No More Presentations!

Leslie DicksonPosted by Leslie Dickson on February 8th, 2010 | 0 Comments

I want you all to vow to never give another business presentation – ever! I can’t tell you how many presentations I’ve seen that are painful to sit through. Presentations from all kinds of business people at all levels within an organization – senior executives, mid-level associates, even the so-called professional speakers. I usually walk away feeling that they wasted my time.

 Why?

 Because they didn’t take the needs of their audience (me) into consideration when they “presented”. As a result, I walked away thinking;

“So what? What do I do now? Why did I need to be here? What is your point?”

So, take this to heart!

If you have the luxury of a live audience, please, give them something (anything) they can walk away with and use. You may be yelling at me as you’re reading this that you are just giving an informational update. I know, you do them all the time….

Okay, and again, so what?

  • Why is this information important?
  • What is the benefit of it?
  • Why does your audience need to hear it now?

If you can’t give them something useful – and usable – then do us all a favor and send an email update. Don’t waste any more time presenting about information that has no meaning to your audience.

To avoid this trap, remember that it’s all in the preparation:

  1. Ask yourself, what is the point for the audience of what I am going to talk about? What do I want them to do with this information? If you do not know what the point is, they won’t either.
  2. Gear everything you talk about towards that point.
  3. Tell stories or give examples that support the point(s) you are making. This will help your audience relate personally to your message. It will also allow you to come alive in front of the group, rather than drouning on about all your data.
  4. Be yourself. Most people are different when talking to friends and colleagues than they are when making a “presentation”. Why is that? Why can’t you be the same person in the informal settings as you are in the formal ones? I would much rather listen to the person who is easy, personable, funny, even enjoying themselves, than the one who has to get through their information as fast as they can so they can get back to their seats.

Bottom line – don’t do any more presentations. Reframe the situation in your mind to just having a conversation. Whether you are in a job interview, talking to a client, updating the board of directors, your boss or team, be yourself! Talk about what you know (which I’m sure you can do in your sleep), and help them with the problem or issue facing them in the current moment. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Believe it or not, being yourself is a lot easier than turning into someone you really aren’t.

Image by Joel Dill

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