Welcome Professionals…
…Here comes a reminder on an old principle that probably every consultant already knows: The message of a presentation must be tailored to the receiving audience!
Sure, you might say. This is so simple and obvious, yet it gets forgotten so many times. All too often we tend to use the material that we already have and skip the extra tailoring effort. We like the messages that sound convincing to ourselves, not necessarily pursusasive for the individuals we address. We think within the frameworks that work for us, but may be too complicated for the attention span of our listeners.
For every presentation that we prepare, we must answer the most basic questions first:
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Who is our target audience of the message/presentation?
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What is their status (knowledge, opinion, goals, capacities, restrictions, etc.)
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Where do we want to move the audience?
Once the key message is tailored, we should review the following three questions to make our message pursuasive:
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How can we create a supportive atmosphere in the beginning (a compliment, a joke, an appreciation of the audience, a consensus, etc.)
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How can we address stakeholders during our presentation and show them that we understand them and that we care?
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How can we finalize with a positive call for action?
Everything else is just PowerPoint,
Malte
Thursday Night Flight is brought to you by Malte Müller Professionals. Sharing best practices for top management consultants on topics like communication, client handling, problem solving, appearance, and fitness. Check out www.mm-professionals.com for more material and free resources!
For your presentation to be effective it requires skills, not everyone can make a presentation effective. You need to acquire the skills by training and practice.
You prepare well in advanced asking yourself: who are my target audience? Your audience is most important, IF you make a preparation for the youth and the audience is in their fifties, it would have been a wasted effort. The message has to be tailored to the specific need of the audience, or better still adapted to suit their particular purpose, like a Tailor making a made to measure suit.
Even after having prepared, the message have to be delivered in a manner that will motivate the audience.
In short simplicity, body language, catch attention with stories, I have a very strong voice, that has been one of the way I have been able to carry my audience along. Above all please relax!!!