confidence. Yesterday, I attended another presentation. Two gentlemen were pitching for our business.  They were from an agency. They were young and working for a very young organisation (hence hungry for business). After their short presentation, when the questioning started their confidence kept dropping. Sign #1 of falling confidence was 'lowering voice levels'. Sign #2 was 'not listening to what question is being asked'. They gave wrong answers to a lot of questions since they were not seeking clarification and not listening carefully. When you are selling, you have to have confidence. Whether you sell an idea to your boss or colleagues or actually pitch for a client's business, the audience will only buy if you are confident. Suggestion #1 Even when you feel under-confident, don't let it show. If you cannot answer a question, seek extra time and answer them later, maybe next day. But never ever, drop your volume. Speak loud and clear. Sugge...

Across 1. Printed slides (HANDOUTS) 3. Better than using ‘plain text’ (VISUAL) 7. What you feel before every major presentation (NERVOUS) 9. Hero of your presentation (AUDIENCE) 10. Experts ask us to say a _____ in our presentation. However, it is easier said than done. (STORY) Down 2. Move objects on your slides using ______ (ANIMATION) 4. The real secret to becoming a great presenter (PRACTICE) 5. This is KING in every presentation. This matters more than everything else. (CONTENT) 6. Your _______ charges your audience  (PASSION) 8. This will kill your audience (BULLETS) For 3 Across, VIDEOS will not be totally correct since videos are never compared to text. Most people use text and hence they are encouraged to move to VISUALS. To make the content more appealing and memorable.

Across 1. Printed slides 3. Better than using ‘plain text’ 7. What you feel before every major presentation 9. Hero of your presentation 10. Experts ask us to say a _____ in our presentation. However, it is easier said than done. Down 2. Move objects on your slides using ______ 4. The real secret to becoming a great presenter 5. This is KING in every presentation. This matters more than everything else. 6. Your _______ charges your audience  8. This will kill your audience I will post the answers after 2 days. You can leave your answers in the comments section or send in your answers by email to: vivek [at] all about presentations [dot] com . Have fun!

Why make slides which you will not present? Last week I attended a presentation. The presenter is organising an event in August and is looking for sponsors. His presentation had 14 slides. While presenting he just skipped the first few slides. Each of these slides had 7 bullet points and on each of this slide he said, "this is about the event" and moved on. I wonder, why do we waste time in showing slides which are not needed. Just delete the slide and save time. Our audience will think we are not serious when we begin presenting with a set of redundant slides.

If you need to relax before setting out to plan your presentation, listen to 'Ode to Joy' by Beethoven. It will surely calm your mind. I love it and you will too.