What Great Presenters Do
Whether you are in front of prospects every day, or occasionally sell your ideas and strategies to an internal audience, all of us can benefit from the reminders below about the things that presenters can do to set themselves up for success, or doom themselves to failure.
Our friends at IMPAX recently conducted a poll of a couple of hundred strategic account managers and sales leaders on what presenters can do to make a powerful impression on their audience. The most commonly mentioned things:
• Be prepared and organized
• Do effective research prior to your presentation, and clearly understand the issues of your audience
• Customize your presentation to the specific audience
• Rehearse the presentation thoroughly (helps eliminate signs of nervousness!)
• Use the presentation to tell a story and avoid reading the slides
• Display enthusiasm and a high energy level
• Be friendly and likeable (use people’s names and smile)
• Vary the tone and volume of your voice
• Keep the presentation crisp and concise
To these, we would add the need to remember that important points often need to be repeated three times before they “set” in a person’s mind. That can mean during your presentation (“Tell them what you are going to say, say it, tell them what you said.”), or over a period of time as part of strategically pre-determined reminders.
While nothing on this list is surprising, these ideas can serve as an excellent reminder of the things we all need to remember as we prepare for different presentation opportunities.