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You take great efforts in researching for your presentation and then even a simple thing like wrong choice of font color can mar it. Choosing the right color scheme and background as it is utmost necessary for it to be audience friendly and pleasant to look at.

The common mistakes that are made while selecting contrast for your slides. Here is a list of faux pas you can avoid:

Color of the background same/similar to the font color: The presentation should be such that audience should be able to read it without any hassle. If the font is blue color and background is black color; or light pink color against white background

Too much bold/bright colors: Slightly dark colors not only give a classy look to the slides but also are gentle on the eyes. Too many bright or bold colors can actually give viewers a headache. If you do not know how to combine colors or which colors to use you may end up using completely wrong colors.

Applying fancy effects: Equipped with many tools and no knowledge of application, presenters enthusiastically apply variety of effects to the slides. Sometimes fill effects that are used when file transcends are darker to lighter background, resulting into the text merging with the backdrop owing to the similarity of the brightness level.

Now that we have demarcated the issues while choosing the right font and backdrop, we know what to avoid. Let us now focus on the right method and applications that can further enhance our presentation. Selecting the right colors make for a successful and easy to read presentation.

Select extreme colors, you can either go in for darker colors or light shades, using mid-tones should be completely avoided. Once this is done and sorted out, everything else falls in place.

Once you have identified the background color, then the next step is to choose the font color. While doing this, keep a simple thing in mind, the presentation is for an audience so every effort and endeavors should be directed towards making it easy on eyes in terms of convenient to read from a distance too. You can use light colors on dark background or darker font on light background (black font against white). If you follow this basic rule and apply it to all your presentations you do not have to worry about other factors like intensity of the lighting in conference room and other stuff.

While reading, you will realize that the above mistakes and solutions are so simple to follow and understand. But at times we fail to keep in mind that what matters the most is the viewers and all we need to do is place ourselves in their shoes and accordingly plan the slides.

All it takes is few seconds to choose the right colors and your presentation looks far more visually appealing to one and all.

In a nutshell, it is for the speaker to decide whether to make the audience irritable with wrong color scheme or give a simple but effective presentation with a touch of sophistication!

Quote of the Day, “Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.” – William Penn

Presentation skills are one of the most imperative items for sales professionals. There are numerous opportunities in a day for sales people to present information articulately or sound incompetent. Because of the lack of sales training, selling professionals are calling prospective clients unprepared, avoiding useful questions and sounding naïve. The lack of proper presentation skills can possibly be what is affecting your performance, not the recession!

Vocabulary “Judge a book by its cover” is the cliché many sales people need to avoid. From the moment a sales professional arrives for an appointment prospective clients are judging. Speak and it gets even worse. Many selling professionals lack proper vocabulary to have an articulate conversation with sales leaders. They use too many words. Further, “street talk” might not always be appropriate.

I remember when I first entered the speaking business; many individuals stated they had a “gig” as if they were a nightclub act. Speaking is a professional business where there is a “presentation”, “workshop” or “keynote” based on client need. Refrain from street talk when speaking to clients and speak with language that exemplifies your professionalism I recall when I first moved to the state of Missouri, I met individuals that used the phrase, “Allasudden” as a melody. It took me months to determine what was said. Wouldn’t the word “suddenly” be a better substitute? Selling professionals are judged by how they articulate. Drop the numerous words, William Penn was correct. Use a thesaurus to find and express yourself intelligently good language never hurt anyone.

Preparation Arrive unprepared and the best decision would have been remaining in bed. On a recent radio interview with friend and colleague Patricia Fripp, she mentioned a sales manager replying to a proposal and spending inordinate amounts of money on a million dollar sale. When she asked the sales manager about rehearsing the presentation, the manager stated the team would lucky to practice in the car prior to the appointment.

I recall a very good book I use for acting entitled “Audition” by Michael Shurtleff that can assist selling professionals with presentation and preparation. Shurtleff talks of guideposts such as “The Moment Before” which helps selling professionals prepare to anticipate the selling scene. Selling professionals that are unprepared are always playing defense and losing sales.

Dress Code Anther vital element of the unprepared sales representative is dress code. In the late 1990′s Wall Street and subsequently Main Street adopted the ludicrous rule of casual days. Business suits, dresses, wingtips and pumps were castaways to polo shirts and khakis. What would your reaction be if your physician showed up for surgery in a running suit and sneakers or your attorney meeting you with blue jeans and T-shirt? Sales professionals must represent the organization and themselves. Sounding professional is one half of the equation, look the part the other. Clients judge from the outside. Look the part by dressing the part.

Selling is a profession and is not impromptu. Proper planning is a major portion of the sales process. Rather then spend time attempting to make more calls, or being negative about consumer buying patterns perhaps it is best to look in the mirror. Self-reflection and assessment is always a useful. After all, you cannot close business if there is no one to present to.

There are 7 techniques you can use daily to assist you preparation efforts. Get the 7 Secrets to Sales Preparation by emailing me today. Ask about our Free 30 Minutes “Sales Acceleration Coaching Clinic” to help you gain immediate sales result!

©2009. Drew J. Stevens Ph. D. All rights reserved.

Stage Fright is a common disease of our dynamic corporate world. Astonishingly, not many senior executives undergo a formal training in the art of public speaking or in making presentations. And only those senior executives who understand the importance of posture, pauses, blank spaces, facial expressions, flow and quality of words, variation of voice pitch and timings try to learn this art.

I take it as serious business.

After having attended a formal “Effective Speaking” training program in 1996 at the British Foreign Office training center in London, I was quite hopeful to develop my skills as an effective speaker and presenter. This three day program covered the above techniques in addition to a session on effective writing. I remember our facilitators kept repeating;

“There is only one tool that helps deliver good speeches or presentations – Practice, practice and more practice”.

In the past 15 years, I have delivered uncountable presentations and spoke at numerous public forums, conferences and seminars. And equipped with what I learnt at British Foreign Office Training, I also tried to analyze various fellow presenters.

My observations confirm that particularly case of senior executive that did not go through a purpose-designed program, there always are three common key missing links:

- Control on body movements
- Voice variation
- Expressions

In my opinion, one cannot doubt the knowledge and quality of contents of an expert speaker. However if the above ingredients are missing, it is highly likely that your audience will lose interest. I have also seen that extensive and complicated presentations also cause severe damage to presenter’s ability to engage audience. I have also observed that some presenters keep going in the flow of their thoughts, and in trying to impress their audience forget that a normal human has a short attention time span. In my opinion, if your listeners can not retain 25% of what you have said – “you have failed to deliver your message”.

Let’s discuss the common what can be done to avoid “Presentation Disasters”:

Understand your audience:

Highly important. One must not prepare a presentation without knowing the audience. Try to gauge the level of education, expertise, areas of interest, issues faced, and then only develop your presentation. This is the only way to keep your audience engaged throughout.

Write from your heart: Often I have seen people delivering presentations or speeches written by others. For trained and experienced presenters, this is okay, however if you have not contributed towards developing the presentation or speech, speaking from your heart will be too challenging, hence creating an impact too will not be possible.

Avoid reading from paper: I am not a fan of reading from a written paper. Fine to do it only in case of a specific government level speech or expressing point of view, but for any other presentation, if you read from a paper, you are inviting a reputational disaster!

Practice: Okay, here is the key – as I mentioned above, for making highly effective presentations, extensive practice is unavoidable. And when I talk about practice, I am not only suggesting “speaking practice” but also reviewing the flow and carefully thinking about expected questions and how to respond to these questions. Surprisingly, very few presenters follow this strict rule.

I have also seen presenters struggling with technical glitches, ask yourself:

How difficult to have an additional soft copy of your presentation and a printed version? How difficult it is to check the microphone volume? How difficult it is to control the lights at the stage to avoid blindness?

And the final word “Your audience do not know what you would tell them next, so if you have forgotten a point, keep moving on, they won’t notice it”.

If you follow these points, you will be repeatedly performing better.

Happy presenting!!