6 Ways To Help You Deliver Your Best Presentation Yet

6 Ways To Help You Deliver Your Best Presentation Yet

by Tony Colangelo

October 18, 2023

Over my 30 year career in Leadership roles, I have given countless presentations to clients and internal teams. Through this experience, I have learned six unique insights to deliver successful presentations, which I will share in this article. These ideas will help you deliver high-impact presentations that will leave a lasting emotional impression on your audience. This approach is also powerful guideline for effectively communicating highly complex topics, allowing you to break down content into easily relatable concepts and compelling stories. Use this method to captivate your audience and avoid the mundane "Death by PowerPoint" style of presenting, only include a few high-impact visuals that will support your key points and inspire the audience. This presentation blueprint will help you confidently own the stage by clearly conveying your content and showcasing your expertise!

Follow These 6 Tips for Success:

1. Dare to Be Different - Start With a Thought-Provoking Question:

Pose a thought-provoking question that piques your audience's curiosity right from the beginning. You can grab your audience's attention by asking a relevant, intriguing, and relatable question that encourages reflection., i.e.,?

"What impact do you think a small change in your presentation approach could have on your audience's engagement?"?

This helps you to position your critical presentation message confidently and allows you to build on it to reinforce your hypothesis throughout the presentation.

2. Share an Intriguing Statistic to Support Your Key Messages:

Utilize a surprising statistic or fact related to your topic to create an instant "wow" factor from your audience. i.e.,?

"According to a recent survey, 48 hours after a presentation is delivered, only 25% of the presentation content is retained by the audience."

Once you have captured their attention with this compelling statistic, it's essential to continue integrating this fact into your messaging using relatable real-life examples.

3. Tap Into Your Audience's Emotions by Telling a Captivating Story:

Stories uniquely captivate and connect with your audience emotionally, moving them from thinking to feeling. People remember stories more than they remember facts. Authors Dan & Chip Heath published a study that concluded only 5% of an audience could remember facts after a presentation; however, 63% remembered stories. Create a story that resonates with your audience's experiences and aspirations; it is also effective to add humor when appropriate to make it more relatable; this approach immediately draws them into your presentation. i.e.,?

"During a recent presentation I gave on the topic of evoking emotions when public speaking, I was pleasantly surprised at how many audience members approached me afterward. They shared how much they related to my message and how it reminded them of past experiences when other speakers deeply inspired them emotionally."

Establishing an emotional connection with your audience is crucial for creating relatability and memorability.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." Maya Angelou

4. Make a Surprising and Contrary Statement:

Challenge your audience's assumptions or preconceived notions by presenting a startling statement or contradiction related to your topic. This technique disrupts their thought patterns and forces them to pay close attention to reconcile the discrepancy; it also triggers the audience's emotions and opinions on your message. i.e.,?

"The truth is, decisions are predominantly influenced by emotions much more than facts, as outlined in a study conducted by Branding Strategy Insider."

5. Use Questions to Evoke Emotions on Your Topic:

Following the steps mentioned above will create a strong emotional bond with your audience. To keep them engaged and interested, asking open-ended questions or conducting polls throughout to gauge their understanding is essential. This proactive approach lets you elaborate on crucial points, ensuring the audience's interest remains piqued throughout the presentation. i.e.,

"If you were to use this six step presentation blueprint how do you feel it may impact and engage your audience differently?"

6. Make a Clear Call to Action:

Motivate and inspire your audience to act by concluding your presentation with a compelling call to action that supports your message. Outline potential steps your audience can take to benefit from your insights. This will create a sense of enthusiasm that will help drive your audience to act. i.e.,

"Embed these six key tips into your next presentation to generate a high-impact emotional response from your audience that engages and inspires them to act."

Conclusion:

As you prepare for your next presentation, use this outline to captivate your audience with thought-provoking questions, intriguing statistics, captivating stories, and startling statements, and conclude with a clear call to action. Using this method will evoke strong emotions, leaving a lasting impact on your audience.

Please let me know your thoughts and comments on this topic?

Tony Colangelo?is a certified executive coach and founder of eXecutive Factor Coaching. Tony is also a speaker and author of the Blog Series "49 Leadership Lessons I Wish I Learned When I Was Younger". Tony has over 30 years of experience in Leadership roles in the management consulting and information technology industries.

Contact Tony on LinkedIn at Tony Colangelo or email [email protected] to schedule a free consultation to discuss strategies to Help You Reach Your Career Goals.

This article is Leadership Lesson #7?from the Blog Series "Leadership Lessons I Wish I Learned When I Was Younger,"?

Copyright ? 2023 eXecutive Factor Coaching Inc.