Grab the attention of your audience from the moment you begin until the last person leaves. Inspire and motivate easily and naturally!
1. Start with an attention getter.
§ How many times have you heard the opener “Welcome… the bathrooms are… the coffee is… the speaker has done blah blah blah…” Did it work for you? If the opening is standardized, chances are your audience knows it already and they are not interested. Think about getting on an airplane. Do you really need to learn how to buckle your seatbelt and therefore pay rapt attention?
§ Given that housekeeping is easily handled before you start, and that in reality very few people care about housekeeping or even your background at this point, now is the time to shine! Start with a quote, a statistic, an example, or a story that ties to your content, connects with your audience, puts you on their level, and demonstrates your expertise.
2. Poke fun at yourself.
§ When watching others, how much patience do you have for the people that hold themselves out to be perfect, the end all be all, answer for every problem everyone ever had? Do you enjoy connecting with self-promoters?
§ When the audience knows you are human just like them, they want you to succeed! Your audience is on your side at the beginning so keep them there by demonstrating your humanness. Self-deprecating humor is politically correct and sharing your mistakes followed by a solution both makes you real, it demonstrates expertise.
3. Connect and establish rapport.
§ Does every participant in the audience respond the same way? Do they each enjoy the same style of presentation? The easy way out is to connect with those that have similar personalities. Is that enough? Some people in the audience want to know the point of your content, where it will get them personally, and what documentation you have to back up the information. The other half of your audience wants to hear human interest stories and feel your personality. Now complicate it further: some what an overview, with a slow, easy, step-by-step process with lots of explanation along the way. Others want you to make your point and move on already.
§ Create a plan to meet each need in the room. Blend the styles. Develop your content in a way that each person gains from the style of the presentation. Establish rapport with the different styles by giving each a bit of what works for them individually.
4. Develop the pain.
§ Is it easier to continue with habits and routines or easier to change? Until the pain of remaining the same is great enough, the pain of changing is too great.
§ What happens if nothing changes? Explore the implications. Dig in to what is happening now and the path current patterns follow.
5. Explore the possibilities.
§ Does your audience like you if you leave them in their pain? Do they want hope? Are general, grandiose statements such as, “It will all work out,” meeting their need? In their mind, your solution does not work in their situation.
§ What are the options? Does your audience believe they can use that particular option? How can you open the door to acceptance of the possibilities? How can the participant walk out the door confident that they understand? Build this in from the beginning with pre-calling human nature to dismiss ideas and a challenge to ask themselves how they could use the solutions. When you are presenting the solutions, ask them how they will tweak it to apply the concepts in their situation.
6. Create a plan of action.
§ If your audience hears a great presentation and walks out the door without specific steps, what happens? Nothing! Nothing changes unless the change is planned. A great speaker creates change.
§ All day long, with each point, ask your audience to write down what they will do and how they will do it. When they have a written plan, they feel confident and motivated.
7. Wrap the content package together with a beautiful ribbon.
§ At the end of the presentation, does the audience remember what you said at the beginning? Do they remember all the wonderful ideas and points and steps? No!
§ Summarize your key points in a way that makes a key point. If the topic is A, go through the points made throughout the presentation and ask the audience if the information applies to their interest.
8. Clinch the close.
§ What do people remember when they walk out the door? The last thing they heard! Do they accept a bland, “thank you for being here,” as special or significant?
§ When your close ties to your opening, the full content creates a very real experience. Is this more powerful than a great joke or story? Connect the dots clearly by pulling your opening in and closing with a powerful clincher of a statistic or story.
Because you are intelligent (if you were not you would not be reading this!) let’s keep it simple. Focus on the basics that count and have a great time!
