Step 2 Factor the strongly-related personal interests (SRPI) in the presentation topic
Avoid the boring topic like ‘Briefing on the latest credit policies’. Be creative. Think of something bearing in mind the personal interests you spot in Step 1 above. We got to magnify the SRPI. For the ‘credit policies’ example, the topic could be ‘Top 10 tips about credit policies to make you go home earlier’.
Step 3 Bring up the SRPI at the start
Do not assume. The audience needs to be reminded how your presentation can help you. And we better remind them at the very start. We want to have their attention throughout the whole presentation.
What matters is not only ‘WHEN’, but also ‘HOW’. The easiest ‘HOW’ is telling. For the ‘credit policies’ example, we may take the floor and say “Thanks for coming to this briefing. What I am going to present to you can help you to finish work more easily, and thus return home earlier everyday….” But we know that in order to catch the attention, we need to do something more than telling.
We should bring up the SRPI with those powerful opening methods e.g. asking questions, telling a story / analogy, painting the future…. Again, for the ‘credit policies’ example, we may take the floor and say “Thanks for coming to this briefing. Let me start with a few questions. Please raise your hands if you are interested to leave for home 30 mins earlier everyday. (Probably lot of hands…. And smile) Good. I have 10 tips here today which can reduce your time in preparing credit proposals….”
Step 4 Remind the SRPI regularly
We need to make sure what we present focuses around the SRPI throughout the presentation. One specific thing we could do is to bring up the SRPI whenever you finish every single key point in your presentation. Force yourself to make a statement like “….So, the implication to you is….” And of course, the implication should be one of the SRPIs. For the ‘credit policies’ example, whenever we finish any one of the 10 tips, we would say “…So, the implication to you is that you can save around # minutes. People do not understand this tip often have to spend # minutes to rework their credit proposals….”
Of course, like the opening, we got to incorporate the SRPI into our closing as well.
