You have a great idea you know is a winner. All you need is support from some key people. You prepare your material, get some PowerPoint slides together and make your presentation,
Phut! No interest. No questions. No support.
What went wrong?
These are the ten commonest mistakes presenters make and how to correct them.
1. You didn't take time to define your audience clearly and address them personally.
Your audience has one question in their minds all the time: "What's in this for me?" If you don't answer it obviously, they tune out.
Be clear about your audience and aim your pitch solely at them. Anyone else is a bonus.
2. You opened your presentation with the idea itself.
Wrong!
Always lead with the clearest, most powerful benefit to that specific group.
Which would you listen to first?
"I'm going to talk to you about some new ideas in presentation technique."
"Here's a simple way to make your audience eager to buy into your ideas."
You must get people to pay attention. What grabs them? A sure-fire solution a problem they know they have. Not an idea they can't see how to use yet.
3. You took too long to get to the point and gave too much detailed explanation.
People's attention span is short. You either catch them fast or you don't catch them at all.
Don't work up to the key issues. Get to the point. Forget explanations until you have their interest. Once hooked, they'll listen. Until then, they won't.
4. You didn't get all your key points in quickly and people lost interest.
List your key points at the start, right after you've caught their attention with big, specific benefits.
Present your points starting with the most important. Always begin with the essentials. If people get bored, they'll still have heard the most important points.
5. You were wordy, you didn't sound confident and you went off at tangents.
Brevity breathes authority. Don't waste your audience's attention on anything that isn't essential.
Less is nearly always more. Cut it to the minimum. If people have unanswered questions, give time for them at the end. You can end on a high note, not the typical embarrassed wait for someone--anyone--to ask something.
6. You didn't stick to a single message.
Every additional message causes an earlier one to be forgotten.
What do you want the audience to hear? Say it clearly and with confidence...then shut up.
7. You didn't work on building a fan base first.
It's easier to present with fans in the audience to support you. Brief them in advance and encourage them to come along as supporters. Nothing convinces people as much as seeing others already convinced.
8. You didn't practice enough.
If you're not presentation perfect in practice conditions, performance stress will make you into an idiot.
If you're using technology, assume it's going to break down or mess up.
People who aren't properly prepared easily get anxious and nervous people aren't convincing.
9. You got the timing wrong.
Don't schedule your presentation when key people have something else on their minds. Don't hold it on Monday morning (they're dreading what they'll find on their desks) or Friday afternoon (what are you planning for the weekend?).
10. You didn't give them time to grasp your idea.
How fast can they take it in? Who else will they want to consult? Catch their attention, explain only what you have to explain, remind them of the big benefits, then sit down and let them think about it.
Never push for a decision unless you're sure it's the one you want. As long as the decision is open, you can make another attempt.
Follow this advice and next time you'll have an audience that will be right behind you.
Adrian W. Savage writes for people who want help with the daily dilemmas they face at work. He has contributed more than 25 articles to leading British and American publications and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The Chicago Tribune.
Visit his blog on the ups and downs of business life.
MORE RESOURCES updated Wed. April / 24 / 2024 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES:
How to Become an Expert in Your Niche Business What is a niche business? A niche business is one that caters to the common needs and interests of a focused group of people. For instance, people who play golf forms a niche market and people who are golf instructors form an even tighter and smaller niche. Seven Ways to Get the Most Out of the Next Training You Attend Sometime soon you will be attending some training. It may be a one hour tele-seminar, a one day class, professional conference, or a weekend retreat. Top 10 Items For A 21st Century Toolbox! Skilled workers of every age have prized their tools. I recently visited a Museum of Natural History and was amazed at the craftsmanship and precision of the sextants and chronometers that allowed explorers to map our world in the 18th and 19th centuries. No More Lists To Remember Are the endless lists of Top-7's and Top-10's taxing your brain and your memory? Do you ever feel like trying to keep all these ideas straight, let alone apply them properly at the correct moment in time an overwhelming chore? How often do you find yourself having to review these lists? Perhaps endlessly until the next list comes out and then it's back to square one again. Wouldn't you rather live, work and be spontaneously effective, without having to pull out your "how to" lists? Just imagine for a moment being able to live this way. 10 Marketing Tips For Your Business Here are a few ideas to get you started, all with low or no cost, which should especially help you in the early days of your business.This is by no means an exhaustive list, but is just a few ideas to start you off. The Top 7 Marketing Tips You Don't Want To Overlook 1. Combine Emotion and LogicConsumers buy because the want to experience the benefits of the product or service you have to offer. Advice for New Coaches: 10 Ways to Attract Your First Paying Client and Receive Endless Referrals Many new coaches struggle to attract their first client. Often, these coaches are so desperate to prove themselves, they'll sacrifice their financial health to coach their first few clients for free. 7 Reasons Why Training Doesn't Produce the Desired Results and What You Can Do To Seven Reasons Why Training Doesn't Produce the Desired Results and What You Can Do To Improve Your Results OverviewAbraham Maslow said, "If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail." As managers, leaders and change agents, we want to improve our organizational performance. Top 10 Ways Websites Makes Me Suffer I believe some people create and publish websites for the sole purpose of tormenting their visitors. Browsing various websites and navigating the Web can often be like trying to read on an airplane while a kid kicks the back of your seat and the baby next to you alternates between screaming, crying and drooling on you. Top 7 Tips For Writing Your Marketing Plan A lot of people are at a loss when it comes to deciding how to approach the marketing plan process and how to stay within time and budget constraints. To make for a less stressful marketing plan process, keep these 7 tips in mind:Think Strategy First An overall marketing strategy drives many decisions. Ten Tips For Starting A New Job 1. Get to know people. 7 Tips To Increase The Success Of Your Online Business 1. Outsource what takes you too long to do? When you don't have time to do something, you either don't do it, or do it faster and make mistakes. Never Sell Again: Get Repeat Business and Avoid the Need to Prospect If you're a business owner, you know that repeat business is critical to your success. It also makes your life much easier because you can count on ongoing business without having to continuously find new prospects and convince them to hire you. Top Ten Things to Do to Make your Signature File Sell Always include a powerful signature on every email you send out, even to friends. It's even more important when you send out articles to opt-in ezines (no spam) and top web sites in your field--more important than your article's message. The Top Ten Qualities that Allow Business Operations to Grow Easily My husband and I were enjoying our dinner meal one evening while discussing various plans and ideas. I was sharing that I wanted to submit articles and ads to a huge number of ezines to market my eProgram in a big way, and I wanted his help to make this happen. The 10 Benefits of Cross Cultural Training Cross cultural differences can and do impede upon communication and interpersonal relationships. In the business world this occurs daily, where people from different cultures interact and are expected to perform and make decisions. Why Don't They Just Get It Done: 7 Performance Tactics for CEOs Buckling under the weight of chronic corporate restructuring, and frustrated by performers who don't respond to carefully crafted strategic plans, high level executive leaders are being confronted by a growing performance gap between what needs to get done and what gets done. Sound familiar? It's a troublesome trend that is likely happening in your firm right now. How to Counsel Your Non-Performing Team Members - 10 Tips Counseling non-performing team members is a tough part of any managers role. This article is full of tips to help you perform this difficult role. 10 High-Impact Viral Marketing Strategies Viral Marketing is allowing people to giveaway and use your free product or service in order to multiply your marketing quickly over the internet. Shaking Your Money Tree: Seven Ways to Make Quick Cash Does your business have a money tree you can shake when a little extra cash is needed? Every business should have one! What I mean by a money tree is something you can do to quickly generate revenue when you need it. Where can you find a money tree? Although you can't buy one at your local garden store, they are more common than you might imagine.
|
Akron City Directory
www.AccessFreedom.Does.It
www.Akron.Has.It
www.NoGas.Drives.It
|
 |
auction news and listings for Akron, Ohio Akron crafts and hobby news center Advertising and promotions Akron, Ohio The Akron blogging news center Akron Ohio web site design news Akron Mortgaging and refinancing Best Home Remedies and do it yourself tips
|
|
|
HOME |
SITE MAP
© 2012 - 2024 All Rights Reserved |
|
