Six simple tips for superb Presentation Delivery

So you have prepared your presentation, your speech, your pitch and are happy with your content.  How do you deliver it so that you make the maximum impact?  Here are 6 tips to help you deliver superbly!

1.    Apply the 3-S’s to Start Superbly

When you stand up to speak it is important to make a super impact from the get go.  Before you open your mouth – your listeners are already sizing you up.

The first of our three S’s relates to standing up Straight – it’s a really simple but effective way to make you look and feel more confident.  The second S is to Settle yourself, take time to settle yourself into position, move anything that may be in your way and become comfortable in your own space.  The final S is to Smile – plenty of reasons for smiling!  It makes you look happy and people like happy people.  It also releases endorphins, which are a great antidote to nerves and signals to your audience that you are looking forward to speaking with them.  Caveat – if you are delivering bad news, best leave out the smiling.

2.    Speech Rate

The fastest speaker in the world is Steve Woodmore from the UK who can speak at 637 words per minute (wpm).  Needless to say this is not to be recommended when presenting!  An average speed of 120 wpm is slow enough for your audience to understand your message.  However, if you speak at the same rate all the time it is very b-o-r-i-n-g.  For added impact, it’s a good idea to speed up occasionally and then slow right down.

3.    SOS it’s music to the ear

The Sound Of Silence.  Occasionally just stop speaking ….… this lets your mouth catch up with your brain and your listeners catch up with your message.

4.    Gesture to add impact

It is obvious – isn’t it!  Yet, so many people talk with their hands clasped together, or even behind their back.  Use your hands as you would if you were chatting to friends or family.  Watch the gestures you use in your normal habitat and try to include them in your presentation.  When you are practising your presentation out loud, look for opportunities to add gestures that match what you are saying.  Interesting research recently by the Science of People on TED Talks, found that the more hand gestures in a TED talk, the more views that the talk received.

So, do include plenty of gestures but a word of caution – do not “act” out your presentation with carefully crafted gestures.  People will spot immediately if you are trying to be someone you are not.

5.    Eye contact

If you look at one person and talk to them for a few seconds, it is going to make you feel less intimidated.  Talking to one person is a lot more comfortable for most people, than talking to a big group.  Look at their eyebrows if you find looking into their eyes too intimidating.

Having great eye contact makes your listeners feel important (which they absolutely are) and also makes you go into a more conversational tone.

6.    Use your face

We have over 80 muscles in our face and boy are we great at using them when watching a great match on the TV, describing a delicious meal or even talking about a hilarious incident.

Why is it then, that when we get up to speak we leave our facial gestures in our seats?  Using your face makes you feel more ‘normal’ – because that is what we do in normal conversation.

 

So the next time you get on your feet, do try to use at least some of the tips above.  You never know, they could help you to deliver a super presentation!

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thinkbusiness

Jim’s Blog: Entrepreneurs need to build teams

Jim Duffy is founder and CEO of E-Spark. Soon to be opening in Belfast too. You can still apply for a place here.

Building teams

We’ve heard it all before, “Investors want a great team,” “Investors will back the team ahead of the idea,” “Investors want to ensure that if someone falls under a bus, then the other members of the team can still rock on!”

So, why do so many early stage entrepreneurs still not have a team or consider a team important? – Don’t tell me it’s because you don’t have any cash.

There are a huge number of great people out there, lining up to join start-ups and scale-ups, knowing that the wages will be paltry and the chances of not making it are high, so I don’t think this is the issue. The issue is that early stage entrepreneurs don’t know how to on-board great talent and keep them on board as the proposition develops, the company takes shape and all the plates are being spun 24 hours a day.

Essentially, entrepreneurs like to do a lot on their own. When we get started, that’s usually all we have – one woman and her dog. However, the passion and vision for what we do then attracts others to our camp. If the attraction is strong enough, then they will come and want to stay – regardless of initial remuneration. But, how do ‘work alone’ entrepreneurs ensure they on-board people and develop them into the business?

Here is the problem…

Imagine a start-up is like a roundabout – you know, the kind that we played on when we were young. This roundabout is spinning fast, so fast in fact that the best place to be is the middle. It’s safe in the middle, because there, the entrepreneur knows the pain point, how she is going to solve it, the intuition for who will buy the product, how she believes the business model will work and all the hours of thinking, cogitation, debate and ideation around the market etc. A place of safety for the entrepreneur, but peril and danger for anyone else trying to get in and get on.

At the edges of this roundabout, the world is a different place. It is spinning so fast that just looking at it is terrifying. Then there is the judgement needed to work out how and when to grab hold. It’s a balancing act to leap onto the roundabout at the right time and not get hurt as it throws you off. Then, if you do get a firm hold, the centrifugal force is trying to spin you off, as the entrepreneur in the middle is moving so fast. Eventually, you may pull yourself in toward the centre and get to grips with the start-up and what is going on in the entrepreneur’s head. But, for some reason, it takes you what feels like an eternity to get into the middle with the entrepreneur, which is where you can start to really make an impact.

This is what it can be like for a new team member jumping on board a start-up, and perhaps why so many entrepreneurs fail to attract and keep good talent early on. So, it’s up to you as entrepreneurial leaders to make the jump on board less dangerous, while still challenging. If an entrepreneur keeps spinning off talent then no proper team can form and the business will not get going to its full potential.

Entrepreneurs – think this one through. It’s a mind-set and a skillset we have to develop… and it’s what investors are looking for in the medium- to long-term. That aside, if you don’t support and encourage people on your team, then they don’t know what going on inside your head and it makes it difficult for them to help you achieve your vision.

The world record for the men’s 400 metres is 43.18 seconds, as held by Michael Johnson.

Astonishingly, the world record for the men’s 400 metres relay is 36.84 seconds.

Kind of says it all…!

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thinkbusiness

Business Women Can Time Management Masterclass and Networking Lunch

The stunning setting of Darver Castle, Co Louth was the perfect location for Ulster Bank’s Region East Business Women Can’s Time Management Masterclass and Networking Lunch held on Wednesday 2nd December.

We in Business Women Can are very aware of the issue of “Time” or lack of it in our busy lives. The Masterclass gave us fantastic insights into prioritising and scheduling our time for maximum impact and thus motivating us to achieve extraordinary things.
The Masterclass was given by Lorraine Murphy, Coaching and Training.

Lorraine offers bespoke business training to assist entrepreneurs, their business and their staff.

Representatives of more then 30 female-led businesses gathered at the beautiful Castle venue for the afternoon which was packed with Networking opportunities, learning new skills and brilliant opportunities to mix with like minded people.

Business Women Can Time Management Masterclass and Networking Lunch

Business Women Can Time Management Masterclass and Networking Lunch

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Celebrating the Business Success of our Business Achievers

Introducing The People’s Choice Award

We’re proud of our business achievers. We want to share that pride. Which is why we’ve created a new award which will be given out at the gala awards on the 3rd December 2015.

This will be judged via an online poll. You can cast your vote here http://www.smallbusinesscan.com/the-peoples-choice

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Meath enterprise week, food, digital and entrepreneurship

Over 20 events

Building on the success of last year’s Meath Enterprise Week, 2015 promises to be even bigger. With an objective to showcase Meath to the world in the areas of Food, Digital and Entrepreneurship over 20 events will be held from November 16th to 19th, culminating in a Conference and Showcase Exhibition that will take place on November 19th in the Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim. The four-day programme will be held in different locations across County Meath and includes Food, Digital and Enterprise events, seminars, workshops and schools programmes.

 

 

Showcasing Meath

Gary O’Meara explains “Our objective is to provide the vehicle to showcase Meath as a place to do business. With the recent announcements around the Boyne Valley Food Hub project and Facebook, it can be very clear to all that the themes Food, Digital and Entrepreneurship will play a significant role in the future development of the region. There can be no doubt that there are very challenging but exciting times ahead for Meat, and Meath Enterprise Week is the perfect opportunity for people to get connected and involved”

The Meath Business Showcase and Conference

The Meath Business Showcase and Conference on Thursday November 19th will be held from 8.30am to 4.30pm.   A panel of high profile business people (including Ron) will participate in a number of panel discussions during the day and there will be Keynote addresses also. The event will have an international dimension with business people inputting to the conference from all over the world via video links and Skype Feeds.

You are invited

Meath Enterprise are now inviting businesses to apply for places at the EXPO, it is expected that more than 70 businesses will be showcasing at the event. To book your FREE place at the #MEW2015 Business Conference and Expo or for further details on other events taking place during the week please visit – http://www.meathenterprise.ie/enterprise-week-2015/

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New food spaces to open soon in Ardee

If you are a food producer and if you are based in Louth or in the North East Region, you should take note.

New facilities for food producers in Ardee

Ardee Community Development Company are proud to announce a new facility which will establish Ardee as the centre for small food producers in the North East region. This facility to be known as the North East Regional Food Centre (NERFC) will comprise of a timeshare fully fitted kitchen, food finished production units and a training suite which will provide training in all aspects of food related issues and product development.  

Timeshare kitchen

The timeshare kitchen will be available for rental on a daily, or half day basis. This facility will be of particular interest to small producers who wish to trial new products or existing producers who wish to look at new possibilities in a confidential research situation. Since the premises are approved by the EHO, and has an extensive range of food production equipment, it will be suitable for batch production for farmers markets and specialist products. 

Launch on 11 December

The official launch of the North East Regional Food Centre will take place on 11th December in Ardee Business Park. In conjunction with this it is intended to hold a trade fair for food producers and associated businesses. 

Show your wares

It is hoped to attract artisan and small food producers to show their products at this launch and have it open to the public. There will be a covered Marquee for producers and it is hoped to have the various support agencies at the event.

If you wish to participate please let us know within the next week to secure a place at the event.  

Book

Bookings can be made by contacting 041 6857680 or 0872432258 or by email at the address shown below. The event is free to all participants. 

Details as follows – 

Date/Time – Friday 11th December @12.00 noon

Venue – Ardee Business Park, Hale St. Ardee

Facilities – Marquee and tables

Cost – Free of Charge

Ph- 041-6857680 or 087-2432258

E mail –  info@ardeebusinesspark.ie

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Personal and Professional Insights from Business Women Leaders

As part of our “Inspiring your Success” series of events, the Business Women Can Dublin Ambassadors held a very successful morning event in association with Mason Hayes & Curran, Solicitors at their offices on Barrow Street. It was an early start for all but we were rewarded by the view of the beautiful sunrise which was in full view from the meeting area where there was much networking going on among the c.100 guests in attendance.

The event was organised by Tracy o’Sullivan, Maria Norris & Claire Kennedy, all Ulster Bank Business Women Can Ambassadors who worked closely with representatives from Mason Hayes & Curran co-hosts of the event.

The Speakers

There was a panel discussion facilitated by Jennifer Hughes, Head of Commercial Planning & Service Delivery in Corporate Banking and a BWC Ambassador also. There was a panel discussion made up of 3 speakers who gave their insights on the topic, “Transitioning through Change”, from their own experiences in their respective careers.

Frances Kavanagh, Board Member of the Irish Sports Council and Senior Director of Sport with Special Olympics Ireland and also served as Director of Sport and Competition for the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games.

Frances started out her career as a teacher and coach and in later years progressed to her current position where she has seen many changes over the years in the organisation.

Their business like many in recent years had to make some tough decisions and implemented a restructure of their business resulting in job losses and reorganisation of divisions. Their focus at all times was delivering best results for the Athletes who are at the forefront of what they do.

Maeve McMahon was recently appointed as Ulster Bank’s first Director of Customer Experience and Products. She is tasked with developing customer focussed products as well as the underpinning customer strategy and insight , marketing and customer interaction programmes. Maeve sits on the CEO’s Executive Committee of Ulster Bank.

Maeve is no stranger to change having lived and worked in 6 different countries. She also worked with 11 different line managers in an 8 year period in former roles.

Emer Gilvarry is Chairperson of Mason Hayes & Curran and a partner in their Litigation Team. Her practice primarily involves dispute resolution. Emer specialises in project management and acts as a legal advisor to corporates and boards with a particular emphasis on governance issues as well as providing corporate compliance and due diligence support where needed.

Emer was promoted to Managing Partner in the firm on the 1st April 2008, and was thrown in very quickly to a role very involved in managing change in the firm and making tough decisions.

Key Quotes

Some important Nuggets and quotes from the speakers :-

Frances Kavanagh
“ highlighted the importance of making people feel valued , effective communication to allay fears, transparency and being open and honest with people when delivering hard messages. Good team working is paramount and the Athletes are at the core of what they want to achieve.”

Maeve McMahon
“Try new things. Maeve’s motto is “If you don’t try new things you won’t know the outcome and you may have missed out on something great”.

“The bank that gets to the bottom of what the customer needs and delivers on this will be the Bank that succeeds “.

“Communication, Vision and immobilising people for success is important.”

Emer Gilvarry
“importance of Ethical Intelligence in the workplace, reputation and trust – important attributes for any organisation.”

“How you make people feel through your interaction with them is very important”

“Leadership is about hiring people that are much better than you”

Quoted WB Yates
“Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.”

After the discussions there was time for Q&A and more time or networking. There was a great energy in the room afterwards and from the feedback from guests this was a very enjoyable and thought provoking event.

So if you would like to receive information on future Business Women Can events such as this one, please drop an email with your details to businesswomencan@ulsterbank.com and we would love to hear from you. We would also welcome ideas on topics you would like us to cover for future events.

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thinkbusiness

Freedom and Passion Beat Nearly Any Job

As an entrepreneur, I am fascinated by people who have a paid job. I went to the dark side and had permanent, pensionable job for four years. Loved it. A regular salary and not having to chase the next contract.  It was comfortable. And then it started to niggle, I wanted to be an example for my kids and I realised that  Hence Bookbuzz and Smallbusinesscan.

Entrepreneurship is the future

freedom and passion beat nearly any job.My standard advice to every employee is to consider entrepreneurship. If you want to be anti-fragile in the labour market of the future, you will have to.

Hacking your work

The next back thing is for you to take some lessons from “Hacking work”, which is about reinventing your work. There are a lot of interesting books about work, the meaning of work, controlling your own destiny and all that. Even the Dalai Lama wrote a book about happiness at work.

Why is that important? There is a strong economic rationale behind being happy at work. Happy workers are 10-25% more effective (from “Emotionomics”).

Being out of control whilst trying to be in control

“Hacking work” is about organisations being out of control whilst trying to be in control. Corporate big brother. The problem is that Big Brother uses outdated systems that are no longer relevant. It does not allow for meaningful dialogue with your staff, let alone with your customers. It does not allow to do great work (as distinct from mediocre work).

“Hacking work” preaches quiet revolution. Personnel taking control back, creating their your own systems and ensuring their personal return on investment as well as the ROI of the business.

As CEO or owner manager you should take note. The power is shifting towards the workers (Marx is back!). If you don’t allow for this revolution in your workplace, your competitor will. With the consequent a negative impact on staff and customer retention.

A few tips for CEOs:

  • Presume all your workers have ADD  (attention deficit disorder). Actually presume your customer you have the same disorder.
  • Give your staff a few hours a week to spend on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc..
  • Embrace a policy of radical transparency
  • Engage in dialogue with you staff (using social media the same way you would use for dialogue with customers).

ROWE

Or consider adapting to a Results Only Work Environment

I bet that a lot of you go to work and give everything you have. And I bet you are treated like children who, if left unattended, will steal candy.

You go to work and watch someone who isn’t very good at their job get promoted because they got in earlier and stayed later than anyone else.

You go to work and sit through overlong, overstaffed meetings to talk about the next overlong, overstaffed meeting. You see talented, competent, productive people get penalised for having kids, for not being good at office politics, for being a little different.

Ditch the mindset

If any of this resonates with you, then you are by definition an employee – and the organisation you work for holds outdated beliefs about work based on assumptions that do not apply in today’s 24/7 economy.

This is the message in “Why Work Sucks – and how to fix it” by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, who claim that there has to be a better way. This better way is only possible when we change our focus from hours to outcomes, when we ditch our traditional Monday through Friday, 9-5 mindset. The 40-hour work week, say the authors, is outdated and outmoded.

ROWE

The authors developed a radical workplace experiment known as ROWE – Results-Only Work Environment, where you control when, where, and how long you work. As long as you meet your objectives, the way you spend your time is entirely up to you. Work is no longer a place you go to, it’s a thing you do. ROWE has no mandatory meetings or fixed schedules, you stop doing any activity that wastes time, no one criticizes you for “leaving early” or “coming in late,” and if you do your best work at midnight or on Sundays, that’s fine.

Guerrilla HR bomb throwers

In case you are tempted to regard ROWE as a utopian fantasy, be aware that it is already a reality at the Minneapolis headquarters of consumer electronics chain Best Buy.

According to the authors, ROWE not only makes employees happier, but also delivers better results. Businessweek describes the authors as guerrilla HR bomb throwers. Intuitively, the idea of treating employees like grown-ups sounds great.

After all, entrepreneurs, freelancers and salespeople already use ROWE principles in their work. No one can seriously doubt that an incredible amount of time and energy is wasted at work.

At least consider to be an entrepreneur at work. You will be happier.

Let us know what you think. Tweet @smallBC, use #hackwork

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The Gig Economy:To Gig Or Not To Gig?

Entrepreneur Anonymous

I had the pleasure of moderating a panel session at entrepreneur anonymous about the gig economy. So I did some research. The USA, UK and Dutch figures are very interesting.

Figures USA

In the USA the number of free lancers is 53 million. That is 34% of the USA labour market. Intuit estimates that this proportion will grow to some 40% by 2020. A 2015 survey of over 1,000 American workers noted that about 60% received 25% or more of their income from freelance work. It is a $715 billion market in the USA.

Figures UK

There are 1.4 million British freelancers working across all sectors. This has grown 14% in the past decade. It is a £ 21 billion market in the UK. Apparently 50% of people in the UK want to start their own business. Only 1 in 20 do. Which I think is tragic.

Holland

In Holland, the revenue commissioners only defined “freelancers” in the 80s. In 1988 there were 1800 of them. Now it is a 1.1 million and growing. That is 1 in 6 of the total Dutch labour market. In the 90s it was 1 in 17.

Jobshift

In 1994 William Bridges wrote “Jobshift” and predicted fundamental shift in the labour market. He talked about the cake layer model of the labour market, with a winner takes all at the top and the rest serving the top earners. He has not been far off.

The future is entrepreneurship

In my view there is no question that the labour market is shifting. And that the future is entrepreneurship. As an entrepreneur on the labour market or as entrepreneur running their own business. The reasons I belief that is because of “Jobshift”, but also books such as Lynda Graton’s “Shift” and the must read “Antifragile”

Job security does no longer exist

Company life cycles are getting shorter and shorter. Professor Richard Foster estimates that by 2020 more than three-quarters of the Fortune 500 will be companies that we have not heard of yet. Which suggest that job security does no longer exist, that we are all becoming portfolio workers and will be forced to change jobs on an ongoing basis.

Skynet is near

“The second machine age”  predicts that 70% of all current jobs will disappear an that robots and IBM’s Watson will take over. Skynet is near and job security is an illusion.

Pension as an argument?

You will also live longer. If you belief in exponential change in health and technology, we all live to be far over a hundred. That is a long career and it will fundamentally change the current pension system. It will collapse. In my view the “security” of a pension is also an illusion.

Your choice

The choice is whether you decide to be in control of your own destiny, or have a someone else (your manager) decide your faith. My belief is with Ken Robinson, Seth Godin and Chuck Blakeman

Build a long term family business

Entrepreneurship, following your passion and your heart and building a sustainable business. And if you are smart you examine the German way of doing business and you create a family business that creates multi-generational long term wealth.

Lots of questions

It raises a lot of questions. The definitions of gigger, freelancer and entrepreneur. I am not sure if they are the same thing. Is it for everybody? Will you have a choice? What about job security? Getting a mortgage? Your retirement? Your ongoing professional development? Stress, your health and dealing with financial insecurity?

I Belief

I belief (I am ware I have used “belief” already 3 times and yes, for me entrepreneurship is a religion):

  • That financial institutions will respond to this a € 660 billion market opportunity in USA and UK alone (look at what RBS is doing with ESPark and that is just the beginning).
  • That the sharing economy will make it easier to sweat personal assets in so many ways, that we will all become at least giggers and have income streams on the side.
  • That the gig, freelance economy will grow faster then most of us expect.
  • That a race to the bottom is a real threat.
  • That is could create a winner takes all society.

Which is why I think/belief that basic income will become a reality.

The only question

The only question is how far you will push this, how secure you think you are at the moment (NOT) and how much control you want to take of your own destiny. At entrepreneurs anonymous I pontificated that I regard myself as a failed parent if my children (Alice and Luca) do not become entrepreneurs.

What do you think?

I am really interested in your views. Tweet us @smallBC using #entreligion

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