OVERVIEW
Every great presentation deserves an audience, and every great audience deserves a presentation that delivers on its promises. This section looks at creating a compelling story so people will want to attend and organizing content in a way that engages people and moves them to take the desired action, whether learning a skill, implementing a new policy, or buying software.
A great presentation, on the web or otherwise,
If your presentation lacks any of these elements, something is wrong. If your content isn’t relevant to your audience, you won’t be able to deliver a great presentation. If your presentation has interesting visuals and the package is slick but at the end of your time with audience members they just shrug and say, “Not for us,” then as far as you’re concerned, you gave a good presentation but not a great one.
In other words, great presentations are compelling. Compelling is often defined as “forceful, demanding attention, or convincing”—about as good a description of an excellent presentation, training seminar, or meeting as could ever be found.
As a presenter, you want to compel your audience in two ways. First, you want participants to show up interested in what you have to say and eager to learn more. Then you want them to take the desired action or learn the desired skill.
To compel them to show up, you must design the presentation with the audience members in mind. A well-thought-out invitation tells them what to expect and how to attend. Finally, you must deliver on your promise with a presentation that engages them throughout and drives them to take the desired action.
You’re a great trainer with a fabulous message. Your product is revolutionary. But why should audience members take time out of their hectic schedules to listen to what you have to say? No matter how experienced you are or how great your message is, people will not attend your presentation unless you give them a compelling, concrete reason to do so.
Let me tell you about someone who just didn’t understand this.
When I first started www.greatwebmeetings.com, a prospect complained that he couldn’t get anyone to show up for his free marketing webinars. He had paid a developer for world-class visuals (I could only dream of creating such great slides!), his presenters were slick, and he had a product that, if people tried it, had a great closing ratio. But he could not get enough people to sit through his marketing events.
I knew the problem as soon as I received the first invitation to an event. The email invitation read, “Learn all about the exciting new features of _________ Software, Version 2.0.” It then listed a number of the product’s new bells and whistles and why it was so fabulous.
The problem was that all of the benefits involved the presenter and had nothing to do with the customer. People had no reason to drop everything and register, just to learn about a new software program. (I don’t know about you, but I have enough software on my computer already to last a lifetime.) The name of the software wasn’t compelling or interesting—I didn’t care, and neither did most of the folks on this client’s prospect list. If they did care about the product, then they were already customers and didn’t need to sit through a “get to know you” web event.
Make the benefit of attending the presentation clear in your invitations. Make attendees’ jobs easier. Save them money. Save them money while making their jobs easier. Just give them a good reason why they should care about what you’re telling them! 5 Before you construct an invitation or put your presentation together, write, in a single sentence, what people will get from attending your presentation.
You’ve done a lot of thinking and analysis. Time to put it to use. Compel people to attend by telling them what to expect and what great value they’ll get in exchange for their time. Don’t just get them to show up—make them want to show up. It all starts with the invitation.
Whether formal or informal, a good invitation should contain the same basic ingredients:
Answer all of these questions, and your audience will show up predisposed to listen to what you have to say, if not to take your requested action.
Maybe the most controversial question my clients ask me involves presentation length, because no firm answer is available, and it largely depends on the presentation you’re giving. Here’s what I know: People can’t pay attention online for as long as they can in a live setting. Some of this results from common human courtesy— people tend to be respectful of presenters and others speaking in the same room. When they don’t have to look a speaker in the eye, however, clicking “leave meeting now” can be a great temptation.
In a future step, you’re going to build your presentation. Now is the time to seriously think about how long it will be. Take this into consideration before you even open PowerPoint. Once you get started it’s almost impossible to stop adding content. Remember you want it to be informational enough to be compelling, but not so padded or over-done that people leave before it’s finished. Consider the wisdom in the old adage, “leave them wanting more.”
When was the last time someone complained a webinar or webmeeting was too short?
Your presentation should be as long as necessary but not one second longer. To determine exactly that length, follow these guidelines:
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Studies by web platform providers including BrightTALK indicate that the more steps it takes to respond to a webinar invitation, the less likely people are to take advantage of the opportunity.
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Email is the best way to let people know about a webinar. Whether they receive a fancy formal invite or an email with a link that says “click here,” people don’t want to work too hard. Remember the following tips about effective emails:
Figure 5.1 is a sample invitation for a basic marketing webinar, the kind you get from potential vendors all the time.
You can tweak this invitation format to work for the following kinds of presentation:
FIGURE 5.1
Sample Email Invitation—Marketing Webinar
This invitation assumes that your audience is more interested in the topic than the presenter. Unless you are a well-known industry leader, you might want to take this approach—after all, most people you send this to will have no idea who you are yet! Notice the email is to the point.
Subject Line:
3 Ways to Empty Your Email Inbox—A New Webinar
The Body of the Email (start with a catchy statement that will show up in the preview pane of recipients’ email, so those who scan their email will at least know they should pay attention to this message):
Studies show that email is now the biggest time waster in the workplace. How can you make better use of your time, reduce rework, and get more done?
Join us on ________ at ________ for a webinar: “3 Simple Techniques to Clear Up Your Email Inbox.” [The presenters from your company] and the authors of What Part of "Delete All" Did You Not Understand? will give you practical advice on how to manage your email, communicate more effectively with your teammates, and save your manager’s sanity.
Register now by clicking here. [Link directly to your landing/data capture page.]
In this webinar you’ll learn [insert your learning objectives here]:
[Include a two-sentence bio for each presenter.]
[Include a one- or two-sentence overview of your company and its achievements.]
Don’t forget to join us for this important event [provide date and time].
Register here [repeat link to landing/data capture page].
[Personalize your signature and include your title (president, CEO, chief marketing officer)].
Contact information and Website info:
We respect your privacy. To take your name off our email list, please click here [include an email link] and put REMOVE in the subject line.
This invitation contains everything you need. You have a problem that needs to be solved (email clutter) and an identified audience (those who need help). You have identified what will happen and who will help them, and you have made it as easy as possible to register their intention to attend.
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Figure 5.2 provides an example of a simple but effective agenda that you can include with a meeting invitation.
FIGURE 5.2
Meeting Agenda Template
Save this information as an email template, and just fill it in for each new meeting. Don’t miss this step—you’ll be surprised how much smoother your meetings run when people know what to expect and act accordingly.
Time, date, and meeting length
Meeting format and log-in data
Include both web and audio requirements and if people will be expected to participate by voice.
Meeting host and presenters
Objectives and outcomes
Describe the meeting—for example, whether you will be updating participants on a critical piece of information, asking them to brainstorm (in this case advise people what to think about in advance), or asking them to make a decision.
Expected participant preparation
Note whether participants need to read, prepare, check out, or analyze anything to be properly armed for the meeting.
Where participants can find relevant information and materials
Ensure that all participants have a copy of the spreadsheet you sent. If not, they can find it on the shared drive or the SharePoint site drive (include a link so they don’t have to bug you for it).
Any additional information they should know
Introduce any new people or outsiders who will be participating in the meeting. Note anything new or different about this meeting relative to the others you’ve held.
A presentation that doesn’t accomplish its goals can still be good, but not great. Crafting strong, dynamic content is necessary for a presentation to hit its mark. Some important elements of a compelling presentation include the following:
If this seems a bit overwhelming, see Worksheet 5.1 for a planning tool that takes all this information into account and lets you simply fill in the blanks.
Getting your presentation off to a great start is critical to your success. Your audience might be apprehensive about what’s to come, and when people’s brains are stressed and their amygdalae are firing warning signals, it’s very difficult for them to relax and appreciate what you’re telling them. As a presenter, you’ll also want to ease your fears about them not responding. 5
What are they so tense about? After all, you’re the one presenting. These are some audience concerns:
They are unfamiliar with the platform. Ease any participant anxiety by giving a quick tour of the platform and its features. In particular, introduce any interactive features you plan to use early so that participants actually become engaged with the technology.
If you expect attendees to participate, make sure they know how and are comfortable. Don’t assume that they know what to do. More important, many people have only been on the receiving end of one-way web meetings and don’t expect to participate. Make your presentation the positive exception.
They think this will be a waste of time. Most people have had bad experiences with boring or inept webinars. So have members of your audience. If they come in with a bad attitude, they’ll not be positively disposed to you and your message. Your greeting should put them at ease. Make sure you provide an agenda and a timeline. You’ll want them to have the agenda before the presentation or meeting (it might entice them to show up!), but you’ll also want to have an agenda slide in your presentation. You’re going to promise to make good use of people’s time and deliver on that promise.
Your purpose is unclear. Very early on in your presentation, you should put any concerns or distracting questions about audience members’ roles to rest.
They don’t know what to expect. I find that a single slide with some directions (which I just copy from presentation to presentation to make it easy on myself) is sufficient. You’ll want to list the following:
They don’t know who you are. Your introduction should establish your credibility and make a good human connection. Let participants know why they should bother listening to you. Give a relevant piece of experience (“Like you, I have been in sales for more than 10 years, especially in the health sector with accounts like GE Medical”) and then stop bragging. They want to know you’re qualified, but not your entire résumé. If you have a webcam, 5 let them put a face to your name. At the very least, you’ll want to provide a good candid photograph of yourself so they are aware of the actual human being on the other end. Try to avoid posed, professional head shots unless you’re giving a high-stakes, big-money webinar or sales demo. If your photo looks stiff or too formal, you may put your audience in the wrong frame of mind. You want people relaxed and participating, not intimidated.
Here’s a sample of an introduction with very specific language. Try it on for size, and then keep honing it until it sounds like you. The important part is not the exact words you use but how professional you sound and that you don’t leave out any critical information. You want to know what you’re going to say so you can set a high standard right from the first word.
(Your webcam appears. It gets turned off before the presentation so the audience doesn’t see you scratching, drinking water, or panicking when something doesn’t look right.)
INTRODUCTION: Good morning, everyone. My name is _________________, and I welcome you to our webinar training session on ________________. We’ll be together for the next _______ minutes or so, and that will include lots of time for your questions. (If participants don’t know who you are, give a short overview of why you’re qualified to present this topic.)
HOUSEKEEPING (including a slide with this information in bullet form): Let’s take care of some of the administration. First, please turn off your email and instant messaging. Not only will this help you concentrate, but it will free up bandwidth on your computer to help prevent crashes. We will be taking questions by phone, and you can also use the chat feature to write your questions down as they occur to you.
TOUR: For those of you who have never used this web meeting platform before, in the lower right-hand corner you’ll see the chat box. In fact, you’ll see that it says “Chat with all.” If you’ll just click your mouse into the box on the bottom and type where you’re from, everyone will be able to see it, and we’ll know everything is working. Please do that now. We’ll also be using some of the other tools, and I’ll explain how to use those in just a moment. If you want to expand the screen to full screen, you can click the “full screen” view icon—it looks like a TV screen with an arrow on it in the upper right-hand corner. I’ll give you a moment to do that . . . great. To restore it, just click that button again.
AGENDA (it’s always a good idea to have the objectives written on a visual and an agenda slide with the goals bulleted): Our goal today is to [show objective slide] show you the benefits of ______ and how to take advantage of that to make your job easier. Specifically, we’ll cover ______ [show agenda slide], and it will take about 45 minutes, including time for questions and answers.
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Polling is a great way to kick off a presentation or meeting to let you know what the audience knows and wants to know. It is also a fun way to get them interacting with the technology as quickly as possible. Ideas for great kick-off polls include
TRANSITION TO FIRST ASSESSMENT OR TOPIC: Now, let’s find out a little bit about you. I’d like to show you the polling feature, and I’m going to ask you . . .
FOR SALES PRESENTATIONS (The biggest mistake salespeople and demonstrators make is showing the client too much information. The following simple introduction will help you understand what the customers need from you so you don’t bore or overload them.): Thanks for joining me today. In our time together, I plan to show you ______ and ______ because you said you were interested in that. Before I just start poking around, why don’t you tell me what you’re specifically looking to learn or if you have things you’re particularly interested in? That way we can make sure you’re getting the most from our time together.
Now that you’ve made a concise, informative introduction, you’re ready to move on to the body of your presentation.
When putting together the core of your presentation, you want to include critical, persuasive information but don’t want to turn your presentation into a data dump or simply overload your audience with detail. Before you even fire up PowerPoint, ask yourself the following questions, and then create the visuals and other content that will support your objective.
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A quick note about transitions: You don’t want to say the same thing each time you switch visuals. Most people have been to a presentation where the speaker says, “Moving on” or “On this next slide you’ll see” until they can almost say it along with the speaker. Mildly annoying, it also reduces the speaker’s credibility. Write out each transition so that you’ll know what you want to say and avoid repeating yourself. Mix and match the following five basic types of transition statement, and then write cues to yourself on what to say for each transition: 5
Be sure to write the types of transition statement down, though. When you start presenting, it’s easy to focus on the content or the technology and forget about your transitions. By writing them down and putting them in your script (more about this in Step 7), you won’t be likely to forget them when the pressure’s on.
Worksheet 5.1 is a simple, general template that will help you plan your presentation. The nice thing about this is once you have filled it out, you’ll know exactly what visuals to provide and how much information is necessary without overstuffing your presentation. Your audience will appreciate it.
When creating content, think about the examples you will use and the stories you will tell. Remember to tailor this to your audience. The people who have to learn a new software system have a very different set of things they need to know and care about than the people who are paying for that software.
Keep the following things in mind:
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You’ve laid out your evidence, you’ve established your credibility, and your product or topic is amazing. Don’t let the audience off the hook. You want people to take action—whether to try a new skill, put your product on their shelf, or get out there and sell version 2.9 of your product.
Make sure that you have at least one visual that outlines the next step. Write it out, clearly and plainly. There should be no question in audience members’ minds what you expect them to do. If multiple steps are required, be sure to provide them in bullet form, which is short and precise. If you want participants to return that evaluation by Thursday the 13th, make sure they know you want it back by Thursday the 13th.
A good idea is to have that visual available before you go to a question-and-answer period, and again after. You’ll tell participants what’s expected of them, which should raise questions; you’ll answer those questions; and then you’ll remind participants of their action steps or what will happen next.
Remember, you want to motivate your audience to attend your presentation, focus on the topic of discussion, and prepare the audience to engage with you and then take the desired action. You want to compel people to attend and (even more important) to take the desired action or next step after they’ve seen and heard your presentation.
Because members of an audience aren’t bound by the same rules of common courtesy during an online presentation that they are during a face-to-face meeting or speech, it’s up to you to give them the motivation to show up, pay attention, and be enthused.
By carefully planning your presentation before you actually build it, you’ll identify what’s critical to include. Even more important, you’ll discover what may be information overload, irrelevant, or distracting. You’ll also be able to plan to overcome audience objections in advance.
WORKSHEET 5.1
Presentation Outline Template
Presentation Topic ___________________
Estimated Time ______________________
Start Time __________________
Presenter(s) ________________________
Introduction:
Estimated time: _____________________ Time marker:____________________
Estimated time: _____________________ Time marker:____________________