Top 10 Tips - Beside the Point

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TOP 10 TIPS - BESIDE THE POINT

There are 35 million PowerPoint presentations given each day by an estimated 500 million users worldwide. Several of these presentations are engaging. Not bad for a program introduced in 1987, during the Reagan administration. 

Powerpoint or Keynote presentations continue to be popular because people are anxious about public speaking, and slides are reassuring to the presenter.  But they often don’t do much for the audience, So to be effective, we need to think about other ways to get our messages across - not necessarily to throw the slides away but to mix it up. 

To help a little, I've put together a storytelling tip sheet I call "BESIDE THE POINT" - ten suggestions on things you can do alongside PowerPoint to engage audiences and succeed. 

  1. START BY EMPATHIZING WITH YOUR AUDIENCE. WRITE THEIR STORY. Empathy opens up opportunities for presenters.  Before you start cranking out slides, take a few, quiet minutes, and put yourself in your audience’s shoes.  Write the audience’s story.  Who are they, and what are their concerns and hopes?  What does a happy ending look like for them?  People can sense when speakers have empathy for their issues/concerns. When you develop audience empathy, you are on track to make a good connection.

  2. WHO ARE YOU FOR THEM?  I often ask presenters this question as they go into rehearsals.  Although the team may have worked on the presentation for weeks, this question often elicits different answers from team members.  It suggests the group hasn’t fully coalesced around heir story.  Often, with some coaching, the team will align around their core messages.  When presenters crystalize their pitch, it's easier for audiences to relate to the story and remember it.  Asking this centering question earlier in the process, helps teams sharpen their content well in advance of the rehearsal.

  3. TAKE A CUE FROM IMPROV THEATRE AND OUTLINE YOUR BEATS.  A “beat sheet’ is a tool used by writers in screenwriting and improv theatre to outline the essential action taking place at pivotal points in their story.  It’s also a great tool to use in mapping a presentation before you begin making slides.  The sequence of the beats is often the same - welcome/opening, team introduction, context setup, a catalyst for action, choices/debate, premise and promise, dangers/barriers, solution development, value magnification etc.  You can use the tool to “see the meeting in your mind” and envision how you might develop the beats, not limited by slides, but with a full range of visual/dramatic aids.

  4. PROP/ACCENTUATE YOUR KEY MOMENTS.  Propping can take many different forms. A handout for the audience can have prop value. So can a large chart with an interactive timeline or live-drawn sketch drawn on a whiteboard.  You can also use metaphors. If you are going to tell a story about safety, what are the props you could use to bring your message home?   How about a life-preserver, a flashlight, or an alarm on your cell phone?  Once you know the beats in your presentation, you can think about how to best accentuate different moments, alongside your slide content. 

  5. MAKE INTRODUCTIONS INTERACTIVE.  People are interesting to other people.  Audiences want to know a little something about the players in the presentation.  Writers refer to this as “character development." While time is limited in most presentations, think about ways to make people-to-people connections early in the engagement.  For example, you can ask participants to “tell two truths and a lie” about themselves.  It takes just a few moments and is a simple, effective exercise that sparks connections.  Search “Fun Team Introductions” for other ideas.

  6. GET YOUR AUDIENCE ON THEIR FEET.  Most presentations rely upon a single, fixed viewing pattern.  Presenters stand by the screen, and the audience is seated in some arrangement in front of the speaker.  However, you can introduce a second venue within many rooms, by creating a display wall on easels, by pinning content to large foam core boards or by setting up a demonstration area in the presentation room.  By introducing a second workspace in the room, your audience can move from the fixed position and physically engage in your content.  You can still keep it simple and create a more dynamic presentation environment.

  7. TALK TO EACH OTHER TO BRING YOUR AUDIENCE INTO THE CONVERSATION.  Most presentations revolve around a single speaker addressing the audience.  But when presenters engage on anther - discussing what they have discovered or created together, it is often more engaging and draws the viewer into the presentation.  The next time you find yourself with a sequence of presenters addressing the audience one-at-a-time, explore ways to present in pairs.  The interaction disrupts sameness and stimulates dialogue with your audience.

  8. ADD A LITTLE PLANNED SPONTANEITY.  Not all presentations need to be built in a locked, linear format. If you create a menu of content to guide your meeting, you can invite your audience to have input into how the presentation unfolds.  If your story is tight, and you know your beats, you can stay on message with a more spontaneous feel to the interaction.

  9. DON’T SAVE Q&A TO THE END.  In many cases, presentation parameters include directions to “leave time for Q&/A."  Speakers usually interpret this as a reminder to plan for a few minutes of Q&A at the end.  However, most audiences are grateful for the opportunity to ask questions at comfortable intervals.  If you create the presentation in beats with clear chapters in your story, you can introduce Q&A effectively throughout your time with the audience,  As the adage reminds us, “When you’re talking, you’re selling.  When they’re talking, they’re buying.”

  10. MAKE YOUR CLOSING PERSONAL.  Have you ever been in a presentation where the speaker writes a closing thought on the slide and then reads it back to the audience?  Some of these closing thoughts are meant to be an emotional call to action but fall flat when recited. We are more persuasive when our closings are personal.  Your close should be authentic and demonstrate an empathetic connection to the audience, which takes us right back to tip #1.

Note: For more information, ask about Fásmentor Storied-selling workshops.