sacha chua living an awesome life

We need better web presentations. There are so many opportunities out there. I think I can help more people learn how to speak, and I can help people learn how to speak better.

If I were to coach someone on how to give a better remote presentation, what could I help them with?

• Finding something to talk about: testing your ideas through blogs, shared presentations, and webinars
• Refining your message: figure out the next steps, the key message, and any supporting points
• Supporting your story: planning how your slides will support your talk, and revising them to be more engaging
• Pitching your talk: tweaking your title, abstract, bio, and picture; finding venues
• Planning for interaction: how to make the most of webinar tools, how to engage the audience
• Technical setup: familiarizing yourself with the system, getting your webcam going, cleaning up your background and lighting; testing everything beforehand
• From presentations to conversations: getting used to the back-and-forth of backchannels, working with a host/moderator
• Dealing with Murphy: What to do when things go wrong
• Asking for feedback: Running surveys and learning from them
• Reaping the rewards: Capturing assets, scaling up through sharing

In addition, I can help give feedback on their presentation content and delivery. Personally, I prefer focusing on content and organization rather than just ums and ahs, so you’ll get more substantive editing from me than surface editing.

Hmm. I think that might be interesting to explore. I’d learn a lot, other people would learn a lot, and I’d write up and share that with even more people. It might be some time away, or it might be an extracurricular thing if I can clear it with IBM, or plans might change. =) I’ll probably start with just one student first.

Would you like to hear from me if I do set up something like that? What would you like to see in it? Leave a comment or contact me and tell me what you think!

We facilitated “Remote Presentations That Rock” for the second women’s leadership group a few weeks ago. After watching the video, one of the participants (Ruhuni) said that the tips sounded very familiar. She asked us if our executive sponsor (Sharon) had been in the previous session. Ruhuni said that she had been working on a presentation for a number of weeks. Then Sharon came in with a bunch of fresh ideas and tips for making the presentation even better. Ruhuni recognized the tips in the video, which made her laugh.

That’s when you know a training program works. People not only implement the ideas, they tell other people about them!

We’re developing a series of virtual leadership sessions. Remote Presentations That Rock is the first. The next sessions will cover facilitating remote meetings, collaborating across cultures, and working with virtual teams. Please feel free to reuse the material and organize your own groups! I’d be happy to answer questions through blog comments, conference calls, e-mail, and so on.