Independent School Motivational Speaker Video Testimonial.
For more testimonials relating to Lee’s work in schools, visit: http://leejackson.org/education/education-testimonials/
Why use props? A professional speaker shares why pros use props to help their message stick!
Professional Motivational speaker Lee Jackson shares his down to earth tips on why props could make your talk better! Use props well and the audience will remember your talk – simple! Lee speaks to tough audiences and he’s learnt the hard way how a good talk is prepared and delivered. Learn presentation skills from a pro.
For more presentation skills and tips, visit: http://leejackson.org/business/presentation-skills-training-masterclass-coaching/
Lookout for culture creep!
It’s been an eventful few weeks for the Jackson’s, we kept our house in an endlessly minimalist / tidy state (with cupboards bursting full of stuff) as we tried to sell our house, and at the same time we are preparing to move house. Obviously these two things have to happen at the same time, but it would be easier if they didn’t! While trying to keep the house tidy for viewings, we got rid of 17 years worth of rubbish from our loft and cupboards. This strangely therapeutic tidying process turned up a few surprises and some great memories along the way, including old records, lost photos and my bronze ballet medal, that i sometimes talk about on stage – i was aged five and there were only three people in the competition!
But the biggest news of all, is the most trivial first world problem I’ve ever written about – our fridge-freezer stopped working! Now, this seemed like an easily solvable problem in my activist head “my fridge freezer is broken – I’ll go and buy a new one.” I thought. Oh how naïve I was! We went to Curry’s and it dawned on us very quickly that in the 12 years that we’d had the fridge freezer, the world has changed! Seriously changed. Not only have smartphones become the norm and cloud computing has revolutionised the way we do business but 12 years ago fridge freezers were white and had no nationality. Now they are black, silver and grey and are ‘American or French style’. My 45 year old brain was, as they say – flummoxed. There wasn’t a good fridge freezer that would fit into the fresh new gap that had opened up in our kitchen. So, we had a big gap in our cupboards and nowhere to keep our milk cold. Tricky.
Not only that but we are moving soon so we had to think ahead and get the right fridge freezer for our new house kitchen too. It was a conundrum worthy of Carol Vorderman. So we opted for the new house solution. We bought a Stateside-style fridge freezer ready for our new house, with one small drawback, it doesn’t fit into our current kitchen. So we’ve got a fancy new silver fridge freezer that’s stood in the middle of our kitchen. It has sadly made that strange throwback from the 80’s, our breakfast bar, unusable. It’s weird but it’s not a bar and never eaten breakfast there, anyway I digress. It’s a big old thing and its in our way, but we’ll put up with it for a few weeks until the big move happens and we move a mile up the road. But the new appliance, has had quite an impact.
(Not actual fridge contents!)
We have noticed in the last few days that this fridge freezer is cold, really cold! Yeah I know – not a great shock to you I’m sure *|FNAME|* but to us it is. The freezer is very cold -18C to be precise and the fridge is about 5C or so it says, and because we have more space now I think we have realised that 1. Having more space in the fridge keeps things cooler and 2. Our old fridge freezer has been failing for months, and we didn’t even notice. The kids have said “Dad this is really cold” at least half a dozen times now, our new silver member of the family has changed things.
Look out for culture creep
One of the things that i love about my job is that I get to go to dozens of schools, colleges, businesses and organisations and see things from ‘fresh eyes’ all the time. I get a visitors perspective on an organiations attitudes, values and culture. A view that people who have worked there for years, often don’t see anymore. I can often learn a lot just from the reception staff and seating area, as I spend a lot of time there waiting to be ‘shown through’ to the hall or training room. I did some presentation skills a few months ago for a very big organisation and I asked as I arrived if me and the people on the course could get a coffee to start the day. I was told that the only coffee available was a dodgy machine, three floors up and through four sets of double doors. In the end I paid for a Costa instead. This organisation is being turned around slowly, but hospitality obviously wasn’t a value that they hold dear, just yet. In other places I’ve been to, I’ve been treated like a king, where my clients couldn’t do enough for me. I genuinely don’t expect the red carpet treatment, far from it, thats not my style, but its funny how companies in the same sector can have such different culture and values. I’ll work with almost anyone, as I like variety, but I do remember how people treat me, as I’m sure you do. It’s only human.
Look out for culture creep
The issue we need to be aware of at work though is ‘creep’. ‘Creep’ in our personal and professional life can be dangerous. Our old fridge slowly got less efficient and we didn’t even notice, until we got the new one that actually worked! Organisations are just the same, bad values and practice can creep up on us without us even noticing. I heard a story a few weeks ago where a 15 year old had done work experience in a company and did really well, so well in fact that a few weeks later the boss sacked a member of staff because they realised how slow and inefficient they’d been in comparison. Fresh eyes, made their business better.
So, here’s a few big questions for you this week:
If you are a leader – when was the last time you had a fresh set of eyes on your workplace and culture, to find the good, the bad and the ugly? If you choose the right person, it can only help make you better.
If you present up front – when was the last time you asked someone to give you feedback? Someone you permission to really tell you the truth? I do this a lot when I’m teaching and coaching presentation skills and I’ve seen people become engaging speakers, with just the right amount of encouragement and honest feedback.
And lastly, the big one – what about your personal life? We all love friends that we can have fun with and those who comfort us too, but do we have friends who tell us the truth when we need it? It’s a tricky one, we don’t like it, but can make a real difference. I knew a guy who had a ‘donkey’, this ‘donkey’ was one of his friends who he told his wife she could call anytime if he was being a ‘donkey’. “She never called him” he said, “but she did pick up the phone a few times”. I’ll always remember that.
How to handle feedback and use it to your advantage!
How to handle feedback and use it to your advantage – my feedback on feedback!
Feedback is a funny thing!
How do you process it?
How does it make you feel?
As a speaker I get feedback all the time, both written and verbal. I once met a fellow speaker at his office and he had big piles of A4 feedback sheets from recent events all over the floor of his office, there was half a tree’s worth on his office floor! It’s just part of my world.
Ironically last week after doing two speaking events to speaker bookers where I was there to receive feedback (and bookings!), the tables were turned when on Saturday I became the judge for a speaking competition and I had to then give feedback to other speakers! It’s a tricky thing to give feedback, especially to new speakers who need encouragement and constructive feedback to help them improve. A healthy balance is key.
Feedback is a lot easier to give it out, than to receive it for most people.
Some people I’ve met run away from all feedback as they’ve been hurt in the past from a boss who was blunt, manipulative or just a poor people person. But even if we have had bad experiences, it’s part of life now and we need to find a way to process it.
Here are my 6 tips on dealing with feedback of any sort.
My feedback on feedback!
1. Learn to sieve it!
I’ve learnt to listen to all feedback but to sieve it very thoroughly in my head, sometimes even when it’s being given to me! Feedback comes with baggage, so ask – who’s giving me this? Why are they giving me this? What are their motives? Keep sieving and you can disregard some feedback and take on board some, but not all. I did a training day for a company last year and the feedback was strangely mixed. I was shocked to be honest as I thought it had gone well and the verbal feedback on the day was great. But the written feedback we got a few days later was decidedly mixed. So I decided to process it properly. I wrote down the feedback that i was concerned about, reflected on it, spoke to my colleagues and eventually i realised that this just didn’t seem right. So, I called the CEO who’d booked me and had a chat. I told her that i was concerned about the mixed feedback as this usually didn’t happen. We talked for ten minutes and the penny dropped. She told me that the feedback sheets were not done until the days after and they were done in an open office (maybe even around the water cooler). she also said that some of the delegates were recently retired from an industry that is known for very harsh feedback. I also got the impression that some of them didn’t like training and didn’t want to be there anyway, especially as they were used to working independently and only saw each other a few times a year. They were also used to giving training, not receiving training. The CEO then assured me that she was was very happy with the day and will use us again in the future. Phew! If I hadn’t processed that properly and hadn’t made that call, then I’d never have known the truth behind the unusual feedback. Keep sieving!
2. Not everyone’s opinion really matters.
This seems harsh I know, but it’s true. I have seen new speakers give other new speakers long and detailed feedback as of they are experts. Their feedback as a human being is perfectly valid of course, but unless they are experienced in that field, it’s just not as valuable as someone who’s been speaking successfully for years. I personally listen to feedback from speakers who I respect, and I’ve changed bits of my talks because of those speakers, but that group is a select few. Everyone’s opinion is valid but it doesn’t always carry the same weight and impact.
3. Don’t take it personally.
This a challenging one, but if you want to keep on going its essential. If you get feedback on a work issue, its work, its not usually a personal attack. Just because someone says that your report writing isn’t as good as it should be doesn’t mean that you are a bad person! It means that you may need some more training or you need to give that task to someone else to do. Play to your strengths more. It’s business not personal. Getting that into perspective really helps. Life is challenging enough without battering our self-esteem with stuff that isn’t relevant.
How to handle feedback and use it to your advantage – my feedback on feedback!
4. Ask yourself, is this true?
Some feedback is right and proper. Some feedback we should take on board, it’s what makes us better at our job or helps us become a better person. Self awareness is the key to personal and professional growth and part of that is being able to say, “Yeah they were right, I need to change that”. When I teach presentation skills I always make a point to say at the beginning of the session “I’m a pretty nice person, I’ll make this fun today, you will get chocolate(!), but you need to know that I will give you direct feedback too, because we all need it to get better. Please dont be offended, it’s just feedback…”. Once they know that, they seem to relax more and at the end of the session they always come out as better speakers and some even grow and become more confident generally – that’s why I love teaching presentation skills. A few weeks ago I was coaching a group and during the final speeches one delegate was using a scrappy, folded A4 sheet for notes, but it was becoming a distraction. So I stopped the talk and took the piece of paper from her. She carried on and nailed the talk, of course she didn’t need the piece of paper, she didn’t need notes, but without that feedback that leader would probably use a sheet of A4 notes for the rest of their professional life! She didn’t need them, she was great. She took it on board and simply got better. It was a privilege to see someone take on board feedback without offence. Sometimes we have to do that, it’s part of our job.
5. Keep the good stuff and use it to your advantage!
So we’ve talked about using the constructive feedback well, but lets also use the good feedback as a motivator! I literally keep the good stuff. I have a little book that i use where i keep good feedback or comments from clients, even stuff from family and friends. I know it might sound weird or egotistical, but it’s not, it’s a tool in my toolbox. When I’m traveling to gigs, or even just before I step on stage I have a look at these pieces of feedback and its focuses me for the task ahead and gets me into the right state of mind. Often as humans our default state is a negative one, we think of the worst rather than the best. This little trick will get you in the right mood to perform better. It’s not a Jedi mind trick – it’s just a simple way to get us on the right track to success. We tend to keep not-so-good feedback easier than good feedback. I’ve decided to keep the good feedback more prevalent. You should too, maybe you already do? By the way – no one sees this apart from me, it’s personal and private. It’s for me and my brain 🙂
And lastly:
6. It’s not the full picture.
The other thing about feedback is that often I can be speaking to a room of 200+ people and just chat to three people afterwards, so you never know what people took away. I got these emails in the last few weeks, from events where I got little or no feedback at the time. These are keepers for me and will go into my little book:
After a business event, where, If I’m honest the talk seemed like “hard work” – I got this:
“Hi Lee, Just had to drop you a line to say a big thank you again. I’ve had a couple of emails through saying how much they enjoyed your talk. I don’t normally get this! You obviously did something right!” So it turned out that the audience just weren’t very responsive – it was personality types, thats all. They loved it, but as an extrovert I just didn’t see it like that!
And after a talk in a challenging school, I got this too:
“Dear Lee, My name is ________. You spoke at my school ________. I dont think you remember me but we talked after your talk and all i would like to say to you is thank you. You really changed the way i thought of my exams, well i have finished my exams and school all together. I have started listening to your book How to enjoy and succeed at school and college. And i am really loving the book. I have enrolled in _______college…” He then went on to ask me a question about something I’d said in my talk. It made my day.
Feedback: collect it, use it, process it wisely, read it when you need to, but don’t live your life for it!
Sick of bad stock photos for your slides? Try Death To The Stock Photo…
As we all get more and more sick of those sickly photos of people with headsets on, pointing longingly into the distance – there is help at hand!
There are many new photo stock sites now, to replace the bad stock photos, where you can get free and premium photos for use on your slides or blogs and in my humble opinion Death To The Stock Photo is one of the best.
It’s an ethical business, a kind of hipster co-op where the photographers get a good share of the money and it’s only $15 a month for full access. A no brainer when you want something a little different.
An example of a great image from DeathtoStock…
As it’s library grows, it’ll be unstoppable, I’m sure.
Have a look now – http://deathtothestockphoto.com
I’m in the Telegraph and Argus with Powerpoint Surgery
“Twenty years of enduring dull and unclear slide presentations has led West Yorkshire businessman Lee Jackson to write a book to help speakers brighten up their pitches… more at http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/business/11070343.Lee_Jackson_offers_top_tips_on_presentation/
Why we all need to learn from the Sign Language Interpreter at the Mandela Memorial…
The Sign Language Interpreter at the Mandela Memorial… caused quite a stir. Apparently he’d been reported before many times, but they still booked him.
Many people including other speakers, say “fake it until you make it!” and “you can do anything!” and I understand why they say that, to a point (although I’ll never say that without qualification in one of my talks – I like to give evidence for my motivation).
But let’s be clear – you can’t be confident and then have no skill at all in the chosen task, it just doesn’t work. It’s not fair to anyone including yourself, and it’s a very short term view.
Will this guy ever get a gig again? I think not, certainly not in sign language interpretation.
This especially applies to presentations, don’t fool yourself into an ugly arrogance that you can do something when you can’t! Instead learn the skills and practise, practise, practise, chip away until the experience you gain kicks in. You’ll get there in the end, but it will probably take you longer than you think.
I do a lot of presentation skills training and after a day with me, people say they are more confident than before but at the end of the sessions I always say to them – volunteer for every speaking opportunity from now on, get out there and speak, the experience will build your long term confidence and with the right coaching will make you a great speaker.
Be confident, yes!
Push yourself, yes!
But, don’t be falsely confident or even so arrogant that you forget to learn the skills needed.
No one likes a fake, be your true confident self, it’s all we’ve got, and it’s enough.
What is Haiku Deck?
The nice people at @HaikuDeck are featuring my slide deck of my book on their front page! http://www.haikudeck.com/gallery/featured
But what is Haiku Deck? In my opinion it’s Powerpoint or Keynote with the fat trimmed off to make us better speakers, as it develops this could be a game changer.
Here’s Adam their CEO explaining all on Huff Post…
#powerpointsurgery
PowerPoint Surgery the book is out on October 4th. You can order it here directly from us now with a credit card or with your paypal account, no sign up…
UK £12.99 + £1.99 p&p…
Outside of the UK £12.99 + £3.99 p&p…
PowerPoint Surgery: How to create presentation slides that make your message stick by Lee Jackson
List Price: $23.99 £12.99 €15.99 6″ x 9″ (15.24 x 22.86 cm) Full Colour on White paper
120 pages Engaging Books ISBN-13: 978-0956754257 ISBN-10: 0956754252
BISAC: Business & Economics / Business Communication / Meetings & Presentations
Blurb:
Sometimes when things get really bad, surgery is required.
Bad Powerpoint* (and boring presentations) are everywhere! it appears that they have almost become the norm and very few people seem to want to talk about it. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Bad presentations are costly. They can cost money, jobs and reputations, don’t let your slides ruin your pitch.
In this funny, cut-to-the-chase and down-to-earth book professional speaker Lee Jackson will wean you, and your workplace off bad slides forever. He’ll also teach you how good presentation slides can work for you and help you stand out from the crowd. Using these simple techniques we can kill death by bullet-point once and for all.
JOIN THE FIGHT TODAY!
(N.B. This book is a colour paperback and illustrated with full colour slides.)
Some testimonials…
“ Lee takes a clever and refreshing approach to presentation mastery. ” Nancy Duarte – author of ‘Slide:ology’, ‘Resonate’ and principal of Duarte (creators of the slides/visuals for Academy Award-winning film, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’)
“ Powerpoint Surgery is an invaluable resource…and I highly recommend it… ” Jeremy Waite – Head of Social Strategy, Adobe EMEA
“ Lee Jackson takes PowerPoint presentations from boring to brilliant. ” Alan Stevens FPSA – Past President Global Speakers Federation and co-author of ‘The Exceptional Speaker
“ …a masterclass of creating sublime slides & presentations, but be warned, you may never be able to sit through a presentation again without thinking of Lee Jackson! ” Geoff Ramm – President 2013 Professional Speaking Association UK and Ireland
“Jackson has got a bl***y nerve asking me to write a testimonial for his book. You see, I am a proudly militant Anti-PowerPoint Bigot, but somehow, he has turned the Indefensible into the Indispensable! ” Graham Davies – best selling author of ‘The Presentation Coach’
About the Author: Lee Jackson is a motivational speaker, PowerPoint surgeon and presentation coach. He’s been speaking up front for more than twenty years in many challenging situations. As well as speaking, he loves helping other people to speak well too. He is a fellow of the Professional Speaking Association (PSA) and also the president of the PSA Yorkshire region. Get in touch via leejackson.biz or on Twitter: @leejackson
#powerpointsurgery (*PowerPoint is a loose generic term for any presentation slide design software.)
When a motivational speaker has a bad day at work.
Being a speaker is a strange job. One week you are really busy and the next week it's quieter. Thats life, that's business. I can handle that. This week has been a quieter week and to be honest it hasn't been the best week, the other day was simply not a good day. Amongst the admin and marketing there were a couple of lighter moments, but not many.
But, there were also three really annoying moments.
Another speaker caused me some hassle, a good client surprisingly let me down, and after rearranging a few things and driving to an appointment, a big coaching client just didn't show up.
I'd had it.
Three days of office work culminating in three big hassles just about finished me off. I was truly fed up.
Yes, you heard me right. I was fed up, ready for a break, and ready, at one point, for a new career!
Thankfully I'm not the kind of speaker who pretends they 'never have a bad day', my friend Paul McGee taught me that, in fact he reminded me just the other day. Handy.
You see having a not so good day is quite normal. It's what we do with it that counts.
So I went home grumpily, ate my tea grumpily, and then grumpily went into my man cave for an hour or so.
Then when I was ready, I decided to do some thing about it. I was ready to change 'my state' as NLP people would say. I put on some good loud music while I emptied and stacked the dishwasher, and then I simply went up to my whiteboard, grabbed a pen and wrote down in columns – the three problems, the gig i have tomorrow, my main to-do item, and a list of things I was grateful for. I then thought about the problems and asked one of the most powerful questions – was it my fault? And, did I try my best? All three problems weren't my fault and there's nothing more I could do to sort them out, so I crossed them out and concentrated on tomorrow and also on the good stuff in my life. I'd tried my best, it wasn't my fault, so I'm not going to dwell on the issues.
Not an easy task, but a simple one.
In all the years I've been researching real success in education and the workplace I've come to this conclusion. The difference between people who make it and those that don't, is this: it's what they do on their not so good days. It's what they put into practice when they don't feel like it – thats what really counts. When have you had a day like this? How did you move on as my mate Paul McGee would say?
The world is complex enough without us making it harder for ourselves.
Find the strategy that works for you, and put it into practice – often.
I do.
