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PRESENTATION POINTS

September 2001

In this month's free e-news from Wilder Presentations, I'd like to discuss two ideas for presenters and one for designers. As always, there's a monthly challenge at the end.

FOR PRESENTERS:

Step 6: MOTIVATE YOUR LISTENERS: MAKE IT ABOUT THEM

I have been dancing Argentine tango for several years. The saying "it takes two to tango" is absolutely true. In tango, the leader leads every step. I mean, every step…right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, etc. Sometimes the follower will add or embellish a step by doing fancy foot- or legwork. But, in general, the leader leads every single step. But here's the paradox.

For the leader, it's all about the follower. In other words, a good leader knows exactly which foot the follower is on at every step. A good leader can adapt if a follower has gone in a different direction than the leader planned. When I dance with a leader who makes me feel and look exquisite, I am a happy dancer.

So you could say that, in tango, it is all about the follower-even though the leader is leading.

That's what an excellent presentation is, too. Even though the presenter is talking, it should be all about the audience. Through slide design, content, nonverbal behavior, engaging questions, and appropriate silences, the presenter should send the message that "this presentation is not about me or my company, it is all about you."

How many of us truly pay attention to the audience's verbal and nonverbal "steps"? What would it take for your audience to look forward to your coming back to hear you give another talk? Craft your presentation so that your audience is motivated to listen.

1. From your opening sentence, talk about the audience first. Don't say, " I am Joe and am glad to be able to tell you about my company today." Say instead, "Today, you will hear two compelling ways you can achieve profitable results in your business." Then, if you have an example that fits that audience, present it before you start to show your slides.

2. For most data slides, be sure to say, "So what this information means to your company is…" Or "The way to apply this concept to your business…"

When you lead so that the follower is foremost in your mind, the follower will want to dance with you again. You may not always have the fanciest steps. But you have something more important-an intense desire to give the follower a wonderful experience by paying attention to the follower's every step.

FOR PRESENTERS:

PUT AUDIENCE QUESTIONS ON YOUR SLIDES

You may think you know how to engage your audience with questions that come into your mind on the spur of the moment, but do you? You may think you know what your audience's business is, but are you sure? Salespeople, you may think you have a captive audience, but is that as important as having an audience willing to open up and share the company's goals and objectives?

What's happened to stopping and waiting for your audience to talk? When you fill every silent moment, no one but you has an opportunity to speak. When you ask questions, then your audience has an opportunity to talk and share.

Put some audience questions on your slides this month. You'll discover that the majority of audiences would rather talk and share than listen to a presenter for 50 minutes.

FOR DESIGNERS:

COMPANY LOOK AND DESIGN

Before you go out and hire a designer to create a new look and feel for your slides, look around inside your company to see what's already there. Usually, there are more types of media than you realize. For example, look at both printed materials and the Web site for ideas, icons, photos, or images you can scan and use. Is there a color scheme, print design or Web look that you can adapt for your presentations? You won't have to reinvent new company colors.

Company ads are also a good source of images that can work for your talks. If your company makes videos, use still shots or a ten-second clips from the videos. Investigate trade show materials-you'll get ideas from the booth, handouts, and kiosk show.

MONTHLY CHALLENGE:

Presenters

Start every presentation mentioning your audience's interests and needs first.

Designers

Check out the media that already exist in your company. Mine them for ideas.

COMMENTS FROM OUR READERS:

Engaging the Audience

Craig Joyce writes:

My class is ten hours. If I do not engage the audience, the class would be a disaster. There is no such thing as waiting for ten hours to fly by. The funny thing is they do. And that goes for everyone in the class. We have found that the easiest way to get everyone involved is to begin by asking what they hope to get out of the next ten hours. When they pay hundreds of dollars to attend, they are usually not shy about telling me what they want from the class. This does not get everyone involved since some of the attendees are sent by their boss and really have no expectations other than getting out of there as fast as possible. To get these attendees to answer, we bring out the heavy stuff-lottery scratch tickets! Throughout the day we ask questions with the correct answer receiving a scratch ticket. Really tough ones get two or three at one time. This brings out the competitive urges of everyone in the class.

A word of caution-make sure your scratch tickets match the state you are running the class in!

NEW ON MY WEB SITE

My Web site is now set up to accept credit cards and process orders from any country. Also, you can now easily buy several products at one time.

Presentation Points, written by Claudyne Wilder, usually comes out the first business week of each month. For more information, call 617-524-7172, e-mail claudyne@quik.com or visit my Web site, www.wilderpresentations.com.

Presentation Points may be forwarded via e-mail, printed for circulation, and quoted FREE OF CHARGE. No permission is required, but please mention where you got this information. It's also perfectly acceptable to post Presentation Points on your company's Intranet.

To subscribe to Presentation Points or to see the home page of my Web site, go to www.wilderpresentations.com.

Enjoy!

Copyright 2001, Claudyne Wilder. All rights reserved.