Presenting – a recipe for success ‘Take-aways’
We all admire those who have the gift of communicating clearly, succinctly, persuasively and they’re the ones who tend to achieve more, be more successful and, ultimately earn more.? These are our role models – but they tend to be in the minority.? So, what stops the rest of us? The problems we encounter are three-fold:
We are asked to present our thoughts in lots of different situations.?
Does any of the following sound familiar to you?
You’re in a meeting and out of the blue your boss says “can you give us a quick update on your project?”? Well, you know it’s not really a question, is it?
You’re at someone’s leaving do and suddenly you’re asked to step in a say a few words off the cuff.
You need to make a formal presentation – and it really matters that you make a good impression.
What do you do?
a.???????? Suddenly develop food poisoning and make a quick exit.? (Actually, come to think of it, you do feel sick to the stomach so it’s not a real lie!)
b.???????? Blush, stutter and then regurgitate a whole load of rubbish that you manage to repeat in different ways, several times over?
c.???????? Spend ages agonising over what to write and eventually come up with a script that you read out word for word
?d.???????? Respond clearly, succinctly, with confidence and intelligence and have your audience hanging on your every word
?Come on, own up.? If your answer is anything other than d. - read on, you clearly need the gift of the gab …
Stop gabbling – start focusing …
Do you want to increase the odds of getting the results you want.? The concepts and techniques are deceptively simple and devastatingly effective.? What’s more, my years as a trainer and coach have provided me with the proof of what works in practise.? I’ve honed these techniques and the gift of the gab is my gift to you …
In this article, I am going to focus on take-aways’.?
This about how you can prepare your content in a way that actually saves you time and increases your powers of persuasion.? There are top tips for deciding ‘what’ you’re going to say how to tailor it to ‘who’ you’re going to say it to so that they ‘get it’.
Your ‘take-aways’
Imagine, you walk into your favourite fast food restaurant and the person serving you says “what do you want?” and you say “I don’t mind” (by the way don’t you just hate it when someone says “I don’t mind” to you?).? They give you a burger but it’s got pickle in it and you don’t like pickle.? You’re now feeling really disappointed because you’re hungry and you were looking forward to this meal.
?The truth is that if you don’t know what you want, you end up with what you’re given.
?Do you want to be successful?? Then know what you want!?? Use this simple concept alone and you will save yourself hours and hours in preparation time.?
?Let’s put this into context with an example. ?You’ve been asked to give a 20 minute talk about the jumble sale to the Parent Teachers Association (PTA).? You can spend ages wondering what to say and where to start.? And to be honest, most people just think in terms of a topic – in this case ‘the jumble sale’ and they start writing down everything they ever knew about jumble sales.? Frankly, your time is much too precious to waste in this way.
?The first question to ask yourself is ‘What’s the purpose of this talk?’? Is it to encourage the PTA to run another jumble sale?? Is it to decide what to do with the proceeds?? Is it to discourage them from running another one?? Is it to persuade more members to take an active part??? What you include will be totally different depending on the purpose of your talk.
?The second question is what are the key points you want them to take away from your talk that will help you achieve your purpose?? In other words, what do you want them to know or do afterwards?
?Write all of these ‘take-aways’ down.?
?Now, imagine that you turn up to the PTA and the person speaking before you overruns, everyone is getting really fidgety and you know they just want to go home.? What are the three critical, compelling points that you absolutely must get across.? This will really help you focus and simplify your message.
?Go on, have a go now.? Think of the next presentation you have to give (or, if you like, take the last one that perhaps didn’t go as well as you had hoped) …
Exercise:? your ‘take-aways’
?1.???????? The purpose of my presentation is to …
?2.???????? What I want my audience to take away after is …
?3.???????? The three critical, compelling points I absolutely must make are …
?OK, so now you know what you want to achieve.? This is a good start.? You’re already ahead of the game but to really get results we need to take those ‘take-aways’ a stage further and put ourselves in their shoes.?
?Their ‘take-aways’
When you order a meal for someone else - or buy them a present, do you really think about what they want or do you give them what you would like to receive?? Imagine for a moment.? You want some shelves put up so you buy your other half an electric screw gun.? If your significant other has no interest in DIY and isn’t really that bothered about those shelves then that screw gun will stay in the box and be stored away, never to see light of day again.? What a waste of money!?
?The sad truth is that 99% of the people I’ve trained or coached start off only thinking about what they want to tell their audience and they treat it as a one-way street.? That metaphorical street will be full of hazards, blaring horns and flashing lights if you don’t anticipate your audience’s needs. ?You’ll only achieve your outcome if the audience cooperates with you. If you’re pro-active and think in advance you can anticipate what those hazards might be and manoeuvre them more skilfully.
So the next thing to do is to really put yourself in your audience’s shoes so that you can tell them what you want to tell them in a way that they’ll hear you and cooperate with you.
?Let’s get focused and do some analysis then.? There are three areas to focus on here – Attitude, Approach and Interests:
?Attitude
First of all, what’s their attitude likely to be both to you and to the message you will be delivering?? Will they be enthusiastic supporters?? In which case great! The ride will be much easier.? On the other hand, will they be sceptical, or suspicious, or just plain not interested?? Or, the minute they see you, will they say to themselves “Oh no, what’s up now?!”? And you know what they did to the bearer of bad news in Roman times, don’t you!?? In which case there’s work to do here.?
?More of ‘how’ to deliver the message later on (Chapter 3).? Let’s first concentrate on the content of your message.? The main point to remember here is that their feelings need to be acknowledged otherwise they get in the way of them hearing your message at all.? ?And, once you’ve acknowledged their feelings and fears – turn it around and tell them why they should bother listening.?
领英推荐
Let me give you an example.
I had to deliver a follow up training to a large group of delegates.? They had attended a morning session and some of them had made it very clear that they did not particularly want to be there. Furthermore they had already covered the basics of the topic I was asked to cover and, as it turned out, had not used it!? This is how I acknowledged their feelings and turned it around:
“How many of you here have used what you learned?? It seems to me that you’ve survived this long in your professional life so far without using it.? So, why should you even bother?
Well, is anyone here interested in building better relationships with the people they work with?? Does anyone want to know why they find some elements of their job easier than others?? Does anyone want to enjoy work more and experience less stress?? Are you interested in finding out how?”
The answer was “yes!”
?If you don’t acknowledge the resistance going on in their head, all they’ll do is resist.
Approach
Secondly, what approach are they likely to take?? Michael Grinder came up with a wonderfully simple model that’s really quick and easy to get your head around and helps you analyse their approach – it’s the ‘cats and dogs’ model.? (For more in depth information on this please read Michael’s book Charisma – The Art of Relationships.)
?Put simply, the theory is that depending on the situation we’re in, and who we’re with at the time, we either act more like a cat or more like a dog.? It’s a behavioural model and not a psychological one.? This means we all have the ability to do both to some degree – and there’s no good or bad style - they’re just different and useful in different contexts.?
Now, I’m assuming that you’ve all come into contact with cats and dogs at some time or other!? So, imagine, you come home from a busy day at work and your dog rushes up to see you, tail wagging enthusiastically as he looks up at you adoringly and says to himself, “you come home every night and feed me – you must be a God!”
If you have a cat – it’s all just a bit different.? (For a start it’s not really your cat – you don’t own a cat, it owns you.)? Anyway, you walk through the door, pleased to be home, calling the cat “here fluffy, I’m home!”? Fluffy may or may not acknowledge you. It all depends on how she feels and whether or not there’s something more interesting going on elsewhere.? What goes through her mind is “you come home every night to feed me, so I must be a God!”
What’s the difference then?? In this model the ‘dog’ has a high degree of accommodation.? Think of what happens when you stroke a dog – it generally snuggles up and wants more stroking and attention.? That’s because they’re interested in the relationship – everyone getting along together - and being liked.? So it tends to do as you say.? People acting in a more ‘dog-like’ way usually go along with you and your ideas more easily.? These are not the ones we generally have trouble with – at least not outwardly.
‘Cats’ are not interested in a relationship.? They’re more interested in getting things done and getting a result - effectively and efficiently. ?They want the facts and evidence – not warm fluffy stories. ?And they will challenge you and your ideas if they disagree with you.? What’s more, if you tell them to do something - they’ll resist.?Why?? Because they have a high degree of independence which means, as far as they’re concerned, they know best!? So, this means you may have more trouble getting them on board with your ideas which in turn means you have to think about your strategies carefully.?
?They respond best to being teased or getting them curious rather than making statements and demands.? (More of how to do this later.)? The first step is to consider whether they are likely to behave in a more ‘cat-like’ or more ‘dog-like’ way in this situation.?
Have a go right now.? Think of a couple of people you have observed acting in a ‘cat-like’ way.? What is it about them?? Now take a couple of people you know who have acted in a more ‘dog-like’ way.? What was that interaction like?
?If we can bring out our ‘cat’ and our ‘dog’ at the right times we can appeal to a greater variety of people.
Interest
?The third area to analyse is what they are interested in.?
?In general, the more ‘cat-like’ they are likely to be during the presentation, the more they’ll be interested in facts, results and the bottom line. ??You won’t get much non-verbal encouragement from them – and be ready for them to disagree with what you say. They’ll want you to be credible – the expert – otherwise you’re wasting their time.?
?If they are likely to be more ‘dog-like’ then they’ll want to like you, build rapport with you.? They’re the ones who will be nodding their heads in agreement with you when you speak.? ?What will interest them is how what you’re saying affects other people and morale.?
What’s more, when you think of it, most people will, at the very least, be interested in something that will save them time, save them money (or make them money), or buy them brownie points with someone they want to look good in front of.
Exercise - their ‘take-aways’
1.???????? What is their attitude towards you?
?2.???????? What’s their attitude towards your message?
?3.???????? What’s their approach – more ‘cat-like’ or more ‘dog-like’?
?4.???????? What are their interests?
?You have now gathered some very useful information.? ?Knowing this will help you get your ‘take-aways’ across in a more compelling way.? The question is, how do you use it?
?Let me explain.? In general, we’re motivated away from what we don’t want and towards what we do want.? So, knowing what you know now, what will it give them if they take your idea on board and what will it cost them if they don’t?? Now, step into their shoes.?
?For each ‘take-away ask the following questions.? At first it might seem a little repetitive.? That’s OK, because it is – but the results you get are worth it!
?Exercise
?1.???????? What will your ‘take-aways’ give them?? (Relate it to their interests, needs, wants.)
?2.???????? What will it cost them if they don’t?
?
Making it appetising and appealing – frame it
?Now you’re ready to frame your messages…
?Imagine, for a moment, you’re sitting on the beach and it’s a warm summer’s day.? As you look up from your book you notice two small children playing together in the wet sand, close to the water’s edge.? You watch them giggling together as they dig with their bare hands and make patterns in the sand.? They are totally absorbed in their game.? With their backs toward the sea, they don’t notice that the tide is gentling flowing in.?A small wave breaks and as it rushes to the shore it catches them unaware and knocks them both off their feet.
?Before they’ve had time to draw breath, the children’s mothers are on the scene.? One picks her child up and laughs, making a game of what has just happened.? The other panics and tells the child how dangerous it is.? In each child’s mind this same event has just been given a different frame.
?What’s the purpose of a frame?
?When you think of a picture, the purpose of a frame is to set the boundaries and highlight certain features in it. Change the frame and the picture will look quite different.? So, when we buy an expensive painting we choose the frame with care to show it off to its best advantage.
?The fact is that we are always framing experiences for people whenever we have a conversation with them, whether we mean to or not.? Even though we have the best of intentions, the frame we set is not always particularly helpful because our own thoughts and fears come tumbling out of our mouths and we participate in an act of self sabotage without even realising it.?
?So, if they are interested in saving money, or they’re time starved – and quite frankly, who isn’t - don’t say things like “I don’t want you to think this is too expensive” or, “I don’t want to take up too much of your time.”? The truth is they probably didn’t think it was too expensive or too time consuming until you suggested it yourself – but they certainly do now!? So, frame it and say it the way you want it to happen, not the way you don’t. ?For example “Let’s make sure this is cost effective” or “I’ll keep this brief and to the point.”
?
Next time we will look at putting the menu together …
?
?