The Executive Got the Job!

A few days ago I wrote about an executive that wanted to create a PowerPoint presentation and then to set it up online and voice narrate to it. He was set up with a PTT Presenter to do this. Visit Presentations That Talk to learn more about the PTT Presenter.

I helped (a bit) with the presentation and set up the PTT Presenter for voice narration.

The Executive did the voice narration. He rehearsed it and made couple of takes on a few slides before he was satisfied. He then sent the presentation via e-mail to the target audience.

The beauty of the Presentations That Talk system is how easy (and fast) it is to use.

This presentation was placed online and voice narrated to in a matter of minutes and special technical skill is not required. All you need is a browser and a telephone.

Visit the website of Presentations That Talk to see presentation examples and to learn more. It can be a very high-impact way to get someone's attention and to get your point across.

The Executive that just landed the CEO job thinks so.

Do You Read Out Loud?

Often when you think out what you want to say for a voice narration, a speech or a verbal introduction you imagine that it will sound as good when you say it as it sounds when you think about saying it.

The lesson I have learned and it still continues to surprise me is that something that looks fine on paper may not sound as good when spoken out loud. Another point is that something written down on paper while sounding fine may be a bit difficult to say – leading to errors when spoken.

The message is to write your script and then actually say it out loud. This should be a standard part of your editing for something that will eventually be spoken.

For tips on how to put your presentations online and with voice narration and how to distribute them by e-mail, from a website or with an e-Newsletter visit the Website of Presentations That Talk at www.PresentationsThatTalk.com

Do You Ever UN-Sell Your Potential Customer?

All people have to sell. We need to sell our ideas to our co-workers. We need to sell the vacation plan to the family or even where we will go out to dinner and some of us have to sell to put bread on the table.

Do you ever un-sell a potential client?

I recently interviewed someone for a job. I was over 90% certain that I would hire this person. She would have to un-sell me to not get the job. She did a rather good job of un-selling me. She told me about problems with prior bosses, she told me about a problem she had with the community and she was unclear why she had these problems. The position I wanted her to fill was customer project coordinator.

She was pleasant, presented a nice appearance and spoke well (grammar and pronunciation). During the interview she introduced negatives that I had not asked about. If she did so with the thinking that she would then tell me how she solved the problem then I could have thought of her as a problem solver - very valuable. What she did was introduce a negative that I had not asked about and then left out the solution. I felt that perhaps she was the problem. She did not get the position.

When we are responsible for selling an idea or a product or ourselves let's be sure that we do not introduce a negative that was not brought up. Something we see as a negative may not even be thought of (therefore it is probably not a concern). If we must discuss a negative then we should also have a solution or be ready to note the tradeoffs.

For example the hybrid car may not have the acceleration of an 8-cylinder but it gets 4 times the gas mileage. Moreover, if the potential customer did not raise the question of acceleration then I would not even bring it up.

Another example using the hybrid would be introducing the idea that the seats are not comfortable. If the potential customer is small I would not even bring it up. The seats will most likely be fine for small light people. If the potential client is rather big or rather tall then it is a different issue but most likely many cars will be an issue for this person and yet many will not have the gas mileage of the hybrid or be as friendly to the environment. You could say that "though the seats may not be as comfortable as in a luxury sedan, I find them comfortable and you can sit in them at half the cost of ownership and 4 times the gas mileage and know that the pollution level is a small fraction of that of a luxury sedan."

WOW!! You sold me!

Do not UN-sell someone that is talking to you about the potential acceptance of you, your idea, your product or your service. They have a want or need and think that you may have a solution. Often, there is not a perfect solution and if you believe in you, your idea, your product or your service then you should help the potential client understand and appreciate the merits just as you do.

To gain insights into how to communicate with Presentations - Online - and with Voice Narration please visit the website of Presentations That Talk!

Talking Resume Presentations

Here's a new idea that I need to share with you. I took a phone call from someone yesterday that had been on the Presentations That Talk! website. The gentleman was an executive "between jobs" (as we say). He had done all the regular and typical things . . . he had polished up his resume, bought a new suit and was working with recruiters. He had a three potential positions - all at the CEO level - but one that he really wanted to nail. He loved this opportunity and he thought he was perfect for the company and for the problem/opportunity the Board wanted (needed) to address. He now needed a way to really catch the Board's attention.

This was his idea (not mine). He wanted to create a PowerPoint presentation with the following components. He wanted a Talking Resume Presentation.

1. Some biographical information explaining why he was just the right fit.
2. His suggestions/concepts on what he would do to "fix" the problem.
3. His suggestion on how he and the Board could work together to bring him into the company in the least disruptive way possible.

He had a great presentation flow already outlined and wanted help to create the presentation and script it and then he would voice narrate to it. He of course wanted to narrate it himself as one of the key values of an executive is their ability to communicate and he wanted to demonstrate this with sincerity and enthusiasm.

It is too early to tell if he will "nail" this exciting and rewarding position but his approach is different and his presentation compelling. I wish him good luck.

Consider how you could help someone land that big position or perhaps that big contract by letting them know about online voice narrated presentations. Visit the website of Presentations That Talk to see examples of Online Voice Narrated Presentations and to learn more.

To Blog. . . To Present . . . To Survey - WOW!

As you know I operate the website "Presentations That Talk". This website provides the "how to" on how to set up and distribute online voice narrated presentaitons using PowerPoint as the starting point.

Now imagine using your own voice-narrated presentation in your Blog to help explain your the message. Beyond that consider setting up a survey to collect statistical feedback on the presentation.

I set up a voice narrated presentation titled "A Case for $2,000 and oz. Gold". At the end of this presentation I added a survey to understand the statistical distribution of the viewer's investment level in gold. It is interesting to see the results which I make available to all viewers that fill out the survey.

Does the statistical data indicate a continuation of the boom or that it is time for a correction? - I am surprized at the number of viewers that have actually invested some part of their portfolio in gold.

Is the data representative of the general population? - probably not.

Does the data represent the typical investor? - Hmmm?

Is the data statistically valid? - Even with only one week of data collected at the time of this writing the data is statistically valid.

Consider how you too could add a voice narrated presentation to your blog and collect statistical information on the viewers at the same time. Knowing your audiance is fundamental to moving them to the next step and the statistic feedback is thought-provoking to say the least.

To see this online voice narrated presentation on gold and to fill out the survey to see the results for yourself click on the link below.

A Case for $2,000 Gold (click here)

Here is the link to PresentationsThatTalk.com

Your Title Makes a Big Difference

I recently did an experiment that was interesting and significant - very significant!

I created a single voice narrated presentation on gold investing and placed the presentation in two different places on my website (www.PresentationsThatTalk.com). In both places, one place was on the Home Page, and the second place, on the Examples Page, I duplicated the introduction for this presentation and the only difference between the two introductions was the title of the presentation.

The difference in the number of viewers viewing each "presentation"- remember the presentations are indentical - was quite significant.

The two titles were "A Hedge for Gold" and "A Case for $2,000 an oz. Gold". There was about five to one difference in favor of the title "A Case for $2,000 an oz. Gold".

Conclusion: A simple title can make a big difference.

Perhaps the fact that there was money specifically stated in the title - money has been known gets people's attention. Perhaps the word "Hedge" is a bit cryptic. Both had the word "Gold". I am not sure what the key factor (or factors) was. I do know that a title can make a difference and that it makes a great deal of sense to consider our titles well when we title an article, name a website, write an advertisement or define the name of a PTT Presenter.

If you would like to see the real world example of how I set up this experiment then please go to www.PresentationsThatTalk.com. If you want to help me understand what you think the key factor is then please write back.

Thanks

It's Easy To Present Online With Voice Narration

I wanted to see just how fast I could come up with an idea, create a presentaiton and set it up online with voice narration. Therefore, I timed myself.

First, I read an article in Time Magazine about how we are in a gold bull market. This took about 5 minutes.

Next, I created an outline of the presentation using PowerPoint. I made one outline point per slide. This took about 10 minutes. I also searched the Internet for a nice image of a gold bar which Google Image Search delieved up in about 0.23 seconds.

I then rounded out the presentation and added some easy animation (simple fade in/out and some fly-in animations). This took about 15 minutes.

I was now ready to upload the presentation to the PTT Presenter online presentation system. Logging in, uploading and setting up a survey and active link to a URL from within the admin side took about 20 minutes.

The rough script took me about 10 minutes and then I practiced once to fine tune and edit it and then I dialed the telephone and 15 minutes later a fine (though simple) voice narrated presentation was ready titled "A Case for $2,000 an oz. Gold".

This was fun to do this, educational as it made me think a bit about how I wanted to present the case and what I wanted to say - this active thinking increased the educational level well beyond simply reading the article. Above all else it was fast.

When all was done and said (a bit of a reversal of a cliche) it had taken 1 hour and 15 minutes to go from concept (with no real idea) to a fully functional voice narrated presentation with an active link embeded in it and a marketing survey to boot.

For anyone interested please click on the link below to view this presentation.

http://secure.webex.com/g2.asp?id=G0F96N68