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Articles

Get audience buy-in when making a Presentation

Every day of our lives, we are doing some form of Presentation (whether we are aware of it or not) – whether presenting our product, presenting ourselves for an interview, a date, presenting ourselves to our colleagues on a daily basis, an idea, etc. Each and every presentation must be successful in order to get the other person or audiences’ buy-in and most importantly, for us to be taken seriously.

Here are some tips to assist you in achieving results.

Know what it is you want to achieve to gain results in your presentation.

1. Find out what the needs of the audience / customer are:

If you know beforehand what the audience require, it is easier to plan your presentation around those needs.

2. Present the right information to the right audience:

Give only as much information that the audience require to make the right decision. Do not over-sell, as it only confuses them.

3. Never learn your presentation by rote:

By learning your presentation off by heart, sounds that it is over-rehearsed and loses the impact. Instead, have an organised prompt card or clear visuals that will guide you. Never read the visual content word for word – the audience are quite capable of doing that for themselves.

4. Humour the technical presentations:

Presenting the budget or technical presentations can become boring. To prevent boredom from setting in, add in humorous one-liners and visuals.

5. Rehearse, rehearse:

Rehearse in a quiet, interruption-free place. Never rehearse silently, rather hear your voice. Stand when rehearsing if your presentation requires you to stand. Rehearsing is really trying to simulate the reality.

6. Never exceed your time:

Get your point across and the buy-in in the shortest time possible. Anything you say once you have overrun your scheduled time will only bore the audience and get’s them to switch off. This makes the buy-in far more difficult to achieve.

7. Be in control:

You are required to be in absolute control over all aspects of your time when in front of the audience: your nerves, the audience themselves, the room layout, the technical aspects of the talk, timing, equipment, etc.

8. Grab their attention:

The first sentence of your presentation must be clear, catchy and must captivate the audience to grab their attention.

9. Plan the end:

Ensure that the end of your talk is strong, clear and confident. The audience must know exactly what they must do, for example, sign the contract, give approval, join up, etc. If you are not sure and clear what the audience must do after your talk, then how must they know what to do?

10. Be professional:

Look the part – the audience must “like” you upfront.

Act as a professional – to get their respect - walk the talk.

Behave like a professional. Respect the audience; after all, you want their buy-in.

Speak well. Avoid swear words or slang, ‘uhms’, etc. Project your voice so you are clearly heard.
Perform like a pro. Use your hands to paint pictures or visuals to enhance your message and your body to add showmanship

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