What Nobody Ever Tells You About Presenting

Most likely, you’ve heard this advice: people buy from people they trust. The interesting thing is: what do they buy? The decision to purchase works for tangible and intangible items--across the board. It’s not just for products and services. People buy other things based on trust. Specifically, they buy into advice, ideas, recommendations, and suggestions from those who they know and believe. What makes you believable to people who don’t know you already? A well-structured story. Your story is the backbone of your presentation. But here’s the part most experts won’t reveal. How to build a story that is real, solid, and true. How to structure your story to engage any audience—even if you’re short on time and only have minutes to share your ideas. The ‘how’ of storytelling is absolutely crucial in business presenting. If you tell a story that is authentic, you are very believable. People in your audience pay attention, get curious and want to hear more. Even if you’re just meeting for the first time, people feel that you are trustworthy…and they are interested in doing business with you. If you tell a story that doesn’t make sense, doesn’t feel authentic, people will have the opposite response. They might not know exactly why. But something just doesn’t fit. This leads people to feel things like: “Something is off.” “What he said just didn’t ring true.” “I felt like there was a piece missing.” What’s the result of this? People feel skeptical. They get picky about little things. They may be consciously or unconsciously suspicious. They question everything. Not only your story…but also your words, your background, your expertise, and your recommendations. In other words, things take a long time and may not move forward. This is not what you want to achieve in interviewing for a job, initiating a consulting job, or sealing a sale. A strong story is like the spine of any presentation. You may be presenting your bio, your background or your consulting project. Perhaps you’re presenting the story of your company, research or training program. Many executive coaching clients have asked me, “what are the key building blocks for a great story?” Here’s the short answer. Whatever the topic, organize so your story makes sense for your audience. Appeal to their sensibilities with these 8 building blocks. 1. Grabs Attention from start to finish. Instant connection is the secret to outrageous success. 2. Builds Credibility with tangible evidence. From news coverage to press releases to testimonials, share what other people have said about your business. 3. Deepens Interest by providing clear benefits for the audience. 4. Demonstrates Creativity for solving troubling problems and achieving compelling goals. 5. Ignites Desire with a magnetic pull of emotions. Reach deep to find core emotional connection with your audience because people want to do business with people who truly understand them. 6. Confirms Authentic sense that you, your company and your solutions are ‘the real deal.’ People want to get involved with people who are committed and genuine. 7. Shows Care for your audience. This is vitally important. People want to feel, hear and see that you care deeply about what matters most to them. 8. Inspires Action and decisions. Whether your purpose is to educate, inform, present or sell--action is the ultimate outcome. Structure your business materials and presentations around these 8 elements, and your story will have power. Plus, there’s an added personal benefit. You’ll feel confident, at ease and ready for last minute presentations. Imagine the power. A well-built story will boost your business…and your bottom line. With a logical and creative structure to your story, every presentation is much more powerful. This adds a rush of fresh energy for interactive presentations. The best part? You and your team will feel a boost in confidence…and see a boost in your bottom line results.