I’ve given a lot of presentations to colleagues over the years to inform, persuade, and recruit.
Here are 3 key tactics I leverage every time I need to deliver a convincing message.
Be very clear about the purpose for the presentation
I hate sitting through boring presentations, but the best ones all feel like a journey with a destination. Unfortunately, most people seem to make it up as they go with no structure or rhythm to their messaging.
Instead of winging it, create an agenda that outlines your objectives, main talking points, and desired outcomes for the message. It doesn’t have to be a formal document, either, but it should help you answer a few important questions:
What is the problem, conflict or opportunity?
Everything should tie back to this single, large idea.
For example, I presented a new technical solution to a company I worked for once so that we could improve the speed and consistency our teams delivered work, which enabled our company to reinvest time and people in other areas to provide a rich customer experience.
The “problem”, which was actually an opportunity, was a new way of working that would make us more efficient with resources. I riffed in this idea throughout the presentation as much as possible.
If you’re struggling to figure out what the point of your presentation is, keep asking “why” about the idea until it’s clear (or you discover there isn’t a reason at all).
Who is the minimum viable audience?
Almost all presentations are persuasive, informational, or entertaining in nature. Giving a great presentation to the wrong audience is almost worse than an average presentation to the right audience.
Figure out the minimum viable audience for your message.
A minimum viable audience defines the core of who you’re trying to speak to so that you can tailor every piece of data, visualization, and word towards them.
When you’re invited to present, make sure you understand who will be there, what their motivations are, and what they expect. This leads to the final question your agenda should answer:
What is your main call to action?
Nothing matters in your presentation if you aren’t requesting something from your audience.
Sometimes this is a simple ask for feedback. Other times you may be asking for resources or funding.
Limit your call to action (CTA) to a single item, if possible.
People are more likely to take greater interest in a clear, singular request over a longer list of items loosely related, some of which might be missed.
Also make sure your CTA is the last thing you cover in your presentation. Although it’s good practice to hint at what it is throughout, you’ll make the biggest impact by finishing with a clear CTA.
Think of how a great YouTube video ends, or how politicians wrap their speeches up – a strong ending sticks in the audience’s mind more than any other part of the message. Use that to your advantage.
Build confidence with unrelenting preparation
I used to get really nervous before presentations, even with small audiences. Usually I found I was afraid of forgetting important points, losing my audience, or looking foolish if I couldn’t answer questions.
At my core I lacked confidence.
Strategically preparing for the presentation in advance helped me overcome these nerves (which still show up) by giving me the advantage over myself. Confidence is a mental fight you can win if you put in the time to build it up. Before any presentation I prepare with two key strategies.
Write a script
Imagine if a movie director gathered the actors, camera workers, and editors in a room, told them the movie was about outer space, and then let them be. What would you end up with?
It certainly wouldn’t be Interstellar. More likely it would look like the dramatics my childhood friends and I constructed in the backyard (which were undoubtedly awesome, by the way).
Every message needs structure and coordination.
The script doesn’t have to include every single word you’re going to speak, but it should outline the introduction, main points, and call to action. Even if you don’t use it during the presentation, the very act of creating a script forces you to think through how you’re going to put your message together and provides an instruction manual for navigating the presentation.
At the core, a script allows you to focus on executing the message effectively rather than planning AND executing at the same time, which is the fate of those who enter unprepared.
Being uncertain of what you want to say, let alone how, is a huge source of anxiety and fear in public speaking. Scripts build a bridge between “what” and “how”.
A typical outline of mine has:
- A word-for-word introduction that I try to actually memorize. 1-2 sentences max that capture the purpose and desired outcomes of the presentation.
- 3-5 major ideas that I need to cover, as headings, with a few bullet points under each. The bullet points describe the narratives, data points, and potential objections I want to cover. More on answering objections later.
- The call to action and how I want to pitch that idea.
If you’re using a slideshow for your presentation, it’s usually effective to work on the script at the same time, bouncing back and forth between them to shape your ideas.
The last point is to figure out what data points you want to incorporate. Most messages mix data and narrative, so knowing who your audience is, what level of data they want (detailed metrics, high level summaries, etc), and how to visualize it is a massive advantage for delivering an effective message.
Practice… a lot
This is obvious advice, but not many follow it. I’ll talk briefly about why I think it’s important to walk through your presentation and how I typically do that.
Most examples talk about how athletes practice all the time even though they’re already professional athletes. Practice keeps their bodies (and minds) in shape and develops rote memorization – learning through repetition.
Rote memorization is one of the main goals of practicing a presentation because it helps you intuitively understand your own talking points and pathways through the ideas.
I’ve found that learning this way ensures a stray question, comment, or thought won’t totally sideline my ability to navigate the material in the presentation. Stated another way, if I know what I want to say I won’t have to remember it – it’ll just flow naturally.
This means you can intelligently talk about your ideas after the presentation as well since they’re ingrained in your mind in a way that remembering specific sentences and words might not allow you to.
Prepare answers to objections ahead of time
Fighters in combat are usually on offense or defense. Anderson Silva, a UFC champion some years ago, became an unstoppable counter puncher. He’d bait and wait for his opponents to throw a strike and immediately strike them quickly after their punch.
Many have tried to replicate his counter-striking abilities since his reign but most haven’t ever come close. Why? Because counter striking is hard and usually ends with you knocked out on the canvas.
Therefore I’ve found it more advantageous to play offense when giving a presentation. Move first, and make your opponents react.
Hopefully you’re not giving presentations that involve literal hand-to-hand combat, but you are probably involved in delivering a message with critics.
I play offense a few different ways.
Research the main objections while building your presentation
As the presenter you usually have the advantage of time to prepare your ideas beforehand.
Once you’ve nailed down the main points you want to make, figure out all the ways someone might disagree or question about it – the objections. It helps to run it by someone who purposefully plays devil’s advocate as well as a quick Google search to find other perspectives on the topic (if needed).
If nothing else, additional perspectives help you round out your own thoughts on the matter. It’s easier to enter the conversation (presentation) with an understanding of all the variables than to learn and react to them in real time.
Counter objections during your presentation where possible
Highlighting your answer to the objections during your presentation gives you the first mover advantage against opposing viewpoints.
Politicians do this all the time when presenting policy to build authority on the subject and avoid playing defense when they open up for questions.
Here are a few ways to present objections during your presentation without coming across as combative:
- Focus on the specific ideas instead of the people behind them. If you’re trying to convince or recruit, attacking others who hold certain beliefs is the worst way to do that.
- Build common ground before presenting your answer to the objection. When I made the case for improving automation at my last company, I appealed to our leadership’s desire for positive change and more efficient working even though my suggested tactic required a lot of changes. Common ground and goals puts us in the same boat together instead of creating unnecessary enemies.
- Present objections as valid ideas. Anyone holding an opposing viewpoint usually believes it is one of, if not the only, right strategy. It’s far more persuasive to demonstrate you understand their viewpoint than to tear it down point by point. People are far more agreeable when they feel they’ve been heard, even if the cards don’t go their way..
Clearly acknowledging objections strengthens your presentation because you’re making it obvious that you’re aware of the complexities and finer points surrounding your ideas.
Bolster the strength of your message with an incredible follow-up strategy
Having answers for all the objections is rare, and an inquisitive or hostile audience may press you into a space you aren’t prepared for.
If I don’t know the answer to a question, I’ll usually follow-up after the presentation instead of stumbling through something in real time. You may weaken your position if you give a bad answer, so no answer (in the moment) is usually better than a bad answer.
Not to say you’re off the hook with this strategy, but you’ll have time to regroup, develop a proper response, and follow-up with the group at a later time when you’ve had space to process their question.
A few other recommendations when it comes to Q&A:
- Always repeat the question back to make sure you both understand it and it’s clear for audience members who didn’t hear the original ask. This eliminates the risk of answering something they didn’t ask, which can significantly weaken your position if the audience realizes you’re not answering the actual question.
- Never ask, “does that make sense?”. You’ll make it much safer for your audience to respond if you ask them if they have any questions or thoughts on the matter instead. Asking if something makes sense doesn’t safely permit a “no” in dialog, especially in front of a group (no one likes to look like they don’t get it)
The art of Q&A and follow-up is sometimes as important as the presentation itself, especially since it might be the only part the audience remembers. This time is also your opportunity to prove you know what you’re talking about since questions will force you to address your ideas from different angles.
If you’re giving this presentation multiple times, questions also show where you might be able to improve the core content and objections you cover in your message.