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Presenting Smart: Keeping the Goal in Sight
March 06, 2008
By John Windsor
We're all so busy, how can we possibly find time to overhaul our presentations? And what do our audiences and prospects get, thanks to our hectic schedules? Their logo slapped onto the title slide and the same old content everyone gets, which is usually just an "All About Me."
And the typical result? Certainly nothing that sets their imagination on fire. Your target might buy if his need is great enough and no one else has made a strong case—many business decisions are made in spite of people's presentations, not because of them.
But this doesn't have to be you. Nor do you need to invest months and mega-bucks to make a drastic improvement in how your message comes across. All it really takes is one simple change.
Make It a Goal Slide, Not a Title Slide
That's right, merely change what's written on your opening slide and you'll have a very different conversation with your audience.
The goal, of course, has to relate to their needs or interests, not what you want to sell. Here are some examples:
Title: "The latest products from XYZ Corp."
Goal: "Getting to Market Faster"
Title: "XYZ Corp. The Global Leader in Development Technologies"
Goal: "Simplifying Your Data Integration"
What happens when you tacitly announce that the presentation will be about yourself, as the two "Title" examples do? It shows that you're more interested in your own agenda than you are in helping your audience solve a problem or capitalize on an opportunity.
But if you follow the "Goal" examples, you immediately engage their brains: It's clear you're talking about them, not yourself. You'll also quickly separate yourself from everyone else who might be scrambling for their attention.
How to Make It Memorable
There are three keys to crafting a compelling Goal slide:
1. Use only three to seven words.
2. Begin with an active verb.
3. Keep it focused on what they want to achieve.
Your message on the Goal slide should be like a mantra—something short, clear and easy for your audience to remember. It becomes the focus of your conversation, and your summation at the end of the presentation. And, most importantly, it will be what they remember you by.
You'll still get a chance to talk about your product, service or idea, but you will have given it strong, personal context—your audience's context—into which to be considered. That's a much more powerful position to be in, versus trying to convince them that your offering or idea is good with no special context.
Editor's Note: For more detail on how—and why—you should switch to using a Goal slide, check out these posts on John's "The YouBlog:"
• "With all this poop…"
• "The Big Picture"
• "The You-Me Principle
If you'd like to see makeovers of other types of slides, check out the free online course, Decisive Presentations.
John Windsor, an online columnist for Sales & Marketing Management, and president of Creating Thunder, a Boulder, Colo.-based communications training and consulting company. As author of the popular YouBlog, John offers a unique mix of innovation, communications, sales and marketing ideas. An award-winning marketer, John has held vice president positions in marketing, sales, and business development and has worked with companies like American Express, Reuters, Staples, and Knight-Ridder.
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
This article is brought to you by Sales & Marketing Management, the leading authority for executives in the sales and marketing field.
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