How to Answer the Question: “What Do You Do?”
By Penelope Trunk | July 21, 2011
So what do you do?
It’s the question that people are often asked. Some instinctively know how to answer it well. But most don’t. The fact is, the question is so open-ended that it’s almost like a trick question. Any answer is right, technically, but most answers are boring and so therefore, probably detrimental to your career.
The problem for most of us is that our lives are long and complicated, and it’s hard to know what’s most important.
Here are some tips:
1.Talk fast.
When someone says to you, “What do you do?” it’s an invitation to you to give your elevator pitch about you. And elevator pitch, it should be noted, is called that because you should be able to start and finish the answer to the question in the time it takes to ride in an elevator.
Entrepreneurs have to be ready at all times to catch someone in an elevator who can fund their company, and then pitch that person, on the spot, to convince them to hear more about the company later.
So the answer to the question should be only a few sentences. If they are good sentences, the person will ask for more info. If you can’t give a good answer in less than a minute, then you have no idea how to talk about yourself when someone wants to talk longer.
2. Convey self-respect.
It’s hard to cover up self-doubt when you feel it. But talking about yourself in a framework of self-doubt does not make you honest - it makes you boring. Because we all have self-doubt. It’s natural to have self-doubt. It’s an accomplishment to figure out how to work around it and still get things done. What it interesting about each of us is how to get around the self-doubt. Talk about that.
When I was married to my ex-husband, and people would ask me what he does, I’d say, “I don’t know.” I think my answer revealed the inevitable demise of our marriage. Because having an answer to the question is a sign of self-respect - for ones spouse or for oneself.
3. Know your audience.
There is no one, single, right way to describe “what you do.” The key is to tailor your answer to your audience. And the way to know which answer is best for which audience is knowing your list of possibilities. Then, you can choose your one-sentence summary from the list you have in your head. For example, if you paint at home and you are a sales person, your summary of your life includes painting AND sales if you’re interviewing for a sales position at an art company. But if you’re interviewing at a software company? Your summary does not include painting.
4. Leave out boring stuff.
When people ask you what do you do, they are really asking, “what is interesting about you?” So you don’t need to confess that you stay in bed until noon and then watch movies for five hours. Retail may be a great way to support yourself when you are trying to figure out what’s next. And moving back into your parents house is a smart, conservative step in a wacky economy. But you don’t need to tell people this stuff. It’s not going to reveal interesting things about you.
Talk about that one hour, toward the end of the day, when you finally motivate yourself to do something. What if your most interesting work occurs outside of your day job? That’s okay. You should talk about what excites you and what you’re passionate about, even if this is something you don’t get paid for. People are not asking about money when they “what do you do?” they are asking about passion.
5. Show off your expertise.
Trying lots of jobs on for size is a great way to figure out what you want to do next. In fact, dilletantism might be the best career change tool around. But it should be a path to specializing. Because ultimately, specialists are the people who are most successful in the work world.
So you might be tempted to tell people how you do a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Don’t. But instead, force yourself to talk about your career like you’re a specialist.
6. Hire a career coach to help you tell stories.
I think everyone needs a career counselor at some point in their life, and the reason is that they need help shaping their story. We should each make choices that feel right at a given time and not worry about our story, but then we should be great at crafting our story to make sense of our lives after the fact.
Most people have coherent stories, but they don’t see it. Their resumes are a mess and their elevator pitch is a bore. Hire a professional to help you make a story that makes sense for where you want to go.
And, in the end, the only way we get where we want to be is to tell ourselves stories of what we look like on that path. So if you want to chase your dreams, first chase that elusively enchanting elevator pitch.
MY THOUGHTS
That's something that's worth learning-the elevator pitch. What can be more concise than that? Brief. To the point. Hitting the right spot. At the right time. With nothing else but the most crucial of details.
Showing posts with label presentation bloopers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label presentation bloopers. Show all posts
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
HOW MUCH OF YOUR PRESENTATION SHOULD BE ABOUT YOUR COMPANY
HOW MUCH OF YOUR PRESENTATION SHOULD BE ABOUT YOUR COMPANY
Death by Corporate Overview
by Peter Cohan
Published on April 19, 2005
Tags: Marketing Smarter, PowerPoint, Sales
We are often asked, "How much of our company's corporate overview presentation should we include in a demo meeting?" Good question. The answer: as little as possible!
Many salespeople and technical staff feel comfortable opening a demonstration meeting with a "brief" overview of their company. Most customers refer to this as "Death by PowerPoint."
Why? Because at the beginning of such meetings, customers are not interested in vendor history—they only want to whether a vendor can help address their critical business issues (CBIs) or enable them to achieve their objectives.
Making the customer wait through and watch and listen to three, six or ten or more slides from a standard corporate overview presentation about the vendor is just cruel!
Instead, start the meeting with a "situation slide."
In the case of a technical proof demonstration, this slide simply recalls the information gathered previously from during qualification/discovery discussions. You should list the following:
The customer's name and job title for each major player or department
The CBIs, reasons, and specific capabilities needed for each player or department
The desired change/result ("delta") for each situation (you may want to create a situation slide for each major player or department involved)
A CBI is a problem that the customer sees as important enough to invest resources to address. It is best to use the customer's words, such as "I'm concerned about our ability to achieve our forecasted revenues this year," which might come from a VP of Sales. In your situation slide, you would rephrase this:
VP of Sales, Acme Software
CBI: Concerned about achieving forecast revenues
Read the Full Article
Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2005/1465/death-by-corporate-overview#ixzz1KJKipRBI
MY THOUGHTS
It'll be good to remind yourself that your presentation is not a company orientation.
Death by Corporate Overview
by Peter Cohan
Published on April 19, 2005
Tags: Marketing Smarter, PowerPoint, Sales
We are often asked, "How much of our company's corporate overview presentation should we include in a demo meeting?" Good question. The answer: as little as possible!
Many salespeople and technical staff feel comfortable opening a demonstration meeting with a "brief" overview of their company. Most customers refer to this as "Death by PowerPoint."
Why? Because at the beginning of such meetings, customers are not interested in vendor history—they only want to whether a vendor can help address their critical business issues (CBIs) or enable them to achieve their objectives.
Making the customer wait through and watch and listen to three, six or ten or more slides from a standard corporate overview presentation about the vendor is just cruel!
Instead, start the meeting with a "situation slide."
In the case of a technical proof demonstration, this slide simply recalls the information gathered previously from during qualification/discovery discussions. You should list the following:
The customer's name and job title for each major player or department
The CBIs, reasons, and specific capabilities needed for each player or department
The desired change/result ("delta") for each situation (you may want to create a situation slide for each major player or department involved)
A CBI is a problem that the customer sees as important enough to invest resources to address. It is best to use the customer's words, such as "I'm concerned about our ability to achieve our forecasted revenues this year," which might come from a VP of Sales. In your situation slide, you would rephrase this:
VP of Sales, Acme Software
CBI: Concerned about achieving forecast revenues
Read the Full Article
Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2005/1465/death-by-corporate-overview#ixzz1KJKipRBI
MY THOUGHTS
It'll be good to remind yourself that your presentation is not a company orientation.
Friday, February 11, 2011
HOW TO FIX LONG PRESENTATIONS
HOW TO FIX TOO LONG PRESENTATIONS
from the articleTop 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them
By Geoffrey James
www.bnet.com
Most business presentations suck. They're boring. They're confusing. They're out of touch. This gallery explains exactly why most presentations are so dreadful, and what to do make your own presentations better.
Too Freakin' Long
* Diagnosis: It presents way more than anybody wants to know.
* Why It Happens: The speaker is “spraying and praying” in hope that something works.
* What Results: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
* How to Fix It: Always make your presentation less than half as long as you think it should be.
MY THOUGHTS
in other words, don't get carried away.know how much time you have for the presentation. if the presentation is short simply tell the audience the "must-know". if you have more time, include the "should-know". if there are no other speakers and you have all the time, then you can share the "nice-to-know". whatever you've prepared,long or short, be very sensitive to your audience. when you see them getting restless or already snoring,it's time to change gears or put a break.
from the articleTop 20 Reasons Presentations Suck and How To Fix Them
By Geoffrey James
www.bnet.com
Most business presentations suck. They're boring. They're confusing. They're out of touch. This gallery explains exactly why most presentations are so dreadful, and what to do make your own presentations better.
Too Freakin' Long
* Diagnosis: It presents way more than anybody wants to know.
* Why It Happens: The speaker is “spraying and praying” in hope that something works.
* What Results: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
* How to Fix It: Always make your presentation less than half as long as you think it should be.
MY THOUGHTS
in other words, don't get carried away.know how much time you have for the presentation. if the presentation is short simply tell the audience the "must-know". if you have more time, include the "should-know". if there are no other speakers and you have all the time, then you can share the "nice-to-know". whatever you've prepared,long or short, be very sensitive to your audience. when you see them getting restless or already snoring,it's time to change gears or put a break.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Top Seven Presentation Bloopers to Avoid
Top Seven Presentation Bloopers to Avoid
By Eric Feng Eric Feng
Level: Platinum
ERIC FENG BC (Hons), ACC, ATM-B Associate Certified Coach, ICF Humorous Contest (Div Level) Champ 2005 Straits Time Top 25 Alternative Achiever 2006 Eric’s trademark ...
Blooper #1: Not telling us why we should listen to you
Never assume that just because you have an audience, we are obliged to listen to you. We may love you (that's why we came in the first place) but never take advantage of the trust we have for you. It is an extreme turn-off when the audience has to do the work i.e. figure out how your presentation is relevant to us. We are a bunch of selfish egomaniacs. We love ourselves so much! And we don't care about your experiences unless it teaches us something that we can use for ourselves. So here's a word of advice: If you want to share your experiences, please do. But always include a message, something that will benefit us, your beloved audience!
Blooper #2: Ignoring us throughout your speech
We get bored easily. Period. If you keep talking about you, you, you, you, you... we will switch off. We want to be part of your speech. We really do. Get us involved. It could be as simple as asking us a question. It gives us a chance to hear ourselves talk. It could be as simple as playing a mini game with us. It gets us up on our seat. Please entertain us! Make us love you. We really want to because if you keep ignoring our needs, we will do the same. Lucky for the speaker, he allowed us to ask questions at any point in his presentation and guess what, we did! In my opinion, that was his saving grace!
Blooper #3: Going overtime
No matter how good you are, never ever go over time!!! Unless we paid you thousands of dollars to teach us something and you are about to share with us the ultimate secret to earning another ten million. If you want your audience to love you, end earlier than expected! It tells us that you respect our time. It makes you special because most speakers don't observe that. And guess what, the next time you give your presentation; we will be there to support you!
Blooper #4: Spelling errors on your slides
Imagine sitting in a formal business presentation with a presentation slide like this:
In the gamming industry...?Microfsoft?Upluft and Profit?Generated an annual revenue of $1.000000 dollars (huh???!!!)?Curent Maket size of 30 billion people
Ok, you get my point. When you have these glaring spelling mistakes in your slides, here's the image you are portraying to your audience: sloppy and cannot be bothered. Unless that's what you want the audience to think of you, I suggest you get someone to do a spell check.
Blooper #5: Bad pronunciation of words
It cracks me up when some presenters stumble upon the same word every single time, without any sign of remorse. There was one time I sat through a presentation where the team had to review a company's product named Morange. And throughout the ten minutes presentation, they came up with oh so many ways to pronounce this word.
Moo-ronge?Ma-range?Ma-rangi?Mo-ran?Moo-rock
And I swear one time I heard Moron. They might as well labelled the product Moronic Morange. That would be... memorable. Some "credit" has to be given to the company who named their product mo-range.
Blooper #6: Reading off the script
Although my preference is to go without a script, sometimes there is a need for it. However more often than not, speakers are too reliant on their script. You see them referring to their script even if it is just reading their name and designation??!! Yes, this is very puzzling. I once came across a book that taught me how to read from a script. Here's the golden rule. Never ever speak when your eyes are on your script. Instead, you should follow this three-step process: see, stop, say.
First, look down and take a snapshot of your script. Memorize a chunk of words. Bring your head up and then pause for a second. When you are ready, say what you have memorized in your own words. It's a three-step process: see, stop and say. It is very important that you pause. Yes, it may be weird for you but in reality, the pause helps make your speech conversational. It also creates anticipation, which further deepen the impact.
Let's use President SR Nathan's opening speech at the Parliament as an example. Instead of reading the script word for word, he could use the see-stop-say strategy.
Forty one years ago?(pause)?Singapore was thrust into independence and an uncertain future?(pause)?At that defining moment of our history?(pause)?we resolved to succeed.?(longer pause for impact)?Together?(pause)?Singaporeans made key choices that made us who we are today?(pause)?a united people of different races?(pause)?living and prospering in harmony.
Blooper #7: Starting your presentation weak
Maybe it is just me but I get really pissed off when a speaker starts off his presentation with "Urm.. I guess I should probably start... ah ok, here goes...". Or even worse "I am not really prepared for this presentation because (give some lame excuse). But anyway, I will start..." Trust me, giving excuses of why you may not do a good job will hardly win the sympathy of your audience. Instead, you will make us feel that we are unworthy of your time. You will be better off not giving the presentation since no one will be listening anyway.
As the saying goes, you will not get a second chance to make a good first impression. So make full use of your first 30 seconds to impress your audience. Here are a couple of ways you can start a presentation powerfully. You can tell a personal story and relate it back to the message of your presentation. Starting your presentation with a visual stimulating or humorous video clip will also create impact. Or begin with a thought provoking quote or a shocking statistic, which will create the listening for your presentation. All these are far more superior to your usual good morning/afternoon/evening niceties or worse apologies.
Eric recently won the International Humor Contest at Division level, earning the title of “Philadelphia Funniest Man”. Besides being a member of Panorama and NUS Toastmasters Club, he also writes regularly at his public speaking blog: [http://blog.ericfeng.com]
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Feng
MY THOUGHTS
It pays to listen - so take heed. i particularly like the "see-stop-say strategy". for myself, the worst presentation i ever gave was the one i didn't believe in. how can you convince others if you're not convinced.
By Eric Feng Eric Feng
Level: Platinum
ERIC FENG BC (Hons), ACC, ATM-B Associate Certified Coach, ICF Humorous Contest (Div Level) Champ 2005 Straits Time Top 25 Alternative Achiever 2006 Eric’s trademark ...
Blooper #1: Not telling us why we should listen to you
Never assume that just because you have an audience, we are obliged to listen to you. We may love you (that's why we came in the first place) but never take advantage of the trust we have for you. It is an extreme turn-off when the audience has to do the work i.e. figure out how your presentation is relevant to us. We are a bunch of selfish egomaniacs. We love ourselves so much! And we don't care about your experiences unless it teaches us something that we can use for ourselves. So here's a word of advice: If you want to share your experiences, please do. But always include a message, something that will benefit us, your beloved audience!
Blooper #2: Ignoring us throughout your speech
We get bored easily. Period. If you keep talking about you, you, you, you, you... we will switch off. We want to be part of your speech. We really do. Get us involved. It could be as simple as asking us a question. It gives us a chance to hear ourselves talk. It could be as simple as playing a mini game with us. It gets us up on our seat. Please entertain us! Make us love you. We really want to because if you keep ignoring our needs, we will do the same. Lucky for the speaker, he allowed us to ask questions at any point in his presentation and guess what, we did! In my opinion, that was his saving grace!
Blooper #3: Going overtime
No matter how good you are, never ever go over time!!! Unless we paid you thousands of dollars to teach us something and you are about to share with us the ultimate secret to earning another ten million. If you want your audience to love you, end earlier than expected! It tells us that you respect our time. It makes you special because most speakers don't observe that. And guess what, the next time you give your presentation; we will be there to support you!
Blooper #4: Spelling errors on your slides
Imagine sitting in a formal business presentation with a presentation slide like this:
In the gamming industry...?Microfsoft?Upluft and Profit?Generated an annual revenue of $1.000000 dollars (huh???!!!)?Curent Maket size of 30 billion people
Ok, you get my point. When you have these glaring spelling mistakes in your slides, here's the image you are portraying to your audience: sloppy and cannot be bothered. Unless that's what you want the audience to think of you, I suggest you get someone to do a spell check.
Blooper #5: Bad pronunciation of words
It cracks me up when some presenters stumble upon the same word every single time, without any sign of remorse. There was one time I sat through a presentation where the team had to review a company's product named Morange. And throughout the ten minutes presentation, they came up with oh so many ways to pronounce this word.
Moo-ronge?Ma-range?Ma-rangi?Mo-ran?Moo-rock
And I swear one time I heard Moron. They might as well labelled the product Moronic Morange. That would be... memorable. Some "credit" has to be given to the company who named their product mo-range.
Blooper #6: Reading off the script
Although my preference is to go without a script, sometimes there is a need for it. However more often than not, speakers are too reliant on their script. You see them referring to their script even if it is just reading their name and designation??!! Yes, this is very puzzling. I once came across a book that taught me how to read from a script. Here's the golden rule. Never ever speak when your eyes are on your script. Instead, you should follow this three-step process: see, stop, say.
First, look down and take a snapshot of your script. Memorize a chunk of words. Bring your head up and then pause for a second. When you are ready, say what you have memorized in your own words. It's a three-step process: see, stop and say. It is very important that you pause. Yes, it may be weird for you but in reality, the pause helps make your speech conversational. It also creates anticipation, which further deepen the impact.
Let's use President SR Nathan's opening speech at the Parliament as an example. Instead of reading the script word for word, he could use the see-stop-say strategy.
Forty one years ago?(pause)?Singapore was thrust into independence and an uncertain future?(pause)?At that defining moment of our history?(pause)?we resolved to succeed.?(longer pause for impact)?Together?(pause)?Singaporeans made key choices that made us who we are today?(pause)?a united people of different races?(pause)?living and prospering in harmony.
Blooper #7: Starting your presentation weak
Maybe it is just me but I get really pissed off when a speaker starts off his presentation with "Urm.. I guess I should probably start... ah ok, here goes...". Or even worse "I am not really prepared for this presentation because (give some lame excuse). But anyway, I will start..." Trust me, giving excuses of why you may not do a good job will hardly win the sympathy of your audience. Instead, you will make us feel that we are unworthy of your time. You will be better off not giving the presentation since no one will be listening anyway.
As the saying goes, you will not get a second chance to make a good first impression. So make full use of your first 30 seconds to impress your audience. Here are a couple of ways you can start a presentation powerfully. You can tell a personal story and relate it back to the message of your presentation. Starting your presentation with a visual stimulating or humorous video clip will also create impact. Or begin with a thought provoking quote or a shocking statistic, which will create the listening for your presentation. All these are far more superior to your usual good morning/afternoon/evening niceties or worse apologies.
Eric recently won the International Humor Contest at Division level, earning the title of “Philadelphia Funniest Man”. Besides being a member of Panorama and NUS Toastmasters Club, he also writes regularly at his public speaking blog: [http://blog.ericfeng.com]
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Feng
MY THOUGHTS
It pays to listen - so take heed. i particularly like the "see-stop-say strategy". for myself, the worst presentation i ever gave was the one i didn't believe in. how can you convince others if you're not convinced.
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