InVisibleLight

Don’t Stop Messaging Just Because the Presentation Is Over

8th April, 2010 - Posted by janebeard - No Comments

It’s true that the most powerful moments in your presentation are the first moments, and the closing moments. The way you start the message, and the way you bring it home, are hugely important.

But there’s another powerful moment that most speakers discount, and that comes when you STOP talking. It’s the moment when your audience returns from the meeting and begins to consider whether – and how – to use the tools you gave them.

Let’s say you spoke about a new way to collaborate across several business units to stream line record keeping. If you’re smart, you won’t use your presentation to inundate them with all the details about how the collaboration might work, and what tools they can access to be able to get up to speed as fast as possible. Nobody sitting in the audience wants the kitchen sink tossed at them.

Instead, prepare an email ahead of your presentation that contains some of the details they’ll need to be able to take the next step. Have it all lined up so that, the minute you step off the stage, someone else can press “send.” Tell your audience that you are going to send them more information they can use.

Then, before you even sit down again, you have done two hugely powerful things: you have delivered on a promise, and you have given them something tangible they need to put your ideas into action.

How’s that for really changing your audience?