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Data Visualization

My buddy Laura Fitton pointed me to a terrific explanation of visualization techniques. The article is called “Data Visualization: Modern Approaches,” and it’s in Smashing Magazine. The techniques and uses examined are mindmaps, displaying news, displaying data, displaying connections, displaying websites, articles & resources, and tools & services. This picture is an example from Time [...]

By |2016-10-24T14:19:03-07:00August 28th, 2007|Categories: Cool Stuff, Pitching and Presenting|Tags: |0 Comments

How to Talk to the Press

Here’s a video featuring editors and reporters from the Wall Street Journal, Wired, TechCrunch, Seattle Times, and Seattle Post Intelligence discussing how entrepreneurs should pitch the press. You can also read the wrap up if you’re too busy to watch the video. Also, here's a video featuring only Michael Arrington from November, 2006. The short [...]

By |2016-10-24T14:19:33-07:00August 6th, 2007|Categories: Marketing and Sales, Pitching and Presenting|Tags: |0 Comments

The Nine Best Story Lines for Marketing

Lois Kelly is the author of Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing. This is her explanation of the top nine types of stories that people like to talk about. If you’re pitching your company to investors, customers, partners, journalists, vendors, or employees and you don’t use at least one of these story lines, [...]

Bite Your Tongue: Eight More Ways To Improve Your Presentations

There was such a positive response to the speaking tips of Doug Lawrence (email) that I asked him for more stuff. Taking a cue from the fact that “Bite your tongue” was the most popular tip, here are more: Warm-up with a towel. Singers often have to get their chops “up” in their hotel rooms [...]

By |2015-10-29T07:55:21-07:00June 19th, 2007|Categories: Pitching and Presenting|Tags: , |0 Comments

Speaking as a Performing Art

My buddy Doug Lawrence has been a professional singer, music director, and speech coach. He is a highly respected concert artist having sung for almost forty years in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, and throughout Europe with conductors like Leonard Bernstein and Michael Tilson-Thomas. In the last forty years, in addition to singing, [...]

By |2016-10-24T14:20:19-07:00June 12th, 2007|Categories: Pitching and Presenting|Tags: |0 Comments

Make a List and Check It Twice: A Real-World Guide for Speakers and Presenters

Pam Slim provides a great list of things to do prior to making a presentation. If you make speeches, presentations, or pitches, you need to read this. Here’s one more power tip: Show up with your own Countryman E6i microphone. (And tell your host that you need a Shure or Sennheiser body pack.) This has [...]

By |2016-10-24T14:21:03-07:00May 10th, 2007|Categories: Pitching and Presenting|Tags: |0 Comments

World’s Best Presentation Contest Winners Announced

Slideshare.net announced the winners of the World's Best Presentation Contest today: Winners (chose by judges) ShiftHappens by Jbrenman Meet Henry by Chereemoore Sustainable Food Lab by Chrislandry People’s Choice Winners PaniPuri--An Introduction by Thakkar ShiftHappens by Jbrenman Meet Henry by Chereeemoore The commonality you’ll see in these winners is big fonts, big graphics, and a [...]

By |2016-10-24T14:21:10-07:00May 7th, 2007|Categories: Pitching and Presenting|0 Comments

How to Get the Attention of a Venture Capitalist

At the Elite Retreat I gave an off-the-cuff answer to a question concerning getting the attention of venture capitalists. My buddy Wendy Piersall blogged about my answer, and it was a very popular. However, to truly help entrepreneurs, I’d like to provide a cogent list of the tips to get the attention of a venture [...]

By |2016-10-24T14:21:32-07:00April 5th, 2007|Categories: Pitching and Presenting|Tags: |0 Comments

The World’s Best Presentation Contest

SlideShare.net, a site for sharing PowerPoint presentations, today announced The World’s Best Presentation Contest. The judges are a “who’s who” of presentation gurus: Bert Decker, Garr Reynolds, Jerry Weissman, and me. Contestants upload their presentation files to Slideshare.net, and people from anywhere can rate the entries. Their votes will determine the “People’s Choice” winner. The [...]

By |2016-10-24T14:21:47-07:00March 20th, 2007|Categories: Pitching and Presenting|0 Comments

The Gift of Work

I heard a sermon this morning called “Jesus & Your Job” by Nancy Ortberg of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. This is a wonderful example of a powerful message delivered in a powerful way. It contains an excellent description of what makes good leaders and how to derive the maximum value from one’s work. I doubt [...]

By |2015-03-17T09:40:49-07:00March 4th, 2007|Categories: Management, Pitching and Presenting|0 Comments

Frame or Be Framed

George Lakoff is a professor at U.C. Berkeley Linguistics Department. He’s written a book called Don’t Think of an Elephant His message in this interview concerns how Republicans appear to be good “framers” and Democrats are lousy ones. Here are two questions from the interview: Question: How does language influence the terms of political debate? [...]

By |2016-10-24T14:22:23-07:00February 14th, 2007|Categories: Marketing and Sales, Pitching and Presenting|0 Comments

The Art of Visualization

Check out this excellent compilation of visualization methods called “A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods.” This came to my attention via a convoluted path from BoingBoing (who thanks Mike Love) to Seth Godin to Acorn Creative. Ralph Lengler and Martin J. Eppler created it. You might also enjoy reading their paper, entitled “Towards a Periodic [...]

By |2016-10-24T14:22:52-07:00January 10th, 2007|Categories: Pitching and Presenting|40 Comments

“The Top Ten Best (and Worst) Communicators of 2006”

Communications coach Bert Decker just named the ten best and worst communicators of 2006. To whet your appetite, here is the ten worst list: Nancy Grace Barry Bonds Mel Gibson Ray Tillerson Lindsay, Paris, Britney, and Nicole Senator George Allen OJ Simpson Shaquille O’Neal Rosie, Katie, and Meredith George Bush Check out his ten best [...]

By |2015-03-17T09:41:41-07:00December 30th, 2006|Categories: Pitching and Presenting|Tags: |0 Comments

The Entrepreneur’s New Year’s Resolution: “I Will Fix My Pitch”

Here’s a New Year’s resolution for entrepreneurs: ”I will fix my pitch.“ And here’s a suggestion on how to do this written by Bill Reichert, my colleague at Garage Technology Ventures. Endless articles, books, and blogs have been written on the topic of business plan presentations and pitching to investors. In spite of this wealth [...]

By |2016-10-24T14:23:11-07:00December 29th, 2006|Categories: Entrepreneurship, Pitching and Presenting|Tags: , |0 Comments

The Art of Panels

Scott Kirsner wrote a great article called “12 Guidelines for Great Panels.” Check it out here. If you read "How to Be a Great Moderator" and "How to Kick Butt on a Panel," you’d have panels down to a science. I have an additional insight regarding panels. Most panels have audiences of 100 to 250 [...]

By |2015-03-17T09:51:38-07:00November 20th, 2006|Categories: Pitching and Presenting|0 Comments
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