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When preparing and delivering your presentation, you must consider what you want your audience to retain, and what action you want them to take.
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I wanted to give my friend Ann Handley
some props here.
0:00
She's the head of content at Content
Profs, and
0:04
she has spoken all over the world as well.
0:07
She had a wonderful piece of advice in
terms
0:10
of the tip that she would share with
people.
0:13
Ask yourself, what's the one thing I want
the audience to remember.
0:16
It's a great question, you know.
0:22
When you are
0:24
giving a presentation, I know we focus on,
you know, a lot of us focus on filling
0:25
it with so much information, so much
evidence towards a certain conclusion.
0:31
Towards, you know taking a certain act
type of
0:36
action at the end that we just fill it
with
0:40
information and we sort of lose sight of
the
0:43
really important big picture, one thing
that we want people
0:46
to leave with.
0:51
Now in terms of the audience, data has
shown that
0:53
the audience can sense when a
presentation's coming to a close.
0:56
You know, they might say, well I wanna
wrap up
1:00
here or as I said, you know, one more
thing.
1:03
Kind of, you know it's a signal that we'll
be coming to
1:06
a close soon, the conclusion is coming,
I'll be wrapping things up.
1:08
And a lot of people when they hear that.
1:13
If they're, you know, sitting in the
audience
1:15
kinda taking notes or checking their phone
or whatever.
1:16
They'll perk up.
1:19
You know and they'll actually retain what
gets presented at the end.
1:20
So when you do have their attention you
definitely
1:25
have it and you want to compel people to
act.
1:28
This is a great time to do it.
1:31
So, what would be the one thing for your
presentation?
1:34
Well if you're pitching a client,
1:38
hopefully you've provided great evidence
of financial benefits.
1:41
Or a great plan of action examples of
design elements
1:45
and in the end, you know, you provide them
with a
1:50
recap of all the benefits to doing
business with you, a
1:52
URL for them to visit or an email for
contacting you.
1:56
You know, you wrap up your proposal in a
2:01
nice little bow, present it to them and
basically
2:02
they have no choice but to get back to
2:07
you and respond because it's so great, all
right.
2:09
If you're proposing a site redesign.
2:13
Hopefully, you've spent your presentation
breaking down all the things that need
2:15
to be done showing the data, why you would
do certain things.
2:19
and, you know, the final slides in your
presentation could
2:25
be devoted to a focus checklist or
timeline of action.
2:28
You know, it shows
2:31
very clearly what are the next things that
should be done,
2:33
what to do, when to do them and you've
already explained why.
2:36
Even if your presentation is a book report
or reasons why you know your
2:41
favorite sports team will, will repeat as
world champions you know go Red Sox.
2:45
By the end, you should be reaching a
conclusion where
2:50
you sum up all your major points that
you've made.
2:53
And perhaps you make a call back to
important
2:55
parts that you can reference, or that you
referenced along the way.
2:58
So, what would be one thing for my
presentation?
3:03
Well, I mean, is it about what tools you
can use?
3:07
To make great presentations.
3:12
I mean Keynote, PowerPoint, prezi.com.
3:13
even the camera on your phone, I mean
perhaps.
3:16
But tools don't make the presentation they
are means to making a story
3:19
come to life.
3:23
For me creativity is your greatest
presentation design tool.
3:24
So think about that.
3:29
And also you should strive to be creative,
but also a human being as well.
3:31
Especially when you fall off a stage,
right?
3:37
[LAUGH] Show stories and connect with the
3:39
real people that you're hoping to connect
with.
3:43
You know,
3:47
preparation means that you understand
their needs.
3:47
And by doing this and by
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presenting something that's well prepared
and relevant.
3:53
You can help them accomplish their goals.
3:56
So when we're asked to give a talk or
presentation about
4:00
something, it's not just because we're you
know, a pretty face.
4:03
Right?
4:06
It's because they know that we have
something important to share.
4:06
When we're given this opportunity,
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prepare, deliver, and compel.
4:14
Prepare and deliver what your audience
needs.
4:17
Help them accomplish their goals and
overcome their
4:20
struggles by taking the action that you
recommend.
4:23
And if you can remember these important
points, You're going to be successful.
4:26
But to boil it down to one thing, I'd
4:32
have to say, take advantage of your
opportunity to influence.
4:33
And influence can mean a lot of different
things to different people, but
4:40
by trusting you, the people who have
requested that you give a presentation.
4:43
They believe in you.
4:48
They believe in what you have to say.
And they want to be influenced.
4:49
That's why you're there.
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So, through the research and preparation
that you do, you can help people.
4:57
You can teach them.
It can be for profit, for personal
5:02
goals career aspirations, or for
education, like this is today.
5:05
By making a positive impression you not
only help them but you help yourself.
5:11
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