Q: What is the value of a great presentation?
A: The amount of the deal you are trying to win.
Q: What is the cost of a terrible presentation?
A: The same.
The lights dim and you sink into the conference room chair, bracing yourself for yet another sales pitch. You preset your expectation dial to low while selecting the highest setting for your anticipated frustration. You’re ready. And then the unusual happens. You are instantly engaged by the introduction. The presenter’s preparation becomes obvious, as she conveys relevant, appealing and even inspiring messages. “What’s going on here?” you ask, as you realize that your time is not being wasted. “This person has what I need,” you recognize, “and she knows how to tell that story well.” You want to do business with her.
Why is this scenario so rare in today’s business environment? With so much riding on our presentations—in sales situations, funding requests, conferences and career negotiations— why don’t we knock the socks off of audiences and connect deeply with their hearts and minds every time ? The more important question is: how can we do a lot better?
Elisabeth Osmeloski, VP of Audience Development for SearchMarketingExpo.com and MarTechConf.com, handles the details of 80 to 100 speaker presentations per event. She has developed a keen sense of what differentiates great presentations from poor ones. “Lack of preparation is the biggest cause of failure across the board,” states Osmeloski. “Not having a clear message and actionable takeaways will leave the audience feeling like their time has been wasted.” According to Osmeloski, you can definitely tell when a presenter knocks it out of the park by audience reaction and comments. “The perfect presentation,” she continues, “has certain attributes, and will be engaging, entertaining, memorable, inspiring and actionable—all at once.”
A tall order, to be sure, but this level of performance is possible. If you want to read a great book on this topic, I suggest Oren Klaff’s Pitch Anything (McGraw-Hill, 2011). To understand how one company, AvalaunchMedia, is setting a new standard for the quality of their own (and their clients’) presentations, read on.