A judge’s tips for award winning CX presentations

So, another year’s gone by and we’re back into the throes of the autumn CX awards season. I had the pleasure today, as an invited judge, to listen to eight teams of people pitch on behalf of their organisations.? They were all making the case for why they deserve recognition as amongst the best CX initiatives in the UK over the last 12 months. Whilst still fresh in my mind I thought I’d share seven tips on what I feel makes the difference between an average and an outstanding finalist’s presentation.

1.????? Tell, tell, tell with a punchy summary

You may be familiar with the adage of “tell them what you’re going to tell them. Tell them. And then tell them what you told them.” It’s good advice but do so sensitively. Your audience, the judges in this case, have limited attention spans as their brains will already be saturated with the information they’ve tried to absorb and process in the presentations before yours.

My advice is to craft a single summary slide at the start of your deck where you tell your whole story in six bullet points max, each bullet no more than a few words (or very short sentences). Doing this justice is much harder than it sounds but it will force you to distil your story to its irreducible core. The real essence of what really matters – out of all the many interesting things you could, and probably want to, say.

You also hedge against the risk of running over your time slot without getting to the punchline. Once done, you’ll find it’ll help you relax into telling your story with a bit more colour.

2.????? Pass the so-what test

It’s easy to spend time talking about all the great things you did but to forget to mention why you did them and what difference they actually made. I’m a fan of ‘metrics that matter’ i.e. quantifying the outcomes you achieved in simple compelling terms. I.e. what difference did you make for customers, colleagues and the bottom line? Even if I don’t understand the in’s and out’s of what you did – I definitely understand and am impressed by the pound or dollar notes you put back on the table and the simultaneous increase in customer retention stat’s.

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3.????? Grab my attention with your one big idea

Think about what’s unique or the one big breakthrough you achieved for your customers, your company or maybe even your industry in your story and then hang it all on that big idea.

Too many presentations feel good, but leave you wondering: what’s this really all about? What’s the real insight here? What was their special CX breakthrough moment?

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4.????? Less is always more

Tell your story simply and with fewer words. Just enough is good enough.

Limit the things you need to tell us to an intro, your big idea or winning initiative and then limit yourself no more than three sub-points that help substantiate your case. Add an example backed up by customer feedback and/or some other evidence for each of these three points, then get to close and summary. In that summary – you shouldn’t be afraid to suggest why you think your entry is deserving of the award in question. Your story should have logically built us up to that point.

I know and I get how hard it can be to prune and edit out all the good things you learned, all the good things you did, all the insights you’re proud about. But honestly, you’ll be the only one that cares about the detail. Your job is to tell that story simply and briefly.

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5.????? Tell your story authentically

I listened to a team today kill a great story with their delivery. My heart goes out to them as I think they did great work for their customers and business but I honestly just zoned out as they were sticking to a prepared script. They were concentrating on the flow of bullets and slides, not their story. Their slides were beautiful but it was a monotone delivery – they lost their personal stories, their body language slumped and so did my interest. I wanted to be engaged but it was hard work.

In the Q&A session one of their supporting team lifted the tone. She brought some passion and interest back into the room because she was talking from the heart and her lived experience. Her gestures were animated and you really bought into her story.

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6.????? Prepare, prepare and then practice with a stranger

Sorry about the ten page letter, I didn’t have time to write you a one-pager.

We’ve all heard this adage before but it’s true. A simple, authentic and powerful story is hard work and takes time to craft, revise and then polish. Partly it’s because we’ve lived and been immersed in the journey and know every nook and cranny, twist and turn along the way. Now we need to tell that story simply. Start drafting early, leave it alone and you’ll be surprised at how you’ll lift the quality by coming back and looking at it with fresh eyes.

The real game-changer is now to co-opt the help of someone who knows nothing about your project or work and ask them if you can present your story to them. So maybe not a complete stranger – who might not give the honest feedback you need. Maybe a good friend or colleague (not involved in your initiative) and see if the story lands with them? This is often a good jargon filter. If they ‘get it’ – you’re in good shape.

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7.????? I know how I feel

I’ll end by stating I’m not a professional speaker, coach or presenter but I am on the receiving end of a lot of presentations. I create and deliver quite a few. I recently sat in on a training session with some of my team and (re)learnt a few useful things. I do however really know how I feel when I’m on the receiving end of a great presentation.

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Remember: people buy into and from people. So keep it simple, short, authentic, with your one big idea, tell 'em, pass the so-what test, practice and see how you make them feel. You've worked so hard - now go nail that presentation!

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I hope these reflections help you get inside the head of a CX awards judge. Feel free to add and improve upon my ideas with yours below. And if you need a stranger to bounce it off – then reach out and I’ll see if I can help.

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