Seven Ways to Make Your Complex Topic Simple

I just completed the article, Attention Speakers, Teachers and Writers; Seven Ways to Make Your Complex Topic Simple. You’ll find these seven tips helpful as you prepare your lessons, speeches and documents.

I suggest that you print out this page, three-hole punch it and put it into a special binder of one page “quickie” guides for many topics having to do with speaking, teaching and writing.

Here’s your link to this valuable PDF file. http://freepdfhosting.com/a30683ffd9.pdf

We’ll keep the good free stuff coming.

Wayne

Six Pixels of Separation

That’s the name of Mitch Joel’s latest book, Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone.

If any of you are wanting to make the most of using social media as a means of promoting your speaking, teaching or consulting career, here is another “must read.”

He presents six factors that he says make up today’s new “Trust Economy.” Here’s my own visual version of this piece of vital content.

But, , , ya gotta read the book.

Wayne

Exactly How You Should Use a Visual Aid

StomperNet has just added Melanie Benson Strick to their prestigious faculty. Her field of expertise is staff building.

She was just featured in a highly informative video that you won’t want to miss. See it at http://stompernetpresents.com/vtbs.htm (As long is it's still available online.) (OPS, it's only an audio track now. More of Melanie coming soon.)

Melanie is speaking about StomperNet’s latest project, the Virtual Team Building System.

In her introductory video, she features a little graphic she calls the On-time Results Model. It is as simple as a visual aid can be, yet it packs three profound principles anyone wishing to build there own productive team can put into immediate use.

She presents this incredible little model on a single 8½ by 11 piece of paper.

I’ve enhanced this visual aid with the help of PowerPoint (shown here). But, let me make this point very clear: I have not improved the actual content at all. Only it’s general appearance. In it's primitive form, it's still an incredible communication tool.

Also shown on today’s blog post is also another model she uses in this great video.

Regardless of what your topic is—you do not want to miss this video. You will see demonstrated, before your very eyes, exactly how you should use a visual aid in your presentations.

Wayne

Three Visual Aid Principles

By now you can begin to see my ideas at work as I design visual aids for public presentation. Focus your attention on three principles, , ,

1. The white background. Why? Because readability tests say that text written on a white background is more readable than any other color. (There are two “close seconds”, , , very light yellow and very light blue.) (Deiss, 2009)

But to insure that you can print a Microsoft Word (or Publisher, etc.) version for a film transparency or for a handout, , , I will always stick to the white background.

2. The white background. (Part 2) For iPhones and other smart phones, etc. Plug this into your hard drive. In the future, every visual aid you use in any video media can ultimately wind up on YouTube.com or forty (or so) other video hosting services, , , whether you put it on there or not.

Then, here comes the ever-expanding handheld gang. (Twenty million iphones, alone and growing--fast.)

All of the original slides I am posting on this blog will look good and read well on a two and one half inch screen. And, they will show well even in a dark environment.

(I guarantee you, you’ve never heard any graphic production advice concerning the huge and exploding, handheld market.)

3. Highly readable text (or type). First, all the “must read” info is in a basic bold typeface. Second, there’s always high contrast with the background. And, third, , , the amount of text is held to the fewest possible elements.

These simple lessons give you some clues as to how I create and use visual aids in my speaking and writing. It’s all about your audience. Every graphic you use as an information merchant must be a very user friendly form.

Tell me what you think. More later.

Wayne

Who's the Best?

Some people ask me who I think is the best speaker or presenter in the world today. Well, there’s one I like best when it comes to actual monetary results. And, one I think is the funniest. And, one that I think is the most inspirational, and so on.

But when “push” comes to “shove,” my gut instinct goes to the dean of Value Selling, Don Hutson.

Almost every week of the world, he heads out to three or four more Fortune 500 type companies to spread his wisdom to eager and intelligent audiences, , , and he has been doing it for over three decades now. (I first heard him in 1975.)

There’s no one better on Planet Earth at what he does.

You can watch him perform at his website, http://www.donhutson.com/media/ by clicking onto the "Selling Value" link.

Recently, he sent out his “New Year’s” email article, titled, The Power, Pitfalls and Potential of Resolutions. It’s a “must read” for any forward-thinking person.

Click on the title above, and access a PDF version of this incredible article.

Above is a visual aid I created to help you understand and pass-on the valuable principles Mr. Hutson teaches.

Wayne

Word of Mouth Marketing

According to Andy Sernovitz, in his latest book, Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, Revised Edition
“Word of Mouth” has been around for a long, long time. What’s absolutely new is the second “M,” or Marketing.

Or, the idea that a company or marketer can actively influence the amount of “work of mouth” that really takes place. He says that this influence is actionable, trackable, and plannable just like any other marketing strategy or tactic.

Here’s an interesting visual I created that will help you explain Sernovitz’s principles.

Wayne

The Single Page Summary

Through my life in speaking and design, I’ve become aware of the constant need to simplify the complex. It’s often the major goal with any presentation.

In the PDF document that will follow in a few days, I’m going to kill two birds with one stone.

First, you’ll receive a document called, How To Simplify the Complex. It tells you exactly how to make your messages simple and easy to understand.

Second, this page is a perfect model (in both visual form and writing style) for the “Cheat Sheet” format you should use to summarize almost any speech or larger document.

Give me a day or so to get it finished.

Wayne