Article Contributed by Joseph Sommerville, Ph.D.
In challenging economic times, buyers look for value. The more you provide, the more likely you are to become the provider of choice. Presentations offer excellent opportunities to provide that value at different stages of the business development cycle.
5 Ways to Create More Value in Your Presentations
1. Solve a problem instead of peddling programs.
People know when they’re being sold to and it makes them uncomfortable. Prospects invest their time in attending or listening to a presentation because they believe it will benefit them in some way. They don’t attend to hear a thinly veiled sales presentation.
Violating those expectations by promising one thing and delivering another constitutes a “bait and switch” that quickly turns prospects off. Prove to them they’ve made a wise investment by placing your focus on education instead, and you’ll find a more receptive audience.
When you can solve a problem or remove some pain, you’re positioned as a resource instead of a vendor. The problem you address should resonate with the audience’s experience. That means you need to do some audience analysis as you prepare the presentation. Think about:
– What questions does your target market ask most frequently?
– What three challenges do they regularly face in business?
– What are the top mistakes people in similar situations make?
When you have the opportunity to survey the audience in advance, you can customize your message even more and give them solutions that are immediately actionable.
2. Provide value-based marketing materials.
The typical presenter hands out colorful brochures, slick flyers and glossy postcards about himself and the services he offers. These provide no value to the audience. That’s why these materials have an extremely short shelf life.
Instead, distribute white papers, special reports, published articles, checklists and tip booklets. These serve as resources the audience will use and keep. They also provide top of mind awareness after the presentation. One of the pieces I circulate includes a four-page resource guide on creating and using visuals. It contains a step-by-step guide to creating effective visuals, examples of different types of charts and an article on how to avoid the most common errors with PowerPoint presentations. I’ve seen it in client’s offices five years after they received it. You add value through these collaterals when the information helps the audience save money, increase their available time or perform a task more efficiently.
3. Get your presentation accredited to count for continuing education units.
Many professional organizations require continuing education to maintain professional designations. Partner with one of them to develop a presentation or course that meets these requirements. It provides value to the members of the organization and increases your demand as a speaker. Conduct some research to determine which courses are mandatory and which are electives. Focus on the former so your course development efforts provide information people must have. Since most organizations require a certain number of professional education hours annually, this can help you develop ongoing repeat business.
4. Offer a complimentary initial consultation for attendees.
If people aren’t quite willing to hire you yet, but will take the next step, an initial consultation can serve several useful purposes. First, it provides an added benefit from attending the presentation. You’ll be giving audience members another reason to believe they’re getting a good return on their investment of time. Second, it provides an opportunity for each of you to explore the other’s approach, working style and personality. You can probably determine during that initial conversation whether you can work together productively. Third, it gives prospects the opportunity to “try before they buy.” It can increase their comfort level in hiring you and move them further along the sales process. Limit the offer to the first ten
to respond. That way you can set boundaries for yourself and increase the sense of urgency. Don’t worry about “giving too much away.” Prospects will recognize your generosity and you’ll build a relationship of trust.
5. Partner with non-competing professionals that serve your target market to create an educational seminar.
For example, an attorney and an accountant might co-produce a seminar for small business owners on “10 Strategies To Collect Accounts Receivable in Tough Economic Times.” A business broker and a banker might organize a seminar on “5 Essentials You Must Know Before You Buy a Business.” Such cooperation allows you to share expenses, combine the power of your individual lists and leverage different perspectives on the same topic. You’ll need to agree on the desired outcomes and make sure the project is mutually beneficial.
You’ll have to invest some time to incorporate these benefits into your presentations. It will require some thoughtful audience analysis, creativity in designing materials and determined follow-through with accrediting agencies and partners. But the return on that investment can be significant. When you add value to your presentations, you pull business in, rather than pushing it on, prospects.
About the Author
With his new book Rainmaking Presentations: How To Grow Your Business by Leveraging Your Expertise, Joseph Sommerville, Ph.D. helps professionals, small business owners and entrepreneurs including accountants, attorneys, engineers, executives, financial planners add influence to their expertise and make more money during challenging economic times. Now, you can download the first chapter for free at http://www.RainMakingPresentations.com
Category: Communication Skills
Many people equate the ability of being funny with the telling of jokes. This is not the case as you do not need to learn to be humorous in order to deliver effectively a joke. But I am going to look at some pointers on specifically how to handle jokes. I’m not going to give you public speaking jokes, but I will help you select ones appropriate for your situation.
Where people fall down with jokes is in their initial selection, their remembering of the joke and their delivery of the punchline.
First of all you have to consider the situation that you’re going to be delivery your jokes in. If you’re out with friends, in a social environment then, presumably, you will know what types of jokes are appropriate to tell to this particular friend and what aren’t.
Get on to your favourite search engine and look for some jokes that might be suitable for your circumstance.
If you are to deliver a presentation in a business situation, then the rules are going to be completely different. Here’s a quick snapshot of the subjects that I would avoid:
1.Racial. I think this pretty much goes without saying, but I wanted to be as explicit as I can and not leave any stone unturned.
2.Sexist. Again I think this goes without saying. Using this sort of humour can offend over half your audience. Why that much? Well, anti-women jokes will alienate the women and you may even have married couples present which means you’ll alienate some guys too.
3.Disability. Humour that mocks any sort of disability is also a no-no.
4.Sexual in nature. Avoid humour that is sexually explicit that could cause potential embarrassment.
5.Political. This seems innocuous compared to the other topics, but why run the risk of dividing your audience or offending the person who pays you?
6. Religion. You might be a Believer, but what if you speak to a room full of people who aren’t? Or vice versa. Mocking any sort of religion is a big no-no. Even the Jedi Faith.
I would also avoid making derogatory comments about the organisation that you’re speaking for, unless you don’t mind not getting paid.
When using street jokes, it is best if you are able to tell the joke in your own words. That way it will help reduce the possibility of you forgetting it. Go over it several times so you get used to the important elements that will feature in the set-up part of the joke.
Say the joke out loud and change words that you wouldn’t normally say. The closer the joke is to your own natural speech rhythm, the easier it will be for you to tell it and the easier it will be for your to remember it.
By editing the joke you are able to get to the punchline a lot quicker. Being succinct in this way is ideal for humour.
This will also help you remember the punchline, which is one of the elements that people can forget. The punchline is very important as it allows you to generate the laughter.
That said, it is not more important than the set-up line. The set-up line is all the information that occurs before the punchline. Without that information to establish the situation and story of the joke, the punchline will fail.
As an example here’s a punchline from Gilbert Gottfried:”Is it hot in here, or am I crazy?” Hilarious, right? Not unless you already know the joke. Which means that you need to recall the information provided by the set-up.
Let me put you out of your misery and give you the set-up line: “Last night I was having dinner with Charles Manson, and in the middle of dinner he turned to me and said…” Now you’ve got the final piece of the jigsaw the humour makes sense.
So select a joke, make sure that it’s not going to offend anybody. Practise saying the joke out loud which will allow you to edit it to fit your own way of speaking. Practise saying the joke several times as this will also allow you to remember it.
Jason Peck is a Humorist, Speaker and Consultant based in London, England. For public speaking tips and to learn how to add humor to your speeches and presentations to win over your listeners visit: Pro Humorist.
When doing a presentation an easy way to connect with your audience is to use humour. Not only do people like to laugh and be entertained but they will also more easily remember your message. But need to know an effective joke format.
My aim is not to turn you into a comedian I am simply going to present you with some ways to add humour to your speech or presentation.
In the first instance, you want to make sure that your speech as an overall objective. What’s the message that you’re trying to get across? From there you should find at least 3 supporting points that support your main point.
Once you have that down, concentrate on creating your speech first. That’s the most important thing. Create the speech first and then focus on finding the humour afterwards.
Punchlines are different from jokes which tend to be mini, self-contained stories. A punchline can just be your personal reaction to something that you’ve said. Here are two joke formats for you to consider when structuring your speech:
1)
Intro
2nd Funniest joke
Main body of Jokes
Theme
Funniest Joke
The second format is as follows:
2)
Intro
Funniest joke
Other Jokes
Theme
This last one ends on a serious note instead of a laugh. Personally, if I’m doing a humorous speech I’d rather end on a laugh. But that’s just my personal taste.
You will still also need to make at least 3 points during your speech. People have come to hear your message and not just be entertained by your sense of humour. So during your main body of jokes section, make points that relate to your overall theme.
What you might consider doing is reducing your actual speech or presentation by about a third or even a half. Keep the core details that are necessary to convey your message to your audience. So what do you replace the edited content with?
Funny jokes, funny stories, maybe you could quote other comedians or witty people as long as you give credit where it’s due. There’s no sense delivering a line by Dave Chappelle in your presentation and passing it off as your own. There will always be someone who can attribute it to the original author, plus it’s illegal and highly unethical.
You can legitimately quote another comedian as such: “as Jerry Seinfeld once said…” you can immediately get your audience into a better state to laugh as they’ll remember their favourite Jerry Seinfeld moment.
Then if the line doesn’t have everyone rolling in the aisles then you can get out of it by saying, “obviously it’s much better when Seinfeld did it”. Your listeners will love you all the more then because you will have revealed yourself to be slightly vulnerable.
Ask yourself “what are you trying to convey to your audience?” What’s the take home message that you want them to walk away from your speech remembering?
If you can follow some of these tips in your next presentation you’ll be well on your way to being remembered for your humorous speeches.
Jason Peck is a Humorist, Speaker and Consultant based in London, England. For public speaking tips and to learn how to add humor to your speeches and presentations to win over your listeners visit: Pro Humorist.
The voice is important for a speaker as well as for an actor, is an important part of one’s instrument. Just like an actor, a speaker’s body and voice is an instrument. If you think about it as a speaker, or presenter, you are using just yourself whether or not your have slides. So it’s important to know at least one vocal exercise for clear speaking.
Muscles of Articulation
Without getting too bogged down with the science of the muscles of articulation and how the work, I’ll just quickly mention that they are as follows:
– the tip of the tongue
– the hard palate
– the soft palate
– the back of the tongue
– the teeth and the lips
Now, there are probably many professional vocal coaches out there who are ready to argue with me on these points and say that I should tell you what the correct categories are, whether they are active or passive articulators. But for the purposes of this post I don’t feel it’s necessary.
Some Quick Vocal Tips
Speak out loud: I’ve talked about the benefits of rehearsing your speech or presentation elsewhere in this blog. By speaking the words out loud your mouth gets used to saying the words and as a result you’re less likely to stumble over what you’re saying because your body has a physical memory.
Avoid dairy: Before you speak or present make sure you keep your dairy intake to a minimum. Dairy products have a tendency to produce excess mucus which can make you snort and constantly feel like you have to clear your throat.
Keep yourself lubricated by drinking plenty of water or herbal tea. Too much caffeinated tea can dehydrate you. If you’re drinking plenty of water before you speak remember to use the loo (rest room).
Hum before you speak: By gently humming, your voice gets to go hum and down it’s range and gets warmed up. As you hum try to imagine the sound resonating in the front of your mouth around your teeth.
Try humming a slow version of the nursery rhyme “Pop Goes The Weasel”. As a quick refresher here’s the lyrics as I know them:
“Half a pound of tuppenny rice,
Half a pound of treacle.
That’s the way the money goes,
Pop! goes the weasel”.
A quick search on the internet will help find the tune if you are unfamiliar with it. It’s quite a jaunty little jig, but you’ll want to slow it right down when you hum your way through it. Don’t push yourself, you’re not in a contest. There’s no prize for completing the exercises first. Be gentle.
Use tongue twisters: Tongue twisters are a good way to exercise your articulation muscles. Here’re a couple of my favourites:
“Red leather, yellow leather”. (repeat 5 times)
“Articulatory agility
is a desirable ability
manipulating with dexterity
the tongue, the palate, and the lips”. (repeat 5 times)
“The back of the tongue and the tip of the tongue” (repeat 5 times)
“The tip of the tongue, the teeth, the lips”. (repeat 5 times)
If you jump on to your favourite search engine and search for tongue twisters, you can find plenty in whichever language you choose. Just make sure you choose the correct pronunciation.
For instance, I had an American voice teacher at drama school whose pronunciation was different to the English students in the room. We had to make sure that we didn’t end up saying “yella” instead of “yellow”.
So remember that vocal exercises are as important for public speakers as they are for professional actors.
Jason Peck is a Humorist, Speaker and Consultant based in London, England. For public speaking tips and to learn how to add humor to your speeches and presentations to win over your listeners visit: Pro Humorist.
One of the simplest ways to learn to be humorous, when public speaking, is to use an introductory joke story. The opening of your presentation should actually comprise of two parts a pre-introduction and then an introduction.
Pre-Introduction Tips
The pre-introduction is for grabbing your audience’s attention. The introduction is then for introducing the topic of your speech. So technically, when public speaking, you need to start with your pre-introductory joke story.
Everything has to relate to the overall objective of presentation in order for it to be truly effective. The point of the story has to relate directly or indirectly to your main point.
Are there often stories that you tell at work related to what you do, that are clean and make people laugh? If so then as long as it’s succinct then you should absolutely use it.
“But I don’t have any funny stories”
Okay, here’s an alternative, use a street joke. You know those jokes that begin something like “two guys walk into a bar…” or “a Grandfather finds a magic watch” or a “Man goes into a store with an Alligator under his arm…” those are known as street jokes. Essentially they are jokes without an author, which people tell in social situations.
Professional Joke-Telling Secrets
The quick down and dirty little secret with these is to find short ones that relate to your content. Make sure that the fantastical element is restricted, so talking animals or objects, anything magical or fantastical needs to be avoided. The audience will feel like they’re being joked, you don’t want that. You want your audience to feel as though you’re being conversational.
The next thing you want to do is to adapt that street joke and make it personal to you. So instead of saying “this guy worked in this bar” you would say “I was working in this bar”
Be very careful over the nature of your street joke and the humour you use in your entire presentation. Make sure that no one’s going to be offended. Don’t target nay particular groups. The best person to laugh at is yourself!
Not only that, but you also want to make sure that the street joke that you’re going to use is authorless and doesn’t belong to a comedian. Don’t steal another comedian’s material as that’s immoral and illegal. Street jokes aren’t difficult to find if you set your mind to it.
Once you have delivered your introductory joke story you must then go into your introduction and inform your audience about the nature of your presentation. However, make sure you don’t give too much away. You want them to remain interested enough to stick around for the ending of your presentation.
Jason Peck is a Humorist, Speaker and Consultant based in London, England. For public speaking tips and to learn how to add humor to your speeches and presentations to win over your listeners visit: Pro Humorist.