Video Archives - Denis Francois Gravel | PRESENTability https://presentability.com/type/video/ Continuously enhance individual & organization presentation ability. Thu, 05 Mar 2015 16:27:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 Office Sway: PowerPoint successor? https://presentability.com/office-sway-powerpoint-successor/ Thu, 09 Oct 2014 16:40:07 +0000 https://presentability.com/?p=3732 Microsoft is announcing a new application in the Office suite: Sway. "An entirely different way to express yourself and bring your ideas to life". Is this the end of PowerPoint?

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]]> Microsoft is announcing a new application in the Office suite: Sway. “An entirely different way to express yourself and bring your ideas to life”. Is this the end of PowerPoint?

A « Sway », that’s the name of the canvas created with the application, lives in the cloud and is easily shareable. It adapts itself to the different screen size: Web, tablet, smart phone.

Its intuitive interface and its automatic design is totally aligned with the need of our hyper connected world.

Is it an appropriate tool for a business presentation? Hard to say. Will it be possible to create or watch “Sway” offline? I haven’t read anything on that point.

Will Sway replace PowerPoint or will they both live side by side, each one addressing specific needs? We do not know yet.

Actually, Sway is on an invitation basis only. Will have a better opinion of the new application after having played with it for a couple of hours.

If it his as good as Microsoft says, it will be a success. With or without PowerPoint.

What’s your opinion?

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]]> Michael Bay after CES: Revenge of the Fallen https://presentability.com/michael-bay-after-ces-revenge-of-the-fallen/ Sun, 12 Jan 2014 15:39:44 +0000 https://presentability.com/?p=2315 Last week, Michael Bay, walked off stage at CES. What was the REAL cause of his meltdown and how he should bounce back from this.

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What was the REAL cause of Michael Bay meltdown on CES stage and how he should bounce back from this.

Last week, Michael Bay, movie director, walked on stage at CES. He was supposed to talk about the incredible new Samsumg TV. Instead, something went wrong with the prompter. He got lost. Totally lost. And left the stage after a few seconds.

What happened?

Like a plane accident, it’s usually a combination of different errors or bugs that cause this kind of catastrophe. Lack of preparation, wrong teleprompter manipulation, no backup solution, etc.

But the real, real, real reason behind this situation, is a decision made several days before. They decided to use a teleprompter!. Whoever take that decision is the first one that should be blamed.

 

The teleprompter is the problem

A presentation is a conversation between a speaker and a crowd. The use of a teleprompter restrains your communication ability. You are less natural. You’re not totally focus on the topic or the audience. You are concentrating too much on your reading.

Try to read a text to someone and have a discussion with that person at the same time. Very hard.

Also, people need lots and lots of practice before being able to sound natural while reading from a teleprompter. Even then, most of the time, we can feel the difference. Just listen to politicians and news readers.

Whoever believes that by using a teleprompter you make sure the speaker won’t go off track, think twice. The speaker WON’T be on track at all. To be on track, you need to focus on the people and connect with them.

 

How Michael Bay should bounce back

Mr Bay, has you said on a TV interview, you have done hundreds of talks before. Don’t let this one stop you. We all have bad experiences. We have to learn from them.

The lesson here:

no teleprompter.
Know you stuff inside out.
Rehearse a lot.
Be ready for surprises. Murphy’s always around the corner.
The show must go on. You can’t yell « cut! ».
Don’t let those beautiful images of Quebec City distract you again (more detail further in this post)

 

Conclusion

Unless being trained, don’t use a teleprompter. Natural is better. Nobody listens to boring presenters reading stuff.

Falling is human and it’s not a weakness. Raising back is what distinguishes the strong one!

 

On the lite side :

Thanks to Samsung for the beautiful images of my home town Quebec City that were displayed on the TV.

 

Those gorgeous images are from Dominique Boudreault.

 

Seeing those images on the Samsung TV, Quebec City Tourism Office jumped on board and invited Mr. Bay to a free trip in Quebec.

*Personnal message to Mr. Bay. If you accept the Tourism Office offer, I’ll be glad to throw in a couple of hours of coaching for you 🙂

 

Posted by Denis François Gravel

P.-S. I invite you to read Jezra Kaye’s analysis of Michael Bay speech: How to learn from Michael Bay’s Public Speaking Panic Attack

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]]> Vocal variety & storytelling at it’s best | Noah St. John at Snap Judgement https://presentability.com/vocal-variety-storytelling-best-noah-st-john-snap-judgement/ Sat, 14 Dec 2013 22:52:55 +0000 https://presentability.com/?p=2299 Noah St. John won the Snap Judgement performance of the year. In his presentation he mastered storytelling and vocal variety. Pure mastery.

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No surprise! Noah St. John won the Snap Judgement performance of the year. Watch his presentation and focus on the storytelling and the vocal variety. Pure mastery.

It’s a perfect example of how to use your voice. The rhythm, the pitch, everything changes to support the evolution of the story. 

Of course, this kind of performance is not suitable to every presentation situation, but we can learn from it and incorporate some variety in our own delivery.

Now, what are you going to do differently in your next presentation?

 

This presentation was recorded at Snap Judgement; a themed, weekly storytelling show.

Thanks to Emmanuel Ares for bringing this to my attention.

 

Posted by Denis François Gravel

 

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]]> 12-year-old Thomas Suarez gives us speaking lesson https://presentability.com/12-year-old-thomas-suarez-gives-us-speaking-lesson/ Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:05:29 +0000 https://presentability.com/?p=1866 Ever been impressed by the speaking ability of a kid? Then, watch this TED Talks video of Thomas Suarez, a 12 year old iPhone apps programer.

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]]> Picture of Thomas Suarez at TEDx

Ever been impressed by the speaking ability of a kid? Then, watch this TED Talks video of Thomas Suarez, a 12 year old iPhone apps programmer.

TEDxManhattanBeach, Filmed Oct 2011; Posted Nov 2011

via Thomas Suarez: A 12-year-old app developer | Video on TED.com.

 

Posted by Denis François Gravel

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]]> Presentation structure: Nancy Duarte’s talk at TEDx East https://presentability.com/presentation-structure-nancy-duartes-talk-at-tedx-east/ Thu, 10 Mar 2011 01:08:50 +0000 https://presentability.com/?p=1639 In this talk, Nancy Duarte explains how to structure your presentation for maximum impact.

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]]> In this talk, Nancy Duarte explains how to structure your presentation for maximum impact.

Nancy Duarte is one of the owners of Duarte, a leading presentation company. She’s also the author of two book every presenter should read: Slide:ology and Resonate

Nancy Duarte’s talk at TEDxEast

 

Posted by: Denis Francois Gravel

 

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