Leaves Your Audience Hungry For More! -- Presentations That Get Results

Regardless, if your goal is to make a sale or educate. You don't want to fall prey to the mistakes that many presenters make -- loading us down with piles and piles of information and communication hodgepodge. Excellent presentations are designed to anchor in the key points that are relevant for influencing the listeners to take some kind of action.

When you make a presentation to a committee, corporate board of directors or presenting an all day seminar, your aim is to accomplish two very important goals. First, it is crucial that your audience walk away with a "Top of the Mind" memorable experience. Second, you want to influence your audience to take an immediate or future action. Every, presentation should have an outcome and action steps for your audience to take.

For us to accomplish those two goals we need to help the audience focus-in on our presentation so that we touch and communicate with the head and heart of our audience. Effectively, we want to mesmerize, hold their attention and filter out any outside distractions that would compete with our presentation and desired outcome.

We are visual beings by nature. Our eyes, being the most powerful information conduit to the brain, are always in motion feeding us images and disrupting our thought processes. People have limited attention spans and information processing capabilities. Therefore, we as presenters need to simplify the communications to hold attention for influencing the thinking of our audience.

I use a very powerful communication technique that anyone can apply with their very next presentation to accomplish extraordinary results. Your presentation and visuals will communicate faster, clearer, better and be more congruent -- eliminating the communication hodgepodge that so many presenters use.

First, reduce all you visuals to pictures and either eliminate words and numbers altogether or reduce them to three or less per visual. Visuals should be used as anchors to support your key points that you want your audience to remember.

Second, your visuals must be associated in some ridiculous and/or illogical way for transferring key points and word phases for your audience to remember and retain your information.

A simple example is: You are giving a financial report showing an increase in earnings for your division. You could use a rising balloon lifting a building block, showing the percentage of increase stenciled in the block, giving your audience and image of growth and profits. Visuals that are your typical bar charts, graphs, and lines of words are boring and have a lesser impact connecting with your audience. Whereas, ridiculous and/or illogical visuals add retention, entertainment, and can illustrate with greater impact the benefits, not just facts and figures of your presentation.

Third, support your key points and visuals with a story.

Here's how it works:

In delivering a presentation, recently to a group of sales people, one of my key points was that we have to understand our customers buying strategies and buying incentives for us to influence them to make a purchase from us. The visual that I used (now visualize this in your mind) was a man peering over a chessboard with his chin snuggled on his tightly clutched hands with a very pensive look in his eyes. The picture was stretched and elongated to exaggerate the image to influence the inner thinking process that our customers go though in their decision-making.

I then illustrated the point with a story of how one of my clients went about uncovering his clients' strategies, buying incentives and how this same presentation process helped him get the sales and acquire a major key account for his company. Most importantly during the story I explained how my client was able to fine out what would create a win situation for his client. That gave way, for transitioning, to the next key point and slide in the presentation.

The visual was dynamic in that it supported the key points and anchored the story in the mind of the audience. The story used was linked back to the visual and was congruent with the key points.

This presentation process reinforces your points and makes them easy to understand. You can take any subject from a ten-minute annual report presentation to an all-day training session and use this approach of structuring your presentations. When you substitute lines of words, boring bar charts and graphs, with key points, supportive stories anchored with ridiculous visuals, you make it easy for your audience to assimilate, focus, remember and become engage and mesmerized with your material.

Don L. Price -- Business and Positive Change Strategist -- International Speaker and Author ? He speaks on Optimizing Your Power to Succeed, with Strategic Performance Marketing and Closing Power, Winning Presentation Techniques and Life EnrichmentThrought Self Hypnosis. Don can be reach at: 1800Succeed (800-782-2333); http://www.donlprice.com; donprice@donlprice.com

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


A Discussion about Facilitation Skills

Interview with Julia Apple-Smith, Manager of Employee Development at Sauer-Danfoss... Read More

Transitions: Building Bridges to Your Points

Presenters often tell me that they fear losing their train... Read More

Steps to a Successful Audience/Trainer Relationship

A major cause of trainers being unreceptive to their audience... Read More

Quick and Easy Rehearsal Tips

Never rehearse at the last minute. This creates undue tension... Read More

Move Key Audiences to Actions You Want

How?Try a blueprint like this: people act on their own... Read More

Top 6 Reasons Why You Need a Remote for PowerPoint Presentations

A top complaint from audience members is that many presenters... Read More

Cross Cultural Presentations

The international flavour of many people's jobs naturally means that... Read More

Tips to Energize Your Presentations

"There can be no knowledge without emotion. We may be... Read More

Writing The Query Letter

The query letter is simply a business letter that serves... Read More

Choosing a Company Shirt vendor

Where can you choose a company shirt vendor? There are... Read More

Fading into Sameness: How Too Many Slides Can Ruin Your Presentation

"I have a love/hate relationship with PowerPoint. In the right... Read More

Give Your Audience Something to Talk About

There is an old saying: "The first thing to do... Read More

Shamus Browns Top 5 Sales Presentation Tips

When its time to give your next sales presentation, here... Read More

Clear Communication: The Benefits and How to Achieve Them

Communication is a complex and often difficult process for both... Read More

Watch Out For Power Thieves

"I'm not an expert on this topic, but . .... Read More

Plasma Screen Hire ? What Do You Need to Know for Presentations

How many people will need to see the screen? A... Read More

Trade Show Victory!

So you're going to have a booth at a trade... Read More

Eight Success Tips for Your First Trade Show Booth

Exhibiting in a trade show can involve a major investment... Read More

Speech in Business

The social skills of a small businessperson, franchisee, independent contractor... Read More

Media Training 101: Mastering the Television Interview

As I travel around the world I always enjoy sampling... Read More

Ten Fun Ways to Liven up Any Presentation

Most of us would agree that having humor in our... Read More

The Presentation After the Presentation

Allowing the audience to ask questions after your presentation is... Read More

Media Training 101: Where To Look During A Television Interview

Ever had that uncomfortable feeling of not knowing where to... Read More

Incorporate Humor in Your Next Speech

Some speakers say, "I could never use humor in my... Read More

Media Training Tips: Maximising Your Media Moment

Media training is a 'must do' professional development program for... Read More

Presentation Power Does Not Come From PowerPoint

You speak before a group. You present your message. You... Read More

Just Say No to PowerPoint: Enough is Enough!

Have you ever been slideswiped? You walk into a meeting... Read More

Special Delivery! Tips for Improving Your Humor

Delivering humorous speeches involves a lot more than simply having... Read More

Guidelines for Rehearsal Criticism

It is both good planning and considerate to provide auditors... Read More

Story Telling As A Tool For Trainers

Once upon a time????."Yeah right, don't tell us a story,... Read More

The Upside to an Auditory Rehearsal

Many experienced trainers feel that there is something lacking in... Read More

Wow! Is That ME? - Creating a Powerful One-Page Bio

First of all, what is a bio sheet and why... Read More

Tips to Temper Speaking Anxiety

People take it for granted that leaders have achieved some... Read More