Be a Presentation God

Witness testimony, community events and appearances, public education, all these put fire prevention in the public eye.  How many of us have witnessed some fire official completely blow it while speaking to the public, delivering a training class, or giving a presentation?  How many seminars have we sat through, where a prominent presenter on an interesting topic, completely bores us to death?  How many times have we experienced a near-miss at death by powerpoint?

Many fire officials seem to consider their  public speaking responsibilities as secondary, something not to be worried with.   John F. Kennedy once said, "The only reason to give a speech is to change the world."  In the fire service we have something to offer that no one else does.  We are in the business of saving lives (whether through EMS/fire response/fire prevention).  Scott Schwertly says, "The reality for both audiences and speakers is that a presentation that does not move something - be it people, products, ideas, or values - is merely wasted time."

I offer some resources that can take your presentation skills (and your public image) to a whole new level.

By far, the best resource out there for making presentations is Scott Schwertly's book, How to be a Presentation God:  Build, Design, and Deliver Presentations that Dominate.  Scott is CEO of Ethos3 a presentation design and training firm.  This should be required reading for anyone that will ever be tasked, at any point in their life, to give a presentation.

If you don't subscribe to the blog of author/marketing guru Seth Godin, do it now at SethGodin.com.  Two essential posts regarding presentations that you must read are, The atomic method of creating a Powerpoint presentation, and Really Bad Powerpoint.  In these posts, Seth provides four components to  great presentations, and five rules for creating a great Powerpoint experience.

Another blog you should immediately subscribe to is that of Michael Hyatt (author/speaker/chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers), at MichaelHyatt.com.  Michael blogs about various topics, including leadership, productivity, publishing and social media. Check out several of his posts on presentations.