What to learn how to cook filet mignon? There’s an app for that. Looking for good places to go mountain biking? Yep. There’s an app for that, too. There are apps for every iphone/ipad user. Here are 3 excellent iphone and ipad apps for public speakers:
Speaker APP 1 – mPrompt: mPrompt is a “teleprompter” app that allows you to use your iphone (or ipad) screen as a teleprompter. You can download and edit the speeches directly to the app and change fonts and colors of words to remind you to emphasize certain points. The speed of text flow is also customizable. It can be used with an LCD projector or on its own! At a low price of just $1.99, this app is perfect for those who want to regulate speech flow and speed.
Speaker APP 2 – Infonet Presenter: Infonet presenter is an all in one presentation displayer that can download many types of files. It is perfect for organizing a presentation, copy and pasting photos and videos, and the slides can be used as a whiteboard. This app is perfect for teachers and presenters trying to educate through this medium (appadvice.com)
Speaker APP 3 – KeyNote: Every Keynote speaker should own this app! It is the single most comprehensive and elegant slide presentation creator in the App store. The app comes with built in start-up slides for slide that feature clear, crisp designs. This app makes flawless charts and is compatible with other similar apps. The sophisticated design and animated transitions will have your audiences enthralled.
By Arin Forstenzer, Speak For Yourself VP Marketing
Unless you haven’t gone online in the last few weeks, you have seen commentary or protests on SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act introduced last year.
SOPA was finally “killed” by President Obama at the end of last week, following protests on Jan. 18, 2012 by several of the most influential and most widely used sites, like Wikipedia, who went dark to protest the bill. Many other sites included pop-ups showing their support of anti-SOPA protestors, and encouraged visitors to contact their congressmen in opposition of the anti-piracy bill.
Gizmodo clearly outlines why “other than being a very bad thing, what is SOPA? And what will it mean for you if it passes.”
So why should you still care about the dangers associated with this bill?
Because although this particular bill was stopped, it does not mean others will not arise.
Rather than resorting to extreme solutions that will likely hurt small businesses, we need to develop better solutions and improve education surrounding online copyright laws. While online piracy should be put to an end, SOPA is not the solution.
This past week I had the opportunity to hear Dave Hill, a professional speaker, talk on how to effectively and appropriately use humor and personal stories in business presentations. While he had many great and useful points, several key benefits and techniques stood out.
Benefits of humor/personal stories in meetings and presentations: 1. Reduce conflict and stress while building rapport 2. Illuminate points in presentations and meetings to make your message stick 3. Negotiate successfully
Techniques to achieve these benefits: 1. Make sure the humor/stories used are appropriate and relevant to: the audience, the occasion and you point 2. Poke fun at yourself: the only true form of “safe” humor 3. Continue to develop your humor: practice and experience will help you to continually improve
Other points of note: *Never start a presentation with a joke: if it doesn’t work the way you planned, the energy in the room is already gone before you start *Don’t use sarcasm *Don’t make fun of people…DO make fun of situations
