On this page you can do three things:
- Read the testimonials for the Black Belt Presentation Series Product.Look at the comments.
- Add your own testimonial in the comments.
- Click here to read more aboutāBlack Belt Presentation Series (How to create riveting presentations on stage and on webinars).
Warm regards
Sean DāSouza
P.S. In case you have any questions,Ā please email me. I do answer every email.Ā
I didn’t think it’d need the course, and this for 2 reasons:
1) I already know how to make good-looking slides
2) I have this vision that Sean’s slides would be bit more 1990s, so what am I going to learn from him?
But I had an important seminar to prepare, and I knew Sean was never disappointed in his content, so I decided to proceed.
As a result of buying the product, I was completely wrong on the idea of what a presentation is.
Yes, I knew how to make slides that only have a word, Apple style, but that wasn’t enough. I also needed to understand how to deliver my speech, how to structure it, how to use props, stories, and everything that makes a presentation great.
I used this for my 4-day seminar, and I had incredible reviews from the engineers I’ve trained. Most of the comments I’ve had on the slides, delivery, and presentation were 10/10.
The specific feature you liked most aboutāThe “wake up” opening of a presentation or module. I think most experts do it, and everybody else doesn’t realize how impactful this is. I have been able to be very creative with props, too.
Three other benefits?
The System is really great for structure; the idea of giving preparation material, and everything related to preparing in advance for an event has been incredibly helpful for my seminar. I’d probably have been super late and lost the audience many times without the “Book 3”.
Yes, I 100% recommend this product, even if you already know how to tell stories design slides, or are used to presenting.
If there is something to understand about Sean is, above everything else, he’ll help you make your content and delivery better.
This matters extremely ā yes marketing, funnels, ads, etc… are important, but having a good product people love to consume is equally important, and Sean is probably the only one explaining these parts.
Warm regards
Jeremy
I recently had to prepare a presentation as part of a training “package” for some new software we are rolling out at work.
This only became a package because of reading and learning about the black belt presentation methodology.
Before learning the concepts, I would have made many of the mistakes everyone else makes (too much information on a slide, not enough slides, no excitement and no link between the sections).
After learning the black belt method, this was no more…
I provided a workbook before the event (and a video demo) as well as prepared the whole presentation in a nice and calm manner (and that would not have been the case before).
Yes, it still took me quite some time to put it all together, but I had a full system laid out in front of me (thanks to your teaching). And that meant, I always knew what to do next.
And, the presentation was a success.
I even had one person come up to me saying that they were not expecting to be so engaged in the training and that they really enjoyed it (even though they missed the part about the three bears at the start).
All I can say is thank you for sharing this. It really has changed the way I do presentations for the better.
Aman
I waited long before buying this book, because all those bullets were a bit overwhelming and I thought I couldnāt understand the most of the book, that it could be too technical for me. I do presentations something like once a year, and I donāt do sales presentations but more like informative and research based lectures.
However I do them hoping that someone will later get in touch and buy something for me, which normally happens, maybe months later.
The thing is that I get so nervous before my lectures, and I suffer from impostor syndrome. So the biggest change was confidence. Having a structure and knowing clearly what I was to do, when and why I was using a sequence of slides, boosted my confidence dramatically.
Some of the things in the books came just as confirms of what I was already doing (which is always a good thing to get anyway), some others were revelations. As a consequence I was sooo excited to speak in front of a very small audience (due to the corona restriptions), and in percentage, I am now in touch with the 30% of the audience, negotiating concretely about my highest level product.
I mentioned I was afraid it was too much. 500 pages looks like too much when you already have a presentation to prepare (yes, I bought it on the last month before the presentation). Fortunately it comes with the full audiobook, so I was able to have all the concepts clear in a couple of day of driving, and reading was just reviewing and consolidating.
Of course I couldnāt implement everything in so little time, but that little I did changed a lot in the participation and feedback I got. Because it is in small, implementable steps.
Some are big concepts, which are so mind blowing that youāll promise yourself to never do without again, and some are just tiny tricks that youāll implement in nothing and will improve your flow.
So, even if you feel you are already late, itās certainly worth reading or listening to this. Thanks Sean!
Sean, just a note of thanks for the Black Belt Presentations product.
I bought it when you first published it…and waited, knowing I’d need it, well, someday. The day has come: After years of study I’m finally launching as a coach in pain relief, and yesterday I made my first group presentation. I used all the boxes just as directed, and got boffo results.
My local pain support group told me afterward that my talk was exciting, informative and easy to follow…would I please come back and do another one?
Two of the 12 participants approached me to see about personal
coaching. And I’ve been invited to do the same talk in another town!
I went into that event feeling well prepared, with a solid presentation
structure and good support for every point I made. Thanks for creating such a valuable resource. I know I’ll be referring to it many times as I refine my skills. Maybe I’ll make some of the recipes too.
Cheers,
Gail
My testimonial:
I’ve given workshops for 20 years and Black Belt Presentations still taught me a lot. The 13 box system flows beautifully and keeps attendees on fire. It’s a perfect combination of practical, theatrical and honoring different learning styles of your attendees. There’s subtle and constant summarizing, there’s keeping to 3 main ideas (why do we all have the urge to overload?), there’s storytelling, pacing, props, everything. The system is also very easy to learn and I implemented it the very next day after purchasing. The system gives me confidence, feels in line with what I’d been doing intuitively, and ups my game by adding extra polish and focus. For sure my workshops are even more effective thanks to BBP.
Diana Rowan | Harp | Bright Knowledge Guild
In my context, I was looking specifically for presentation skills but for information on how to create a podcast. The main obstacle for me was whether the price of this book series would raise the quality of my podcast.
What I found as a result of buying this product was that it was entirely applicable to podcasting. It did this by presenting a paradigm to present material in a thorough and engaging fashion.
The specific feature I liked the most was the structure that could be applied to any point. It was quite intuitive when I studied it, but, I would have never identified the pattern. The result of having an effective structure is that it expedites the writing process while increasing the engagement factor for the listener. This is tremendously valuable to me.
Some other benefits that were appreciated were Sean’s insistence that the presentation goal is not a transfer of information, per se, but rather to encourage a specific response from the listener. Not three responses, not two responses, but just one response. Sean then outlines intellectually digestible and actionable process to achieve this response.
I would recommend this to a friend who was looking for advice on giving presentations. The reason I would recommend it is because he/she would have a functional set of principles (tools) at their disposal to construct a public presentation that could be an asset to their sales goals.
If Sean was on a baseball card, his stats would lead the league in his “ability to present relevant information in a clear, actionable format”.
Steve Harris
I wanted to say a big thank you for your Black Belt Presentation series.
I’ve just run my first free event and heavily relied on it. I had such positive feedback and had 15 people out of 24 turn up. Which I think is good when nobody knows who you are.
What was invaluable was that the three books were all part of the journey from thinking of an idea to present, to designing the slides, to presenting it, to pre, during and post event control. I had your audio files in my ear keeping me company and pulling my socks up where they might have slipped elsewhere.
I had a phone call even from a chap who was so impressed by the pre-sell that he asked if I could do some consultancy for him. This pre-sell crosses over between the Black Belt series and The Copywriting course, but he said that if I can market myself so well, then please do the same for me.
I know that I say this a lot, but the years that I spent in ad agencies where you are expected to ‘get it’ without much training frustrates me. The reason is that if I had found your work 12-13 years ago, I could be so much further ahead rather than playing so much guess work and learning as I went along. The way you teach is outstanding and I’m glad that I’ve found you even though it’s taken me over a decade to do so!
Anyway, that’s my honest testimonial and thank you from me š
Best,
Simon Lamey
The real reason I am writing this email is to give you a feedback about the Blackbelt Presentation series.
Sometime ago I have promised to send you my opinion after having applied what I have learned from these books.
So, today something interesting happened:
I came out of a meeting with my very busy, egocentric and impatient but very smart and skilled boss and got from him exactly what I wanted.
The hour before this very important meeting I felt like I want to poop in my pants, my hands shaking and sweating, and all things that happen when your body tells you that you are in serious danger.
So how did I get want I wanted anyway?
I had very little time to get prepared, I set up the meeting the late evening before and could hardly sleep as I was trying to put the right words together.
Then in the morning on my way to the office, actually riding my motorbike, all of the sudden it came to my mind (a bit late maybe, I know) that I was actually up to some sort of mini-presentation.
Without slides and a big audience though.
Anyway I thought it might smart to apply the 13box system to structure the ideas and wishes I wanted to communicate.
It’s so simple but so brilliant at the same time.
These books are life-changing for me, I have to say.
Now, I am in the preparation phase for a series of presentations within our company and am looking forward to also apply things I have learned from the 1st and 3rd part of the series.
Thank you Sean!
All the best,
Stephan Schilli
“I’ve practiced law for over 25 years, and my specialty was handling litigation. I routinely argued cases before judges, juries, and public officials.
In the past 10 years I’ve done a lot of public speaking, and for the past 3 years most of my public speaking is for pay. That is people pay me an honorarium to speak at their event.
In short, I’m not a novice when it comes to doing presentations. And that’s why I was skeptical that Sean’s materials on Blackbelt Presentations would benefit me enough to justify the cost. Boy, was I wrong!
His revelation, and detailed explanation, of the “system” alone is worth the price. I have begun retooling all of my old slide decks (of which I have over a dozen) to incorporate the system. For me this is extra trouble, but I can see the benefit to my audience and to my reputation as a speaker.
The nice thing is, from here on out, creating new presentations from scratch will be a breeze. The recommendations that Sean provides are based on a larger system (e.g. The Brain Audit) that helps me create content that has maximum impact. If you want to know how to best hold an audience’s attention, and then persuade them to act you’ll LOVE the Blackbelt Presentation material. So will your audiences.
If I knew how useful this stuff was going to be I’d happily have paid three times the price. My only complaint is that I didn’t know about it 10 years ago.”
Thanks,
Ernie Svenson
I wanted to let you know that I carefully used everything I learned from BlackBelt Presentations and out of 7 presenters I was the only one who received a standing ovation.
Thank you for helping me make my presentation day a great success.
Sincerely,
Ron Grisanti
I thought I didn’t need Black Belt Presentations because I was already good with presentations — and it’s true, I was good.
I always received compliments on my presentations. Sometimes, I thought was even greatā¦or so I thought. I bought Black Belt Presentations to “brush up” my skills, but that didn’t happen. I didn’t brush up on my presentation skills — I transformed them.
Black Belt Presentations brought clarity to my understanding of great presentations and how to make them consistently great. Exceptional even. And it has applications beyond presentations.
This is a “must have” piece of educational material for me with benefits that go directly to the bottom line.
Christopher Cook
“I was convinced that Sean knew a lot about things like writing, selling and cartoons. I was not sure whether that would mean that he knows a lot about presenting.”
What got me over the hurdle was that from what I’ve seen from Sean before, he has this systematic approach to everything. So, at least I was sure it was going to be systematic.
What I like best about the course isāThat I can totally rely on the framework it gives.
At the time of purchasing the BlackBelt presentation package I had positive presentation experiences and content that I really enjoyed talking about. It seems that I did some things right by intuition, never quite sure which they were.
I had also incorporated various tips and tricks from various sources and that leaves me a bit worried whether they actually fit together.
Next to my good presentation experiences, I had some not so pleasant ones – but I did not understand the underlying causal relations or even which factors to look at. And, since I had some good presentation experiences, I was eager to know how to make all my presentations good experiences.
I was lacking a format to put it into.
In bakery terms it was like I know I had good content “dough” before the BlackBelt course, and now I just need to pour it into a format and beautiful looking cookies which also taste good are sure to come out. And I just need to concentrate on the content/dough that I like so much.
The three best features:
1) The framework sometimes is so easy to follow that it almost becomes unbelievable.
But then I notice how I just race through the pages, wanting to have it all in one go and that I’m experiencing that even though it is so easy to follow it’s right at that moment doing wonders to me.
2) There’s enough in there to incorporate right now, and to keep on growing for quite a while. I’m looking forward to the learning curve ahead of me.
3) I also like that it covers all the important aspects. Seriously, Sean has me that far that I think: if it’s not in the BlackBelt presentation, I don’t need to worry about it.
I would totally recommend this productāEspecially to people who have some good experiences with presentations, there’s something you like about giving presentations, there’s some stuff that goes well in your presentations, and now you want to go up one level. And even some levels further.
I really like that everything is thought through and that Sean also explains for example how the pre-event control is linked to what happens during the event. You begin to understand presentations on completely different levels.
The system on how to structure a talk will also help people who are a bit uncertain about their content. You know which parts you need to do some back up reading. I had to do that for one of my presentations. But from the structure it was really clear which book I needed to read, which notes I had to take during reading and so on. It was a very efficient experience in brushing up my knowledge and then I was ready to give a presentation I felt good about.
Elfriede Krauth
Utrecht
The sales page for the product really peaked my interest.
I was concerned at first because I already have several books on presentations.
The material turned out to be instructive and useful.
I’m glad I bought this product!
Before I got Black Belt Presentations I thought I knew how to make a good presentation and they were definitely better than most presentations I’ve seen.
Now that I have the skills and techniques learned in Black Belt Presentations I know my presentations are better. I’ve used it on several occasions and I’ve had several people say “That was a great presentation!”. I think that says it all! My next step is to use these skills to in the production of video presentations.
This is one Psychotactics Product you should not be without! —
Wayne Wallace
I purchased Black Belt Presentations a few months ago. The material was fun to read and easy to apply. I had an upcoming speech for my Toastmasters International Club. I concentrated on putting the slides together as you recommended: a single thought per slide with graphics and pictures that did much of the work to portray the main point. I used power point. One of these days I’ll be able to by a Mac.
My audience was Mesmerized! The number of slides I used went from a typical 4 or 5 to 50. But the presentation limit of 5-7 minutes was easily observed. I got loads of compliments thanks to your material.
I highly recommend your eBook. Pro of beginner. It’s is awesome!
Best Regards,
Shawn from Philadelphia, PA
The Black Belt Presentation program is awesome! It’s really practical information that is taught in such an easy way to understand. I’m incorporating its ideas into all my presentations from here forward. Thanks for doing such a great job with this. It was well worth the money and my return-on-investment will far surpass the cost of the program. Thanks again!
Lynn Quiring
I’ve been doing presentations for over 30 years and I found the information contained in Black Belt presentations to be extremely useful and practical. I started using some of the concepts in my presentations and my closing ration increased 28%. I highly recommend Sean’s material. He definitely delivers.
Rick Itzkowich
The LinkedIn Guy
What makes a presentation great? The overview? The pearls of wisdom presented? The presentation materials? The flow of the presentation? The audience interaction? The presenter’s good looks? The time limit? The coffee? In the “Blackbelt Presentation Series”, Sean D’Souza says all of them count (except the coffee and the instructor’s good looks.) Why does Sean’s opinion matter?
If you have never seen Sean give a presentation, you are really missing something. Sean gets the audience engaged and keeps them engaged throughout his presentation. His presentations move quickly, communicate the points, and create a lasting impression on his audiences. Sean will be the first to admit it is not just his boyish charm that carries the presentation. The structure is the key. And so structure is the focus of the “Blackbelt Presentation Series.”
The Blackbelt Presentation Series Shows You How To Motivate
The structure is not just a format. It is a process for making your audiences stand up and take action. The “Blackbelt Presentation Series.” begins with the importance of simplicity. And then explains what you need to do. And then shows you how to do it. With plenty of examples and pictures to make sure you get the point.
Starting With The Design
The first section focuses on the structure of the look and feel of your slides. The goal is a design that is clean and focused. A design that doesn’t get in the way of the message. Working through the background, fonts, layout and fonts, I quickly learned more about slide design than I had in over 30 years of building presentations. But a good looking design is only the beginning.
Adding The Sequence For A Dynamic Presentation
In the second section Sean shows how to structure the sequence of your slides. Not just how to order them but explanations of why. And the impact they have on your audience. I learned concepts I can apply to live slide presentations, webinars, and recorded presentations. As if this weren’t enough, there is a third section on structuring the event.
Culminating In How To Manage Your Audience
In the third section, Sean explains and provides his experiences at managing your audience. Sean doesn’t believe the audience is just an afterthought. He focuses on what he wants the audience to do, and then describes how to help them get there. From why you shouldn’t provide lunch to why finishing on time is more critical than a question and answer period. And how to move your audience to action. Throughout the “Blackbelt Presentation Series” Sean delivers the structure for you to build and deliver clear, focused and attention grabbing presentations.
Kudos For The Blackbelt Presentation Series
I recommend the “Blackbelt Presentation Series” without reservation. It is without a doubt the best material I have ever found on presentations. It is designed to help you make your first presentation. And is packed with new ideas for those of us gray beards who count our presentations in the thousands. I have learned so much from the series that I am actually looking forward to my next presentation.
Sincerely,
Warren Hayford
Director, RatioServices LLC
When Sean announced that he was writing a book on presentations, I wasnāt that interested. Iāve been presenting training programs, workshops, and keynote speeches for 25 year to over 25,000 people.
What Sean has done is remarkable. He exposed the underlying structure of what I do well ā which now allows me to be more conscious and intentional in designing and delivering my programs.
I also learned many, many ways to clean up the parts of my presentations that Iāve struggled with. Subtle stuff that you can’t find in any other books. But, subtle is significant when it comes to communicating and influencing an audience. Sean illuminates the subtle in ways that promote mastery.
If youāre relatively new to speaking and presenting ā youāve just been given the express train to effectiveness. In his trademark style, Sean lays out the elements you need to master ā in bite sized chunks and in sequence (this is critical). You still have to implement, practice, and make these structures your own. But, you donāt have to stumble around in the dark searching for the light switch. Seanās already turned on the light.
Eric Klein
http://www.wisdomheart.org
Like Howie Jacobson, when I first saw Sean present during System Seminar 2008 in Chicago, I was immediately aware that this was no ordinary presentation.
I can quite honestly say that in all the 25 odd years at least that I have been on the “receiving end” of corporate-style presentations, I had never seen anything like it.
Not only was it not hard work to consume, it was a positive pleasure.
I’m not very big on the speaking circuit, although this past year I have been getting started with it in Maui, Chicago, New York and London, and hope to do more.
Reading Sean’s amazing work on the subject, I feel like I’ve been given the keys to the kingdom of successful presentations.
Although I’ve been getting some elements correct by either instinct or just exposure over the years to what I didn’t like, I can also see all the “usual suspects” in terms of classic mistakes.
I now feel I have a comprehensive system to assemble all the material I want to present in exactly the right way to make the best impression – and to have a lot more fun doing it!
And I also see a most important strategic application of this work to help me with sharing my specialist AdWords knowledge with a remote audience via webinars and videos.
Thanks Sean for your usual world-class content.
Buy this work if you don’t have it – you will not regret it.
David Rothwell
AdWordsAnswers.com
London, UK
I have always had great feedback for my presentations. So why should I buy a guide to presentations, especially one at this price?!
Within 30 minutes of sitting down to study Seanās trilogy, it was clear that I had plenty of opportunities to raise my game. What was great was that Sean enabled me to start raising my game straight away. I listened to one of Seanās audios on the way to run a training course. The audio allowed me to immediately create a much more powerful start that morning for the course. Applying the wake up and a teaser boxes allowed me to gain the immediate attention of the delegates. But the wake up and teaser is just one way in which I will improve my presentations.
I will also be improving the whole way I think about my slides, from content to design. (And I will be applying the design advice to lot of my other collateral as well). As well as design, I will be improving the pacing of my presentations. And I will be using props, stories and movement much more in my presentations. It doesnāt matter how good you are at presenting: you WILL find ways to improve your presentations skills.
Matthew Parker
Director
Print & Procurement
I had to give a presentation this afternoon and had to rewrite half of it as a result of reading your book.
“I taught presentation skills for many years, so didn’t think I had much to learn. I was wrong, wrong, wrong! These guides are fantastic, the best I’ve seen – and I’ve read lots about presentations and performance.
Sean doesn’t cut corners or skip difficult issues. He shows you everything you’ll need to create and give EXCELLENT presentations. The material’s easy to followā it’s so well writtenā and is packed with practical tips. You could read these books a dozen times and still be learning. They are a great investment.”
Plus the 13-box system is such a simple system for explaining how to structure a presentation. My only complaint is that I was giving a presentation this afternoon – and had to rewrite half of it as a result of reading your book.”
Justin Deaville
CEO, Wordtracker
Iāve made a lot of presentations and I wanted to take it up a notch. I wanted to get the audience more engaged. One of my weaknesses early on was not understanding the part of getting people to give me their contact information by offering something of value. I had recently done that with some success.
Three points that I used and really worked immediately were:
a) First, I reorganized my presentation from 7 keys to 3 areas of focus and broke my 7 keys into the three areas.
b) Second, I changed my introduction to get them engaged
c) Third, I included a number of audience engagement moments to reengage them.
The biggest change I made was inserting the first part of my offer halfway through the presentation. I included a sheet at the end of my handouts.
I asked the audience to take out a card and write yes on the back of it. Out of 50 people in the audience only about 6 had a card, so the information sheet I provided came in handy. The outcome was almost 100% of the participants gave me their contact information. Had I wanted until the end they would not have had time to fill it out.
Using the Black Belt approach fit nicely with the way I typically prepared my presentations refining my presentation into something I can give time and time again with the same level of success.
Iām pleased with the Presentation series because of the tips that helped me get better results.
Keep up the good work.
Stephen C. Moulton
Action Insight, Inc.Ā
Broomfield, Colorado 80020
Steve
The information in the Black Belt presentation series is outstanding ā it is helping me a lot to re-work my own presentations.
I really admire the way you go to the extra effort to get all the little details right, the layout and graphics just hits you right between the eyes! It is clear you are a master of this craft.
I have to admit I started feeling very passionate towards Apple Macs after listening to your audio about how good Keynote is! It is right at the top of my wish list!
Thanks for all the good work ā you rock!
Glynne Suckling
Nelson, New Zealand
Don’t buy this product unless you’re trying to take your professionalism to a new level and make more money. That’s my final warning.
It’s typical Sean, over deliver, and bring a wealth of new information that is top notch.
The way I’m going I’ll soon have all his products, then what? How will I get my fix for Sean’s genius?
Be careful, or you too will get hooked.
-AJ
I find Black Belt Presentation sensational.
The chapter “Challenge Set-up” is a good
example of communication and so is the rest.
By putting a small catch, I had continued to read
more pages on nonverbal communication.
In any case, it is the best copy I’ve had in my hands on
Presentations after having read a lot about it.
I am very grateful.
Carlos Rosser
Alicante, Spain
This was timely.
I had a new workshop,”The Key to Business Improvement”, to deliver last week. The presentation was done but it lacked something as, in hindsight, my presentations usually do.
I managed to read some of Presentation Design before I left but with three and a half hours flying managed to finish studying it.
And then I had a five hour drive from Alice Springs to Tennant Creek and back the next day, surely one of the most boring drives in Australia, ample opportunity to haul out my MP3 player and listen to Presentation Delivery.
Every spare moment not on the road was spent revamping my design and delivery.
The workshop went down a treat. As I left the participants were still in animated discussion about what they would work on next day. A satisfying result.
Regards,
Adam Gordon
Catalyst Consulting International Pty. Ltd.
I started reading Part 3 of the Black Belt Presentations series shortly before bedtime.
What I didnāt realize was I was going to be so energized by the information I couldnāt sleep. I woke up at 1:30am, only 2 hours after going to bed, and had to finish reading the book.
Even after finishing the book, I couldnāt sleep due to the energy level I attained. The information was easy for me to understand and left me with the feeling that I too could receive standing ovations for my presentations.
Iām glad I purchased this series.
Lee Roberts
AscenderCart.com
“Once again, Sean D’Souza has done it!
Black Belt Presentations is a thorough, yet easy to understand (and “consume”) method for delivering compelling presentations.
There are at least three techniques I learned in Book Two to use immediately for my next presentation. As with all of Sean’s work, this one delivers value far exceeding the price of admission. Well done!”
Joseph Occhino, Sound Financial Concepts, Buffalo, New York
As a small business owner with a Really Small Budget, I was concerned about getting good value for my money — and once again, Sean has come through! His Black Belt Presentations Book One is jam-packed with useful information that will transform my ability to create solid marketing materials.
Iāve been toying with the notion of doing more presentations to get more business, and not feeling a heck of a lot of enthusiasm. Iāve found it difficult to create presentations — especially on challenges of scope (How much information do I include?), flow (What do I say when?), and the whole anxiety factor of looking at a sea of faces. While Iām much more relaxed than the first time I got up in front of an audience, Iām still an introvert with that initial āOMG what am I doing up here?ā hurdle to overcome.
Book one has showed me how to organize a presentation, choose how much to present, and make it both pretty and interesting. I plan to read this A LOT of times and use it ātil I master it — plus Iām totally looking forward to Book Two!
Wyn Snow
Websites 4 Small Business
I have recently moved up from giving unpaid presentations to the paid circuit. I quickly realized I needed to move up a few gears, which was why I bought Blackbelt Presentations.
You course arrived literally 3 hours before a very important presentation and I only had time to skim it for ideas. However, I picked out a couple of things (“The Prop” and “TheTeaser”) I could change straight away that helped improve the impact of my opening.
Since then I’ve been going through the books and making notes. There is so much useful step-by-step material that I’ve divided my notes into two parts: things I can incorporate now and things I have to work on longterm.
What I particularly like is your holistic approach – the in-depth analysis (with case studies) of ALL the elements of a presentation.
This is such an erudite yet accessible course that I predict it will soon become known as The Presenter’s Bible.
Martin Luxton
Do you get edgy at the idea of conducting a seminar or making a presentation? Me too.
My problem has always been about getting the structure and sequence right.
Sean asked me to read āBlackbelt Presentationsā. The 13 Box System. Gee, Iād struggled with the 7 Red Bags. This was going to be a big ask. Sean even has a warning at the beginning of the book ā
āYouāre going to fight this.ā
Now, I canāt remember ever telling Sean heās wrong before. But, I have to tell you, he got that really wrong! I wasnāt fighting ā I was so hooked from the first couple of pages that my husband had to
drag me away for dinner. I ate so fast I probably got indigestion, but I didnāt notice because this system had me totally engrossed.
Iāve done lots of presentations and seminars. And each time, I agonise about what to say, where every part fits into the puzzle. It takes me hours or days to get it right. And then I usually end up
changing something before I run it again.
No more! In a few days, Iām running a brand new two and a half hour seminar. Two pieces of paper, a pencil, and just a little erasing, and in just over one hour, Iād achieved exactly what I wanted. Not
only the outline of the seminar, but a concept plan for the Powerpoints as well! All in a smooth, flowing sequence. I followed the 13 Box Structure exactly. And Iāll never, ever go back.
If Sean hadnāt pushed me to read this, I might have made a very rational decision not to. My office is crammed with books and materials that I buy, and never fully use. But this book is going to be awilling partner for as long as Iām in business.
As always I never regret spending my last cent for your products (Not really my last cent, but I am familiar enough with your products that I just might be crazy enough to do so). I have only read the first two books and I am amazed at how simple yet complex the information is.
Simple in that it is easy to understand, complex in that there are so many minute details that I need to incorporate into my presentations.
I was so excited to get the first of these two books that I began reading it on my iPhone, because I wasn’t close enough to a computer or printer. I ended up reading the first book in its entirety from my iPhone.
I can’t wait for the third book in this series to complete the panoramic view of the philosophy, art and science of presentations.
Thanks again
Dr. Tom Gibson
Being a graphic designer for the past 15 years, and having read Seth Godin’s book on “Really Bad Powerpoint” as well as having observed various presentation styles and studied Lessig’s method, I thought that Sean’s new book and materials would be rehashing a lot of what I already knew. I was quite pleasantly surprised that the first part of the package was straight-forward, and easy to follow breakdown of the entire process. He combines knowledge from many different disciplines into one cohesive package that is easy to read, follow and implement into my own presentations. I had kind of gotten stuck in my own pre-branded slideshow design, and I feel more eager to mix it up and come up with something more unique and fresher the next time I present new material.
But it doesn’t end there. Sean’s second part, “Controlling Delivery”, contained exactly the kind of breakdown that my presentations need to make more impact, deliver a greater response, and to increase retention and follow-through. I am only part-way through the book, but I keep going back over and re-reading the first few chapters to get the ideas ingrained in me, so that I can work on the implementation. I can’t wait until our next series of workshops so that I can put these methods to practice.
Timothy Johnson
Found Design + Interactive
Virginia, USA