The Question on Presentations: What do you really want to achieve when you make a business presentation? When you speak before any group, what tells you that you have “hit a home run”?

 

The Answer: Being a strong communicator is a huge asset in establishing a person as a leader in his or her profession or business. However, we know as audience members that most professionals and executives are pretty mediocre when it comes to public speaking. I knew this back in 1995 when I started training and coaching people in this area, and back then I discovered something important. Most people, and even many books on public speaking, miss the fundamental purpose of speaking to groups of employees, clients or members of the public.

 

That purpose is to build a relationship with each person in the room. Yes, you do need to convey facts and concepts and ideas, but if that was the only purpose for the communication, you could write a document or put your slide presentation on-line with a professional voice reading a script in the background. You wouldn’t need to be there! But when you are there people get to connect with you as a person. They discover what you care about. They make judgments about whether they find you credible and trustworthy. They can experience you bringing your topic alive with stories about how it matters in their world.

 

So really think about what matters to your audience. And don’t get trapped in using an endless set of slides that make you a talking fact machine. Identify parts of your next presentation where you want to get people excited, or motivated, or supportive, and turn the projector off. Learn to actually talk with people using the skills you use in your living room when you enjoy conversation with friends and guests. When an audience gets excited about your message, leans forward in interest and connects with you, that’s a home run.