So the hard part is over. It was smooth sailing throughout your entire presentation. The audience laughed at your jokes, they stayed attentive, and they even responded to your questions. Your speech is coming to an end, and you need the perfect way to leave your audience thinking. Big Fish is providing you with our five favorite presentation closers.

1. Challenge

Convince your audience to take what you’ve told them and do it. Challenge them to make a difference or to do something out of the ordinary. Use the power of your speech to inspire action in your audience and dare them to take what they’ve learned in your speech and apply it to their life. Our CEO, Kenny Nguyen, used the ‘Challenge Close’ to end his speech during his TEDx Talk. Take a look here: The Art of Saying No.

2. Quote

A good way to sum up your presentation is with a motivating quote. Find one that reiterates your point and gives that last push to understand the meaning behind your presentation. After your quote you can exit the stage with confidence and leave the audience with a certain something to always remember. It may just become their new favorite quote! 25 Awesome Public Speaking Quotes is a compilation of some of our favorite quotes.

3. Story

Take a story you started earlier on in your presentation and finish it as your close. Making a reference to an earlier part in your presentation will refresh the audience’s memory before their departure. A success story will give the audience a sense of hopefulness and the self-assurance to make their story a success as well. Our Ebook, The Building of Stories, provides details on how to tell a great story.

4. Repetition

It’s the classic: tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you just told them. Repetition reaffirms your position on your argument and helps to get the audience on your side. If you repeat what you have been saying throughout your presentation, the message will definitely get across.

5. The Big Ask

The best way to get a reaction out of your audience is to simply ask them to do something. How will they know what you need from the crowd if you never ask? Asking the audience a question at the end of your presentation will keep their minds spinning with questions of their own.

One thing you don’t want to do is close your presentation without saying thank you. A little appreciation can go a long way. Always remember to be prepared and remain calm, and your presentation will be great. Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog for more awesome tips on presentations!

What are some of your favorite public speaking quotes?

In March, Big Fish had the pleasure of filming several amazing local speakers for the TEDxLSU event. One presenter we are particularly proud of is our CEO, Kenny Nguyen. His powerful speech about ‘The Art of Saying No’ recaps Kenny’s journey to starting Big Fish Presentations and molding it into the company it is today. The Big Fish Team is honored to have such a talented and innovative guy as the leader of our company. Congrats, Kenny!

Make sure to check out the TEDxLSU YouTube channel to see more of all the great speakers we filmed!

Color is one of the most important components of visual communication. Humans recognize color and process it in their brain before they are consciously aware of seeing it. Each color represents a different meaning and affects us at the most basic human level. An onlooker might look at a design and think that a color was used because it looked good, but an experienced designer knows that there is a lot more that goes into choosing a color. Big Fish decided to break down color and explain why it is so vital to design.

1. Color creates mood and emotion.

Color is used strategically in our daily life to convey different messages that we don’t even realize. We associate red with emergencies because red induces feelings of urgency and frightfulness, but most emergency rooms are green to create a calming effect and help us adjust to stressful situations. Jazz musicians call it “the blues,” because the color blue evokes feelings of sadness or aloofness. Yellow is the most visible color, which is why it is used on roads and pedestrian crossways. These thoughtful uses of color are just some of the thousands of ways colors influence us.

2. Colors create organization and structure.

What if you looked at a globe and the entire thing was one color? It would be extremely difficult to determine the ocean from countries, roads from rivers, and so on.  You need colors to classify and arrange items in an order. Many companies, like FedEx and USA Today, use color on their websites to differentiate the services they provide. Color-coding makes it easy to distinguish one thing from the other to create clarity and convey information quickly.

3. Colors create identity.

Think about your favorite brands. Their logo immediately pops into your head. Why? Because of its color. Facebook and Twitter are blue. Netflix and YouTube are red. Starbucks is green, Livestrong is yellow, and Apple is white. All of these brands have an identity in your mind because of their color. Just think if Coca-Cola changed the color of their logo from red to purple. Would you go to a vending machine and look for a purple logo or a red one? Once we connect and brand with a color, it sticks.

The Big Fish team picked their favorite colors to see what each color said about their personality.

Alyssa Bordelon, Marketing and PR Intern, and Robert Kileen, Copywriter, chose green. This is the color of harmony and balance. Green symbolizes hope, renewal and peace. Green lovers are often affectionate, loyal and frank.

Kenny Nguyen, CEO; Gus Murillo, COO; Phil Roberts, Production Head; and Taylor Fairbanks, Account Executive, chose blue. This is the color of compassion and caring. Blue symbolizes reliability and sensitivity. Blue lovers are often faithful and patient.

Mitch Cobb, Creative Director, chose black. This is the color of dignity. Black symbolizes mystery and modesty. Black lovers are often artistic and perceptive.

Kristen Hinton, Marketing Director, chose red. This is the color of strength, vitality and health. Red symbolizes warmth and determination. Red lovers are often outgoing and impulsive.

Scott Holley, Account Executive, chose purple. This is the color of understanding and individualism. Purple symbolizes creativity and imagination. Purple lovers are often unique and strive to succeed.

Corey Schneider, Graphic Design, chose yellow. This is the color of happiness and wisdom. Yellow symbolizes clarity and precision. Yellow lovers are often humorous and adventurous.

When designing your next presentation, think about your target audience and how you want them to react. You can use color to influence their mood, help organize your presentation, and create an identity of your company in their minds. Think about the meaning of colors and how you can cleverly use them to benefit your next presentation.

Comment and let us know your how you feel about color. Make sure to subscribe to our blog for more articles on design and presentations!

The Building of Stories begins with the history of storytelling and ends by helping you build your own story. From where to begin to crafting the perfect ending, we give you all the crucial details and tools you need to tell your next story and hopefully, your next presentation! Everyone has a story. Let us help you make it one people want to hear.

Download the The Building of Stories!

Details:

• All submissions due April 12^th
• The following three (3) terms MUST be incorporated into your design:
  • Big Fish Logo
  • The Big Fish Tagline “Turning Presentations into Experiences”
  • www.bigfishpresentations.com
• Dimensions for album cover: 4.724” x 4.724” (optimized for printing)
• Entries must be submitted in JPG format
• Only copyright free material, images and photographs may be used. No artwork may be returned to the artist(s) once submitted.
• Email submissions to Kristen@bigfishpresentations.com.
• All submissions become the property of Big Fish Presentations.  We promise to never use your artwork without your permission.  If you do not feel comfortable submitting your artwork to Big Fish Presentations because of this, then please do not submit your artwork.
• Winner(s) will be notified directly via email no later than 5:00 pm on Tuesday, April 16^th.  If you do not receive an email from Big Fish Presentations by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, April 16^th, then your artwork was not chosen.

 Entries will be judged on the following:

• Use of the Big Fish logo and tagline
• Creativity
• Aesthetic appearance
• Visual design
• Ability to follow rules listed.

Disclaimer: Entries will be evaluated based on the judging criteria stated above. Only entries emailed to Kristen@bigfishpresentations.com will be judged. Entries emailed after 12:00 am on Friday, April 12^th, 2013 will not be considered. Big Fish will not use entries for personal or company use. All entries will be displayed on Big Fish’s social media sites as a part of the contest. By submitting your entry, you agree to the terms stated above.

1. Make them laugh. Loosen up the crowd by relaxing and just being yourself. Trying to perfect every detail of your presentation will only make you more nervous and will probably cause you to mess up. We’re not saying to be unprofessional, but don’t be afraid to make jokes and interact with the audience. If you mess up, just laugh it off. The audience will respect you more if you are a genuine presenter.

2. Encourage your audience to use their phones. In today’s world of technology, your audience is their phones anyway. Ask them to tweet you during your presentation. Choose a hashtag and tell your audience to tweet you with comments. This way, they interact with you, and you receive feedback for your next presentation.

3. Dress the part. If you are presenting a fun topic, have fun with your outfit! You always need to look presentable (keep yourself covered, please), but find an outfit or costume that matches your personality and the topic you are discussing. Your audience will enjoy the change of pace from the mundane presenters before you.

4. Use props. Bringing props into a presentation is an easy and unique way to give people a visual of your topic. Visuals are what your audience remembers the most from your presentation, so give them something original to learn from. Plus, if you are a nervous speaker, it gives you something to do with your hands!

5. Experiment with audio and video. Try to use audio and video in different ways. Incorporate audio into your presentation, even if your topic has nothing to do with sound. Instead of just showing a video, turn off the sound and talk your audience through it. This adds emphasis to your presentation but won’t take away from the bulk of what your presentation is about.

We hope these tips and tricks spice up your next presentation. Be sure to subscribe to our blog for more great presentation advice!

Kristen Hinton spoke on behalf of a team of 8 students called Create Lab. As a component of LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communications’ Digital Media Initiative, Create Lab finds digital solutions for real clients. Hinton presented their solution for newspapers, Watson. Watson is a crowd sourced platform and application for citizen journalists and professional journalists.

Kenny Nguyen delivered a compelling speech on the power of saying NO. Armed with a sword and shield, his speech impressed and motivated the audience.

TEDxLSU 2014??? Stay tuned to find out. Thanks for watching! Make sure to subscribe to our blog and Youtube channel.

Big Fish has had many successes in the past year. From winning our first Addy award to Gus Murillo, our President, representing Big Fish as one of the top 50 Student-Run Businesses by the Kairos Society at the New York Stock Exchange, Big Fish is thrilled by these accomplishments and truly humbled. We could not have made it this far without people believing in us. Our friends, families and loved ones have supported us from the beginning, but the people who have really pushed us to success are our clients. Our clients have given us so many opportunities to be creative, to work with exciting brands and people and to build relationships.

Big Fish values customer service above all else. We believe customer service is what keeps our business growing. So in honor of all of those clients who believed in us, Big Fish will be promoting Testimonial Tuesday where testimonials from our clients will be posted through our social media platforms. Our clients’ kind words and recommendations keep us motivated and rocking on. Make sure to check Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest for all testimonial updates.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bigfishpresco
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BigFishPresCo
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/bigfishpres/

This weekend has been an extraordinary one. Besides winning our first ADDY for our client work on Easy Living [link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0310N35SxI] at the 2013 Baton Rouge ADDY Awards, Big Fish Presentations was recognized as one of the top 50 student entrepreneurial ventures in the world by the Kairos Society [link:http://www.kairossociety.org/] at the New York Stock Exchange.

For the record, the Kairos Society is a not-for-profit foundation that hosts events to connects students all over the world with innovative leaders of some of the world’s biggest companies [list of past mentors here: http://www.kairossociety.org/mentors.php]. This conference was meant to inspire entrepreneurship and provide attendees new ideas to take back with them across the globe and “push the world forward” by implementing those ideas in their ventures.

This was a very humbling experience for Big Fish. This conference gave us the opportunity to not only present to giant companies like Priceline, Autodesk, GE, Johnson & Johnson, and American Express, but also network with young forward thinkers all over the world who are creating incredible innovative companies in multiple sectors (link to full list here: http://tech.co/top-50-student-startups-kairos-society-2013-02] 

Above all else, this company helped reinvigorate my thirst for being an entrepreneur and pushing Big Fish Presentations even further with creative services. While I can’t write and describe fully the summit’s life changing experience through this letter, I am more than happy to share three things the Kairos Global Summit reminded me of an entrepreneur.

1) Share the love of success

- One of the mentors at the summit mentioned we were the first students from Louisiana to attend the conference. While this is a very big honor, it also made me think about the dozens of student entrepreneurs in Louisiana that could have had the same opportunities that we have had. This event made me realize that I need to share this experience with other students in my state and give the same opportunity that was shared to me with them. By doing so, it’ll create more opportunities for our state to grow and impact lives.

 2) Create bonds not connections

- Rather than just create “connections” for business, step out and create “bonds” with the people you meet. What I mean by that is don’t just think of talking to people as a means of getting something out of them. Talk to people, because you feel confident that the other person might know something that can change your perspective on life, love, or business. Life is short, and the people you meet will change and open the way you see and run your business.

3) Don’t stop learning

- This conference introduced to me to 3d printing and how it can affect the services we have at Big Fish Presentations. By seeing trends of what’s coming in new industries, you can best prepare how to pivot or add services to better take over your target market. If you stop learning, you’ll stop moving forward.

Now, I have had the honor of winning some personal awards in my career at Big Fish Presentations, but nothing meant more to myself than this weekend when the company was honored twice for their TEAM accomplishments. While winning achieving individual awards is nice, winning team awards is a great way to measure how the company’s innovation and culture has grown.

This being Big Fish’s anniversary month, I’m proud to say we’ve come quite a way and can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next.

- Kenny

http://tech.co/top-50-student-startups-kairos-society-2013-02