Too many people are satisfied with mediocrity. Some people work on themselves becoming better than average. Only a few people take the chance to achieve outstanding and excellent results. This is why I repeatedly see speeches in which the potential for excellence is ignored or disregarded. This is where I will address ten of the […]
Archive for year: 2020
The path from being shy to presenting yourself with self-confidence is not an easy one, but a particularly rewarding one. In an interview with Tobi Krick, speaker on the subject of self-confidence, I share how I have developed from a shy student back then to a very self-confident personality nowadays (in German).
Confidence. I am confident about myself – or differently: I am aware of who I am, what I think, feel and do. This is my initial definition of self-confidence. Based on my personal background, I trust myself and my abilities, such as presenting a great speech in front of a group of people, no matter […]
Your content is well-prepared and you are ready to start your online presentation. Do you also consider the technique check, to ensure that you are heard and seen just as optimally by your online audience?
Clear stage for your online presentation! What differences can you take into account to a live presentation to help your online presentation be well-remembered?
When presenting from home, you have new possibilities to create your virtual stage. You can stage your performance independently and amplify it with your most important instruments, body language and voice. You can use external media such as PowerPoint in a different way than you are used to. What both types of presentation have in common: Your audience is more likely to listen when you engage them actively.
What is important for successful speeches is available both in the vast literature and in this blog. But do you know how to adapt your speech in front of a virtual online audience? Since the next live events are not yet foreseeable in times of COVID-19 or Corona, online presentations will make up an important part of the future. The ongoing digitalization will further reinforce this development. The following blog series will therefore deal with the most important aspects of online presentations: Which nuances are particularly important so that you can inspire and take your online audience?
While many of the basics for good, high-quality presentations still apply in large parts, there are some key differences between live and online presentations if you want to get your message across online.
Meet the other side at eye level right from the start! Some candidates still go to job interviews as supplicants. They are afraid that they will not be able to convince the potential employer of their merits. They would do much better with a positive, self-confident attitude.
In most interviews, the opening remarks are followed by the request “Tell us something about yourself”. Then the employer may ask numerous questions before you can start asking your own questions. This kind of interview is therefore very hierarchical. It is based on the assumption that the employer alone decides how to proceed. Other than that, I recommend preparing yourself accordingly for an interview at eye level: Think about a set of questions and about the dramaturgy of the interview: At which points can you direct the conversation yourself?
The invitation “Tell something about yourself” is one of the classic openings in a job interview. For you, this is about sharing a few highlights from your career. Instead of telling any arbitrary experiences, you share exactly those that illustrate your professional successes and directly relate them to your future job. In addition, you will share one or two aspects that distinguish you and tell something about you as a personality. Read more
The last blog reveals why presentations are nowadays different compared to the last century: speeches have become more vivid with anecdotes and stories; furthermore, the interaction between speaker and audience gained a stronger emphasis. In this blog, I will highlight why we do not have to take every common advice from rhetoric trainers at face value. Furthermore, I will deepen the topic of “storytelling”.
Good content provides the basis for good presentations
The majority of speech trainers – even those with many years of professional experience – misinterpret one of the most well-known figures on the impact of speeches. The myth, which has been widely spread since 1971, is the mistaken formula: 7 % content – 38 % verbal signals – 55 % body language. Read more
Presentations are nowadays different from those of the past. To convince and inspire your audience, you have to meet completely different expectations today than 20 years ago. Nowadays, personality is key, as is combining numbers, data and facts with short stories and anecdotes that provide new context for the audience. By the way: Instead of frontal lectures in which information is hammered into our audience, the focus today is on infotainment. Information comes along with entertainment. This is what makes presentations much more effective. The use of new media adds to this. We should never underestimate one thing: The personality of the speaker decides whether his message actually reaches the audience. Read more
