What the voc(ative)?

Casting my mind back to my schooldays, I remember something called the ‘Vocative’. It’s a particular use of a word as an address (or something like that).  So saying “The coat belongs to Simon” wouldn’t count as using my name in the vocative – but shouting  “Simon, is this your coat?” would count.

Clear?

The point I’m making isn’t about the niceties of grammar, however, it’s to do with communication in general and presentations in particular. I’m much more likely to take ‘register’ and take notice of an instruction from my wife that’s phrased like this:

• Simon, will you pass me the bowl, please

than if my name comes at the end

• Will you pass me the bowl, please, Simon

See what I mean. In the first example I’m primed to pay attention whereas in the second I don’t know I’m even supposed to be paying attention until after the event. In the second one I’ve got to spend time going back over what has been said and play it back in my head before I can even consider replying. (The answer, by the way, is always going to be “Yes, darling, of course: it’s my absolute pleasure!”)

And so with presentations…

People are more likely to remember what you tell them if they know it’s addressing their issues in advance.

I see a lot of presenters giving information – good information – and then starting to apply it to their audiences’s circumstances. It’s a logical sequence: after all, you can’t apply what you don’t understand… but it’s not an effective order.

As soon as I say it, it’s pretty darn obvious, isn’t it?  The only hard part is remember to do it! ;)

Instead of the ‘logical’ and sequential approach, try a more sales-y design for your presentations. Start with something like “This is why what I’m going to do is important to you” and then go on to “and this is how you do it…”.