How to Make a Powerful Presentation -Tinderbox Business Development

How to Make a Powerful Presentation

How much attention do you and your people pay to how you present yourself and your business?

A professional presentation, on any matter or subject, gives the presenter a much better chance of success and success means developing and growing business. We define presenting as follows:

Presentation is the ability to make an impact on an audience or an individual on a particular subject or concept that leads to the achievement of mutual goals.

Presentation skills come more naturally to some people, but all people can learn how to present well if they are willing to learn and develop through practice and experience, using techniques and tools that have been developed over many years and have proved successful when used and executed well.

These are the key elements that must be grasped and understood if the best outcomes are to emanate from the activity:

The desired goals/ outcomes must be set at the outset determining what the result of a successful presentation will look like for the presenter. It is too easy to say after a presentation – “that went well”. The question is “relative to what”. It should be relative to the goals/ outcomes set before the call is made.

Organising the presentation in such a way that is appropriate and relevant to the audience and the surroundings it is to be delivered in. Who are you presenting to? What are their responsibilities? What sort of things will they be interested in your proposition delivering?

Doing adequate research, preparation and practice prior to the delivery of the presentation ensuring that the actual delivery is as good as it can be. This is often overlooked and there is no excuse these days for not having a significant amount of information on the contact(s) you are meeting and the business that they are involved in. Thorough preparation in this area can pay handsome dividends as your knowledge of your contact and their business projects a keen interest from you.

Delivery of the presentation with enthusiasm and energy. How do you expect a contact to enthuse about what you are offering if you don’t? Enthusiasm shows itself through emotion, voice intonation and engagement with your contact.

Appropriate and skilful use of selling tools (sales aids). Selling tools like samples, brochures and other visual aids add interest to the presentation. It breaks the monotony of listening to your voice and also aids retention of the information that you are conveying. Selling tools add variety, engage people and should be planned and rehearsed when preparing for the call.

Being aware of the reaction of the audience, listening, getting feedback along the way. Ploughing on when people are folding their arms, looking at their watches is a sure route to failure. Be conscious of what your audience is doing – react accordingly. For example, if someone is looking at their watch say, ‘I know we are short on time, so I will just cover the key points briefly’. This illustrates to them that you are conscious of their feelings/ situation and have empathy with them. Ask questions of them along the way ‘’Is all clear so far?’’ – ‘’Any questions on what I have covered up to now?’’ This ensures that the audience stay with you.

We specialise in getting people and businesses up to speed at presenting their service/offer or products – if you would like to find out how this works and what it might do for you and your business get in touch with us at ignite@tinderboxbusinessdevelopment.co.uk or call us on 0116 232 5231.

Why not have a look at our online learning platform, E-Learn, where you can find our interactive video-based online courses which combine professional presenters, animated graphics, interactive games and questions to keep participants engaged and are available anytime, anyplace on any web-enabled device. E-Learn courses are developed in accordance with current legislation, accredited by industry leading associations and approved by professional bodies.

Click here to access an E-Learn free trial.

The Tinderbox Team