Your Presentation Best

Dare to be different!  Illustrate your presentations with unconventional visuals. Grab the attention of your audience in a way they don't expect. (Just make sure it's relevant to your message) For example, a senior manager / mentor wanted to talk about the importance of leadership, trust and teamwork: He told the story of how all the pilots must absolutely trust the lead pilot and vice versa.  That together, they could reach incredible things; but working as individuals, the team will crash and burn. Your creativity is the only limit on which unconventional visuals you use. Shoot to thrill!

What's Your Frame? How you frame something in your presentation can make all the difference in the world. Frame it in a powerful WIIFY way and you will connect with your audience. Frame it in the normal, boring way and you will lose your audience quickly. (And once you've lost them, they are difficult to get back) Take an example from American politics:  How do you successfully frame a higher gasoline tax? Normally, it's political suicide in the U.S. to propose this, as version one illustrates.   But if you frame it in a patriotic WIIFY way: Version One: Q:  Do you favor a gasoline tax? A:  85% No  /   12% Yes Version Two: Q: Do you favor a gasoline tax if it reduced dependence on foreign oil? A:  55% Yes  /  37% No What a difference!   So find the right WIFFY frame and it becomes much easier to sell even difficult issues.

"A fool tells me his reasons.  A wise man persuades me with my own." --Aristotle There is a clear nexus between effective negotiation and effective presentation. In order to get what you want, you need to be able to present your ideas in an easy to understand and easy to support way. The best negotiators give their counterparts a reason to listen and to buy in. How?  By doing their homework and finding out what their counterpart wants, why they want it and what concrete results the counterpart is looking for. Then they can present arguments that balance thier counterpart's needs with their own interests, in a WIIFY and KISSS presentation.  The counterpart is easier to persuade when his own ideas are highlighted in the presentation. WIIFY=What' In It For You?  (see May 4, post) KISSS= Keep It Short Sweet and Sexy  (see April 18 post)