The Presentation Mistake You Don’t Want to Make

A few years ago, I attended a networking group meeting where the organizers regularly gave a different member 20 minutes to present themselves and what they do. Pretty standard practice for many networking groups, and nicely supportive of their members.

On this particular night, a real estate agent was given this opportunity. And from the looks of it, she was a very successful one.

Her hair was perfectly coiffed, she wore an expensive suit, tons of pearls, and the real symbol of success – beautiful shoes! Shiny stilettos that just seemed to glimmer under the lights, and that were a joy to behold.

This individual was known to have great experience and success in the real estate field, and it seemed like the group of us -- around 35 in all -- were looking forward to learning something new and relevant about this industry.

What's a Presentation Without Results?

Given that this was a networking meeting, I made the natural assumption of what kind of results she would want to achieve from her presentation, such as to:

- Get new clients;

- Get referrals;

- Get requests for more information for future client opportunities;

- To be “top of mind” as a leading real estate agent.

The time for her presentation approached. She walked to the front of the room in those fabulous stilettos, she loaded up her slides, took her position in front of her audience... and then for the next 20 minutes, she did nothing but talk -- all about herself.

Her accomplishments, her awards, her wealth of experience, the wonderful school she went to – and here’s where it got really fascinating – what all the initials after her name actually meant.

Me-me-me. And listening to it was exhausting.

Not only was the audience completely tuning out, but as I looked around the room -- because I had also fully checked out of the presentation by that point, realizing that I wasn't going to learn ANYTHING about the real estate industry, the expression on everyone’s faces was a mix of frustration, boredom, and something that I like to describe as “get me out of here!”

Connection.....lost.

I have no doubt that this speaker truly wanted to connect with her audience.

And having been in that room, I believe that the audience truly wanted to connect with her and her expertise as well.

But it didn't work out that way.

At the end of her presentation, did anyone come up to her to ask for help in buying or selling their house? Did anyone give her any referrals? Did anyone even ask for more information?

Nope! Nada! Nothing!

In fact, at the end of her 20 minutes, we couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

Do you think that she got the results she was hoping for?

Certainly not. At least not on that night.

And here’s why. She was way too focused on what she wanted to say, and not at all on what the audience needed to hear.

Having been in that audience, it’s safe to say that many of us would have been more interested in actually learning something relevant to our own personal situations. Perhaps some real estate industry news; tips for home staging; how would we know when the markets are favorable to buy or sell our homes; how to choose the right agent; getting a mortgage; myths and facts about moving; what to avoid when choosing an agent; future trends in real estate.

She could even have shared examples and stories of other satisfied clients, wrapped in a story of how she had helped them in achieving one of the above outcomes.

Doing that would definitely have been more useful than 20 full minutes of credentials, an endless list of how many listings she holds, and how many houses she sells in a month.

'Me-me-me' Does Not Leave Room For Your Expertise to Shine Through

She talked about what she wanted us to know, and seemed so sure that her qualifications and me-me-me content would dazzle us, that she lost sight of what we might actually learn from her extensive knowledge and expertise in this field.

But because she was so focused on what she wanted to say, and not what the audience needed to hear, she didn’t create a connection with her audience.

And with no connection....no results.

So what’s the lesson?

If you are ever lucky enough to be given 20 minutes to share your expertise with an audience, you will likely get far greater results if you choose to spend time building your message based not only on what YOU want to say, but on what your AUDIENCE needs to hear.

When your first priority becomes about providing value to your audience, that will facilitate a connection with you, your message, and will get you to the results that you want a lot faster.

And then you'll be able to share your expertise, connect with your audience, and be remembered not just for all the right reasons.