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Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Christine Antoniou Virardi and my background is in Human Resources, Political Sciences and International Relations. I created my own niche by designing unique presentations for companies and thought leaders and by becoming the founder of TailorMadePresentations.
What is the golden rule in communication?
The golden rule in communication is to get your message across in the most efficient, effective and straightforward manner.
How long do you think a presentation for a pitch should be? Is there a magic number of slides that is able to completely impress the people who are looking at it?
It all boils down to what Winston S. Churchill once said: “A good speech should be like a woman’s skirt: long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest!’ There isn’t really a magic number of slides. Your objective should be to express the essence of your subject with less words and simple yet catchy visuals.
What’s the importance behind a good presentation? Don’t you think the ability to communicate with your own words without any kind of technical support is a much better way?
Preparation is key. One of the most powerful and true principles is the 7P rule, which indicates that proper, prior, planning, prevents poor performance. Therefore, there are no shortcuts to making a lasting impression to your audience but only hard work. Research has shown that people perceive and comprehend information with the following approximate percentages:
- 87% through the eyes
- 9% through the ears
- 4% through all their other senses
Therefore, technical support (i.e. visuals, etc) are much needed to access the 87%!
Would you advice to stick to Power Point for pitching potential investors or try to use something different and innovative like Prezi?
Presentation programs like Prezi or Keynote (MAC) are powerful and creative tools and can easily create stunning presentations.
What do you think about Simon Sinek’s golden circle (why->how->what)?
I believe that if people have a large enough “why” they will be able to communicate the “what” and the “how” more
vividly, sometimes even without slides!!
We have seen a lot of young entrepreneurs, with extremely good ideas, who failed to communicate, mostly because they were shy and they couldn’t express what they were building. Have you got any tips to improve our personal way to communicate?
Every Steve Wozniak needs his Steve Jobs! Some people are indeed shy and they might lose out because of their shyness. There are however many tips, I would urge any of your readers to write to me personally at [email protected] and I will email them back with a 12-point tips for improving their communication techniques.
When you have to make a presentation for a product or an idea, where do you start and what are the key values that you always try to show?
The key values are the following:
- Write down random ideas in loose sketches to create your presentation storyboard
- Make visuals that support the customer’s message
- Stick to simplicity. Less is more
- Make sure to entertain whilst educating people with your visuals (and/or your pitch)
- Embrace consistency in patterns, colours and fonts
- Be yourself!
