Presentation Training:
Great Presentation Training - Setting Your Objectives

"To fail to plan is to plan to fail" The truth of this maxim is undeniable; and failing to plan a presentation has two inevitable consequences:

We deliver one of the biggest causes of audience disinterest - the "one size fits all" presentation that we regularly see demonstrated by the over-confident "I am great on my feet!" speaker! Also, with no plan, or route map, we have nothing to navigate by. We feel uncertain, not in control, thus suffering the main cause of presentation nerves. The audience consciously and unconsciously, picks up this nervousness and lack of congruence, and they stop trusting in us and in what we have to say.

By contrast, nothing is more inspiring in confidence to a speaker than to know that their message is exactly right for this audience, and to feel totally clear about its delivery from start to finish! I would go even further and suggest that there is no such thing as presentation nerves. Just people who do not know how to plan a presentation or cannot be bothered! And guess what? It is the thoroughly prepared and well rehearsed presenter, talking with an audience rather than reciting Powerpoint text, who displays those powerful persuasion skills and congruence that wins an audience over.

In setting your presentation objectives, go through this sequence of questioning stages:

Question 1: What broadly speaking would I like to achieve?

• Is it an appreciation and understanding of a wide range of issues or opportunities?
• Is it an understanding of important issues/ opportunities and of the actions/solutions that could be taken?
• Is it an understanding of key issues and a commitment to agreed actions?

Question 2: Given what I would like to achieve, what is going to affect that?

• How much time have I got, remembering anyway that attention peaks after 15 minutes and lasts only 20?
• What do the audience know about the issues and how much explanation needs giving?
• How will the audience welcome the issues and how much selling is needed?
• What is my "credibility" with the audience and how much needs covering there?

These are critical steps and they will ensure that you avoid the mistake often seen where a presenter attempts to cover too many issues, when the priority would have been to get agreement on one or two. This analysis will check what is realistically possible.

Question 3: Given the answers to Q2, what specifically am I planning to achieve?

Broad aims are not enough! The audience "seeming to agree" or "sounding happy" will not do! With those as aims we will inevitably fall short of what we want to achieve because we will stop when we feel or guess that we have succeeded. We have to set the good old S.M.A.R.T objectives. The acid test of communication success is the audience response versus your objectives. Asking "are you happy with that?" lets them off with a response without any commitment. Asking "Will they agree specifically to do so and so by such a date!" requires a specific agreement and commitment. Whether your presentation is on range of issues to a conference audience or a boardroom sales pitch, get into the habit of setting specific and timed target outcomes such as:

• Minimum of 75 % recall of key message in exit survey with minimum of 15 % sign up to programme in the first week.
• Agreement within 24 hours of the pitch to move to stage 2 of the implementation programme by October 10th.

Setting target outcomes in this way brings considerable benefits: We feel compelled to ask the question to see if we have succeeded. And if we have not, then better to know it and to do something about it. Also, faced with the prospect of measurable success or failure, we soon recognize the need for thorough preparation and to perform at our best. Once these are set as habits, we inevitably increase our success rate.

Source: Bob Howard-Spink link

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