The other night my husband and I enjoyed a delicious meal at our favourite restaurant, the Terra Cotta Inn. I ordered a steak and it was amazing. Here’s why: a yummy steak is a combination of good quality meat, careful preparation and beautiful presentation. It’s like that with our sales presentations.
I was recently providing coaching feedback on the pilot of a new high stakes product presentation that was being launched for a client. The observers in the room commented that the presentation felt dry and needed more ‘sizzle.’ Here’s what we did to accomplish that:
- Reworked the content – made the key points tighter, slashed content that added little value and reordered it to create a more logical flow.
- Wove in Persuasion Elements to bring the content to life – added stories, analogies, examples and evidence throughout the fabric of the presentation to transform the content from dull and boring black and white to brilliant technicolor.
- Coached the presenter on his delivery – voice modulation, energy, inflection and pauses all put the icing on the cake. Because this was to be a webinar, we focused primarily on vocal attributes. Had it been a face-to-face presentation, we would have also focused on how eyes, hands and body would come into play.
- Reviewed the quality of the slides – The slides that were developed for this presentation were clear and well designed and no changes were needed. This is usually not the case and slide makeovers are often in order. Continue reading “Putting Sizzle in Your Sales Presentations”
When you must communicate a lot of dates in a presentation, how do you make them easy to understand without confusing your audience?
The easy way is to just list the dates in bullet point form. But this is not very effective.
Why? Because by listing the dates in bullet points, it’s not easy for the audience to find a date and be able to relate it to the other dates. So you might ask, does putting the dates in a table make it easier? At least it makes the dates easier to see, because they are all in one column. But it still doesn’t help the audience to tell how far they are from today or how the dates relate to each other.
To figure out better ways to communicate date-based information, we can look to what we learned in grade school. When we were in kindergarten, one of the key concepts we learned was the calendar. We had to learn how to tell the days of the month, days of the week and how they related to each other. Once we learned those concepts, we could easily relate to when tests were scheduled, when assignments were due, and, most importantly, when school was done for the summer!
Why not show date-based information as a calendar? We understand it instantly because it is familiar to us. This is one of the tips I’ll be demonstrating in my upcoming webinar on April 11th. You’ll see how clear the information is in a calendar format and how easy it is to create in PowerPoint.
Here are two examples, one with dates listed as bullet points. The other dates are shown on a calendar:
Another concept we learned in grade school gives us a second way to more visually show date-based information. In history class we created timelines to represent when events happened in a certain period we are studying. Perhaps it was when the first explorers arrived in the land, when they first settled the land, and when they first encountered the native people. We plotted a timeline that gave us a sense of how far the events were from each other.
If we have project-based information, using a timeline diagram can be a great way for people to instantly understand the timing of key tasks in the project.
Can we make time-based information easier to understand? We certainly can.
Today’s guest post is by Dave Paradi who will be my guest presenter on April 11th for our webinar on ’20 Expert Tips To Create Persuasive PowerPoint Slides’ from 12:00 to 1:00 EDT. Join us and you will see these two expert-level tips, along with at least 18 other ideas you will be able to apply immediately to increase the effectiveness of your presentations.
When delivering presentations, if you want to “WOW!” your audience and move them to action, pay more attention to your slides. The design of your slides is an overlooked opportunity for ramping up the persuasion factor to get real results: more ‘buy in’, more action, more sales.
In my UPFRONT Persuasion workshops, I see many presenters resort to the same old approach using boring, text heavy slides which serve then as crib notes. Then they joke about PowerPoint as a necessary evil. The real problem is they aren’t aware of what’s possible with PowerPoint.
Poor design and lack of clarity in the slide message have many consequences:
For the presenter: When your slides are boring, you are boring. When your slides are confusing, you confuse your audience. You have to work so much harder to relay your message with energy and conviction. When you resonate with your slides and they ‘sing,’ then you speak to your points with infectious enthusiasm and clarity.
For the audience: We often experience the following annoyances:
- The presenter is reading text laden slides – very boring.
- The presenter is trying to paraphrase the text that is on the slide – totally confusing because there are two messages being delivered at the same time that compete with each other and split our focus.
- The presenter has a complex, confusing graph and has no plan for clearly walking the audience through the critical information – total overwhelm. Continue reading “Your PowerPoint Slides Impact Your Persuasion Factor”
What are the top 3 things that annoy you in PowerPoint presentations? Dave Paradi, author of The Visual Slide Revolution, asked people this question in his research study. Here’s what he found:
- Speaker reading slides – 73.8%
- Full sentences on the slides – 51.6%
- Text too small – 48.1%
If you want to use PowerPoint to your advantage then you need to:
- Learn how to design slides for maximum impact on the audience
- Learn how to speak about your slides and integrate them seamlessly into your presentation
Many people approach a presentation as though the slides are the presentation and they are there to support the slide deck. The reverse is true. As a presenter, YOU are the presentation and the slides are there to enhance your message and make you more persuasive. Continue reading “Presentations: Do Your PowerPoint Slides Annoy People?”
Last week I was delivering a presentations skills workshop and was observing “Nancy” (name changed) deliver her presentation. Her content and delivery overall were quite good except for one big problem: she sounded more like a recording than a real person. She was using a ‘presentation voice.’ Nancy was not being herself.
With a bit of coaching, she began using her ‘real voice’ and in doing so, revealed a much more authentic voice that was engaging, passionate and clear. Nancy went on to deliver one of the most persuasive presentations of the workshop.
Your voice is a killer persuasion tool. When delivering presentations, the tone of your voice and the vocal variety you use can have more impact than all other presentation skills combined. If people focused as much on their voice as on their power point slides, my bet is they would see a dramatic impact on their ability to move their audience to take action.
Continue reading “Presentations that Do NOT Persuade”
Yesterday was the final ‘presentation showcase’ day for Pro Track Speakers Academy – a yearlong boot camp for emerging speakers at the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS). I had the privilege of evaluating the final presentations along with two of my esteemed CAPS colleagues Peri Shawn and Richard Peterson.
While we covered the gamut in our feedback critiques, the art and skill of storytelling was the prevalent theme that was woven throughout the fabric of the day. Everyone incorporated story and more than a few were masterful storytellers.
What made them masterful? Two things were at play:
- Content (what they said)
- Performance (how they delivered it)
With regard to the former, the masters knew how to structure their content and incorporated persuasion elements intentionally. They were like Jedi Masters.
Persuasion tactics are consistently used by masterful presenters, not only in their stories but throughout their presentations. Chip and Dan Heath, the authors of Made to Stick, a NY Times best seller, refer to the “stickiness” of an idea or recommendation in terms of its ability to transform the way people think and act.
Persuasion elements turn dull presentations from black and white into brilliant technicolor and brings them to life. Sadly, many sales presentations I observe fall short of these critical tactics. Remember, we are all selling something – our products, services, ideas or requests.
6 Ways to Be Persuasive
The following ‘Convincing Elements’ are some of the core elements of structure in our presentation skills training program, UPFRONT Persuasion Through Presentation. Continue reading “6 Persuasion Elements in Storytelling: Are you Using These Tactics?”
Storytelling is both an art and a skill. Our guest author Dr. Patsi Krakoff wrote about this in “Presentations That Persuade: Stories Drive Action,” last week.
For me, there’s nothing more compelling than watching a masterful storyteller in action. It is magical. Ever since primitive tribes sat around a fire to tell their adventures, we’ve become fascinated by stories. But how do your become skilled at this when making a presentation?
Here is one technique that will take your storytelling game to the next level and leave your audience frothing at the mouth for more. It is one of the tips I share in my article “10 Tips That Work for Truly Persuasive Presentations.”
Creating Word Pictures
Use multi-sensory language. Weave a tapestry with your words to paint pictures. Help your audience see, feel and hear what you have to say. Go beyond using words that appeal only to the thinking brain and be more intentional in using sensory rich language. Continue reading “Presentations That Persuade – Create Word Pictures”
A guest post by Dr. Patsi Krakoff, author of the blog WritingontheWeb.com and writer/editor of Content for Coaches and Consultants.
Presentations can be really good and still not generate any action from the audience. Why is content marketing and persuasion so elusive, and what can you do drive results, to set people on fire?
When it comes to making a presentation, most professionals start from their point of view. Of course, who wouldn’t?
“We’ve got a state-of-the-art 128-bit secure site, offering the best rates on the Web.”
While this business professional understands that its customers want security and low prices when ordering services online, they fail to ignite passion or spark action in readers. Storytelling can light a fire and make your presentation drive action.
Stories of real people connect with readers in a way that data and words on a screen can’t. In his best-selling book Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, published in 1997 by Harper-Collins, master screenwriter Robert McKee argues that stories “fulfill a profound human need to grasp the patterns of living—not merely as an intellectual exercise, but within a very personal, emotional experience.”
There are two ways to persuade people. Continue reading “Presentations that Persuade: Stories Drive Action!”
This is a guest post from my associate Judie Knoerle, owner of Red Cup Presentations and author of UPFRONT Persuasion Through Presentation.
As a presentation coach I find the most often asked question is, “What do I do with my hands?” Holding them behind your back signals you’re hiding something. Clutching them in front of your body, protecting vital organs, signals you’re nervous. Gesturing as you would in normal conversations usually entails unconsciously emphasizing almost every word in a phrase. None of these actions is appropriate for presentations. After all, how can you be persuasive if NOTHING is accented or when EVERYTHING you say is important enough to emphasize with gesture?
So, what do you do with your hands during a presentation? Can your gestures help you be more persuasive? The answer is yes.
There are three things to remember regarding gestures:
- Show a palm. You begin to establish trust with your palms facing the audience. Avoid making fists, pointing and clutching.
- Stay open to your audience. Keep your hands away from the centre of your body.
- Hold a gesture.
Continue reading “Presentations: What do Gestures have to do with Persuasion?”
Judie Knoerle, my colleague and author of UPFRONT Persuasion Through Presentation, a globally branded presentations skills program has contributed this post to our Persuasion Series. Judie is a presentations coach extraordinaire and she is called the “Presentations Whisperer” in Chicago where she lives.
I’ve always believed that we should surround ourselves with people who replenish our energy rather than drain it. Audiences feel similarly about presenters.
If you speak at a low volume with limited voice modulation and few gestures, you will drain the energy of the audience as they struggle to engage with you and hear what you have to say. At some point they tune you out. They’ve had to work too hard to connect with your message.
On the other hand, when a speaker has an assertive tone, sufficient volume for the size of the room and a smile that pulls in the audience like a magnet, that’s when energy is contagious. The audience feels it and is engaged. When you are passionate about a topic, the energy comes more naturally.
But what if you are asked to speak about a topic you’re not that enthused about? You must learn to generate a sense of passion with your voice, your gestures and your expressions. Energy is contagious. When you look genuinely excited about a topic, you energize your audience. Your energy reflects confidence. Confidence persuades.
Here is a tip on how to bring vigor into your presentations. Practice in front of trusted colleagues and get their feedback on your energy level. Ask them to rate you on a scale of 1- 10, 10 being ideal. As you recharge, get out of your comfort zone by increasing your voice projection and using larger, more open gestures. Remember, while this new style may feel uncomfortable to you at first, how you feel inside and how you look to your audience are never the same.
When you invigorate your presentations, get ready to look out into the audience and notice how they are tuned in and smiling back at you.
What do you do to liven up your presentations? I would love to hear from you.
The other night my husband and I enjoyed a delicious meal at our favourite restaurant, the Terra Cotta Inn. I ordered a steak and it was amazing. Here’s why: a yummy steak is a combination of good quality meat, careful preparation and beautiful presentation. It’s like that with our sales presentations.
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