From fairy tales to extreme makeovers, who doesn’t love a good before-and-after story? HGTV has built an empire around ’em (with good reason) and TLC offers a veritable pantheon of makeover shows about babies, weddings and beauty.
So Ruth and I thought it would be fun and, more importantly, helpful and enlightening, to feature a before-and-after story of our own.
Our client, Alaina Sheer (aka Ms. Single Mama) is a sought-after social media and search expert, and a veteran radio broadcaster. In spite of her stellar credentials, Alaina needed our help to learn how to involve, inspire and impact her audience.
In part one of our five-part series, “A presentation story,” we’ll show you how we upped Alaina’s ar.tic.u.la.tion quotient to help transform her from knowledgeable guest speaker to powerhouse presenter.
If you watch Alaina’s “before” presentation, you’ll see an enthusiastic presenter with a lovely voice who knows (and loves) her subject matter. She wins on knowledge and being conversational but, alas, that’s not enough.
Here are 8 common presentation mistakes found in Alaina’s “before,” including four on presentation content and four on presentation style:
CONTENT
1.No opening hook
2. Confusing message points
3. Hard-to-follow presentation flow
4. Lack of storytelling
STYLE
1.Closed body language
2.Nervous or anxious movements
3.Lack of eye contact
4.Inappropriate pacing
Stay in touch here as we chronicle Alaina’s transformation. From the early returns, it will be a big one.