File Tab -> Save & Send -> Create PDF/XPS Document -> Create PDF/XPS

These 4 steps can be shrunk into 1 step by adding 'Creat PDF' task onto the Quick Access Toolbar.

Where is this Toolbar?
This toolbar is at the top of the window.

How to add 'Create PDF' task to the toolbar?
By default there are only three tasks on this tool bar. Save, Undo and Redo. To add any task, click on the down arrow on the right of Redo. Go to more commands. Now choose File Tab under Choose Commands From.

Click on Publish as PDF or XPS. Click on Add button in the middle. Now click OK.

This task has been added to the quick access toolbar. The next time you want to save the PPT files as PDF, just click on the icon in the toolbar at the top. That's it. The four step process shrinks into one step.

Similarly, you can add any task in the toolbar. Just choose it from the list of tasks. Any and every task can be added here. However, ensure the list is not made too long. Have tasks which are done too frequently by you on this toolbar.

When will Quick Access Toolbar work for you?
This trick will only work for tasks which are done too frequently in making slides. These are some of the tasks I have on my Quick Access Toolbar:

Publish as PDF (since I regularly convert PPT to PDF)
Align objects on the slide (I do a lot of aligning of obects in every PPT)
Open slide master (I use slide master to edit my self made templates)

Which tasks are you going to add to the Quick Access Toolbar?

This is how...

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:51:00 +0000

In my last post I asked a question. Here is a table:

How will you copy this table onto PowerPoint and still retain the formulas?

After copying, if you want to change the discount from 5% to 6%, the Total figure (after discount) should change. The table should work in PowerPoint the way it does in Excel.

This is how to do it...

Copy the table in Excel -> Go to PowerPoint -> Paste Special as Embed.

How to Paste Special?
Option 1: Right click on the slide. Choose Embed from the Paste Options.
Option 2: Under Home tab. Click on the arrow below Paste. Choose Embed.

Now the table has been copied onto the slide. To modify any cell, double click on the table. You can now go to any cell and change its value. If you change the discount to 6%, the total will change from 11,400 to 11,280. Provided your formula in excel was correct :-)

How will you make Tables in PowerPoint work like Excel? [Reader Question]

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:00:00 +0000

We copy tables from excel sheet onto PowerPoint. But once we have done that, the tables do not work like they do in Excel. The formulas don't work. Here is a table.

The challenge is, how will you copy this table onto PowerPoint and still have the formulas intact. So after copying, if we change the discount from 5% to 6% in PowerPoint, the Total (after Discount) column will change. How will you do this? Avoid Googling for the answer :-)

What's my point?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 05:45:00 +0000

A major strategy presenting is going on. The presenter is presenting lots of data (tables after tables). There are his recommendations and then there is data. After 10 slides, the CEO speaks out. "In all these complex slides, can you put one sentence summary at the bottom."

The CEO was being bombarded by complex tables after tables. All he wanted to know is... what's your point? What does this table on slide 5 mean to me? Why are you showing it to me?

Samsung Galaxy S4 Launch Presentation

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:04:00 +0000

The Samsung Galaxy S4 launch was a major event this month. People across the globe were waiting for it. The event had many segments and the one we are going to talk about is the 8 minute long presentation by JK Shin (Head of Samsung Mobiles).

JK Shin had a big job on his hands. His presentation started 3 minutes after the event started and he spoke very briefly (just under 8 minutes). You can watch him speak here. Go directly to 3:20 on the timeline and view till 11:10.

JK Shin's presentation had a simple content and flow. He talks about the following:

The structure of the talk is extremely simple. Mr. Shin starts off by saying Samsung believes in innovation and it learns from observing consumers. He then talks about what would it be like to have features like... and talks about 9-10 new features. Wouldn't it be great if the smartphone allowed the photographer to be in the picture? Wouldn't it be great if the smartphone allowed us to capture sounds with our pictures? He emphasizes that these features have been based on observing consumer needs. He re-emphasizes that the phone will let us live a richer, simpler and fuller life.

What's good?
The simple structure. It is easy to follow him and understand him. He talks at a comfortable speed. Since he has a different accent, he medium pace helps us understand him without any problem. Above all, he uses repetition to drive home his key message. During his brief talk he talked about 'leading a richer, simpler and fuller life' thrice. He also repeated 'Samsung learns from observing consumers'. Lastly, in order to get us excited, he talks about WHAT IF. He encourages the audience to imagine how life would be if their smartphone had those 9-10 features which Samsung Galaxy S4 has. It is important to make you see & feel how life would be richer and more fun. Overall, the content was well structured. The slides were very simple and clean. The slides fully supported what Mr. Shin was saying. The focus was kept on Mr. Shin and the slides never overtook the speaker.

What could be better?
Delivery. The only thing that the talk lacked is infectious passion and emotion. There is no doubt that Mr. Shin is passionate but it needed to come out a bit more. There was something that kept him away from expressing his emotion and passion fully. The energy was lacking. The magnitude of the event must have taken its toll.

Do you know the dimensions of the screen where you present regularly?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 03:30:00 +0000

Why does it matter?
If you know the dimensions of the screen, you can change the setup in PowerPoint to make best use of screen real estate. It also makes the overall presentation look different (and better).

I presented at a press meet last week where the screen size was 6 feet by 4 feet. I figured this out before I started making my slides. 6 by 4 also happens to be the most common screen size here in India.

PowerPoint allows you three setup choices; 4:3, 16:9 and 16:10. 4:3 is the default choice.

Screen size of 6 by 4 means a ratio of 1.50 (6 divided by 4). 4 by 3 essentially means 1.33 (4 divided by 3). The size closest to 1.50 is 16:10. Hence, if you choose a 16:10 setup the presentation will come out the best. It will look a bit different at first, but trust me it will look very refreshing for your audience. Try out a 16:10 and see the difference.

"Blackberry 10 Unveiled with Abysmal Presentation"

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 07:08:00 +0000

This was the headline of a news article which talked about the launch of Blackberry 10. The reporter criticises Thornsten Heins, the CEO of Blackberry, on two grounds.

One, unable to answer basic questions asked at the launch conference
Two, lack of passion and enthusiasm.

Here is what the article says, "Heins had difficulties answering basic questions during the live presentation yesterday. He struggled in giving an answer to a question on how Blackberry had learned anything from Apple‘s success. To make it worse, his delivery lacked both passion and enthusiasm about his new product, which made the entire presentation painful to watch."

The world is watching and watching carefully. Businesses cannot afford to be lacklustre any more with their presentations. Let your presentation skills not come in way of your business.

You can watch Thornsten Heins talk here:

You will never forget your content...

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 16:05:00 +0000

...if you rehearse your presentation 10 times. If you do rehearse so many times, you will come out as spontaneous and confident. Your audience will like you and you will be able to deliver the presentation without butterflies in your stomach. Try it once. Rehearse your talk 10 times and see the difference it makes. Rehearse it by actually standing and delivering the talk (along with your slides), the way you would do when you 'will be' presenting.

Inspiring & Innovative Slide Design

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 06:33:00 +0000

Look at this innovative presentation. Looks fresh? Right? I love it.

The Future of Advertising 2020 from John V Willshire

Notice the slide design. Every slide is handwritten. All you need to do is to write on pieces of card paper (thicker paper) and take a picture of it. The pictures can be easily adjusted for contrast, colour & brightness in MS PowerPoint 2010 to give them a similar and consistent look. Worth trying out. Will make the presentation fresh and will make you stand out.

6 Ways to Ace Data Heavy Presentations

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 11:15:00 +0000

"What do you do differently when you are presenting a lot of data?" I was asked this question by a reader sometime back. Here is my answer.

I made a one hour long presentation just two days back. This presentation was all about numbers. Slides after slides of numbers. Market size and market growth rates. Market shares of our brand and competition. Retail penetration (reach) of brands and so on. Out of 57 slides I presented, 40-45 had some data (mostly tables).

I did take feedback about the presentation from the audience later that day. My worry was presenting too much data might have gone against me. The response however was good. "It was easy for me to get what you said" said one colleague. "You moved at a slow pace and I understood everything" said another.

Six things you can to do when you present too much data:

1. Present data gradually (one after the other). Feed your audience slowly. Do not go with a machine gun and shoot everyone with data. Do not flood them. Do not stuff their mouth (and their minds).

2. Make your audience want to know the data. Make them care. First tell them why they need to know this data. Do not present the data without anyone caring about it. Spend time to make them care. Do not assume they want to know it.

3. Ask questions before sharing data. First ask what is the market share of Samsung in smartphones. A few people in the audience give some answer. Then go ahead and share the data. This way you get people to pay attention. Use this technique frequently (but not on every slide).

4. One slide, one point. Every table or chart has a key message. Summarise that before moving on to the next slide. What is the take away for the audience? What is the one thing they must remember from this slide?

5. Connect everything. You shared some industry growth data when you started. Come back to it when you are talking about brand growth rates. In the end, your presentation has to be cohesive and make sense as a whole. Help your audience make sense of the entire stuff. Connect different parts of your presentation. Do not let them hang loose.

6. Do not present everything. Practice restraint. First look at all the data you have. Analyse and figure out what is your key message (or main key messages). Now decide what is the minimum amount of data needed to communicate the key message. Do not present data, just because you have it. Ask "Is this going to be of any help to your audience?" and "Can I remove this table and still not cause any damage to my argument?" Always try to present as less data as possible.

Best from the Past: January 2009 - 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 04:14:00 +0000

Here are some useful posts from January 2009 to 2012. Click on the headers if you wish to read the original post.

Take care of your fonts when sharing a presentation
You have used 'special' fonts in your presentation. Fonts which you have downloaded from internet. You now email this presentation or give it using a USB drive. Will the presentation work exactly as it does on your system?

No.

If the person receiving the PPT does not have the special fonts, the software will replace it with some other font. Entire alignment and font size will go for a toss. A complete disaster! What should you do then?

1. Use only standard fonts which are there on every computer (Arial, Helvetica, etc), or
2. Embed the fonts into your presentation. In MS PowerPoint 2010, go to File -> Options -> Embed fonts in this file. In PowerPoint 2007, go to Powerpoint Options. Under the 'Save' Tab, check 'Embed TrueType fonts'.

Keep the lights on while presenting
Many presenters want to make the slides look good. To ensure that, they switch off all lights and want audiences to have a good view of the screen. Have you come to show us a movie?

Your audience has come to see you. Your slides are only there for support. They are not the main thing. By keeping lights off, two things happen. One, your audience only looks at your slide s and disconnects from you totally. Two, your audience will sleep off. Keep the lights on and present. Always.

No text at the bottom of your slide
What happens when you have a big crowd (say more than 50). Everyone is sitting at the same level. The guys on the back are not sitting on a higher platform. In this case, the people in the front block some part of the view.

Ensure you have no words at the bottom of the slide. Avoid any text in the bottom 25% of the slide. I have personally made this error twice. So now I am clear.

One excellent TED talk. One passionate speaker.

Devdutt Pattanaik gave a very passionate speech in TED. He spoke on a complicated topic, 'mythology'. There are many things to be learnt from his presentation. One, how he started his speech with a story. A story which was integral to understanding his presentation. Two, he did not make 'slides' central to his presentation. We listen to him and see him. We only see the slides once in a while. Three, the passion. See how his passion comes out from his voice and body language. A must watch TED talk. He makes a complicated topic simple and likable.

Do 20% of your slides give 80% of the results?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 08:30:00 +0000

Pareto Principle is a famous management principle which states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. In business it is observed that 80% of sales come from 20% of customers. 80% of work is done by 20% people. This is also referred to as the 80-20 principle. In my career as a sales manager and marketing manager I too have seen this principle working.

Do you think this principle applies to your presentation as well? Do 20% of your slides provide 80% of the results?

Go back to the last few PPTs you have made. How many slides were there? If your PPT had 25 slides, identify the most important 5 slides (20%). Do you think these slides contained 80% of the message and (more importantly) they created 80% of the impact. Think about it.

If you think its true (which it is) then can you do the following:

1. Focus on these 20% slides and prepare them well.
2. While rehearsing your presentation, give special emphasis and more time to these slides.

In every presentation you make from now on, decide which are those slides which give you 80% results. While preparing these slides spend extra time. While delivering these slides, give extra emphasis and take extra effort.

What happens if your time is cut short by the organisers. You can just present these 20% slides and still make 80% of the impact.

"9 out of 10 presentations are boring"

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:31:00 +0000

I am a regular reader of Trak.in. In today's post the author Arun talks about sitting through a day long conference of 10 presentations out of which 9 were boring. He says this is true of ALL presentations he has seen in his life.

90% presenters bore their audience. Why?

He attributes it to the use of bullet points.

Most presenters bore the audience. Most presenters have slides full of bullet points. If you continue to to be like most people and continue to use bullets you will also bore your audience. Simple!

Stand apart. Be different. Say not to bullets.

Should students take notes any more?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:09:00 +0000

Few days back I came across an article in The Hindu newspaper. It talks about something very important. It is very relevant to teachers and trainers.

The practice of taking notes in classroom is coming down. Teachers come with their PowerPoint slides and later share it with their students. Then why should students take notes? This is why students have stopped taking notes. Sometimes teachers also encourage students not to take notes, since they will be sharing slides after the class.

I can empathize with this. At times, even I have been guilty of this. Guilty because we should never stop people from taking notes.

The slides are your side of the story. The teachers side of the story.
The notes are my side of the story. The audiences' side.
The two sides are not one and the same.

This is why, taking notes needs to be encouraged. Do not discourage students from taking notes when you are presenting. The author says, "When the set of slides becomes the only reference material for the class, you actually lose some important parts of the classroom dynamic — your own ideas and thoughts that were triggered by the lecture, and the teacher’s additional comments that may not have found their way into the slides. Good notes contain more than the teacher’s lecture word-for-word, but they are like a commentary, often containing points that help you follow through on what was discussed in class."

4 years of 'All About Presentations'

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 14:06:00 +0000

All About Presentations is now 4 years old.

I started this blog on January 14, 2009. Every year Indians celebrate an important festival on Jan 14. It is called Makar Sankranti (also called Sankranti / Pongal down South). I started the blog on this festive day and every year as I celebrate Pongal, I also celebrate the birthday of my blog. Thanks to you for reading my blog and contributing to its growth. It means a lot.

You will not...

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 15:56:00 +0000

You will not read the slides while presenting because your audience is literate. What you can read, we can read too. You are not here to read your slides. If you had to read your slides, why did you come all the way. You should have emailed your slides.

You will not sit at your desk and present. Get up and move. How are you going to connect with me if you sit all the while on your seat behind your laptop? Show some energy and passion. Get up you lazy fellow.

You will not look at the slides while presenting. Look at me for God sake. You have come to present to yourself or to me? I am not going to like you, if you do not even look at me.

You will not make slides which look like text books (full of text and full of bullet points). I am sick of it. Don't kill me. Show me something fresh. Show me something worth looking at. And stop making your slides your crutch.

This is so important, it is worth repeating. We need to be reminded of the basics always. I got reminded of this because I attended one such presentation today.

"It's 12 degrees here."

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 03:04:00 +0000

I am on a holiday. I am in my home town right now. When I was packing my bags, my father called me to suggest we get some winter clothing (jackets, sweater, etc). He said it was cold here. He said, "It's 12 degree here." Hyderabad (where I work) was pretty warm then.

When I landed here, reality struck. I was freezing. Coming from Hyderabad where winter was looking more like summer, this was a shock. Then my father smiled and said, "I told you it was 12 degrees here."

It is getting cooler by the day. Today's newspaper reads, "Yesterday was the coldest day in the last 28 years. It was 10 degrees yesterday."

When I was in Hyderabad I could not make much sense of what 12 degrees meant. I could not visualise. Was 12 degree too cold or just nice cold?

Well, the problem is, numbers are dry and do not make much of a sense on their own. It is like saying the GDP of India is $1.85 Trillion or the per capita income of India is $1219. What do I do with that? I cannot take any action based on this figure because I do not fully understand it.

The next time you need to tell your dear ones it's very cold, resist the temptation to say "It's 12 degrees here." Better say, "It's freezing down here and we have not seen such cold weather in the last decade." People will act more upon the latter than the former.

Whatever be the weather in your city, continue to have fun. Have a happy and fun filled new year.

10 most watched TED Talks ever

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 08:30:00 +0000

TED talks have become extremely popular. I must have already written a dozen posts about TED. Some of the best presenters and best minds are on display at TED. It has thousands of videos and one can never see all of it. That leads us to ask, "Which are the most popular TED talks ever?"

Here is a list which was published on TED Blog in August 2012. The most watched TED talks ever are...

Sir Ken Robinson (Schools kill creativity)**

Jill Bolte Taylor (Stroke of insight)

Pranav Mistry (potential of sixth sense)

David Gallo (underwater astonishments)

Pattie Maes & Pranav Mistry (sixth sense demo)

Tony Robbins (Why we do what we do)

Simon Sinek (How great leaders inspire action)**

Brene Brown (Power of vulnerability)

Steve Jobs (How to live before you die)**

Daniel Pink (Surprising science of motivation)**

The ones with the ** are my recommendations. If you cannot watch them all, watch these four atleast. I have added hyper links to these for your convenience.

Change the default font in a template

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 16:17:00 +0000

Templates are used by most presenters. Most of us use the default templates available in MS PowerPoint. There are 40 templates in MS PowerPoint 2010. If you are slightly more interested, you might have used free templates from www.office.com. If you are in love with templates then you must have downloaded it from various websites (and wasted a lot of time as well).

Every template has a default font. When you insert a text box on a slide, you are forced to use the default font. I find this very annoying because the template might be cool and awesome but the default font might not be so great.

How do you change the default font of a template?

and the winners are...

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 04:38:00 +0000

The names of two lucky winners are Bryan Alvare and Jeremey Donovan (both from the USA). Congratulations guys! Everyone else, who did not win but took the survey, thanks a ton people. The feedback has been valuable.

By the way, this is the 400th post on my blog. Hurray!

Presenting as a Team of Two

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 03:56:00 +0000

When we talk of presentations, we almost always visualise one person presenting. Have you ever seen two people presenting together? Have you ever presented as a team of two? Not one after another, like students present their project, but together.

I saw, I think for the first time, two people present together a few weeks back at Nielsen Consumer 360 conference. It was pretty nice and gave me a lot to think about.

What it means to present as a team of two?
Let me clarify what it means to present together. Assume I am with you on stage. I am presenting Part 1 of the presentation and you stand with me. You keep asking questions, agreeing and disagreeing to what I say. Then you present Part 2 and I ask questions and seek clarification. That's what I call presenting as a team.

Benefits of presenting as a team
Come to think of it, there are many benefits of presenting as a team. One, higher audience attention. One presenter talking for too long can be boring. Two presenter swapping positions makes it interesting. What is interesting increases audience attention. Having two presenters can take your presentation a step closer to a 'play' (theatre) and hence make it more fun to watch.

Two, playing to your strength. Each one of us have certain areas of expertise. If two presenters are presenting, then they can divide which area who is more competent in. This way the audience gets a better quality of presentation.

Three, presenting two sides of an argument. If there are two points of view and there are pros and cons of each argument then it is very good to present as a team of two. One presenters fights for one side and the other fights against him/her. A heated and dramatic argument can charge the audience. In the end, the two of them can come to a conclusion but presenting two sides of the argument using two presenters is ideal.

Four, increased audience understanding. Most of us are shy to ask questions thinking it might be a 'stupid question'. If you think this is the case with your audience, then presenting as a team is a boon. The questions you want your audience to ask, if they don't ask, can be asked by the other presenter. He can take the role of the audience and question the presenter.

How to present as a team of two?
There are various benefits of presenting as a team. What does that mean? It means more effort on the part of the presenters. You need to prepare very well. Practice presenting as a team 10 times before the actual thing on stage. Divide sections of the presentation and ensure each section is long enough. If you have a 20 minute presentation, you can break it into four parts and present for 5 minute each.

While one presenter presents, the other one asks questions. This aids audience understanding. Just make sure you practice in more depth to ensure you remember what questions to ask and what clarifications to seek when.

If you have presented as a team of two, I would like to hear your story. Why you presented as a team and how did it go?

Best from the Past: December

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 15:12:00 +0000

Today let me share with you some good posts from December 2009, 2010 and 2011.

How to cut short your presentation at the last minute?
You were alloted 30 minutes. Because the conference started late, your time has now been cut short to 15 minutes. What will you do? Panic. What else?

In December 2009 I wrote a post about this and gave three suggestions. One, do not panic. No one succeeded in life by panicking. Two, do not apologise to the audience and sound defensive. Do not say I had prepared for 30 minutes and now I cannot complete everything. The audience will only feel bad and pathetic about it. You might want to give it a passing mention but say that you will share the crux in 15 minutes and the audience can always connect with you after the presentation. Who is stopping you or them to continue the conversation? Third, skip some slides and focus on what is the crux. Do not increase your speed to cover more content. That is stupid. You might also want to cut the basic warm up content at the start.

Extra tip: When you are skipping slides it is better to hide them during slideshow. Do not show a slide and then say "I will not present this and move on." The audience feels they are missing something.

Click here to read the complete post.

Use special fonts in your presentations
If you want to stand out, it is advisable to use a new font in your presentation. Do not use something that's difficult to read. Choose your font carefully. When in doubt stick to Arial or Helvetica. No point wasting your time in search of a new font.

One good resource which I use most often is dafont.com. It has a brilliant collection of free to use fonts. You can click here to read the original post.

Make your own slides: Do not ask your subordinate
If you are a senior manager, you might be getting your slide deck made by your subordinates. That's a common practice and that's a very bad practice. I believe everyone should make his/her own slides.

When you make your slides, you get the meaning right. You know why you used an image. You know why the animation is in a particular order. You are more confident when you make your own slides. You also have a better grip on your time (when you present).

Read this important post here.

How to design a logo in PowerPoint?
This has been one of the most popular posts of my blog since it was first published in December 2009. In this post I have explained the process of making a simple logo in PowerPoint. Click here to read this interesting and innovative post.

I designed the logo of my blog also on PowerPoint.

Win a book... in 60 seconds

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 10:34:00 +0000

You have a chance to win a book by participating in a small reader survey. There are only 6 questions and it takes 60 seconds to answer. Click here to fill out the form.

The questions are very simple.

Q1. Which software do you use to make presentations?
Q2. You have been reading the blog since...
Q3. What do you like about the blog?
Q4. What do you feel can be better?
Q5. What topics should I write more about?
Q6. Your name and other details (will be kept confidential)

I will randomly choose two winners from all the entries. Go ahead, fill out the survey by clicking here and get a chance to win a book on presentations. This prize is for readers staying anywhere in the world. Survey closes on December 9.

Does everyone in the room understand FII?

noreply@blogger.com (Vivek Singh) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 13:03:00 +0000

Last week I attended the Nielsen Consumer 360 conference in Mumbai. I was there as a marketer looking to learn something new. It was a fantastic conference in two ways; as a marketer I did learn new stuff and as a presenter I saw some great presentations.

It was a day long conference with a series of presentations on diverse topics. I kept noting down the good and the bad stuff presenters did at the event. I wanted to share it all with you. I will be sharing these over the next week. Here is one such instance.

Mr. Ram Charan, the most influential consultant alive, gave an hour long talk. He is the consultant for some of the biggest names in the US and so you will expect him to throw a lot of jargon at young marketers like me. What happened was totally the reverse. Whenever he introduced a term like FDI or FII, he asked 'Does everyone in the room understand FDI / FII?

To me this was awesome.

One, it made everyone in the room comfortable. Many people in the audience would have said to themselves, "It is not so bad if I do not know what FDI means." He also gave a chance to the audience to understand the term before Ram Charan elaborated on his point.

Two, it means Mr. Ram Charan was thoughtful about his audience. He knew he was not talking to finance managers, CFOs or CEOs. "These 400 odd people are marketers. Let me check with them if they understand my jargon."

Next time, if you are forced to throw a jargon at our audience, can you please ask yourself "Does everyone in the room understand this?" Should I explain the jargon, even if some people in the audience might already know what it means.