Leon Sergent

When it comes to presentations or public speaking, perception is more important than what you believe to be reality. There is quite a gap between what you think you're giving off and the impression you've left on your audience, and of course, what really matters is what your listeners perceived. Why is it useful to make this distinction? Other people's perceptions probably work in your favor more than you think, and here's how! More… »The perception and reality of presenting in public.

A question I am often asked, whether during workshops or coaching sessions with professionals, is about memorizing a presentation. "Do you have to memorize your whole presentation?" My answer is, more often than not, "Please don’t, not the whole presentation!" Even if you managed to memorize all your text, here are some of the pitfalls that lie ahead for you should you convince yourself to make the unnecessary effort to recite from memory: More… »Business and technical presentations: The only parts you should memorize.

In the last few days, I have had to deal with a phenomenal amount of information and details to insert (by force!) into two speeches or presentations in front of an audience. It was a tall order. The aim was to ensure that the messages to be communicated were clear and memorable without getting lost in the minutiae and losing the narrative of the presentation. Writing a script or composing slides without a solid framework would have been perilous because I could be at risk of forgetting key details and I would need a lot of time to rewrite. This is where we need another tool to control the large amount of information: heuristic diagrams or Mindmapping. Rather than lists and text presented in a linear fashion, all information is presented in the form of a diagram that mimics how the human brain works. More… »Why and how to use Mindmapping to write your next presentation.

Hand gestures are just as important, and sometimes even more so, than any words you use to convey messages to an audience. Many participants in our training workshops in business or scientific presentations and our candidates in individual coaching tell us that they do not always know what to do with their hands. You are neither the only ones nor the first to struggle with this. Here are the most common mistakes. More… »Business presentation skills: I don't know what to do with my hands!

Executive Storytelling is said to be a model of organization or message construction that helps speakers and presenters keep their audience's attention and deliver more memorable presentations. In addition, this way of organizing the content of the presentation promotes the understanding of more complex ideas and data through context, relevance to the audience, and a structure that is easier for the human brain to assimilate. According to neuroscience studies, humans can retain stories more easily than data, so using a narrative improves retention, More… »A primer for professionals who want to use Executive Storytelling

I was recently at a wedding reception where speeches from friends and family preceded a very hearty meal. It's impossible for me not to listen to a speech or a presentation without my professional training and my ears as a strategic communication coach interfering a little! This is also the same person who was able to keep the thread of her ideas even though she spoke with great emotion in her voice and was interrupted many times by members of his audience. So, why was she successful? More… »Successful public speaking: The Executive Storytelling model

We have been talking about presence and executive presence for many years. Much like leadership or charisma, it is easy to acknowledge its presence or lack thereof, but more difficult to provide a definition on which all could agree. Why executive presence now? Is this still topical? Maybe more than ever. In a context of talent shortage and succession planning, let us remember the old adage: All the important decisions about you will be made when you’re not in the room. More… »Executive presence, trust, probity and impact.

Nothing seems to be working, your presentations never finish on time. Let's look at some of the causes and suggest a powerful fix: More… »I ran out of time. Strategies for presenters who finish late.

Vous avez sans doute entendu parler de se limiter à trois phrases ou énoncés pour le résumé de votre présentation. Mais pourquoi trois? Deux idées et l’auditoire reste sur sa faim. Quatre ou cinq idées et il semble que le conférencier amorce une autre allocution en abusant de la patience… More… »The three-point summary. So why three?

Last week, I reviewed several PowerPoint presentations developed by a new client. Each one of these presentations had a slide titled "Questions or Q&A?" Here is a pro tip: Instead of showing a slide titled "Questions?" (Which frankly serves no purpose as you made a prior announcement that there would be a Q&A at the end of your presentation and that you asked for questions after presenting your recommendations), show the slide More… »Could we please do away with the Q&A slide?