Your Presentation Stinks!

It’s true.  Most presentations are horrible.  They are dry and boring.  The speaker does not make any type of connection with the audience.  The speaker shows slides with words on them that serve as a script for the presentation.  The speaker simply reads the slides word-for-word. You could actually skip the presentation and just read the slides and you would take away all the relevant information.

This type or presentation style has become so prevalent that many people think it is acceptable.  I recently attended a class where the instructor encouraged students to write PowerPoint slides like a newspaper page.  The title was a headline and all the points below it were supposed to support the headline.  As you can imagine, the slides were very busy and there was no need for a speaker to present them.  The audience could simply read the presentation for themselves.

This is wrong.  It stinks.  If you do that your presentation will stink.

If you want to make a favorable impression on your audience, you must connect with them on an emotional level.  Television advertisers have been using emotion to connect with customers for years.  The most effective ads make you feel a certain way and that feeling motivates you to take action (preferably purchase the product).

One of the most effective ways to bring home your message is to tell stories. You need to have a compelling story for every point you want to resonate with your audience.  The fewer points you make, the more likely they are to retain some of the information.  I recommend making no more than three key points in a one-hour talk.  If you have three good stories for each point than you will need nine stories for your entire presentation. It is even more effective to have just one point and tell some really good stories that illustrate that point. The fewer points you make, the more the audience will retain.

In the end, the presentation is about your audience. Help them see your point.  Help them feel the emotion involved in the message you want to convey.  Tell a good story.  Make an emotional connection and you will deliver a winning presentation every time.

Comments

[Master and Commander]

This is one of my favorite points about making effective presentations, tell supporting stories. However, I think in a one hour presentation three good stories for every point is too much. I think one or two would be fine. This allows for more interaction from the participants and allows you to better gauge if you are making an "emotional" connection, and allows you time to adjust, if you are not.

[Mary Schmidt]

Absolutely! Let's end PowerPoint co-dependency. One of the most successful presentations I ever did back in my big Corp. America days happened when the multi-media, dancing dog and pony show died a horrible death and I had to -gasp - actually talk to the prospects!