Standing Out in a Sea of Voices: Conversation with Jim Endicott

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Jim Endicott is an internationally-recognized consultant, designer, speaker specializing in professional presentation messaging, design and delivery. Jim has been a Jesse H. Neal award-winning columnist for Presentations magazine with his contributions to the magazine’s Creative Techniques column. Jim has also contributed presentation-related content in magazines like Business Week, Consulting and Selling Power, as well as a, being a paid contributor to a number of industry-related websites.

In this conversation, Jim discusses his Standing Out in a Sea of Voices ebook.

Geetesh: Jim, can you tell us about your ebook, Standing Out in a Sea of Voices? What is contained in this book, and what motivated you to create it?

Jim: My business started out in 1998 as a small presentation design company.

At the time, the professional design community was focused on the world of print and avoided like the plague anything having to do with creating a presentation. Since I had managed a stable of designers in a computer graphic service bureau, it seemed like a good place to explore being an entrepreneur after getting laid off from a high-tech company in Portland, OR.

To be honest, the bar for presentation visuals was set really low then (not much better in some places now). So I was able to make a good living at it for many years. But our clients still struggled with how to shape a clear message so we added messaging services in 2000 and that segment of the business grew quickly. It didn’t take long, however, to sense something in the ‘success equation’ was still missing and I had to ask the most important questions….

• Did they actually close the deal?
• Persuade an audience?
• Influence an important change?
• Effectively align a company towards a future goal?

At that point, it was clear we had to work with the presenters themselves to help them be a more effective conduit for delivering the presentation. Over the last 10 years, that part of the business has eclipsed everything we do.

So this small mini-book, Standing Out in a Sea of Voices, is really a chronicle of all the lessons learned throughout this amazing 18 year journey. A well-designed PowerPoint all by itself can’t make a presenter successful. Neither can just a good message. And as many of us have observed, just being a polished communicator can create a momentary ‘flash in the pan’ of enthusiasm, but often without real substance and change.

Being heard these days and creating meaningful change is about helping presenters be their best in all these areas and guiding them through the journey we went on. That’s why I put together this resource.

Geetesh: How can one get a copy of Standing Out in a Sea of Voices?

Jim: You can download a free copy of the book from our site.

See Also: Making the Complex Simple: by Jim Endicott