Sales Presentations Training

NSA Colorado is putting on a three day boot camp this weekend for those who are interested in becoming professional speakers and for those looking to take their speaking skills to the next level! This sales presentations seminar is open to the public. We have three openings left-so email me right away if you are interested.

Here’s the line up of experts for this weekend we call Speaking Eloquence. Pam Gordon, will train on “Making Your Message Stick.” According to experts, 90% of the information you share with audiences and clients is forgotten in less than 48 hours! How can you make sure your seminars and keynotes make a lasting impression…come hear Pam Gordon. Pam is a former NSA Colorado President and teaches graduate school in speech communication and adult learning at The University of Denver. She speaks internationally and holds her Med. I’ve had the pleasure (Read on …)

My favorite Starbucks here in Denver is located at Bellevue and I-25. At 8am in the morning this Starbucks is loaded with clients, music in the background and lots of people talking…would you really have a serious business meeting at this time of the morning? (Read on …)

I thought it would be beneficial to share with you the presentation I did for the Colorado Chapter of the National Speakers Association. The good and the bad! As you know, I only use Powerpoint sparingly and believe that it should only be used to enhance and clarify your presentations. Well, Saturday turned out to be the day I sparingly used it. There were approximately 100 people in attendance and the rows went straight back-The folks in the first 10-15 rows had a good view of the slides. The next 15 rows did not fare as well. First lesson, (Read on …)

The Colorado Chapter of National Speakers Association will hold our November meeting November 11,2006. The meeting goes from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm. We are pleased to welcome Steve Rizzo, CPAE, as our featured speaker. Steve is a fabulous speaker and a former stand up comedian. At our monthly meeting Steve’s topic will be “Why Not Enjoy the Process?” His message is one of developing balance in business and personal life for all of us speakers. I can’t wait to hear Steve as he always delivers a humorous, compelling and educational message. Welcome to Denver, Colorado Steve!

LeAnn Thieman, CSP, will speak on From Platform to Print: “How to Write and publish Your Signature Story”. LeAnn is one of my favorite speakers as well as a great friend. LeAnn was a nurse for thirty years and coauthor of seven Chicken Soup for the Soul Books! One of my favorites was Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul. LeAnn is a very talented and inspirational speaker!

Steve Mertz, yours truly, will speak on blogging and specifically : “How to Rank in The Google Top Five.”
My talk will focus on the power of blogging and the specific Search Engine Optimization techniques I employed in taking Sales Presentations Training to the number one position in Google search! I’m honored to share my experiences with my peers.

If you are in the Denver, Colorado area and plan on attending our November meeting-Please come up and introduce yourself! Here are the details for getting the very best presentation skills in Colorado.

Steve Mertz
NSA/Colorado

Technorati Tags: Steve Rizzo, LeAnn Thieman, Steve Mertz, National Speakers Association, NSA/Colorado

I had the opportunity to view three excellent presentations at the NSA/Colorado chapter meeting on Saturday, September 9^th. All three presenters did an excellent job of connecting with the audience and giving them information that they could use immediately. There are common traits of great presentations that I want to high lite here:

1. The speakers did not warm up on their opening-they got right into their material and immediately captured the audiences attention. The first 20 seconds of an opening can really set the tone for your presentation so it’s always worth the effort to make it fresh and compelling to your audience.

2. They used stories that were universal to any audience that anchored their key points. Your audiences love to hear personal stories of yours and how or what you learned from those experiences to help you overcome obstacles and achieve success from the experience. Even if you are a CEO of an organization-your audience will relate and appreciate stories that are yours and anchor a key point you are making.

3. All three presenters used generous amounts of humor to poke fun at themselves and anchor key points.

4. They kept on topic and stuck to the allotted time they were given. By sticking to your topic your audience will leave with the key points you sere making. Those who tend to wander off topic can leave an audience with a feeling of “we liked the presentation, but don’t really remember any specific points.”

5. All the speakers engaged the audience and were able to make a great connection because of the interactivity.

6. Handouts were effectively used and yes, the one PowerPoint presentation did support and enhance the presentation!

Steve Mertz

Great Presenters are Fun to Watch!

I was reading a question posed by a blogger yesterday. He asked: “I always wondered what percentage of speakers who ask the audience questions prior to their speech, actually fine tune their speech at that moment.”

He speculated on what some of the reasons presenters ask audience questions:

1. Cheap and fast market research

2. Grasping level of audience knowledge in subject

3. Discovery of demographic of audience

4. Waking up the audience and gaining their attention

Here is his conclusion: “Anyway, do you feel that some presenters ask these questions but make no effort to tailor their presentations after asking? Sometimes I do…”

So, for all speakers who are giving a public presentation…beware, your audiences today are more sophisticated and demanding-they know this method could be a cheap ploy! I am a big fan of audience involvement but not for cheap and fast market research! This post of presentation openings may be of interest to you.

Before speaking to an audience I don extensive research on their knowledge level, the demographics of the audience and the theme of the conference. All of this information can be gained from the meeting planner as well as interviewing four or five audience participants before the presentation. One of the masters of audience research is David Glickman. For example, if he were speaking to an audience about “application protocol interface” or API, he might come out on stage and show a copy of Application Protocol Interface for Dummies! He would then say something like “I read this fascinating book on the flight over here.” Having done his research he just prints this phony cover and places it over the book. Believe me, your audience will love you for knowing about this innocuous term.

Wouldn’t you rather leave your audience with this impression instead of : “Anyway, do you feel that some presenters ask these questions but make no effort to tailor their presentations after asking? Sometimes I do…”

Here is the link to the audience participation question.

Steve Mertz

Do Research before Your Presentation!

Technorati Tags: Sales Presentations Training, Audince Participation, Public Speaking, Great Speech Openings, David Glickman

Garr Reynolds at Presentation Zen has a few Presentation Video clips that you may want to peruse this weekend. I haven’t checked all of them out but you can pick up some good pointers. Enjoy!

Steve Mertz
Enjoy the Show!

Tags: Sales Presentations , Garr Reynolds, Engaging Audiences, Opening Techniques.

Excellent sales presentations have two things in common: they are memorable and repeatable. I have posted here on tips from David Hornick on how to make your presentation memorable. Hornick made two recommendations that can leave room for exceptions: those are Don’t use a tagline and Don’t sing. When I read that I immediately thought of one of my buddies from National Speakers Association, David Glickman. He’s that good looking guy in the picture. I have seen David in front of audiences and he is an absolute master at taking a corporate message or tagline and incorporating it into a song. Clearly, this is a special gift to be able to put out a compelling message and be able to sing it! It’s been three years since I saw David do this but I can still remember the corporate message being sung to the tune of “Knock Three Times” by Tony Orlando and Dawn. Don’t act like you don’t remember the song…Because now it will be playing in your head for the rest of the day If I had a client that this would be appropriate for, I would not hesitate to recommend David and his magic. Otherwise, I agree with David Hornick, don’t try it at your sales presentation. 

Steve Mertz
I Can’t Sing!

Tags: Presentation Skills, Memorable Sales Presentations, David Glickman, Tagline .