Shoot Like a Communicator
29/08/10 14:51 Filed in: Presentations
How
often do you wander around with a camera
slung over your shoulder or tucked into a
hip pocket? Most likely that’s something
you do on vacation. And whether you return
home with shots of the kids at Disneyworld,
or your tour group standing in front of the
Leaning Tower of Pisa, chances are most of
those photos sit on your computer or
disappear into an album to be looked at
again someday. Yet, with a bit of thought
and planning, your best work could see the
light (terrible pun) in your presentations.
Today, importing digital photographs to slides is a snap (another terrible pun, sorry). And there are good reasons to do it. Photographs can set a mood, tell a story, make an abstract concept concrete, elicit an emotional response or spark imagination. Research also indicates that people remember information better and longer when they receive it from images rather than text.
Here’s the simple key to success: be purposeful about capturing images to use on your slides. So, next time you’re looking through a viewfinder, keep these tips in mind.
Some of the souvenir photos I’ve used in my presentations
A close-up shot of message tiles stacked up at a Buddhist temple near Sokcho, South Korea.
This shot provides some comic relief when I talk about choosing the right text size.
Lots of sky makes this shot perfect for use as a title or bullet slide background.
Wendy Cherwinski
words@echeloncomm.ca
Today, importing digital photographs to slides is a snap (another terrible pun, sorry). And there are good reasons to do it. Photographs can set a mood, tell a story, make an abstract concept concrete, elicit an emotional response or spark imagination. Research also indicates that people remember information better and longer when they receive it from images rather than text.
Here’s the simple key to success: be purposeful about capturing images to use on your slides. So, next time you’re looking through a viewfinder, keep these tips in mind.
- Take background shots - Grab a few shots that are mostly sky with the scene or activity in a narrow band along the bottom. These shots are great for title or bullet slides. To learn more about this technique read Life Imitates Art, posted elsewhere on this blog.
- Think like a videographer - To tell a story movie makers shoot a wide variety of shots: establishing shots, close ups, cutaways etc. So, do more than take a wide shot of the scene. Focus on the details. For example: while visiting a Buddhist temple in Korea, I snapped a close-up shot of stacks of message tiles left by other visitors. I’ve used it several times to make different points in presentations.
- Think like a communicator - Don’t just take glamour shots. Think about the three Cs that form the foundation of a presentation: Connect, Convince, Conclude. Then take a few minutes to look around the scene. Do you see anything that could help you communicate those ideas? If so, aim and fire away.
Some of the souvenir photos I’ve used in my presentations
A close-up shot of message tiles stacked up at a Buddhist temple near Sokcho, South Korea.
This shot provides some comic relief when I talk about choosing the right text size.
Lots of sky makes this shot perfect for use as a title or bullet slide background.
Wendy Cherwinski
words@echeloncomm.ca
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Taking care of the ‘risky’ Business of humour
06/07/10 18:18 Filed in: Speeches
Adding
humour to speeches and presentations is
risky business. The speaker can fluff it.
The audience can find it unamusing,
confusing, or even worse — offensive.
Whatever the negative outcome, poorly
chosen or delivered humour can end up
clouding the speaker’s message.
Fortunately, the opposite scenario is also highly possible. A little humour can warm up the atmosphere, make the speaker appear friendly and help listeners remember key points.
The secret of success lies in carefully choosing humour that will entertain the audience while keeping the speaker safe.
A good way to do that is to favour the kind of humour listeners like. As a rule people respond well to self deprecating humour. If the speaker can laugh at himself, he must be a good egg: or, at least that seems to be the reasoning. General Rick Hillier, Canada’s former Chief of the Defence Staff, likes to joke about growing up with five sisters. He claims he joined the army in self-defence.
Another way to keep things safe is to stick to humour that’s meant to draw a grin or a giggle rather than a belly laugh. The late John Cantu, a one-time comedy club owner, told speechwriters at the Ragan Speechwriters Conference in Washington a few years back to “aim for chuckles”. Comedians cycle hundreds of jokes through their routines in the quest for big laughs, he explained. And of course stand up comics are also trained performers. If your speaker’s idea of preparation is to read through the speech once or twice before an event, you might want to aim for the low end of the laughometer.
A third way to help your speaker in the humour department is to borrow it from others. For example: riff off a late night host: “The other night I heard Jay Leno say…”; describe a popular cartoon “Dilbert asked an interesting question the other day:…” or include a funny quote or wisdom from a bumper sticker. Just keep it short and sweet.
And one more bit of advice: Whenever possible relate the humour to an important point the speaker wants the audience to take away. Humour, like storytelling, is a great tool for reinforcing important points in the minds of listeners.
Think twice about including a joke
As for jokes, many speechwriters say avoid them. There is just too much danger in a flubbed delivery or a tepid response from listeners. Another danger with telling a joke is the audience may have heard it before.
But what if a joke perfectly encapsulates the speaker’s point? OK. There are times when telling a joke in a speech does work. If you decide to put one in, you can always acknowledge the fact that some people may be familiar with the joke by writing a preface along the lines of: “You may have heard the joke that goes something like this…”
Keep in mind that the longer the joke the funnier the pay off has to be to satisfy listeners. And today’s audiences are not known for their long attention spans. As a rule of thumb, corporate speechwriter Fletcher Deans says avoid jokes that take longer than a minute to get to the punch line.
Create your own humour
Look at the news if you want to find fodder for jokes says comedy writer Jon Macks. Macks, who is also a speechwriter, says ask yourself: “What’s stupid about this situation?” Once you identify the absurdity, see if you can use it in a sentence that begins with a phrase such as “It’s so hot that…” or “Taxes are so high that…”
Put humour to the test
When choosing humour for a speech test it. Only include it in the speech if you can answer ‘yes’ to the following three questions:
Wendy Cherwinski
words@echeloncomm.ca
Fortunately, the opposite scenario is also highly possible. A little humour can warm up the atmosphere, make the speaker appear friendly and help listeners remember key points.
The secret of success lies in carefully choosing humour that will entertain the audience while keeping the speaker safe.
A good way to do that is to favour the kind of humour listeners like. As a rule people respond well to self deprecating humour. If the speaker can laugh at himself, he must be a good egg: or, at least that seems to be the reasoning. General Rick Hillier, Canada’s former Chief of the Defence Staff, likes to joke about growing up with five sisters. He claims he joined the army in self-defence.
Another way to keep things safe is to stick to humour that’s meant to draw a grin or a giggle rather than a belly laugh. The late John Cantu, a one-time comedy club owner, told speechwriters at the Ragan Speechwriters Conference in Washington a few years back to “aim for chuckles”. Comedians cycle hundreds of jokes through their routines in the quest for big laughs, he explained. And of course stand up comics are also trained performers. If your speaker’s idea of preparation is to read through the speech once or twice before an event, you might want to aim for the low end of the laughometer.
A third way to help your speaker in the humour department is to borrow it from others. For example: riff off a late night host: “The other night I heard Jay Leno say…”; describe a popular cartoon “Dilbert asked an interesting question the other day:…” or include a funny quote or wisdom from a bumper sticker. Just keep it short and sweet.
And one more bit of advice: Whenever possible relate the humour to an important point the speaker wants the audience to take away. Humour, like storytelling, is a great tool for reinforcing important points in the minds of listeners.
Think twice about including a joke
As for jokes, many speechwriters say avoid them. There is just too much danger in a flubbed delivery or a tepid response from listeners. Another danger with telling a joke is the audience may have heard it before.
But what if a joke perfectly encapsulates the speaker’s point? OK. There are times when telling a joke in a speech does work. If you decide to put one in, you can always acknowledge the fact that some people may be familiar with the joke by writing a preface along the lines of: “You may have heard the joke that goes something like this…”
Keep in mind that the longer the joke the funnier the pay off has to be to satisfy listeners. And today’s audiences are not known for their long attention spans. As a rule of thumb, corporate speechwriter Fletcher Deans says avoid jokes that take longer than a minute to get to the punch line.
Create your own humour
Look at the news if you want to find fodder for jokes says comedy writer Jon Macks. Macks, who is also a speechwriter, says ask yourself: “What’s stupid about this situation?” Once you identify the absurdity, see if you can use it in a sentence that begins with a phrase such as “It’s so hot that…” or “Taxes are so high that…”
Put humour to the test
When choosing humour for a speech test it. Only include it in the speech if you can answer ‘yes’ to the following three questions:
- Does it suit the speaker? - Will the speaker seem natural as he or she delivers the lines?
- Does it suit the topic? - Is the link between the subject and the humour obvious and appropriate?
- Does it suit the audience? - Will the humour resonate with the people in the room?
Wendy Cherwinski
words@echeloncomm.ca