How many business presentations have you attended in the last 3 months that delivered exactly what you needed to know, in a manner that respected your time?
When attending future business presentations take note of how much of it was:
– Of relevance to you?
– What you already knew?
– An unnecessary level of detail
– Repetition
– Self-promotion for the presenter
– Of value to you
Did you feel that the same presentation could have been given in less than half the time?
Cutting a presentation in half often results in greater clarity.
The message is more likely to be delivered with impact.
We need to cut out the superfluous noise
‘I’m sorry this letter is so long; I didn’t have time to write a short one.’ – Blaise Pascal
At Mindful Presenter we coach professionals to deliver their entire message in 90 seconds.
It’s crucial for a speaker to connect with their audience and deliver their message with power and impact quickly.
If they can do it in 90 seconds, when they have the gift of presenting for much longer, they can craft something extraordinary.
I’m not of course suggesting that if you’re given 20 minutes to speak that you cut it right down to 90 seconds.
The challenge is for you to focus on crafting and delivering your message with absolute clarity
90 seconds will compel you to consider with laser like lucidity exactly what your message is
Here is how you do it:
1. Give them a ‘Bond’ opening
Don’t open with a monologue of trivia.
In other words, don’t start by telling them how excited you are to be there, how big and wonderful your company is.
Don’t present the world’s longest bullet point agenda.
Open like a Bond film does.
Get your audience to shuffle forward a little into their seat because they have a feeling this is going to be good.
2. ‘Cut to the chase’
Don’t wait until slide 12 to tell them why you’ve called them together.
Show them at the start what their world will look like when you’ve finished speaking.
3. We like things in 3’s
Three is by far the most persuasive number when it comes to communicating.
Take advantage of the fact by giving your audience the 3 things they want most from you.
– Your message
Why you’ve called them together in the first place and what’s so important that you couldn’t just send an email.
– The impact
Why they should listen and care.
– How
What needs to happen next for them to experience and feel the benefit. How exactly do they move forward on your message?
4. Breathe life into your words
It’s not about how long you speak for.
It’s about how well you help your audience listen.
Animate your point with short, relevant and powerful examples or anecdotes.
Help your audience to see and feel your words as well as hear them.
The checklist to ensure you do so is simple:
– Is everything I plan to say, show or do relevant to my audience?
– Is all of this information really necessary in supporting my message?
– Have I ‘padded’ it out with too much repetition?
– Is my presentation about my audience or me?
– What value will this offer to my audience, will it make a difference to their lives?
If you need help with your business presentations:
– Book yourself onto a powerful public speaking course.
– Invest in some really good one to one public speaking coaching.
– Get yourself some excellent presentation training
Image: Courtesy of Flickr.com
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