The Secret to Memorable Presenting Is PURPOSE

If you want to deliver a presentation that people actually remember, there’s one secret that sits above all others: PURPOSE.

The next time you’re preparing to speak at work, ask yourself a simple but powerful question:

“What do I want my audience to remember?”

We ask this in every presentation skills workshop, and the most common answer we hear when people think back to the last presentation they attended is:

“Not much.”

It’s a painful truth, but also an enormous opportunity.

High-impact presenting isn’t about slides, data, or even confidence, it’s  PURPOSE:

Primacy effect

Unusual

Repetition

Personal

Open

Stories

Energy

Let’s break each one down.

P — Primacy Effect

The primacy effect is a cognitive bias: we remember the first thing we hear far more clearly than what comes later.

That means your first 60 seconds are everything.

Most presenters waste them with something like:

“Good morning, my name is Ted Smith from ABC Enterprise, and I’m really pleased to be here.”

Your audience should already know who you are; they don’t need a polite preamble, they need a reason to care.

Start with impact and intention.

U — Unusual

Most business presentations sound the same, which is why most are instantly forgettable.

People remember what stands out.

Give them something they don’t hear every day, I could be a:

– moment of drama or suspense

– surprising fact

– thought-provoking question

– prop or visual they can hold

– touch of humour

– something unexpected

Unusual is memorable and predictable is forgettable.

R — Repetition

If you want your message to stick, repeat it intentionally.

Winston Churchill understood this better than anyone:

“We shall fight them on the beaches… we shall fight them on the landing grounds… we shall fight them in the fields and streets…”

Repetition creates rhythm and rhythm creates memory, but be careful: too much repetition becomes noise.

P — Personal

People remember what feels personal to them.

Make your message relevant to their world, their challenges, and their goals.
Show them why what you’re saying matters to their day, their work, their future.

If it isn’t personal, it won’t be memorable.

O — Open

Audiences connect with speakers who are open, human, and real.

No one wants to listen to someone who sounds robotic or emotionally flat.
Let them see who you are.
Share what you believe.
Show them how you feel.

Self-disclosure isn’t a weakness; it’s a connection.

S — Stories

A presentation without stories is just a lecture.

Stories help us see, feel, and experience your message. They turn information into meaning and turn ideas into action.

A great story, well told, is often the one thing people remember long after the presentation ends.

E — Energy

Energy is the lifeblood of high-impact presenting.

It’s contagious, magnetic, and it’s what makes people lean in rather than tune out.

Your audience wants your enthusiasm, your passion, your commitment, so give it to them.

If you’d like to learn more about the secret of high impact presenting:

– 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

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