Recently, I attended a seminar given by a ‘sales guru’. Great, I thought, as I went in – this will be exactly what I need. Well, sort of!The guru’s presentation style was engaging and the audience was invited (even encouraged!) to get involved: what’s more, there was applause at the end and the audience went away happy. But those I spoke to afterwards all mentioned that the presentation wasn’t relevant to them personally- though they were sure other people found it useful…
I was not satisfied at all. Why not?
Well, because the presentation started with 20 minutes when we in the audience were asked as share our specific issues. So far so good – but the presenter’s response was simply to throw that page of the flipchart away and make his prepared presentation in any case. So what was the point of the interaction? I don’t know – particularly not as the presenter ran out of time at the end of his session and didn’t quite have time to give us the free, high-value stuff he’d been promising…
…maybe I’m just unduly cynical though!
In old-fashioned management speak, presentations can…
- tell
- ask
- sell
…or sometimes a combination of these. However, ask-&-tell is rarely a good idea. Why? Because it’s a betrayal: it sets your audience up for one thing and gives them another, risking leaving a sour taste in their mouths. If your purpose is simply to tell or sell, then have the courage to do exactly that!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with any of these approaches, so long as you use the appropriate one for the occasion. Like most things in designing presentations it’s not rocket-science, just common sense: the hard part lies not in knowing which style your presentation is but in remembering to ask yourself first.
And if you don’t ask yourself the question, you don’t know. And if you don’t know, you might have the wrong one!
I would feel the same as you with that presentation – used and abused.
Sounds like the speaker make two significant mistakes. One, the technique used to gather information at the beginning is a good technique – only if the information gathered is valued and addressed. Two,the good stuff should never be left to the end. I would ask for my money back.
George Torok
The Speech Coach for Executives
Simon,
You are right: the point of asking questions of the audience is to create a connection with them…to present about their needs and issues. Now, when the presenters asks questions but then never uses the information, to me it seems just as superficial as asking someone “how are you doin’?” and then going immediately into your sales pitch before they even have a chance to answer.
Furthermore,running out of time is simply not professional. It shows that the presentation wasn’t practiced nearly enough, nor was it flexible enough for the presenter to skip unnecessary parts if need be.
Not good.
Glad to see I’m not alone: sometimes I feel like I’m just becoming a ‘grumpy old man’ complaining about presentations where-ever I go! :)