Mr. Berkun's book is packed with tips on how to reduce anxiety and how to speak in public with greater effectiveness. They range from common sense—arrive early, make sure you have back-up copies of your speech, practice—to more advanced tips on what to do when 10 people show up to hear you in a 1,200-person room (cluster the 10 immediately), how to cut off rambling questions and how to fall silent after making a key point, to give the audience a chance to soak it in.
To be interesting, Mr. Berkun suggests starting with an interesting topic and then taking a firm position, elaborated with clear, specific points. Putting a presentation into Power Point, he advises, should come last, if at all. A common mistake is to begin planning a presentation with slides, hoping that by some organizational magic they will turn chaos into coherence. Coherence and conviction, Mr. Berkun rightly says, are rooted in content rather than in the means by which you deliver it.
One of the key elements in good speech-making is enthusiasm. If you exude energy, your audience will reciprocate. But even peppiness has its dangers. One of the most notorious corporate presentations in recent memory was delivered at a conference by Steve Ballmer, the chief executive of Microsoft.
So the first thought for anyone scared of public speaking should be this: Take no risks and be boring. The worst you'll do is meet expectations. If you're even mildly interesting, you're a winner. If you're actually engaging, count yourself in the speaker's equivalent of the Billboard top 100.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Confessions of a Public Speaker
Excerpts from the just released "Confessions of a Public Speaker" by Scott Delves...
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Transmedia Storytelling
"Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes it own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story. So, for example, in The Matrix franchise, key bits of information are conveyed through three live action films, a series of animated shorts, two collections of comic book stories, and several video games. There is no one single source or ur-text where one can turn to gain all of the information needed to comprehend the Matrix universe." - Harry Jenkins Jr, MIT
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Steve Job's Presentation Secrets
Fifteen (!) strategies you can employ now...here are some great ones off the bat...- Plan in Analog (brainstorm, sketch the story!)
- Focus on benefits
- Create Twitter-friendly headlines
- Introduce the Antagonist (the enemy)
- Create Visual Slides
- Obey the 10 minute rule (people burn out after 10m, take breaks)
- Make numbers meaningful
- Use zippy words
- Share the stage
- Practice. A lot.
- Dress appropriately
- Have fun
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Tips and Tricks to get Creative Juices flowing
Experts discuss tips and tricks to let loose your inner ingenuity...
Some excerpts:
"...There are four different skill sets, or competencies, that I’ve found are essential for creative expression. The first and most important competency is “capturing”—preserving new ideas as they occur to you and doing so without judging them. Your morning pages, Julia, are a perfect example of a capturing technique. There are many ways to capture new ideas....The second competency is called “challenging”—giving ourselves tough problems to solve. In tough situations, multiple behaviors compete with one another, and their interconnections create new behaviors and ideas. The third area is “broadening.” The more diverse your knowledge, the more interesting the interconnections—so you can boost your creativity simply by learning interesting new things. And the last competency is “surrounding,” which has to do with how you manage your physical and social environments. The more interesting and diverse the things and the people around you, the more interesting your own ideas become..." (Epstein)
"...When I do seminars on creativity, I teach stress-management techniques to help people cope with the rejection that goes hand in hand with creativity. You have to learn not to fear failure and even to rejoice in it. When I’m failing, I say to myself, “I’m in good company. I’m in the company of some of the most creative and productive people in the world....In the laboratory, failure also produces a phenomenon called resurgence—the emergence of behaviors that used to be effective in that situation—that leads to a competition among behaviors and to new interconnections. In other words, failure actually stimulates creativity directly. It really is valuable.”
"...[one] example of an exercise I do with people that boosts group creativity is called “the shifting game.” In this exercise, half of my teams stay together for 15 minutes to generate names for a new cola. The other teams work together for five minutes, then shift out of the group to work on the problem individually, then come together for the last five minutes. Even with all the moving around, the shifting teams produce twice as many ideas as the nonshifting ones. This happens, I think, because groups inhibit a lot of creative expression. Dominant people tend to do most of the talking, for one thing. But when people shift, everyone ends up working on the problem."
"One thing I like to do is make all problems open-ended. Never say, give me three ideas for this; always say, give me at least three. When tasks are open-ended, a lot more ideas are generated. I also like to use what I call “ultimate” problems with kids. Those are problems that have no real solutions. Children have great fun with problems like those. Ask them questions like “How could you get a dog to fly?” or “How could you make the sky a different color?” You can also supply your kids with idea boxes and folders—special places for putting drawings and poems and scraps of anything new. That encourages capturing on an ongoing basis and tells children that their new ideas have value."
Some excerpts:
"...There are four different skill sets, or competencies, that I’ve found are essential for creative expression. The first and most important competency is “capturing”—preserving new ideas as they occur to you and doing so without judging them. Your morning pages, Julia, are a perfect example of a capturing technique. There are many ways to capture new ideas....The second competency is called “challenging”—giving ourselves tough problems to solve. In tough situations, multiple behaviors compete with one another, and their interconnections create new behaviors and ideas. The third area is “broadening.” The more diverse your knowledge, the more interesting the interconnections—so you can boost your creativity simply by learning interesting new things. And the last competency is “surrounding,” which has to do with how you manage your physical and social environments. The more interesting and diverse the things and the people around you, the more interesting your own ideas become..." (Epstein)
"...When I do seminars on creativity, I teach stress-management techniques to help people cope with the rejection that goes hand in hand with creativity. You have to learn not to fear failure and even to rejoice in it. When I’m failing, I say to myself, “I’m in good company. I’m in the company of some of the most creative and productive people in the world....In the laboratory, failure also produces a phenomenon called resurgence—the emergence of behaviors that used to be effective in that situation—that leads to a competition among behaviors and to new interconnections. In other words, failure actually stimulates creativity directly. It really is valuable.”
"...[one] example of an exercise I do with people that boosts group creativity is called “the shifting game.” In this exercise, half of my teams stay together for 15 minutes to generate names for a new cola. The other teams work together for five minutes, then shift out of the group to work on the problem individually, then come together for the last five minutes. Even with all the moving around, the shifting teams produce twice as many ideas as the nonshifting ones. This happens, I think, because groups inhibit a lot of creative expression. Dominant people tend to do most of the talking, for one thing. But when people shift, everyone ends up working on the problem."
"One thing I like to do is make all problems open-ended. Never say, give me three ideas for this; always say, give me at least three. When tasks are open-ended, a lot more ideas are generated. I also like to use what I call “ultimate” problems with kids. Those are problems that have no real solutions. Children have great fun with problems like those. Ask them questions like “How could you get a dog to fly?” or “How could you make the sky a different color?” You can also supply your kids with idea boxes and folders—special places for putting drawings and poems and scraps of anything new. That encourages capturing on an ongoing basis and tells children that their new ideas have value."
Unleashing Your Creativity While You're Moonllighting
From the Wall Street Journal (11/3/09)
"It's no secret that job security is a thing of the past. Taking on part-time work—especially in a creative arena you've always wanted to pursue—is one way to earn extra income and begin exploring new work opportunities before it becomes a necessity, says Scott Belsky, CEO and founder of Behance, a New York-based company that develops products and online tools for creative industries.
But fitting this extra work into your schedule takes planning. How to get started:
"It's no secret that job security is a thing of the past. Taking on part-time work—especially in a creative arena you've always wanted to pursue—is one way to earn extra income and begin exploring new work opportunities before it becomes a necessity, says Scott Belsky, CEO and founder of Behance, a New York-based company that develops products and online tools for creative industries.
But fitting this extra work into your schedule takes planning. How to get started:
- Don't duplicate what you already do. If you're working eight-hour days as a programmer for a company you like, taking on the same work outside your full-time job presents not only a possible source of tension for the boss, but also a way to quickly drain your passion for the work.Instead Mr. Belsky suggests taking a stab at a different skill set than the one you use in the office. Instead, put to use skills or interests you've never pursued actively, says Mr. Belsky. For example, if you love to plan family events, consider taking on part-time work as a party planner; if you love illustration or photography, try your hand at free-lancing projects that let you put those skills to use.
- Tell people. If you've got a job on the side, your first instinct may be to keep it hush-hush. But Mr. Belsky says that being open with the boss, particularly when nondisclosure policies require it, will be better for you in the long run. Make sure you emphasize that your part-time commitments won't cut into your daily routine at the office. And get the word out about what you're doing to friends, family and colleagues. Doing so also can help keep you on track with your side work—especially if it is a creative endeavor, says Mr. Belsky. What's more, friends and colleagues might have ideas for you on where to find part-time gigs.
- Set a schedule. Coming home from a long day at the office, it's tempting to head straight for the sofa. Set aside time a few nights a week for your part-time work to help add structure to your schedule. If your job has some flexibility, another way to make more time is asking the boss if you can compress your schedule and work more hours certain days, says Jessica Riester, founder of FlexWork Connection, an Orange County, Calif., recruiting and consulting firm. "If you don't have to be chained to your desk, you can juggle more during business hours," says Ms. Riester.
- Build a brand. Like anyone looking for free-lance work, getting your name out there is an important way to drum up business. But for part-timers with less wherewithal to put toward marketing, creating a Web site with work samples or a portfolio becomes even more important in getting business going. Mr. Belsky suggests setting up a blog, joining LinkedIn groups related to your interest, and using Twitter to get your work noticed by more people. Creating a profile with free-lance job boards like Odesk.com, Guru.com and Elance.com is another way to get your name out.
- Make deadlines. Give yourself until Friday to post photos online, two weeks to get a blog going, a Thursday evening to get in touch with five contacts who can help you find work. Setting short-term goals will help keep you moving when there's no boss telling you want to do next. "We are very hard-wired for this full-time way of life and we have to force ourselves to make the time to do things that are a little unconventional on the side," says Mr. Belsky.
- Keep it simple. If creativity isn't where your part-time pursuits take you, finding part-time work doesn't have to be a major endeavor. It can be as simple as getting a barista gig or doing telemarketing from home, says Ms. Riester. She suggests companies like LiveOps where you can sign up for call-center slots done from home that pay up to $20 an hour."
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