Wednesday, May 30, 2012

6 Mistakes of Presentations

Notes from a webinar by Tim Wackel on the 6 Greatest Mistakes of Presentations...
 

Mistake # 1: Not understanding the audience
  • Who will attend?
  • What do they really want?
  • Why are they participating?
  • Do you need to establish credibility?
    • "Why you?" – Quotes, results, case studies, credentials.
  • How much time do you have?
  • Specific measurable benefit?
  • Likely objections?
    • Bake objections right into the presentation "If I had to guess, I'm sure you guys are thinking…"

Mistake # 2: Lack of a clearly defined objective
  • What do you want?
  • What is in it for the listener?
  • What is my call to action, how is it going to benefit the audience?
  • Let the audience know early on what the objective is.

Mistake # 3: Too much data!

Aim for no more than three or four big ideas, "chapter titles", pillars that support your objective and form a framework of the presentation…

...Why?
  • Memory and impact
  • Distil many ideas into few
  • Lead with your best stuff

Mistake # 4: Failing to excite

Look for the hook to start with, should take less than two minutes. Forget platitudes. Pause and then launch with a "gee-whiz" fact, a powerful story. Focus attention on key issues and grab their attention. Make it engaging and fun.


Mistake # 5: Death by PowerPoint
  • Should only be used to visualise ideas, create key points, impress!
  • Should not be a script, handout or data dump
  • Add more pictures that have meaning
  • The "6 x 6 Rule - no more than 6 words across, 6 lines down to any one slide

Mistake # 6: Ending with inspirational deficit
  • Work on a punchy close. "What, if anything is going to prevent you from taking the next step right now?"

Presentation blueprint:

Introduction
  • Hook
  • Message Objective
  • 3 Talking Points

Body
  • Talking point 1/evidence
  • Talking point 2/evidence
  • Talking point 3/evidence

Close
  • Recap Message Objective
  • Recap 3 Talking Points
  • Ask for a commitment