Lousy opening to your presentation

Lousy opening to your presentation

The purpose of your opening is to build interest in your presentation. Your opening is like the opening paragraph of an article or the first chapter in your book. The question it should answer is “Why should the audience listen to your presentation?”

Sometimes we need to experience a bad example to really appreciate the difference. Here is an example of a bad opening---

The speaker said:

Good morning, good afternoon or whatever.

Guess I’m a little jet lagged. Ha.
Glad to be here in Toronto.

I’m the founder of…

We are based in California.
We have offices around the world.

Where’s Robert?

There he is.
He is my local licensee.

We’re running 15 minutes late and I had planned to speak for one hour and fifteen minutes and I plan to use all of that time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The purpose is to build interest in listening to the rest of the presentation. Nothing he said in his opening did that. From that opening one might surmise that this speaker would be a pompous braggart and an inconsiderate boring speaker.

The audience makes those decisions during your opening.

We know what he didn’t do. Let’s dissect his opening to recognize what he did wrong.

 

Paragraph 1: Good morning

That’s cliché and boring. He started speaking at 4:00pm yet he didn’t know the time of day. That demonstrates lack of awareness and disregard for his audience. We don’t care about his alleged jet lag. That was his way of bragging that he travelled to get here. Glad to be in Toronto sounded insincere and it was cliché.

 

Paragraph 2: I’m the founder

The place for that information was in his introduction. It was in the introduction and for some reason he felt that he needed to repeat that. Why? Was he insecure? It seems those things were important to him and perhaps his mother?

 

Paragraph 3: Where’s Robert?

At some point Robert and his relationship might become significant. At this point, who cares?

 

Paragraph 4: 15 Minutes Late

Did he just criticize the organizers? Then he added that he was unwilling to adapt and didn’t care about the audience time expectations. He implied that the time of the audience was unimportant to him. It was more important that he exercise his desire to speak as long as he likes.

 

If you heard this opening -

Would you like this person?

Would you feel interested in his presentation?
Would you want to do business with his company?

 

Check the opening to your presentations. Avoid these mistakes.

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Superior Presentations 72: Build your presentation argument on...

Build on what they already know

When you are introducing a new idea or concept to an audience you will have better success if you build on what they already know.

Teachers often review the key points from the last class to start on familiar ground and build upon it.

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone he related to objects that people are already familiar with. He even showed an image of a mobile phone with a dial. He did that for two reasons: to get a laugh and to demonstrate that the iPhone was simply the advancement of a familiar tool.

Albert Einstein explained his theory about relativity by using the analogy of a man walking on a moving train. People were familiar with train travel so they felt comfortable listening to the rest of his analogy. That analogy clearly explains the relationship between the speed of light, time and space. (It's worth reading)

When molecular scientist Neils Bohr first described the structure of atoms he used the structure of the solar system as a model. The sun represented the nucleus while the planets symbolized orbiting electrons.

The retention of old skills is often likened to "like riding a bicycle".

This is not about talking down to people. It's about connecting with them by starting with familiar territory and mindset then bridging to where you want to take them.

This technique also helps when persuading people to accept a different way of doing things, especially if you want them to abandon the established norm.

You might start your argument by confessing your past belief in the status quo until an accident provoked you to investigate other possibilities. You fought change but finally accepted the new reality. This approach allows the audience to follow your path of discovery without feeling foolish or defensive.

Introducing new ideas? You can't stand on the other side of the chasm and tell people to jump. If you want to move your audience to new ground you must first go to them and lead them across the bridge.

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3 Sales Presentation Openers to Avoid

Guest Post by Kelley Robertson

During the last 17-plus years I have been part of, or watched, hundreds of sales presentations. More recently, I viewed a series of sales demonstrations and all but one of the four sales team opened their presentation the same way.
Here are three openers you need to avoid using when starting a sales presentation.

Social chit-chat

Contrary to popular belief, spending time at the beginning of a sales presentation engaging the prospect in social chit-chat to create rapport is not a good use of time. You may think it’s important but your prospect doesn’t really care. They are busy and want you to get to the point—quickly—so they can get back to work.
There are two exceptions to this rule…
1. If you are doing a presentation for multiple people and you are waiting for people to arrive, it is perfectly acceptable to engage the others in small talk. However, once everyone has shown up, get started immediately.
2. If your prospect engages you in small talk then it makes good business to participate. Otherwise, don’t waste their time–or yours.

Thanking the prospect

Most of the sales presentations I have observed start with the sales person(s) thanking the prospect for the opportunity to present their solution. This behavior diminishes your credibility and puts you in a submissive position. Plus, it doesn’t any add value to the presentation.

Talking about your company

This is perhaps the worst mistake. The vast majority of sales presentations I have seen open with the seller talking about their company.

• How long they have been in business
• The clients they have on their roster
• The awards they have won
• The list goes on

After more than 17 years of working with sales people I still don’t know why sellers think this is an effective way to open a sales presentation.
First impressions are critical. And if you make the wrong impression in the first vital moments of a sales presentation you run the risk of losing that opportunity.

Improve your next sales presentation with my free eBook “58 Ways to Create Compelling Sales Presentations” Download it here: http://bit.ly/Rd0deV

Kelley Robertson is a specialist in sales training.


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Bill Gates - still not a confident public speaker

Just because you are rich doesn't make you a good public speaker.

Bill Gates is one of the richest guys in the world. He is successful. He is a brilliant thinker. Yet he isn't a good public speaker. 

The reason I tell you that is because none of those things gurantee public speaking brilliance. That means that the lack of financial success need not limit your public speaking success.

I watched Bill Gates speak at an event in Toronto about ten years ago. He was cleary uncomfortable about being on stage. He was accompanied by two others on stage while he talked. They all sat on stools. Bill didn't allow any humor about himselt - only about the competion and Windows.

In this video, as Bill Gates speaks to Harvard graduates, he pokes fun at himself. But he reads his speech, which is suprising, because he's telling his personal story. He doesn't need to read it because he lived it. He does demonstrate good pacing and pausing to allow for the laughter.

Bill Gates still isn't comfortable speaking in public but he's getting better.







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Presentations - How do you say it?

Presentations

What is the correct way to say this word?

I’ve hear many people pronounce this word wrong.

It doesn’t sound like:

• Please
• Breeze
• Cheese

  

Presentations sounds more like:

• President
• Press
• Pressure

The word is press-zen-ta-tions



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Amazon offers free Kindle ebook today - 12 Simple Tips for Superior Presentations

You can grab your free copy of this Kindle ebook today and tomorrow - Sept 10 & 11.

A two day special offer from Amazon.

Get your copy of the 12 original tips that launched the Superior Presentations Tips series. It was originally published as Power Presentations Tips.

Get your copy here at Kindle Amazon




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Superior Presentations 71: How many times should you repeat...

 Repeat your key message

If you want your audience to remember your key message, you’ll need to say it at least three times during your presentation.

Your key message is likely summed up in about three to ten words. Average speaking speed is between 110 and 150 words per minute. That means in a five minute presentation about 500 to 700 words were spoken but only ten were critical. Your key message could be lost in that sea of words.

If you only stated your key message once and all your words were equally weighed, there would be at best a 2 percent chance of anyone remembering your key message.

Yes, there are other techniques to emphasize your key message which you should also use. Repeating your key words is the simplest way.

By repeating your key message at least once, you’ve doubled the emphasis and increased the memorability. State your key message three to five times and people will tend to hear it and remember it.

Most of us need to hear a phrase, message or name several times before we remember it. Perhaps you’ve met someone at a meeting and then forgotten their name before the end of the meeting. When you want to commit important information to memory you should probably repeat it several times.

Marketers know this principle. That’s why a 30-second radio or TV ad will mention the product or company name a few times. That’s also why one promotion never seems enough.

You probably remember the key phrase from the famous speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. – I have a dream. It would be difficult to forget because he stated it 11 times during that speech.

Here are three ways for you to use this technique:

Repeat your key message like a refrain, as in “I have a dream”.

Capture the key message within a rhetorical question and then answer using the key words, e.g. why is it important to exercise? It’s important to exercise because…

Use slight variations in the wording so the phrase doesn’t appear overdone. e.g. In this tip,  message, words and phrase have been interchanged.

If there’s one thing for you to remember from this tip, it is: “repeat your key message”.

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Superior Presentations: Listen to this interview with George Torok

George Torok interviewed on Biz Radio Canada about How to Deliver Superior Presentations.

What can you learn from this shy, introverted kid who became a professsional speaker and executive speech coach?


Superor Presentations: George Torok Interview on Biz Radio Canda from George Torok on Vimeo.

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I Have a Dream - 50 years ago

Martin Luther King delivered his memorable "I have a dream" speech 50 years ago in Washington, DC.

It was a well written speach - and what most people don't know is he went off scirpt part way through. In particular - he ad libbed with the "I have a dream" bit.

Watch this video as he reads his speech for about the first 12 minutes - then when he starts talking about his dream - he's not reading anynore. He's improvising.

"I have a dream" is memorable because it's a powerful line and he repeated it several times. But it's not the only line he repeated in this speech. Repetition is a good technique if you want people to remember your message. Don't be shy - repeat the key message.

In this speech Martin also repeated,

• Now is the time...
• We cannot be satistisfied...
• Go back to...
• Let freedom reign...

Read the Carmine Gallo comments in Forbes.


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