POINT NUMBER 1: Make a Big Promise.
ANCHOR: People Don't Buy Paint, They Buy Beautiful Walls
REFLECTION: In your next presentation, how could you use the Big Promise to keep your listeners hooked? Don't sell the features, sell the benefits.
TECHNIQUE: In the next ____ minutes, you will pick up tools you can use to ____, ____ and ____
SALE: Allow to decide what to keep in, and what to leave out. Keep your audience engaged from the beginning because they have an incentive to listen.
Open With Humor:
But now I'm feeling excited, energetic and I'm feeling pumped up.
Ask me, "Akash, why are you pumped up?"
[Wait for audience response].
I'm glad you asked ;)
The Big Promise
I'm excited - and I know you will be too - because by the end of this workshop, you will have picked up one very important tool that will allow you to create and deliver speeches and presentations that will keep your audiences excited, engaged - and hopefully awake [pause for laughter].[Esteem More] This one tool will allow you to give captivating presentations people want to listen to, and hence be seen as a respected leader of your organization.
[Gain More] It will enable you to give presentations that gain more supporters for your plan of action and motivate them to act on your vision
[Enjoy More] And finally, when you realize how excited people are about listening to you, you will be able to enjoy the process of creating and delivering dynamic presentations.
Are you curious to find out what this tool is? (Raise my hand)
All right, that's it, I'm done with my presentation ;) You're going to have to pay me to see the rest of the stuff! [laughter]
Activity
Now, I want you to grab a partner - and don't make me define grab! [laughter] It's not that kind of a workshop [laughter]. Imagine this...you are about to give a 30 - 60 minute presentation on how to become a better communicator. For the next 60 seconds, I want you to talk with your partners and decide 'what is the most important thing you should include within the first 5 minutes of your presentation'? Is it opening with a joke? Starting off with a story? Outlining what you're going to talk about? Jot down all your ideas...and keep your eyes on your own paper! [laughter]
- 1 minute later -
All right, let's hear your answers. Shout out your answers.
Your answers are all good and they have one thing in common - (look to Ian and pretend as though telling a secret) they're all wrong [laughter]. No, those are not wrong, they're all very important, but they're are not the most important thing...
POINT
The most important thing to do within the first 5 minutes of a presentation is to Make a Big Promise. Let your listeners know not only what points you are going to cover, but also let them know what it will empower them to do and to receive.The Big Promise is probably the most important sentence of your presentation. It's the most important because it sets up the reason why audience members should listen to the rest of your presentation. If this sentence does not hook them in, they will mentally tune you out and leave you wondering why.
When was the last time audience members mentally tuned out because you didn't give them a reason to listen to you?
ANCHOR
There is a sales saying, "People do not buy paint, they buy beautiful walls".
That's so important, you should write it down: People do not buy paint, they buy beautiful walls.
Most presenters allow the audience to mentally tune out - they will outline the points they will cover, but they don't show the audience how they will benefit from listening.
Imagine a speaker starting off with, "Today, I am going to cover Parts A, B and C of the tax code system". How many of you would be interested in that? Not many...[Maybe Kenneth/Ian (laughs) - he's an exception (laughs)]
However, imagine how much more attractive that presentation would become if the speaker were to start off by saying, "In the next 45 minutes, you will discover how to use Parts A, B and C of the tax code system to increase your income income by 20%, gain two extra holidays each year for you and your family, and learn how to legally fire your boss [laughs]". I know for a fact that everyone of you would be paying really close attention to what the speaker had to say [laughs].
REFLECTION
If you aren't already doing so, think about how you can use the Big Promise to fire up your audience about your presentation... Remember, people don't buy the paint, they buy beautiful walls. In your presentations, sell the beautiful walls, not the paint.
TECHNIQUE
You're probably looking for a specific formula to create the big promise, and here it is:
In the next ____ minutes, you will pick up tools you can use to ____, ____ and ____. Fill in the blanks with some compelling benefits, and you have the start of a compelling presentation.
Folks, I'm not only teaching you how to fish, but I'm also bringing you the fish and showing you where the microwave is [laughs]...use it!
SALE
The Big Promise also offers another advantage. It not only keeps your audience tuned into your every word, it also helps you determine what to include in your speech and what to leave out. If you have an interesting story or fact you want to include, but don't know if you should, simply measure it against the Big Promise. If it supports the Big Promise, keep it in. Otherwise, scrap it.
If you want your audience members to leave your speech - hopefully at the end [laughs], feeling as though they benefited from attending your presentation, use the Big Promise.
If you want to hook in the audience at the beginning of your presentation and create a captivating presentation, start off with a captivating Big Promise.
Remember, don't buy paint, they buy beautiful walls. Don't sell the paint, sell the beautiful walls by using the Big Promise.
