smoothly, so you are swept along without a stop in the momentum.

Your speeches must move from point to point without a stop in the action. Great transitions keep the momentum going. Embed your facts and figures, your technical language and your solutions into mini stories, which flow from one to the other. If you are presenting with others, each presenter will keep the momentum flowing by crafting transitions that are part of the story, rather than “cuts” in the action.

If you must use Power Point, be sure that

Blockbuster movies always make the news. Whether it's adventure, mystery or fantasy, you get involved in the movie from the first moment and stay glued to the screen until the last fade out.

Great movies can tell us a lot about how to be great speakers. Great movies are a collection of very deliberate decisions about many details that are packaged in such a way that we don’t see them individually. We feel them and we get absorbed by them. You can do this for your audiences.

Grab 'em!

How does a great movie capture your attention from the very first moment? The director wants you immersed in the mood, not conscious of specific details.

You’ll have heightened awareness, you’ll think “this is going to be good”, and you’ll sit back and let it happen. You’ll forget everything else that’s going on in your life while you’re absorbed in to the movie.

Do you grab your audience so completely in the first moment that their attention stays fully on you from start to finish?

Creatively use your voice, your body language and your words. Create a mood, such as suspense, curiosity, or familiarity. This is the same as the director who combines scary music with a benign looking landscape. Your mind is attracted by the disconnect, even though you can’t articulate in words what has attracted you.

Perhaps there are a series of location scenes that tell you about the environment of the action. In “The Devil Wears Prada,” the opening scenes show New York City at a very fast pace. This fast pace, the relentlessness of the city’s movement, tells us that relentlessness and speed are two themes that will play a significant part of the story.

Model your opening on the effects and mood of your favorite movie. You’ll have the audience involved from the first moment and they’ll mentally stick around long enough to learn from the rest of your speech.

Hold 'em!

How do you keep their attention? Great movies seamlessly take you along for the duration of the story. Each new scene, new character or plot twist is introduced smoothly, so you are swept along without a stop in the momentum.

Your speeches must move from point to point without a stop in the action. Great transitions keep the momentum going. Embed your facts and figures, your technical language and your solutions into mini stories, which flow from one to the other. If you are presenting with others, each presenter will keep the momentum flowing by crafting transitions that are part of the story, rather than “cuts” in the action.

If you must use Power Point, be sure that y

e your attention from the very first moment? The director wants you immersed in the mood, not conscious of specific details.

You’ll have heightened awareness, you’ll think “this is going to be good”, and you’ll sit back and let it happen. You’ll forget everything else that’s going on in your life while you’re absorbed in to the movie.

Do you grab your audience so completely in the first moment that their attention stays fully on you from start to finish?

Creatively use your voice, your body language and your words. Create a mood, such as suspense, curiosity, or familiarity. This is the same as the director who combines scary music with a benign looking landscape. Your mind is attracted by the disconnect, even though you can’t articulate in words what has attracted you.

Perhaps there are a series of location scenes that tell you about the environment of the action. In “The Devil Wears Prada,” the opening scenes show New York City at a very fast pace. This fast pace, the relentlessness of the city’s movement, tells us that relentlessness and speed are two themes that will play a significant part of the story.

Model your opening on the effects and mood of your favorite movie. You’ll have the audience involved from the first moment and they’ll mentally stick around long enough to learn from the rest of your speech.

Hold 'em!

How do you keep their attention? Great movies seamlessly take you along for the duration of the story. Each new scene, new character or plot twist is introduced smoothly, so you are swept along without a stop in the momentum.

Your speeches must move from point to point without a stop in the action. Great transitions keep the momentum going. Embed your facts and figures, your technical language and your solutions into mini stories, which flow from one to the other. If you are presenting with others, each presenter will keep the momentum flowing by crafting transitions that are part of the story, rather than “cuts” in the action.

If you must use Power Point, be sure that

r voice, your body language and your words. Create a mood, such as suspense, curiosity, or familiarity. This is the same as the director who combines scary music with a benign looking landscape. Your mind is attracted by the disconnect, even though you can’t articulate in words what has attracted you.

Perhaps there are a series of location scenes that tell you about the environment of the action. In “The Devil Wears Prada,” the opening scenes show New York City at a very fast pace. This fast pace, the relentlessness of the city’s movement, tells us that relentlessness and speed are two themes that will play a significant part of the story.

Model your opening on the effects and mood of your favorite movie. You’ll have the audience involved from the first moment and they’ll mentally stick around long enough to learn from the rest of your speech.

Hold 'em!

How do you keep their attention? Great movies seamlessly take you along for the duration of the story. Each new scene, new character or plot twist is introduced smoothly, so you are swept along without a stop in the momentum.

Your speeches must move from point to point without a stop in the action. Great transitions keep the momentum going. Embed your facts and figures, your technical language and your solutions into mini stories, which flow from one to the other. If you are presenting with others, each presenter will keep the momentum flowing by crafting transitions that are part of the story, rather than “cuts” in the action.

If you must use Power Point, be sure that

ss of the city’s movement, tells us that relentlessness and speed are two themes that will play a significant part of the story.

Model your opening on the effects and mood of your favorite movie. You’ll have the audience involved from the first moment and they’ll mentally stick around long enough to learn from the rest of your speech.

Hold 'em!

How do you keep their attention? Great movies seamlessly take you along for the duration of the story. Each new scene, new character or plot twist is introduced smoothly, so you are swept along without a stop in the momentum.

Your speeches must move from point to point without a stop in the action. Great transitions keep the momentum going. Embed your facts and figures, your technical language and your solutions into mini stories, which flow from one to the other. If you are presenting with others, each presenter will keep the momentum flowing by crafting transitions that are part of the story, rather than “cuts” in the action.

If you must use Power Point, be sure that

smoothly, so you are swept along without a stop in the momentum.

Your speeches must move from point to point without a stop in the action. Great transitions keep the momentum going. Embed your facts and figures, your technical language and your solutions into mini stories, which flow from one to the other. If you are presenting with others, each presenter will keep the momentum flowing by crafting transitions that are part of the story, rather than “cuts” in the action.

If you must use Power Point, be sure that you are telling the story. No matter how exquisite the scenery, or fanciful the special effects, in a great movie it’s the characters who are the focus and move the story from one scene to the next.

The next time you go to the movies, see if you can figure out how the movie captures your attention from the first moment and keeps it till the last fade out. When you can mimic that kind of impact in your speeches and presentations, you’ll be a standout when you are In the Spotlight.