Have you ever sat through a presentation and wondered, “What exactly is the point of this presentation?” Or, “Is there one big takeaway that I’m supposed to be getting here?”
As absurdly simple as it sounds, the vast majority of presenters don’t say one simple sentence that would instantly engage their audience: “Folks, the point of today’s presentation is <insert point here>.” The point of your presentation could be to approve a budget, make a do-or-don’t decision to buy something, revise a project timeline, or whatever.
The actual purpose of your presentation is probably wonderful, but it doesn’t matter if nobody in the audience knows what’s in your head. And the problem is even worse when you consider the people who are likely in your audience.
More than one million people have taken the “What’s Your Communication Style?” test. The data reveals four primary styles of communicators: Intuitives are the big-picture people; they skip the details and cut right to the chase. Analyticals like hard data and real numbers, Functionals want process, detail, and timelines, and Personals prioritize interpersonal connection and generally communicate in an informal and friendly manner.
If you guessed that the Intuitives (followed by Analyticals) are the ones who really need to hear a clearly articulated purpose, you’d be correct. While the percentage of Intuitives and Analyticals varies from company to company, what we do know is that across those million test-takers, certain departments are skewed in that direction.
For example, in Finance departments, 30% of people score as Intuitives and another 30% are Analyticals. In Information Technology departments, 35% come out as Intuitives and 28% Analyticals. And as you might imagine, CEOs are far more likely to be Intuitives than virtually any other role.
All this means that when you’re presenting to the people with the money and technology, they really need to hear a brief, to-the-point statement about the point of your presentation.
You’ve undoubtedly heard the old rule of presentations, “Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them.” That’s solid advice, but we can make it even more specific for the impatient people in your audience.
After you’ve mapped out your entire presentation, go back through it and distill the point of the presentation into one sentence; not two or three or four sentences, just one. Remember that pretty much every business presentation is either going to teach people something or ask them to do something. You might be asking them to buy, approve, hire, fire, etc. Or you might be teaching them about new technology, competitor, industry regulation, etc.
Whatever the specifics of your point, however, there must be a crystal clear purpose for your presentation. When you can describe that purpose in one sentence, you’re accomplishing two critical tasks. First, you’re making your presentation far more memorable in the minds of your audience. If they experience even a hint of frustration at the beginning of your presentation, you will struggle mightily to get them back on board. They might not agree with your point, but you want to ensure that nobody is irritated because they didn’t know your point.
The other important benefit that comes from defining your purpose in one sentence is that it forces you, the presenter, to hone your message. There could be dozens of supporting points you’re going to make throughout the presentation, but all those points are in service of one larger purpose. It’s highly unlikely that your audience will remember every single point you make. But as long as they’re crystal clear about your overarching point, your message will be far more memorable than most of the presentations your audience hears.
Article From & Read More ( One Trick Makes Your Presentations Instantly More Memorable - Forbes )https://ift.tt/39J0dln
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