http://pm411.org project management internet radio show, templates, and webtools Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:37:46 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 The pm411.org Project Management Podcast is dedicated to help you at your job as a Project Manager or Program Manager, regardless if you have years of experience, or if you are just starting on your journey in Project Management. pm411.org is a place where you can come to find the latest in PM tools, PM Templates, PM tips, and PMI (PMBOK) methodologies that have been found to help others. It is a place where discussions can be had with project managers from around the globe and in every industry where project management permeates in our Project Management discussion forums. It is a place where you can find the best Project Management links to other sites dedicated to our wonderful profession. Ron Holohan, MBA PMP no Ron Holohan, MBA PMP show@pm411.org show@pm411.org (Ron Holohan, MBA PMP) 2007-2012 Ron Holohan Project management internet radio show, discussion forum, methodology, templates, and webtools project, management, pm, prepcast, management, manager, pmi, pmp, team, management, schedule, budget http://pm411.org/wp-content/uploads/pm411logo_itunes.jpg http://pm411.org http://pm411.org/2008/07/01/podcast-episode-033-project-management-presentation-skills-part-2-of-2/ http://pm411.org/2008/07/01/podcast-episode-033-project-management-presentation-skills-part-2-of-2/#comments Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:33:17 +0000 Ron Holohan, MBA PMP http://pm411.org/?p=222 http://pm411.org/2008/07/01/podcast-episode-033-project-management-presentation-skills-part-2-of-2/feed/ 0 presentations,speeches,visual aids In today's second of two podcasts in a series on project management presentation skills, we conclude our discussion with Joe Friedman, of the consulting group Zehren-Friedman Associates, Ltd. - Show Commentary In Part 1 of 2, In today's second of two podcasts in a series on project management presentation skills, we conclude our discussion with Joe Friedman, of the consulting group Zehren-Friedman Associates, Ltd. Show Commentary In Part 1 of 2, Joe and I discussed why people tend to become anxious when it comes to public speaking, how to overcome the jitters of speaking in front of a group, and the steps to take to prepare for an informational or persuasive presentation.  In Part 2, Joe and I continue our discussion on presentation skills with discussions on visual aids, basic delivery tips, answering questions during a presentation, and being prepared when interviewed by the media.  These suggestions can help you become better at project management presentations as well as day-to-day speaking with others. Visual Aids Once you have put your content together as we discussed in Part 1, you need to determine what visual aids you want to use during your presentation.  As part of the planning process you need to determine what is the best method of getting your message across - will you be sitting, standing, using presentation handouts, or maybe a demonstration tool to help make your points during the presentation?  You also need to determine if your environment will allow you to use the method that aids you in the most effective way.  For example, if a particular room does not have the capability to allow you to demonstrate how you can blow up a car using only a match and a piece of string, you may need to find another room (or a nearby fire station). Frequently people create their visuals, especially PowerPoint slides, so that they can be "read" later by the attendees of the presentation or those folks that were unable to attend.  The problem with this approach is that the visuals now contain so much content that it is difficult to effectively present it.  The slides become too "wordy" with multiple sentences instead of bullet points, causing the audience to focus on reading your slides while you present rather than listening to your presentation.  Worse yet, presenters frequently end up reading each of the wordy bullet items to the audience, while adding redundant paraphrasing that causes monotony and overkill on points.  Can you say "Hello snooze-ville?" The solution to having overly wordy slides is to keep your visuals extremely simple.  If you need to provide supporting information, provide it as a separate appendix to your presentation rather than part of your presentation. Joe recommends the "five-by-five" rule:  use a maximum of 5 bullet points with no more than 5 words per bullet point on a slide.  Beyond Bullet Points by Cliff Atkinson also features some easy-to-apply techniques to help you clarify, visualize, and present your ideas using PowerPoint that stresses minimizing the amount of words on a slide.  By giving your audience a relevant graphic and limiting the number of words per slide you will be able to help them remember the message of your presentation better.  Also, stay away from the dancing baby graphic that eveyone seemed to love in the early '90's.  No presentation exists that can be improved by using that! Three Delivery Tips Here are three simple delivery tips to remember for your presentation in order to have the biggest impact on your audience: Stand up straight Look at one person at a time Speak loudly Once you master these three tips, you can focus on all 9 skills of presenting which focus on: Movement Stance Hands Gestures Eyes Volume Speaking pace Animation Non-words ("ums", "ahs", "errs" "like," etc.) You should practice your speech using pauses instead of non-words.  Also, practice using pauses instead of "ums" or "errs" during meetings, on voice mail messages, and with friends.  I personally would also like to recommend practicing elimination of non-words to those of you that like to talk to yourselves on the train or bus. Ron Holohan, MBA PMP no 32:12 http://pm411.org/2008/06/09/podcast-episode-032-project-management-presentation-skills/ http://pm411.org/2008/06/09/podcast-episode-032-project-management-presentation-skills/#comments Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:01:20 +0000 Ron Holohan, MBA PMP http://pm411.org/?p=219 http://pm411.org/2008/06/09/podcast-episode-032-project-management-presentation-skills/feed/ 1 presentations,speeches     In today's first of two podcasts in a series on project management presentation skills, we welcome backJoe Friedman, of the consulting group Zehren-Friedman Associates, Ltd. Joe holds a BSBA and MBA from Ohio State University and has over 25 ...     In today's first of two podcasts in a series on project management presentation skills, we welcome backJoe Friedman, of the consulting group Zehren-Friedman Associates, Ltd. Joe holds a BSBA and MBA from Ohio State University and has over 25 years of sales, sales management and training / consulting experience.  With many years providing sales and management training programs at Northeastern Illinois University, First National Bank of Chicago, and The Executive Technique, a firm specializing in presentation skills training, Joe teamed up with David Zehren in 1993 to create Zehren-Friedman Associates, Ltd.  Their 13-person firm is entering its 18th year in business and specializes in teaching the "persuasive arts" of selling, presenting, negotiating and influencing.  Clients are in a wide variety of industries, from banking to healthcare to printing to advertising to services to manufacturing and everything in-between.  Joe is responsible for client development, program delivery, people development within the firm, and holds the title of CFO. Show Commentary People generally dislike public speaking because it tends to make us nervous; no one wants to look foolish, which creates even more us even more nervous.  With communication being 90% of a project manager's job, the ability to effectively communicate in front of an audience is a necessity. Ways of Overcoming Nervousness There are several things you can do as a speaker to help overcome nervousness. Be prepared! There is no substitution for preparation to help reduce nervousness prior to a presentation. By practicing your presentation, you will reduce the likelihood of tripping over your words and improve the chances of getting your point across to your audience. Understand that nervousness is natural and to be expected. Everyone gets nervous before a presentation to some degree. When it comes to nervousness, you actually are the one in control and you can decide whether you "use it, or whether it uses you." Try talking a little bit louder than you normally would. This will help "burn off" some of the nervousness and allow you to come across as more confident. Speaking louder than you normally would at the beginning is also a easy psychological trick to pull on your brain since if you hear yourself better, you will quickly hear the power in your voice and start to relax. Look at the entire audience one person at a time. Speak to the group, but make eye contact one person at a time just as if you were talking to each person individually. Most of us are more comfortable with one-on-one dialog than speaking in front of a group. Frequently when we are nervous, instead of focusing on conveying our presentation to each individual in the audience, we quickly scan the audience as we speak, and start wondering how our audience perceives us. Then the worry begins and we start making up stories about what the audience must be thinking about us. By not focusing on connecting with each individual, we start to spend too much time thinking about "us" rather than about conveying the content of our presentation. Then we start getting nervous. By spending 3-5 seconds "speaking to each person" in the audience we can come across as more comfortable and become less nervous at the same time. Preparing for Your Presentation Although content is the most important part of you presentation, style closely follows it.  If you don't deliver the content well, we will likely fail in persuading or informing our audience based on our content. The following are the recommended steps in preparing for a presentation: Understand the time requirements that you have been given. Once you know the amount of time you will be given for your presentation, prepare just enough to cover one-half of the time allotted. When we speak live, we are more likely to elaborate or go into side tangents than what we typically plan for up front. By cutting your content in half, Ron Holohan, MBA PMP no 30:03