The Presentation Boss Podcast

Julian Mather, a world-class videographer and former army sniper, shares his journey from behind the camera to becoming a dynamic speaker. He reveals that the only camera he uses is a smartphone, revolutionizing business video creation. Mather emphasizes mastering communication skills in the AI era and provides practical tips for engaging video production. He also discusses the importance of self-reinvention and structured thinking in effective communication, showcasing how continuous learning fuels personal and professional growth.

Tina Fey, the award-winning comedian and beloved creator of classics like 30 Rock, takes center stage with her insightful breakdown of her acceptance speech for the Mark Twain Prize. The conversation dives into her masterful blend of humor and sincerity, illustrating how she gracefully addresses tension while honoring those who paved the way for her career. Hosts explore the art of relatable storytelling and audience engagement, making it clear that a great acceptance speech is as much about gratitude as it is about entertaining.

Let's talk about PowerPoint! It's episode nine of The Presentation Boss Podcast! Visual communication is an important consideration for any presentation. So naturally we've been drawn to this conversation (at times heated) about whether or not this headline about Jeff Bezos banning PowerPoint in Amazon Management meetings is admirable or a potential mistake. Having listened closely to many podcasts, read loads of articles and stayed across the arguments, thoughts and information we have our own belief about how PowerPoint should be used and not used in presentations. We even include a few tips and a bit of psychology that we know to be true too. What You'll Learn • Jeff Bezos has banned PowerPoint and what he expects to happen instead and why • Why stories and narrative work so strongly and how they can benefit presentations • Can PowerPoint be used to help tell a story? • The three pillars of rhetoric; what they are and why you must consider them • Bullet points don't work - but who out there disagrees and uses them anyway • The redundancy effect and how it can work against you, or work for you • What is the practical definition of 'death by PowerPoint' • The reason PowerPoint gets used poorly • Why banning PowerPoint verges on homogenisation of presentations and begins to remove expression of personality • The emotional impact of visual communication in presentations • Appealing to learning styles in meetings Resources and Links • Presentation Boss on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/presentationboss/ • Presentation Boss on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/presentation-boss • Kate on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-norris/ • Thomas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-krafft/ • The Presentation Boss Podcast: https://presentationboss.com.au/podcast/ • Email us! podcast@presentationboss.com.au Quotes From This Episode • "This is about understanding that you're communicating with humans, who have emotions" • "We are a visual creature and visuals are much more powerful than text or language alone" • "Storytelling is king.. and bullet points suck" • "PowerPoint doesn't suck, bad PowerPoint sucks!" • "You've still got the same driver behind the wheel, so the outcome is going to be the same" • "Don't ban the software, educate your people on how to use it better" • "A presentation without PowerPoint is oftentimes less tolerable than a presentation with PowerPoint" • "Making you stand out more and having a better delivered message could come from having a brilliant, well thought out, mindful PowerPoint that's just simply better than the standard PowerPoint" • "PowerPoint exists to do some of the work for you" • "As presenters we can say words, we need to show the audience what we can't say" • "There's a holistic view here on how do we best serve the team's learning styles"

Katrina Roberts, an experienced speech and drama teacher, shares her wisdom on presence, confidence, and charisma. She discusses the life-changing effects of effective communication skills in empowering students, making public speaking less daunting. Katrina emphasizes the importance of authentic presence to truly engage audiences, alongside the role of bodily awareness in enhancing charisma. Through personal stories, she reveals how overcoming performance anxiety can transform individuals into confident speakers, strengthening their connection with audiences.

Delve into the art of engaging presentations! Discover how Joe Smith’s unique use of a simple prop—paper towels—transforms a mundane topic into an insightful and interactive experience. Learn strategies for audience involvement and the power of non-verbal persuasion. Hear why statistics can be impactful and how humor enhances retention. This breakdown showcases the strength of demonstration techniques and leaves you rethinking your approach to public speaking.

Explore effective strategies to conquer the jitters before speaking in public! Learn how to transform nervous energy into excitement and master calming breathing techniques. Discover the power of small wins to build confidence over time. Hear insights about the psychological aspects of fear and how to prepare without overthinking. With actionable steps and relatable stories, you can embrace the stage like a pro!

Colin Williams, a multifaceted workplace trainer, writer, and performer, shares his journey from stand-up comedy to impactful public speaking. He discusses how humor and storytelling can captivate an audience and create a mental space for them to engage. Colin emphasizes the importance of being authentic and embracing one's unique voice, or 'blue note,' to stand out as a speaker. Listeners will appreciate his insights on purging audience preconceptions to enhance comprehension and his love for writing as a tool for storytelling.

It's episode four of The Presentation Boss Podcast! Your hosts Kate and Thomas are interested in the speaking groups available to the public. Some have strict entry requirements, some focus on business elements, others are for those wanting to tackle the fear of public speaking. So, they want to explore and discuss them over time. This week, Toastmasters International. Kate and Thomas have both been members of Toastmasters in Brisbane for about ten years each. And it was through Toastmasters that they met a couple of years ago. Between them they have been members of 9 different clubs, built 3 new clubs and each has held all club officer roles, been to the District level of speaking contests and been Division Directors. So, it is safe to say they know what they're talking about.. and are deep tragics of the organisation. But what does Toastmasters offer to the average member. What can you expect to get out of the organisation? Should you consider giving it a go? And what will you certainly not get from this speaking organisation? What You'll Learn • What is Toastmasters? • Who joins Toastmasters and what they are looking for • An insight on the education program of Toastmasters • What you can expect from membership • The speaking skills Toastmasters will teach you better than any other organisation • The limitation of what you'll learn at Toastmasters • Thomas' wingspan length • Exactly what happens at a meeting from week to week • How time and verbal feedback brings strength to meetings • How often and how much a member would speak in front of the club • Who provides the mentoring and expertise within each club • The experience in the wider organisation, outside of your local club • The big question; what it costs! Both in money and time Mentioned In The Show • Toastmasters International: https://www.toastmasters.org/ • Find a Toastmasters club near you: https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club Resources and Links • Presentation Boss on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/presentationboss/ • Presentation Boss on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/presentation-boss • Kate on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-norris/ • Thomas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-krafft/ • The Presentation Boss Podcast: https://presentationboss.com.au/podcast/ Quotes From This Episode • "We are both members, have been for ten years each.. and to be frank we probably have a lot of bias towards [Toastmasters]" • "[Toastmasters] will take you from someone who avoids, dislikes and maybe even hates speaking to someone who is comfortable speaking" • "[Toastmasters] will make you a good speaker" • "[Toastmasters] kills the terror associated with public speaking" • "People are there to non-judgementally watch, give you time to [practice] what you've gotta do, and they will give honest, helpful and positive feedback" • "That's a big pro of the organisation, there is such a mix of ideas and perspectives and interests that it can suit anyone" • "There is always something more"

It's episode three of The Presentation Boss Podcast! Your hosts Kate and Thomas are this week talking about how humour can benefit any presentation. They chat about the benefits of humour, how to find humour and how to add humour to your next presentation. We all like to be seen as humorous, funny or at least entertaining when we're presenting from stage. But it can be hard to find the entertainment value, especially in corporate presentations. So this episode aims to tackle those challenges and yes, there are some terrible jokes of our own thrown in too! Bonus! In the recording is Kate's 11 day old baby. There may or may not be small squeaks and soft murmurs from him in the background. What You'll Learn • Why you want to use humour in your presentations • How you can start using humour if you don't think you're particularly naturally funny • The reasons audiences will like you more if you use humour • Do informative presentations even need humour? • Shouldn't we be concerned that humour is exclusive to serious content? • What to be aware of with self-deprecating humour • The different types of humour and which to use with your audience • Who in the room you could poke friendly fun at • How to start adding humour when I don't think I have the funny skill • Leveraging existing humour for your own benefit • When in your presentation to add humour • A lesson in humour from Steve Irwin • How an engineer used humour to boost meeting attendance • How to emulate others in the creative process Mentioned In The Show • Dr. Jamie Seymour talks about Steve Irwin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twyoQ8LWatU • Andrew Tarvin TEDx Talk 'The Skill of Humor': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdZAMSyn_As Resources and Links • Presentation Boss on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/presentationboss/ • Presentation Boss on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/presentation-boss • Kate on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-norris/ • Thomas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-krafft/ • The Presentation Boss Podcast: https://presentationboss.com.au/podcast/ Quotes From This Episode • "There is nothing we don't enjoy more, when it is more entertaining" • "The more your audience likes you, the more effective you're going to be in communicating your message to them" • "When you're speaking, you have an opportunity and an obligation to try to entertain" • "Whenever you're making [self-deprecating] humour, make it about yourself, but not about your expertise in the field on which you're talking at the moment" • "Stay in your lane" • "It got people's attention, you've now got people listening for the next silly thing he might say" • "There's a lot of scope, no matter what industry you're in, to use a bit of humour" • "There's certainly no rule that you need to write all of your own jokes or humour or anecdotes" • "Get going, then get good"

Boom! Episode two of The Presentation Boss Podcast! Your hosts Kate and Thomas are experienced not only as speakers, but also as presentation coaches. They love finding the strengths and weaknesses in a presentation and explaining why they work or need to be considered. And so, we will feature on this podcast break downs of existing talks. To begin with we're going with a talk Thomas loves from Canadian astronaut and past Commander of the International Space Station, retired Colonel Chris Hadfield and his 2014 TED Talk 'What I Learned From Going Blind in Space'. What You'll Learn • A great way to continually improve your speaking skills • One way of beginning your speech with intrigue • Telling a long story with careful selection of details to include • A little bit of what it's like to go to space • How to use your voice to build pace and momentum in a story • Letting pause relieve the audience after a moment of tension • How revealing your emotions can be more effective than trying to describe a situation • How the use of first or second person language influences a story • Whether or not you should walk into a spiderweb in Australia • An example of an anchor to communicate a foreign concept to your audience • How careless use of language idioms can cause confusion • The way specificity can boost humour • Using selective colloquial language to make your speech more accessible and relateable • Brilliant and not-so-brilliant examples of use of video visuals • Serving the audience for their satisfaction Mentioned In The Show • Chris Hadfield | What I Learned From Going Blind in Space: https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_hadfield_what_i_learned_from_going_blind_in_space Resources and Links • Presentation Boss on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/presentationboss/ • Presentation Boss on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/presentation-boss • Kate on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-norris/ • Thomas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-krafft/ • The Presentation Boss Podcast: https://presentationboss.com.au/podcast/ Quotes From This Episode • "We believe if you want to improve you speaking, a great way is to watch plenty of other speeches, and to think about what does and doesn't work" • "He's put in just enough detail that we can follow along with whats happening but not too much that it's boring, unnecessary or tedious" • "..Then he talks about something which is relatable to all of us here on earth, which is a fear of .. spiders. This actually sets a little anchor around that idea of practicing something until it becomes not scary" • "It's a bit of a joke that plays on the ridiculousness of the situation" • "I love what he does with his voice here" • "Quite nice that he appreciates the appreciation of the audience"