Create a Dynamite Presentation in 6 Easy Steps

STEP #1: DECIDE ON THE IMPACT

The correct question to ask is: “what decision does these people really need to make?”. So start from the point of wanting to be of service, and that means creating an presentation that persuades your audience to make a decision.

If you don’t know what decision you want the audience to make, don’t bother giving a presentation, because you’re just wasting everyone’s time.

STEP #2: UNDERSTAND HOW AN AUDIENCE DECIDE

A persuasive presentation therefore changes the emotional state of the audience so that they believe and feel that a decision must be made… right now.

In business there are six emotional keys that unlock that all-important decision-making process.  They are:

• Key #1: Greed. “If we make a decision now, we’ll get a big reward.”
• Key #2: Fear. “If we don’t make a decision now, we’re basically toast.”
• Key #3: Altruism. “If we make a decision now, we’re good people.”
• Key #4: Envy. “If we don’t make a decision now, the other guys will win.”
• Key #5: Pride. “If we make a decision now, they’ll know we’re smart.”
• Key #6: Shame: “If we don’t make a decision now, they’ll know we’re dumb."

When these expectations are set, a decision is INEVITABLE.

STEP #3: RESEARCH THE AUDIENCE

Therefore, if you are going to create the emotions that drive decision-making, you need to know not just the audience’s current emotional state but also the beliefs that they’re using to evaluate the emotional weight of anything that you might present to them.

STEP #4: CRAFT THE STORY

The normal, non-autistic, human brain organizes EVERYTHING into stories, because that’s how we understand the meaning and context of everything around us.

Here are the rules:

1. The story starts with an “heart-stopper.” Every movie, TV show, or novel starts with something that captures your attention (i.e. captures your emotions) and holds your interest while you “get into” the story.  Without a “heart stopper”, the audience’s mind will wander.  Trust me.
2. The story is about the audience… not about you. The story connects emotions to the audience’s current situation so that that a decision becomes inevitable.   You (or your firm) can play a “best supporting actor” role, but the main role is always the audience and what happens (or might happen) to them.
3. The story ends with a “risk-remover”, then a “close.” The risk-remover eliminates any remaining reluctance to make a decision.  The “close” pushes the audience over the edge and essentially force them to make the decision, right now.

STEP #5: COMPOSE YOUR SLIDES

Here are the nine key rules:

• Rule #1: Prepare a new for each audience.
• Rule #2: Base your slides on real research.Make sure your presentation uses terminology that will be meaningful to that customer. Use proof points and illustrations that resonate with that customer’s business experience. 
• Rule #3: Don’t just tell… show and tell. If you present information both with words and with pictures, you’ll have twice the impact, because the information will be stored in twice as many places. 
• Rule #4: Mix it up.  Vary your slides so that some contain just words, some contain just pictures, and save the punchy “words and picture” combo for your most important points. 
• Rule #5: Plan how to direct the audience’s attention. Make important elements larger and brighter (or louder). Provide an outline structure to help them understand where they are in the overall message.
• Rule #6: Don’t overwhelm. This kind of “information dump” forces the customer to sort through the data and figure out what’s really important 
• Rule #7: Use a full range of communications options. 
• Rule #8: Build in breaks.  If a presentation is longer than a few minutes, you should build in “breaks” that give the audience time to digest what’s been already said.
• Rule #9: Prepare for questions. To make sure that you have a productive Q&A, anticipate questions that might come up - and leave those bits out of your presentation.

STEP #6: REHEARSE, THEN GO FOT IT

Once you’ve built your customized presentation, rehearse it a couple of times to make sure that you’re ready to rock.