Rob Biesenbach 
Any time I join a meeting and see dull black text projected on a plain white background, a little piece of my soul dies. Word slides are the worst. Not only are they proven to be ineffective, but they imply that you may be out of touch and behind the times. Which is a terrible … Read more
Want to learn how to give a better presentation with an absolute minimum investment of time and money? Here are 100 quick tips in Twitter-sized chunks. They’re collected from my #100SpeakingTips project in which I tweeted a presentation tip a day for 100 (business) days. The final tweet posted yesterday and you can see them … Read more
Storytelling is about making hard choices, having the conviction to stand by those choices and respecting your audience’s intelligence. That’s a particularly tall order when you’re telling a story on behalf of a giant organization, where the approval process is fraught with perils, hurdles — and lawyers. So I was delighted to come across a stellar example … Read more
TED Talks have changed audience expectations for what a presentation should be. Or perhaps they’re merely a reflection of where audience tastes are going. Either way, there’s no doubt the trend is toward speeches and presentations that are shorter, driven by story and visually compelling. As a result, the bar for speakers has never been … Read more
We’re in the thick of Hollywood awards season, and with it come the acceptance speeches, which are sometimes inspiring, sometimes funny and sometimes downright pretentious. Which reminds me of a speech Madonna gave at the Golden Globes ceremony a few years ago that will forever live in my memory — all because of an ordinary, … Read more
It was two years ago this week that I brought 11 Deadly Presentation Sins into this world and, just like that, Death by PowerPoint has been eradicated from the world’s conference rooms and ballrooms. Not actually … which is bad news for business people, but good news for continued book sales and workshop bookings! 11 … Read more
Want to improve your presentation skills? For the next 100 days, I’ll be tweeting one tip a day designed to help anyone craft and deliver better presentations. Follow #100SpeakingTips on Twitter You can follow the hashtag #100SpeakingTips or check out my Twitter feed each morning for the next several months. Tips will include some of my … Read more
To butcher Tolstoy, all families are dysfunctional in their own way — especially around the holidays, when stress and expectations are sky high. Being a communicator by profession, I naturally believe most problems can be solved with communication (and that poor communication is the root of most problems). Not that I always practice what I preach — … Read more
Why do we continue to see so many dull, lifeless presentations? I’ve thought a lot about this problem, but the #1 reason is that speakers seem to think it’s enough just to inform an audience. But it is not. Audiences want to be entertained. Here We Are Now, Entertain Us Some may find that notion objectionable, … Read more
One of the most important factors in delivering a successful presentation is the ability to look and act naturally. If you’re stiff, uncomfortable and “not yourself,” that’s definitely going to negatively impact how your audience perceives you. There’s no magic formula that will instantly make you look and feel cool, calm and comfortable. But there are … Read more