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Stand Out In Any Crowd With World-Class Whiteboard Skills

Guest post by: Milly Sonneman

Article Overview: Standing out in business presenting is a sure-fire way to get to the top. But it won’t happen if you’re relying on slick slides that don’t tell a powerful visual story.

Stand Out In Any Crowd With World-Class Whiteboard Skills

Standing out in business presenting is a sure-fire way to get to the top. But it won’t happen if you’re relying on slick slides that don’t tell a powerful visual story.

More presenters these days are realizing the truth: poorly designed slides are not working. The slides that worked last decade, last year or even last month…well, it’s not going to work for tomorrow’s presentation.

So what should you do? I’m not suggesting that you pack up your slides, head for the mountains and call it a day. As tempting as that might sound, there’s ideas to share and things to do in your business. But to do it well, you will need a different set of skills.

Whiteboard skills work in 3 powerful ways. Use all three and you’ll get ahead in your career—most likely to the top. Here are the 3 ways to get the most out of visual storytelling to stand out in any crowd.

1. Plan Your Presentation—Offline

If you’re used to jumping into PowerPoint or Keynote to plan your presentation, press the pause button. Do something else first.

Go to the whiteboard. Sketch out your key ideas, goals and strategy. Decide what you want people to learn, understand and do based on your presentation.

Why is this so powerful? You are taking a higher level view to your presentation story, flow and purpose. It’s much easier to think strategically when you’re out of the woods and not in the confines of your computer or software program.

Plus, whiteboarding is fun, inviting and inspires sharing. While you’re planning your presentation, invite colleagues to give you their feedback. This is easy to do when you’re open to discussing and sharing approaches.

In addition, sketching and erasing is easy. Instead of feeling attached and committed to one direction, it’s easier to adapt, change and develop ideas.

2. Deliver Your Visual Presentation—At The Whiteboard

In business presentations, training sessions and sales presentations, working at the whiteboard sets you apart.

Naturally, there is a lot to learn. Visual presenting with a marker requires an agile, nimble attitude. While it looks spontaneous and fluid, you’ll have a mental blueprint to work from.

When training senior executives to present with a marker, we often work through the story flow using a storyboard. Then, with the storyboard on hand, it’s easier to organize the space, create memorable colors, add icons and make an impact.

Hint: if you’re clueless about visual layouts, don’t worry. This is easy to learn in online courses, products and trainings. The most important things you need to be successful are:

Passion

Your passion for lively, dynamic collaboration comes through in how you work at the whiteboard.

Openness

Staying open to ideas, feedback, coaching and suggestions is the key to doing great…and continually improving.

Desire

A strong desire to communicate is why working at the whiteboard is so useful. Your desire is attractive and wonderfully contagious and attractive to clients, employees and prospects.

3. Continue The Conversation Visually

After an energetic whiteboard presentation, the big question emerges: “now what?” Since this question always comes up (and definitely should)…it makes sense to plan for it.

This is just like having gas in the car when you’re heading out for a trip early in the morning. You know you’ll need it. Why not plan ahead.

One of the most powerful ways to leverage the energy and enthusiasm from your presentation is to take a picture. Everyone wants to see the whiteboard notes. The colorful pictures, key ideas and visual layout is much more interesting than a written report. And this happens every time. So, plan ahead.

Take a picture with your phone or camera. Upload it and email to everyone who was in the meeting…and those who wanted to be there too.

This takes seconds but has a profound and lasting impact.

Put these 3 practices together and you have a quick and easy way to be a world-class whiteboard presenter. And you’ll see the benefits, as you rise in the organization and enjoy communicating all the way to the top of your career.

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Article Tags: online presentation training, presentation skills online, presentation skills training, total training, whiteboard presentation skills online, whiteboard selling, whiteboard selling online



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