Whether your audience is live or remote, to be an effective speaker you need a clear and compelling message for each presentation. If you have attended one of our workshops or have had individual presentation coaching, you may remember how important getting your message right is. In case you don’t, here is a quick reminder how to create a clear, compelling message for your very next meeting, presentation, or sales pitch.
A few advantages of having this message clearly thought out:
You will be able to select content that is relevant and omit facts and details that don’t support or advance your message, resulting in a more concise presentation.
You will be focused, since you know exactly what you want to say and how you plan to say it. Your focus will be on getting your message across instead of extraneous distracting thoughts.
You will be confident because you have already thought strategically about your approach and what you want for outcomes. You’ve planned the right words, and you have a strong beginning and end.
Now, let’s review how to create this important message. Find a few moments to write, think, or brainstorm the answers to these five critical questions. We recommend you do this away from your digital world, so you can focus on the big idea before details. We urge you to capture in writing your important answers.
1. Who are you speaking to? Who is in your audience, what do you know about them, what is their relationship to you and to the material you plan to present? Why are you speaking, and why are they listening?
2. What do you want to say? What is the importance of the information you will share? How will it impact your listeners, your organization, the community, the world? Why does it matter? Why are you presenting rather than sending an email or report?
3. What do they want to hear? Are they likely to agree or disagree? Will they be confused, or immediately understand what you are saying? What do they NOT want to hear? What are they key issues and concerns?
4. How do you reconcile differences between what you want to say and what they want to hear? If you know where the points of resistance (or confusion, or boredom) will be, you can address them using a combination of facts and feelings, facts and stories.
5. What do you want them to do, feel, think, or remember? This will help you be clear on your goals for this particular presentation. A good example is the sales cycle, where you may not close a sale until after numerous presentations, or a major project that includes a number of checkpoints along the way. What can you reasonably expect to accomplish in this presentation that will bring you closer to a positive outcome? If you have an action they need to take, don’t hesitate to include a call-to-action.
Thoughtful answers to these questions should lead you to your Targeted Message, a one-sentence overview/preview of your presentation. When you get the message just right, you will know what you need to make your case. But don’t just keep it in your head; write it down and say it out loud. Use this message as the beginning and end of your presentation, so your intent and message are crystal clear.
At Applause we believe in Targeted Messages. They create clearer, most engaging presentations, and we have seen this thousands of times in our client work. If you would like to learn this model, get help, or let us hear your latest message, give us a shout. We would love to hear it, or help you create it.