When presenting, STOP before you are asked to STOP

People often say to me that they rarely make presentations in their role, but that’s not true.

• Regularly you attempt to bring colleagues around to your way of thinking
• You want to introduce colleagues to new work practices/platforms
• You need to get one of your clients/customers to buy into your idea
• Win support or Investment for your business idea

Let’s get Started:

Follow my advice, and you will likely have more successful outcomes when speaking to an audience of one or one hundred.

How best to Prepare:

People tell me that they have little time to prepare, it’s time-consuming, and other duties get in the way.

First, you can dramatically reduce your preparation time by answering These Three Questions:

1. Who is your Audience? (Research will be required)
2. What Problem do you Solve for your Audience?
3. BETTER, how will your Audience be BETTER as a result of taking your advice?

Your closing sentence is about creating desire. People only buy things that they desire.

How do you create desire?

Remind the Audience of the problem that they have.

Get their agreement that they have this problem.

Then paint a word picture of how they are BETTER because of your intervention.

Let me give you an example.

I recently did a lot of work for Irelands leading heat pump supplier.

Audience:

Here’s how their expert on heat pumps opened his talk to homeowners looking to reduce energy costs and improve comfort within their homes.

Problem/Story:

The majority of homes in Ireland are cold most of the day. Would you agree?

The heating comes on for a couple of hours in the morning while getting ready for work and getting the children out to school.

In the evening, it’s the same. A couple of hours while you have dinner and do homework with the children.

The rest of the day, your home is very cold.

My name is A N Other, and I’m an expert on heat pumps and their installation.

We can install a heat pump system that will heat your home by extracting heat from the external air, even when the temperature outside is below freezing.

In this part of the conversation, more details can be provided when required depending on the Audience’s level of understanding.

The conversation must end with you telling your Audience how they are BETTER.

In the scenario I described above, here is the conclusion to the conversation.

Remind your Audience of how you can give them what they want and make their life Better.

BETTER:

There is no need for your home to be cold at any time, be it first thing in the morning or the middle of the night when you or your children get out of their warm beds to go to the bathroom.

We will keep your home at the temperature you want all day and night. 365 days a year.

Alternative BETTER:

Your heating bills will be much the same; however, Your Home will be at a constant comfortable temperature 24/7 – 365 days a year.

Choose the one that is most appealing to the Audience.

Once you have reached this point, it’s time to STOP.

Pause, and let your message sink in.

Then call for an ACTION.

Presentation Tip:

My advice: have your opening and closing sentence memorised.

By Executive Coach Andrew Keogh of Aristo.ie