ontforu.info

Far too many presenters and subject matter experts focus on themselves, their topic, and their ability to answer questions. These are, of course, crucial skills.

However, if you only focus on these, you’ll miss the target.

The number one “Rule” in presenting is: It’s Always About Your Audience. In my training evaluations, I often ask senior managers, sales directors, and top leaders, “what’s the concept you use most often?” The answer I get is:

“It’s Always About The Audience!”

Think about this: you must investigate, evaluate, and refine your presentation to adapt to each specific audience. You can divide this into three categories.

1. What do you know about your participants?
2. What are their reasons for being in your presentation?
3. What is the flow of your story to appeal to your audience?

Keep this in mind as you jump into planning your important business pitch or speech. It’s not about your topic, data, or research.

I know. This is a mind bender. And it can take a moment to shift your focus. While you’re digesting this, let me tell you a story.

Earlier this week, I spoke with a young woman. She was on fire about her new business, and planning to give presentations to attract funders. As she described the volumes of charts, diagrams, and maps, and PowerPoint slides, I got nervous.

It sounded like a perfect recipe for data overwhelm.

Clearly this wasn’t her intention. So, I told her what I’m going to share with you right now:

Step away from your data. Step back from sharing every last chart, diagram, and slide. Move away from showing the entire chronological history of your project.

Instead, burn this single phrase in your mind:

It’s always about your audience.

How much can your participants absorb in your 10-minute, 30-minute, or 60-minute presentation?

The answer: not that much!

Keep your message simple enough for your audience to absorb.

Whether you are a part-time presenter, or a full-time professional speaker, this is the single critical rule you must remember and use. If you want to master the fine art of presenting, and attract investors, your message must be simple. This will encourage smart decision-making, and win business results.

I’m sure you agree — keeping things simple is a recipe for success.

In addition to understanding this conceptually, be sure to use it. Don’t let this rule gather dust bunnies in the back of your closet. Put it into action.

Let’s do this right now. It should take you less than two minutes to put this to use.

Are you reallyready to present? Grab a pencil and find out. Answer yes or no for each line. Jot down ideas for actions you will take to be fully prepared.

What’s your Presentation Readiness?

Are you confident in putting your audience first?

• Do you understand your audience issues?
• Are you aware of specific needs of individuals?
• Do you truly know why people are attending your talk?
• Are you adapting your story to match each specific audience?

Are you confident in customizing your story?

• Are you prepared and confident in your content expertise?
• Are you sharing your personal experiences?
• Are you showing and telling specific stories?
• Are you adjusting your story flow?

As you can see, with a small amount of action-oriented preparation, you can immediately apply the most important rule in presenting: “It’s Always About Your Audience.”

Did you know that using a PowerPoint presentation can be one of the most effective ways to address a large group of people? With such a variety of learning styles, using a visual presentation allows you to reach a large group of people – particularly those who need to see it to believe it. What better way than to create a stunning PowerPoint presentation?

Have the data, but lacking that polished finish? A good way to start is to look at templates to get an idea of which style suits you and your presentation. By accessing numerous templates at Microsoft.com you be able to create stunning presentations. Looking at an individual slide or downloading an entire sample presentation can inspire you to be more creative with the content that you include in your own presentation. There are many charts and diagrams in different templates that can really spark your creativity and give you additional ideas to give your presentation a professional look. While looking through the samples, consider that if you are wowed by the slides, graphics, or charts, your audience probably will be too.

What works? There is no magic formula, but there are amazing presentations. With the ability to create almost anything imaginable, there is no limit to what can be included in your presentations. Vibrant colours, sleek graphics and stylish photographs all contribute to making a great presentation even better.

What does not work? Avoid the overuse of clip-art. Although there is some good quality clip-art out there, too much in a presentation can be distracting and give it an unpolished, unprofessional look. That is not to say that there isn’t a time and a place for a cleverly placed clip-art picture. Another thing to watch out for is wordiness – before adding a slide filled with text, consider adding the supplemental information in a handout.

Handouts are another great idea because you are providing your participants with additional information which adds value to your presentation. The added bonus of using handouts is that you are giving your participants additional information, which includes your contact information (a great instrument for making new connections and contacts).

Try to tie in visual cues that will help people remember and associate images with you or your company. The key is to make yourself, your presentation, and your information valuable and memorable.

You are invited to speak on the new product your company just launched. You deliver a killer presentation. You receive questions from your audience. You get a standing ovation. Then nothing happens. You didn’t get a lead. You didn’t get a referral.

When you speak at a professional or trade conference you have the opportunity to build brand awareness, expand the database, get a referral, attract another client, or close a sale. However these opportunities often vanish like vapor from a fog, and when the fog clears you walk away thinking you aren’t a very good presenter after all. This is a false assumption and an unfair judgment about your own abilities.

If you aren’t getting the results you hoped for it’s not because you aren’t a good presenter. You aren’t getting the desired results because you haven’t learned how to distinguish a hope from an intention.

You hope you will get interest. You hope to brand your company. You hope to build your database, attract a new client and close a sale. These are your hopes. Unconsciously you have another agenda, your secret intentions. You intend to impress the audience with your knowledge. You intend to get a standing ovation so you can feel warm and fuzzy and tell your friends how you “nailed the presentation.” You intend to re-live your war stories about the difficult product launch, how you worked with no sleep and how you emerged the hero.

How do I know? I know because I’ve experienced it myself, and I’ve watched people just like you, therefore I know how to identify the red flags. Let me explain.

When you invited your audience to ask questions, (whether that audience is one or one thousand) you missed the buying signal and instead blathered on about “back stage” stuff.
What is back-stage stuff you ask? Back stage talk is when you start speaking about what is behind the curtain instead of focusing on the performance.You have forgotten you have an audience and the conversation has reverted to your favorite topic–you.You talk about your dream, your company’s history, your great website, your struggles to get the product launched, your process for delivering the product and everything else except solving the customer’s problem.

Come to think of it, giving a good sales presentation is a lot like fishing.The problem happens when you become the fish instead of the fisherman. With a single question your prospect baits the hook, casts the line and you swallow the bait, hook, line and sinker. Without noticing you just got reeled in with your potential customer’s question. You forgot that you are the fisherman, not the fish.

Don’t feel bad. There is a way to become a better fisherman. Here are some steps so that you don’t take the bait.

1. Get clear on the outcome you desire.

2. Transition, answer briefly then redirect the question.

3. Listen to uncover problems.

4. Step up to the next level.

Here’s an example of how it works.

Step one: you become clear that you want to attract new customers. Now that you know your intention, you have to match your actions. This means you stay focused on solving a problem rather than sharing back-stage information and overwhelming to your customer. All your customer cares about is how he benefits from your product.

Step two: when you open for questions, you must recognize the bait. A customer’s question is your opportunity to transition, briefly answer, then redirect the question back to her.For example, your customer asks, “So tell me how you came up with the idea for this product?” You recognize your initial tendency to want to give a dissertation and instead you use the redirect. You transition, “I’m so glad you asked, then you answer briefly, “We noticed customers having problems with….” then you redirect by asking, “what kinds of problems do you currently face?”

When you redirect, it means you have cast the line and it’s your turn to listen and take notes. After your prospect has finished talking, your presentation at this point needs to be directed toward the next step in the sales process.That may mean an appointment, another presentation, a trial offer, a demonstration or signing the dotted line. Happy fishing.