Understanding your audience
Good presentations do not happen in isolation – if it’s all about you and your message, you are missing 50% of the equation.Persuasion means to win others over, not defeat them. In order to do this you need to uncover the audience’s wants and needs.Get curiousQuestion...
How design thinking can make you a better speaker
Design thinking is a framework for innovation. It focuses on the end user and encourages you to empathise and look at problems with fresh eyes. It makes you challenge your assumptions, unleash your creativity and expand your ideas. The Hasso-Plattner Institute of...
Presenting Your Research
I was asked the other day what I like most about my job. My answer came easily. What I most enjoy about my job is helping smart people explain what it is they do. I’ve been doing a bit of this lately having facilitated a number workshops for researchers and academics...
Death by PowerPoint 10 Years On
Ten years ago I delivered ‘Escaping PowerPoint Purgatory’ at the Australian Institute of Training and Development (AITD) conference. I spoke about the research from Prof John Sweller¹ and how putting text up on the screen encourages us to multitask and this, in turn,...
I Was Wrong
When I talk to people about their public speaking fears, one of the most common is: “What if what I say is wrong?”Last year I gave a presentation to PhD students at the University of Adelaide and I realised that what I was saying was incorrect, and had...
Sharon Ferrier, through her business ‘Persuasive Presentations’ consults to organisations and individuals who have a need to improve their communication, presentation skills and confidence in public speaking.