The audience was utterly silent after Bill Gates released a swarm of mosquitoes into the auditorium at the TED conference in 2009.
“Malaria is spread by mosquitoes. I brought some here. I’ll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected,” Gates said.
Attendees were shocked.
Moments later, Gates reassured the audience that the mosquitoes were malaria-free. However, he’d made his point — and created a lasting impression about the need to fight Malaria.
Was his presentation memorable? Absolutely.
We focus on creating polished presentations, yet we forget to consider, “Is it engaging? Is it memorable?”
Presenting is about sharing ideas. You want your audience to engage with your content — and remember it.
Who cares? What’s in it for me?
I have a sticky note that sits above my computer. It says, “Who cares?” Why would someone want to read what I’m writing or listen to the presentation I’m giving? What’s in it for them?
Your audience will likely zone out while you are presenting – unless you give them a reason to pay attention. Why is your topic of interest to them?
Start with the why and build your content around the benefits for the audience. Otherwise, you will lose them within the first few minutes.
We tend to start presentations with our entire professional background or the complete history of the company we are representing. While it’s good to build credibility, you can share your qualifications with anecdotes throughout your presentation.
If you have limited time to hook your audience, don’t waste the opportunity by sharing a lengthy, dry professional history. Instead, jump into the “what’s in it for me” perspective.
Tell stories.
We remember stories and anecdotes.
Jennifer Aaker, a marketing professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, found that when students listened to business pitches or presentations that contained facts, figures, or a story, 5% of the individuals recalled the statistic, but 63% of the people remembered the stories.
Rather than sharing your qualifications as a laundry list on a slide, share stories of successful projects that demonstrate your team’s skills and accomplishments.
Stories also provide an emotional connection, leading to a more engaged audience.
Would you rather a CEO tell you the quarterly numbers were met?
Or, would you prefer the CEO tell you a story about how something went wrong, the team figured it out at the last minute, and you met your quarterly numbers?
If you want to be memorable, you have to share some of your humanity. The best way to achieve that is through stories.
Present – don’t read.
Presenting to an audience can be frightening. While writing much of your presentation on slides feels safe, don’t do it.
Don’t read your slides to your audience or fill slides up with paragraphs of text.
You want your audience to listen to what you have to say. The audience won’t be listening if they are trying to read three paragraphs on your slide.
Some of my favorite presentations are when the presenter asks for feedback from the audience. Create an atmosphere that welcomes questions and input as you are presenting.
You can have the most beautiful presentation deck; however, if your delivery and content are formulaic, your audience will not likely remember what you discussed.
Presentations are wonderful opportunities to address clients’ pain points and share valuable information.
Take advantage of having your audience’s attention and give them something to remember.
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