STEP 3: Create Compelling Presentations That Sell (Part 1 of 3)

Do you want to read the previous post in this series? Just go to http://tinyurl.com/d95lpr.

Would you like to be able to wow your audience? I mean really wow them. Imagine that you are speaking to a group of people who don’t know you yet. This group has been at an event for 1 ½ days of a three day event. You are standing at the back of the room as you hear the event producer start your introduction. The audience is clapping for you as you walk up to the front of the room and start with a phenomenal statement that gets everyone in the room fully and completely engaged in every word you say.

Creating a compelling presentation is the most important aspect of a highpayoff event. If you have everything else in place but you don’t wow them, you will just be another interesting person who they learned one or two tidbits from.

What you want is to be a presenter who the audience raves about forever and the event producer asks back over and over again.

Essential Elements for a Compelling Presentation

Position your Talk to Solve a BIG Problem

Today there are so many “speakers” who want to be in front of an audience. Whether you are going for fee-based speaking opportunities or speaking for leverage, you must stand out in the crowd.

When I first started speaking I realized that many coaches were targeting some form of “achieve your goals” presentations. Being somewhat of a seminar junkie myself I realized that many entrepreneurs attend seminar after seminar, only to find themselves in the SAME place year after year. From my point of view, the missing speaker link was someone to help the
participant “connect the dots” and have a strategy to hit the ground running when they got home.

By positioning myself as the conference producer’s secret weapon for high return on investment, I built myself a niche that has really become quite popular.

There are two keys in the positioning step. First, identify what’s missing. Second, identify what you are so passionate about that you will radiate confidence, power and conviction from the stage.

Provide Value-Added Content in the 4MAT System

Every person on this planet relates to information differently than the next. You’ve probably noticed that some people need more facts and data while others need a broad picture of what’s possible. The 4MAT system, based on the work of David Kolb and his Learning Style Inventory, is a technique to help you convey your material to connect with all four types in your audience.

As a basic overview, the four types are:

• Why/Why Not (Diverger). They need to know why something is relevant to them before they can engage. You have probably heard the “WIIFM” – what’s in it for me?
• What (Assimilator). They need the facts to get a conceptual understanding.
• How (Converger). These types need to know how things work to get on board.
• What if (Accommodator). They need to find out if they can create new possibilities.

When you create your presentation, you need to include all four of these ways in which people take in information. It is absolutely essential that they be done in this order too. “Why” people do not have the patience to get the other information first – you will lose them! This is probably one of the subtle but highly critical components for a compelling presentation.

It’s real tempting to want to teach people everything you know but experience says that all you do is overwhelm your audience, give them the impression they have learned everything they need to know, and send them away without the best value of all – knowing how you can help them. Remember, your job is to educate your audience enough so that they get how powerful it is to take the next step with you. Anything less than that and you won’t be helping them, you will leave them in a big void.

Provide Information in Multiple Learning Formats

Just as the 4MAT system helps different processing styles take in information, there are also different ways people need to experience the information to learn. I’d also like you to become familiar with the KOLB V-A-K Learning Styles: visual, auditory and kinesthetic (touch/feel) learners. This learning format is often referred to as Accelerating Learning.

There are two ways to cue these learning styles. First, use language that resonates with their learning style. Here is a link to an online Kolb Learning Style Inventory so you can get familiar with the different learning styles: http://sfu.ewb.ca/documents/vaklearningstyles.pdf

Second, understand how to “snag” their attention with your props and presentation medium. The Christopher Howard Companies offer a fantastic trainer’s training which goes into this learning system in great detail.

Stay tuned to Achieving Financial Freedom: STEP 3: Create Compelling Presentations That Sell (Part 2 of 3).

Related posts:

1. The CEO Factor: Combining 4 Factors
2. Get Your Public Speaking Juices Flowing! Identify Your “POWER ZONE!”
3. Want to (Finally) Achieve Financial Freedom? Make Use of Systems!
4. 4 Steps to Ensuring You Create Your Desired Outcome
5. STEP TWO: Identify Your “Power Presentation Opportunities” Filter