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Five Tips to Wow Your Audience with a Blow-Them-Away Presentation

by colleencole on March 19th, 2010 | Comments

Building a blow-them-away presentation is fast and easy with a little bit of preparation.

Consider your Audience

Most speakers focus on their message rather than on the listener’s needs. The most important person in any presentation room is the listener. Start your presentation by telling them how your presentation will help/improve/enlighten them. What will they take away from your presentation and how will it benefit them?

Build an outline

Make it easy on yourself by building an outline first, rather than trying to simply start writing from the beginning. As you put pen to paper, think about your topic. What format will work best to illustrate your points? Comparisons to other products, a chronological description of events, do you need to bring samples or visual materials with you?

Pull in as many senses as possible

If you have product that your audience can see, and possibly even handle, they will retain more of your presentation. If you are using slides, add photographs and illustrations that reflect the message you are delivering. Consider using audience participation.

Dare to be different!

Some of the most effective slides I have seen in a presentation used a solid black background and contained a single word. It was unexpected, so it was memorable. Is there something you can add to your presentation to make it memorable?

Never end your presentation with a Q & A

You give up control to the audience, and a single, persistent person could drive the room completely off message. It is better to ask for questions near the end of your presentation, then quickly review the highlights and conclude. Make sure that your message is the last one your audience hears.

With a little thought, preparation and a few enhancements, your next presentation will blow away your audience and have them asking you back for more!

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The Author: colleencole

Colleen is a sales and marketing professional with over twenty years of experience in technical sales. Recently Colleen founded HumanFerret, a consulting and coaching service designed to help people "get started, get moving and get unstuck". http://www.humanferret.ca

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Add Your Comment

  • Depends on your presentation.If you present your product so confidently then you'll be wow.
    Just do the best thing every time..
  • Thanks - intigued by the point about "Never end your presentation with a Q & A" - going to incorporate it in next presentation.
  • Please let me know how that works for you. After your Q&A, summarize your main points, then end with your call to action. You'll be amazed by your results!
  • derbhiledromey
    Great advice as I embark on my first ever PowerPoint presentation.
  • Good luck with your presentation. If you find yourself nervous at any point, remember, you are the expert on your topic, because only you know what you are going to be presenting. If you miss something, don't worry, no one will know. If you really need to calm your nerves - yawn! (Before you get to the front of the room). The oxygen will relax you. Thanks for reading!
  • jentamar
    Great article. I especially like the idea of appealing to many different senses.
  • Hi Colleen, "Most speakers focus on their message rather than on the listener’s need" I think that this is a wonderful point and well worth considering, to a large extent everything else follows :-)
  • It really does. Presenting is all about fine tuning your message - actually putting together this article was great practice, I wanted it to be brief, to the point and full of value. Our presentations should be the same! If you focus on the listener, you will be golden!
  • Wonderful tips we can all use, I like the idea of daring to be different, I shall think of this post when I perpare for my next presentation. Thank you.
  • Hi Catherine, I am glad you were able to pull something from my tips. Being different and doing something unexpected will help your message be remembered.
  • Kelly Kennedy
    Excellent information - I'll pass this along to my sales staff.
  • Thanks Kelly, I am glad you found the article useful.
  • SweetPanda
    Very informative! Thanks! Good luck and voted from SC!
  • pat
    Good luck, from SC, patiofurniture1f
  • fatimaodonnell
    Excellent points, especially about not ending with a Q&A. I have seen some Q&As get way out of hand, and that is the only thing I really remember about that particular presentation.
  • fatimaodonnell
    Excellent points, especially about not ending with a Q&A. I have seen many presentations get out of control.
  • dmhaen
    Hi Colleen. You posted some really great tips; some I had never thought of before. It makes sense why you shouldn't end with a Q & A.
  • Thanks for reading! Hope you can put some of my suggestions into use!
  • Rosa Murray
    Great Tips ! Straight to the point
  • Hi Rosa, Thanks for reading!
  • nice read Collean,

    I love the dare to be different bit and never thought about the asking questions bit at the end in the way you describe , makes total sense ! will deffo be using your tips.
  • Thanks Brian, glad I brought some value!
  • Great tips. I especially like the one, "Pull in as many senses as possible." I think lots of people are getting the hang of PowerPoint and rich images. However, the truly spectacular presenters I have seen lately effectively use props. Some examples: Steve Jobs, Mac Air, and the envelope. Dave Ramsey uses chains as he talks about debt.
  • Great tips. I especially like the one, "Pull in as many senses as possible." I think lots of people are getting the hang of powerpoint and rich images. However, the truly spectacular presenters I have seen lately effectively use props. Some examples: Steve Jobs, Mac Air, and the envelope. Dave Ramsey uses chains as he talks about debt.
  • Great tips. I especially like the one--"Pull in as many senses as possible." I see a lot better use of images in powerpoint, but the really spectacular presenters can effective use props too. I think of Jobs, the Mac Air, and the envelope. That made an impact. Everyone was captured.
  • Hi Bill! You are right, that is something that Jobs does particularly well. So do the better presenters at TED.com. Have you seen the presentation on TED by the scientist who had the stroke? It is really moving, and when she brings out an actual brain to illustrate her point, you can't help but "get" it. Of course Bill Gates discussion about Malaria is also fun, when he releases live mosquitoes into the auditorium. Not sure the front row was happy with that demo!
  • Another tip I prefer is to relate your presentation with some real life experiences, it's a good way to capture attention. Or if one doesn't have an appropriate one, can always share about a story, a light joke.. it will brighten up the session surely. Surprise your audience but be relevant. I guess this can be included as 'dare to be different'. :) Thanks so much for sharing.

    @wchingya
    Social/Blogging Tracker
  • That is a very valid point, personal stories used to illustrate your points get remembered better than simply issuing edicts. Thanks so much for your comment!
  • Hi Collen. A useful post - thanks. I like the idea of pulling in all of the sense i.e. the more the better. That is something i will remember for my next presentation - thanks
  • Thanks, I always used that in sales - if I could get something into my clients hands, I would, it helps them remember the meeting down the road.
  • gregfry
    Great simple tips that we can all adopt.

    I often shy away from slides altogether as very often they distract the audience. I particularly like "Consider your audience" so often I see presentations that our word for word (or slide for side) the same as previous presentations they did. One so called Social Media guru gives the same talk to schools as he does to businesses. Crazy stuff. Also not ending your presentation with Q & A is another great tip. Maybe I need to think my approach on that one?

    Thanks,

    Greg
  • I use slides as reminders to keep me on track, but I never do the word for word thing - that is an unprepared presenter. The "different" slideshow I was referring to consisted of single words or photographs to illustrate each point. It was very, very effective.

    The Q&A is really important. We have all either given a presentation where a single audience member took us off message, or we have been in the audience and watched it happen. It's a difficult one to deal with, how quickly do you cut them off, and how do you do it politely, but end the Q&A and then wrap up with a summary of your presentation. People remember the last thing they heard - let that be you!
  • gregfry
    Put your Q&A tip into action today at an Interview workshop. Many thanks.
  • gregfry
    Worked really well Colleen. Was great to recap at the end and finish with the key positive points.
  • Great! How did that work for you. Do you think it was effective?
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