Audience response is used to create interactivity between a presenter and an audience. Systems for co-located audiences combine wireless hardware with presentation software, and systems for remote audiences may use the telephone or web polls for audiences watching through television or the Internet. Is this type of system right for your next meeting or event? Here is a short guide to the benefits and uses of audience response systems.

First of all, the benefits. One of the most important advantages for the presenter is that ARS gives worthwhile feedback. The data collected by ARS helps organizations make strategic decisions by assessing the opinions and attitudes of their target audience while also gauging their understanding.

Other benefits include improved audience attentiveness, increased knowledge retention, anonymous polling, individual response tracking, immediate poll results, an interactive and fun learning environment, immediate confirmation of audience understanding of key points, and data gathering for reporting and analysis.

What situations can ARS be used in? When it comes to the corporate arena, there are many possibilities. Here are just a few:

1. Gathering opinion. In order to succeed, organizations must know what motivates their clients, attracts new customers, and concerns their employees. ARS makes getting that information easy and quick. Participants in meetings or focus groups anonymously respond to multiple choice questions using small wireless keypads. The answers to these questions give you instant access to the opinions and understanding of your audience.

Information can be gathered in the following contexts:

- sales meetings
- training seminars
- customer/employee surveys
- focus groups
- recruiting forums
- government hearings

2. Interactive entertainment. Combining audience response keypads with game shows, movie clips, music and other entertaining methods increases group interaction and involvement. Create a little competition by displaying a scoreboard; group members feel more part of the team and get to learn about each other and the company in the process.

Entertainment ARS can include the following components:

- host
- television game shows
- company trivia
- video games
- karaoke
- impersonations
- improv
- ventriloquism

3. Moment to moment polling. This is the best method to finding out how your audience feels about a presentation at a specific point. Group members respond in real time to live or recorded presentations, allowing a graphical point-in-time view of responses to speeches, demonstrations, advertisements, and so on.

Moment to moment polling is useful in

- product evaluations
- presenter (speaker) evaluations
- focus groups
- market research

4. Interactive white boards. A final interactive experience for your audience combines the usefulness of a white board with the power of a computer. You can write directly on the board with digital ink, use the computer, or opt for touch-sensitive displays. When your image is displayed on the IWB, you have complete control over any application you run.

Interactive white boards are most useful in these contexts:

- corporate retreats
- strategic planning meetings
- brainstorming sessions
- classroom instruction
- convention breakout sessions
- sports footage analysis

Pulse Interactive Media (http://www.pulseim.com) is your best source to rent or purchase audience response systems for your next corporate meeting or convention. Get the audience involved and entertained. Art Gib is a freelance writer.

[tags]audience response systems[/tags]

Death by PowerPoint is an all too common fate for many presenters. PowerPoint is a resource used to support and enhance presentation skills; not something to hide behind if you are nervous. Presentations should always have a human face; there should always be something in the presentation that cannot be gained by simply giving the audience something to read. You need your Powerpoint presentation to support what you’re saying and engage your audience, not send them to sleep!

The age old cliche is people buy from people, however in reality people buy from people with presentation skills. Whether the setting is an internal presentation or a sales presentation with a client, the way in which you present the information is crucial to its success. This may seem like a glaringly obvious observation, but too much information can kill a presentation.

Although your PowerPoint presentation can be used as a useful memory jogger, it should not be a substitute for preparation and practice. If you just dump all your own notes onto slides, you risk making your presentation dull, unclear and confusing. Be selective about the information you include on the slides. Too much information can make it stagnated and hard to digest. You should try limiting the text on each page of a PowerPoint presentation to 6 words to a line and 6 lines to a page.

Presentation skills are based on selecting what information to communicate at which point and doing it in the most engaging way possible. If you try and communicate large chunks of information through a PowerPoint page, you will more than likely lose your audience’s focus. Save the in-depth information for the leave-behind handout and streamline your presentation.

Also avoid putting the exact words you want to say on the slides and just reading them. Evidence suggests that your audience won’t retain or digest information that way. Your slides should support and elaborate on what you’re saying, rather than just repeating it. So you might use an image, a graph or some key words to illustrate the point you’re making, rather than writing out your full sentences.

Presentation skills like PowerPoint design are important, but aesthetics are second to content; content is king. If you feel that including animated point entries or sound effects will enhance a section then include them, but make sure that they are consistent ,not too garish and limited. All the fireworks and rotating titles in the world will not cover up a presenter lacking presentation skills and can just appear amateur.

Charts, graphs and videos are an excellent resource to integrate into your presentation, but ensure they are relevant. It is also a good idea to double check all the links to videos before the presentation, as these can sometimes freeze and cause an awkward moment. Entering information in different formats can break up the presentation and enhance your presentation skills.

Be careful when selecting the size and style or your font. Sans serif fonts tend to be clearest and point size 24 to 28 is about right for legibility. Keep the same font for the entire document and only emphasise words that really require it to maintain their impact.

Dominic Donaldson is leading consultant in presentation skills and communication skills training, delivering courses worldwide.

[tags]presentation skills, presentation skills training, PowerPoint presentation, death by PowerPoint,[/tags]

Having knocking knees and butterflies is a common symptom for those individuals that have a fear of public speaking. You will have butterflies flying around in your stomach, a quivering voice, sweaty palms, racing heart, the whole nine yards.

Within this article, we would like to share some tricks with you to help you overcome fear of public speaking. These tips and tricks will help to reduce the anxiety and stress you have during presentations.

The methods we are about to tell you have been tried and tested and have helped out many individuals to overcome their fear of public speaking.

Remember, when you are speaking to the public for the first time, it will be the worst, but it will get better from there as long as you follow the proper techniques.

In order to overcome the fear of public speaking, you should think about having a conversation. When you look at it as if you are giving a presentation, you will be more nervous. If you work, then you will be having conversations every day, all day. During those conversations, do you get nervous?

Conversations are not threatening at all. It is just a way that individuals communicate something. Think about it, how is that presentation different from communicating? It’s not. Your presentation is just a conversation, except there are a couple more people. Does this ease the nerves a bit?

When you are speaking to an audience, apart from having a normal conversation, we believe you should make some new friends with people that are in the audience. Many individuals are nervous when they are up in front of an audience that is full of stranges. What if you had some friends in the audience, or even a group of friends? Chances are you would feel more comfortable during the presentation.

Next time you are giving your presentation (or communication so to speak) to a group of people that you do not know, then you should do something that is revolutionary. Shake hands, introduce yourself and greet as many people in the audience as possible before you start to speak. That way, when you are standing up in front of them, you are not staring out at a group of people you have never spoken to before. You will want to find those individuals in the audience and make eye contact with them.

This will not be hard to do, because those individuals will more than likely be staring at you. For a second or two, you should put yourself in the shoes of your audience. Imagine that you are the one sitting there, attending a seminar at work. How would you feel before you go to the seminar? If the speaker took a couple of minutes to personally introduce themselves to you, would you be more willing to listen to what they had to say?

We think so, so why not give it a try next time you need to make a speech or give a presentation?

Lisa Dyke has put together The Mind Training Series which is a high quality range of self hypnosis audio programmes, for more information on curing the fear of public speaking please visit http://www.public-speaking-confidence.com

[tags]public speaking, fear of public speaking, public speaking phobia, public speaking fear, public speaking confidence, confident communication[/tags]

If you are faced with a public speaking phobia, then you know just how annoying this can be. When you are alone, you practice in front of the mirror, you think you can do it, but then when the time gets closer and closer, your mind and body begins to freeze up - you begin to go into a deep panic and start to think of ways to get out of the public speaking event.

In the end, you determine that you will call in sick and you feel so much better that you do not have to get up in front of the public, even if it does get your boss angry at you. Within this article, we will be discussing public speaking phobia and tell you why we believe individuals develop a public speaking phobia in the first place.

Personally, we believe that many phobias are caused by trauma that occurred early on in life. Those traumas are embedded in the individual, a lot like untreated parasites. What exactly are these so called parasites?

Well, they are the imprint of a memory that is connected with the trauma that has occurred. The effects are a lot like a virus you would get on the computer as it hijacks the computer from you and drives it to a far off place that it never had any intention of going.

In this same way, these memory parasites will be lurking around in the mind and body that is unconscious. At the right moment, these memory parasites are activated in order to gain control of the mind, behavior, emotions and take that normal life away.

What is even worse is the fact that the emotional software virus will be creating a lot of discomfort, it undermines the self esteem, self confidence, takes away the energy and takes away from the feelings of personal adequacy.

The stimuli that is triggering all of these emotional viruses seem to always be related in one way or another. As an example of early trauma, the individual could have been humiliated as a child in front of their friends, which will create the imprint that we mentioned in the above paragraph.

That little imprint will be stored inside that individual and will act as a landmine for hidden emotions that will go off whenever that person sees that they are in a situation that is a lot like the incident that occurred when they were little. The truth is that being up in front of a group of people could be one of those things that triggers that memory, which in turn will bring about the public speaking phobia.

In the end, you should keep in mind that you are not alone and that you have alternatives available to you to help you to overcome your public speaking phobias without resorting to expensive cures or hiding away from speaking in public forever.

Lisa Dyke has put together The Mind Training Series which is a high quality range of self hypnosis audio programmes, for more information on curing the fear of public speaking please visit http://www.public-speaking-confidence.com

[tags]public speaking, fear of public speaking, public speaking phobia, public speaking fear, public speaking confidence, confident communication[/tags]

If you are dealing with public speaking anxiety, then you should know that you are not alone in this world. Having a public speaking anxiety is something that is very common and many individuals are dealing with this challenge. When people hear that they will need to stand up in public and give a speech it can send many men and women right into a state of panic.

Below, we are going to give you some quick suggestions that will help you to ease the public speaking anxiety you have been facing. You should believe that anyone in the world is able to overcome their public speaking anxiety, you just need to know how to go about doing so.

First, whatever you do, you will need to be prepared. The truth is that one of the biggest solutions to the fear of public speaking can be conquered through preparation. Also, for this technique, there is not going to be any short cut. You should research the material you will be speaking about and convince yourself that it is worth sharing with others. You should believe that you have something that the audience needs to hear. Stand up in front of that crowd and deliver that information with a big smile on your face.

If you are looking to control those nervous feelings that you are having, then you should take some deep breaths in order to relax your body. In order to present your message to the audience, you should be concentrating on it instead of concentrating on the nervous feelings you are having. Instead of telling yourself that you are feeling nervous, tell yourself that your adrenaline is really pumping and you are going to be delivering a speech at the presentation that will not be forgotten. That’s right, you should always be positive with yourself, even in thought.

In order to increase that confidence, you should use some visualization techniques. Visualization techniques can really be very effective. You should run through the entire presentation, including how you will be standing, the pauses, the first couple of sentences, and all of that good stuff. You should do this numerous times in your mind as this will give you a great deal of confidence. If you visualize correctly, then you will be able to get over that fear of public speaking. There are some individuals that are able to get real scenes in their mind, including smells, sights, feelings, sounds and so on.

With the right techniques, you will be able to overcome those public speaking fears that you have been experiencing for most of your life. We have provided some techniques that have helped many individuals throughout the world and we believe they will help you as well.

Lisa Dyke has put together The Mind Training Series which is a high quality range of self hypnosis audio programmes, for more information on curing the fear of public speaking please visit http://www.public-speaking-confidence.com

[tags]public speaking, fear of public speaking, public speaking phobia, public speaking fear, public speaking confidence, confident communication[/tags]

Nerves are a funny thing. Many communication and presentation skills professionals will attest to the fact that they are nervous before giving a presentation. Good presenters still have nerves but they use presentation skills to channel those nerves into productive energy.

Presentation skills and communication skills are very similar and the same fundamental principles apply. Your job as a presenter is to structure your presentation to effectively communicate your objectives and unique selling points. This simplification makes it sound easy, however you must bear in mind that there is an audience involved.

Like many challenges in life, success is in the preparation. Not only do you have to know your material well, but you must communicate this information in a compelling and interesting way. For the audience to feel you have authority and to buy into what you say, you must project confidence even if you do not feel it.

The formal setting of a presentation makes presentation skills essential to overcoming your personal attack of the jitters. Many top presenters design a pre-presentation ritual that they perform before going up.

This ritual involves a combination of positive mental projection and physical exercises to control the nerves. Deep breathing exercises are a good way to ground yourself and shaking the nerves out of your body can rid you of physical tension which can lead to nervous gestures and stiffness.

In terms of your presentation itself, a great way of evaluating how you project yourself and of developing your presentation skills is by recording your presentation on video. Watching yourself back can be like listening to your recorded voice played back to you; you cannot believe it is you. When you have the warts-and-all evidence, you will see how you come across to your audience. You’ll discover what you do well and also the things that might distract your audience, or make you appear less confident. Then you can apply presentation skills to overcome them.

There are many telltale signs of nerves that come over to your audience. Tone of voice, gestures, posture, eye contact and any other elements of your physical presentation create an effect on the audience; presentation skills can ensure that this effect is a positive one. Presentation skills training is a helpful resource where you can explore your presentation technique.

Presentation skills training that makes use of video can be particularly effective as it shines a light on how we project ourselves and enables us to make positive changes to project with more confidence. Video clips can also be used to demonstrate how other people present, so that you can see what works and what doesn’t and then model the effective behaviours and powerful styles.

No matter how thorough your nerve-busting ritual might be, nothing can benefit your presentation skills like presentation skills training. By recording your presentation and receiving feedback from experts and peers on how you are doing, you can develop your presentation to a point where you are confident, clear and impactful.

Dominic Donaldson is leading consultant in presentation skills and communication skills training, delivering courses worldwide.

[tags]presentation skills, presentation skills training, communication skills, confident presenter[/tags]

Having a fear of speaking in public is something that has been well-documented, discussed in many cases and maybe even be a bit on the overrated side. You may not think so right now, but getting up and speaking in front of a large group of people can be an energizing and entertaining experience for even those individuals that have fears of doing so.

If you are looking to sharpen up your skills on speaking in public and get over that fear of speaking in public that you have had for so long, then you should read the tips below as they have helped many individuals out.

Instead of looking at it as if you are giving a speech, you should look at it as if you are having a conversation with someone. Thinking about getting up in front of a group of people and speaking can be a bit on the nerve racking side. Take a second or two to think about the difference between giving a speech and talking to someone. If you do decide to go the conversation route, then you will find that you are more interesting as it will sound more natural.

When you come up with ideas, then you should record them on a tape recorder. There are many individuals that are faced with troubles and are not able to sit down and write a speech. You will be able to put your thoughts on to a tape recorder, which will help you out. You should not edit yourself as you are speaking or worry about how you are phrasing things. During this time, you should just speak about your ideas and when you are done, go through and transcribe those thoughts. With this technique, you will sound more natural than you would with writing a speech.

After you speak, you should do a quick evaluation. Think about how it went and why it went that way. Remember that not all of those factors are in your control. As an example, if you are delivering a speech to a dinner audience, then they may be a bit harder to speak with. This is because they may be drinking alcohol or they are tired after having a long day at work.

You should not remember perfection, but remember progress. Do not go about worrying about becoming the greatest public speaker in the world. You should just try to show some confidence when you are giving your speech.

In the end, you should write down one objective for the speech. What do you need or want to accomplish in the near future? Do you need to persuade individuals to vote the way you want? Are you just delivering information? Getting down to these basics is going to help you to not feel as overwhelmed about things.

Lisa Dyke has put together The Mind Training Series which is a high quality range of self hypnosis audio programmes, for more information on curing the fear of public speaking please visit http://www.public-speaking-confidence.com

[tags]public speaking, fear of public speaking, public speaking phobia, public speaking fear, public speaking confidence, confident communication[/tags]

Believe it or not, having a fear of public speaking is a phobia that many individuals have. That’s right, you are not alone in the fear of public speaking as this is a very common phobia. If you have fears of public speaking, then your mind starts to speed up and race at the mere mention of standing up and speaking in public. The truth is that speaking in public can make your heart race and your stomach sick.

If you have an speech that you have to do in public coming up soon, instead of giving up and trying to get out of it, we believe you should try to get over your fear of speaking in public. There are some simple techniques you will be able to use that will help you get over your phobia of speaking in public. These techniques can be much more helpful than imagining everyone in their underwear.

The first thing you will need to do in order to get over that fear is practice. We all know that practice makes perfect. If you are prepared for public speaking and know exactly what will be going on at the event and what you will be saying, then you will not have as much to be nervous about.

When it comes to practicing, you could take the time to practice in front of a mirror or practice in your car. Whatever you do, you should just keep practicing. When you have that speech memorized, then you will not be afraid that you are going to forget it in front of everyone.

The second thing you should do is get some support from a family member or a friend. The fact is that we are generally always harder on ourselves than other people are. A good friend or family member is going to help you see just how true this is. You should take the time to not only practice in front of a mirror, but in front of your friend as well.

After you are done speaking in front of your friend, you should insist that they give you feedback. If your friends have any suggestions then you should take them into consideration. If your friends tell you that you did really well, then you should listen to them. Getting encouragement from a family member or a friend can be one of the most helpful things. Tell your friend or family member just how scared you are and they will start to encourage you.

Lastly, whatever you do, you should not keep getting out of those public speaking events as continually doing this will not get you anywhere. Standing up in front of the public and speaking could really get you somewhere some day.

Lisa Dyke has put together The Mind Training Series which is a high quality range of self hypnosis audio programmes, for more information on curing the fear of public speaking please visit http://www.public-speaking-confidence.com

[tags]public speaking, fear of public speaking, public speaking phobia, public speaking fear, public speaking confidence, confident communication[/tags]

If you’re a road warrior and frequently needs to make presentations to your clients while on the road, chances are, you probably owns an portable overhead projector or any of the latest digital data or video projector. Some of these portable overhead projectors can fold up to the size of a small briefcase and can easily fit into your luggage and make your travels an easy and relatively hassle free.

Since you’re often on the road, there isn’t much of a luxury having access to a technical department where the technician is readily available in an office context to help you with your overhead projector’s technical problems. Hence, it’s important for you to be crucially aware of the things you need to bring and do to make your next presentation a hazard free affair. Remember, there is nothing worse than having a whole classroom or conference hall full of students or potential customers and finding yourself caught unprepared.

Here are some of important aspects you should take note of :

(1) Bring a spare lamp with you.

Always ensure that you have an extra lamp bulb with you. Yes, even when your overhead projector comes with the lamp changer function. Since most of the projection lamps nowadays are pretty cheap, get a few spares in your luggage if you can. Also make sure you bring along the customer service personnel namecard or your overhead projector’s product code with you. In case you do run out of the spares and do need to buy them, you would have this information readily available while you’re on the road.

(2) Transparency pens & transparencies

Though these can be readily bought at the stationary shop near your hotel, it certainly doesn’t hurt to keep them with you in the luggage. Never assume that the conference hall or classroom would have all these stationary available. Make sure your transparency pen’s water soluble so that you can easily erase away information you don’t need. A selections of different coloured pens would be great for a more varied presentation.

(3) Cleaning & Maintenance

Avoid using chemicals or stuff like window cleaners to clean your overhead projector. Actually, the simplest solution is to just wipe it with water. It’s recommended to use fiber optic towel or material that are similar to avoid scratching the surface of the overhead projector glass. Some people have tried to do the same with paper towels without avail. Because unlike fiber optics towels, paper towels are not designed to clean Fresnel or Optical lenses without scratching its surface. So, don’t risk it.

(4) Extension cord & adapter

What if your overhead projector’s cord is to short to reach the power outlet? Abandon the whole presentation? To prevent this from happening, always ensure that you get an extension cord or adapter with you at all times. And even if you’ve forgotten to bring them with you in the luggage, try to ask around your hotel’s housekeeping and make sure you get a set prior to your presentation.

James is a freelancer. Looking for cheap discounted refurbished second hand used overhead projectors for sale such as cheap refurbished second hand used 3M overhead projectors for sale or cheap refurbished second hand used Elmo overhead projectors for sale? Refer to the links.

[tags]used overhead projectors, 3m overhead projectors, elmo overhead projectors[/tags]

For anyone who’ve ever owned an overhead projector, you probably knows that it’s a simple and effective tool for presenting some of your greatest lectures and speeches. The innovation of technology may have introduced some tough competitors for these hardy machines but have not really made them obsolete. Why?

Because it’s simplicity, ease of use and input without a need for the sophiticated computer has made it a reliable and effective presentation tool. The transparencies can also be altered with the use of colored markers easily during the presentation, making it much more flexible. Even with all these benefits, the truth is, more can be done to make the most out of your overhead projectors.

There are many different brands and models of overhead projectors and despite the fact that they’ve different capabilities, functions and features, a few user tips can be use on most, if not all of them to improve your user experience with these overhead projectors and enhance your presentation. And make the best out of them. Here’s what you can do :

(1) Block Out Excess Light From Your Overhead Projectors

By strapping strips of thick paper or card board onto the sides of the overhead projector, any excess light can be blocked out. This action helps guide the light to centralize your transparencies easily.

(2) Prevent Tripping Over The Cords From Your Overhead Projectors

One of the common safety hazards with using the overhead projector is that the long extensive cord can easily make you trip during the presentation. To prevent such from happening, make use of masking or duct tape to strap the extension cords to the floor.

(3) Know Where’s Your Project Screen Width Range

Prior to the arrival of the audience, ensure that you’re aware of the sight lines for the projection screen. You can get someone to sit where the audience will be and slowly move around your presentation area or stage to ensure that you’re not blocking the screen. You can then use a masking tape to mark down these sight lines on the floor so that you know where to stand during your presentation.

(4) Keep A Set Of Lecture Materials

Prepare a set of the paper copy of the transparency and keep it handy so that you don’t have to turn and look back at the screen while lecturing. Remember, it’s good presentation ettiqute to face the audience and not the screen.

(5) Trace Your Presentation With A Piece of Paper

Place a sheet of paper underneath your transparency and slide it down as your unveil your presentation points. This helps to keep the audience focused on your presentation outline.
If you put the paper on top of the transparency, it may be easily blown off by the overhead projector’s cooling fan.

(6) Keep A Few Blank Transparencies On Hand

At times, you may be required to illustrate a few points of your lecture during the presentation. Keep a few spare blank transparencies for this purpose will prevent some last minute search for them.

That’s all! Try these tips when you use your overhead projector next time and be prepared for a great presentation!

James writes on a part-time basis. Wanna buy refurbished second hand used overhead projectors for sale cheap such as Apollo overhead projectors or Dukane overhead projectors? Refer to the links.

[tags]used overhead projectors,[/tags]