Selling Archives - Improve Your Public Speaking Presentation and Influence Skills Training Coaching Melbourne Australia

14FebFebruary 14, 2021

Powerfully Persuasive Word According to Research

Today I'd like to give you a powerfully persuasive word which can help when your goal is to influence somebody. We all know that words influence us. There's plenty of research showing that our minds are easily 'primed' to move in a negative or positive direction. Even briefly seeing words about power - or lack of it - make a measurable difference in our minds and emotions. Words can be powerfully persuasive - even when they seem innocuous or gentle. So we can use this to our advantage. Here’s one to try when wanting to persuade someone, particularly if they’re resistant to...

By Sarah Denholmcontent, Persuasion, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, Selling0 CommentsRead more...

13JunJune 13, 2019

Are Stories in Presentations Always Persuasive?

Using stories in presentations In today's video, I briefly discuss using stories in presentations to be more persuasive. The idea of using a story to help get your audience across the 'persuasion and influence' line is very common. Whether we're aiming to change people's mood, change their mind or get them to take real action. And when I talk about a story, I don't mean a cosy, fluffy tale, like someone reading to us in primary school or before we go to sleep! I simply mean using what I call 'humanity' to balance out facts, data, statistics. Most great presentations have...

By Sarah DenholmAudience Management, business meetings, content, Persuasion, Selling, StructureChip and Dan Heath, Influence and Persuade your Audience, Made to Stick, persuasion techniques, stories in business presentations1 CommentRead more...

09MayMay 9, 2019

To Be More Persuasive, Think About Power

Persuasion is a crucial part of our everyday communication, whether at work or socially. And have you ever considered that to be more persuasive, you need to think about power dynamics? How does feeling powerful play out, both for speaker and audience? To Persuade, Think about Power To uncover more about this, let's look at persuasion and power and how these interact with another key factor in our communication style: warmth and competence. Psychologists consider warmth and competence to be universal principles. In social perception terms, they're key ways we evaluate people, particularly when we first meet them. So how does considering power...

By Sarah Denholmcontent, Delivery, Persuasion, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, SellingKellogg School of Management Northwestern, persuasion, power, warmth and competence1 CommentRead more...

28MarMarch 28, 2019

Presentation Content Mistakes: Too Much Information

One of the most common presentation content mistakes I see is to give too much information. Depending on your perspective you might also call it too much value! It's very easy - even for experienced speakers - to equate information with value. And we can do this in every day interactions and meetings too – this sometimes urgent need we have, to show or share what we know. When we'd be better to step back and shut up! To allow space for the information to breathe and be absorbed...and maybe to let other people's voices be heard instead of ours. A...

By Sarah Denholmbusiness meetings, content, Delivery, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, Sellingaudience overwhelm, audience recall in public speaking, common presentation content mistakes, content overload, good presentations, good public speaking, persuasion techniques, rule of three points1 CommentRead more...

07MarMarch 7, 2019

5 Ways To Ask Questions That Your Audience Responds To

Do you give presentations, and worry about how to ask questions that your audience responds to? Have you ever sweated through silence, while a lot of faces stared blankly at you? It's probably happened at some point - it certainly has to me! Here are 5 ways to ask questions that your audience responds to: The opening of your talk I often encourage my clients to ask a question in their opening few sentences – because it is a good engagement technique. Some people nowadays say that it's cliched, but it's a cliche for a reason. So long as it's a...

By Sarah Denholmcontent, Delivery, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, Rehearsal, SellingAsking good questions in your presentation, dealing with silent audience during questions, Directing audience, introverts and asking questions during presentations, using rhetorical questions as a speaker0 CommentsRead more...

11JanJanuary 11, 2018

Persuading Through Data And Stories – What We Can Learn From Nonprofits

Persuading Through Data And Stories Updated 2019 When your goal is to persuade your audience about an idea or argument, how much do you use stories? And by story, I just mean a human example - nothing long or elaborate needed. You've probably heard about storytelling in presentations, and there are many different resources to help you use them effectively. Persuading Through Data and Stories But in my work with clients I still often see reluctance to go beyond the data - and don't get me wrong: facts, logic, data, they're all crucial. But...numbers don't engage your audience unless they understand where the numbers...

By Sarah Denholmcontent, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, SellingAndy Goodman, attaching facts to emotion, Chip and Dan Heath, Contributions Magazine, data and stories for engagement and retention, identified individual victim, Made to Stick, nonprofits use of storytelling, Paul Slovic, storytelling in presentations0 CommentsRead more...

03OctOctober 3, 2014

Two Great Ways to Open your Talk, Especially if you’re Nervous

Make your Audience Think to Focus and Engage Them The opening of your presentation is often the part where you're most nervous or self-conscious. You're faced with pairs of eyes looking at you, the audience feels like it's one big stare, and you're not enjoying the sudden attention. What can you do to take some of the unwanted focus off yourself, and create an engaging, effective start to your speech? Here are two ways which really work: Make a statement Ask a question Keep reading, because I probably haven't convinced you that these ideas are all that startling or great just yet! I'll explain why...

By Sarah DenholmAudience Management, content, Mindset, Overcoming Nerves, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, Selling, Structureaudience focus, engaging presentation, engaging speech openings, opening of talk, opening your speech, using questions during presentation1 CommentRead more...

24JanJanuary 24, 2014

Easy Persuasion Technique to Try

Want to increase your persuasiveness? A recent large review* of 42 studies involving 22,000 people worldwide showed that when you use the technique I'm about to give you, it doubles the chances of someone saying yes to your request. I thought it could be highly applicable to some public speaking scenarios. The easy persuasion technique is: telling your listener that they're free to choose: they can accept or refuse your request or idea. It's known as BYAF - But You Are Free. Easy persuasion technique Why do you reckon this works? I think this succeeds in persuading others because when you say it,...

By Sarah Denholmbusiness meetings, content, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, SellingBYAF, Christopher Carpenter, persuasion0 CommentsRead more...

02MarMarch 2, 2012

Want Greater Charisma When You Speak? Have Certainty

When we speak in front of others, our goal is usually to get them to take action or think differently. We're offering them something - ourselves and our message; an actual product or service. The audience will take their cue from us, and we need to be certain and congruent in our words, our body language and our energy to convince them. And the more we can do this, the more charismatic we'll be. Today we're going to look at using words to be more charismatic: if you're uncertain about your message, or lack confidence, you'll retreat to the perceived safety of...

By Sarah Denholmcontent, Delivery, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, Rehearsal, Sellingengaging with audience, speak with certainty, speaking charisma2 CommentsRead more...

04JulJuly 4, 2011

Pitching your Idea: Clarity and Inspiration from Starbucks CEO

How's this for clarity of words and vision when doing a sales pitch? When CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz was pitching to investors in the late 80's the idea of setting up coffee shops in the U.S. he didn't focus on the coffee. He said this instead: "we're going to build a 3rd place between work and home." Now that's an inspiring, big-picture concept. If you pitch ideas or products for a living, can you come up with your own big-picture concept that gets you inspired? Because if you're not excited, it's hard for your prospects to get revved up about...

By Sarah Denholmcontent, Public Speaking and Presentation Skills Blog, Sellingbig-picture pitch, CEO Starbucks, Howard Schultz, sales pitch, speaking for sales0 CommentsRead more...