Are you just a talking head?
Basics you need to know before presenting face-to-face with your audience. Spend the necessary time to analyze your audience.
Don’t just be a talking head.
- Who are they?
- Why did they come to your presentation in the first place?
- Did you learn what your audience might want to take away from your presentation?
- How can your presentation change the audience?
You may be a thought leader and expert in your field, yet you need to remember the only thing more powerful than a big idea is your ability to communicate/sell that idea to others. You need to develop a compelling way to present your message so that your audience will remember it. “Remember it” are the keywords for a successful presentation.
Your goal is to influence/change the memory of your audience. The part of the presentation an audience least remembers is the middle of the presentation. What they remember the most is the opening and closing of the presentation. “Tell’em what you’re going to tell’em, tell’em and tell’em what you told’em.”
Another stumbling block for people who tell wonderful memorable metaphorical and anecdotal stories is that, too often, stories have little relevance to the main topic of the presentation. Do you want them to remember your story or your content?
Audiences remember and learn far more when they are set up to discuss with others and think for themselves about the key points of your presentation. Walk them through steps to have them summarize your key points themselves and with others during your presentation. Ask them to apply some of your key points to their current work. Some people call that Socratic learning.
This can best be summed up with favorite sayings by Thich Nhat Hanh – “Teach me and I shall forget. Show me and I shall remember. Let me do it and I shall understand.”
As a coach, trainer and consultant, Larry Blumsack partners with people and organizations on the move and those already there to accelerate their communication, presentation and speaking skills to be on par with their ambition. Through one-on-one coaching and group training Larry helps leaders and aspiring leaders elevate their presence and communication skills to influence more people, sell more products-services-ideas and inspire others more successfully than they ever imagined.
Larry is the bestselling author of Face-to-Face is The Ultimate Social Media and founder of Zoka Institute and Zoka Training®. Zoka Training® — Mind/Voice/Body/Mindfulness in sync — is the result of Larry’s 45 years as a coach, acting teacher, actor, voice-over artist, theater and TV director/producer, radio & TV commentator and show host, speaker, trainer, serial entrepreneur, and syndicated columnist. Larry was a founding member of the theater department at Northeastern University.
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