Wouldn’t you like a standing ovation for every presentation that you deliver? Better yet, wouldn’t it be great if every audience member came up to you afterwards and told you how amazing you were? Each of these are nice thoughts, but they are not the best goals to have for your speeches and presentations.
Every time I work with a client for the first time, my first question is always “what are the outcomes you want for this presentation?” Often the response is, “I want it to be good.” We all want our presentations to be good. If you don’t want a good presentation, you shouldn’t be speaking. But “good” is not good enough. How do you measure “good”? What does “good” sound like? If you give any type of presentation, you need to ask yourself “what are the outcomes I want?” Be sure you thing beyond “good”
Very often people never think about the outcomes they want from their speeches! They think giving a speech is an accomplishment in and of itself. And while delivering a speech is an accomplishment, you certainly don’t want it to be a missed opportunity. A speech is a marketing tool. Think like a marketer. What is the result you want from your message?
To change your perspective, it helps to ask yourself “what is the immediate action I want the audience to take when I’m done speaking, or when they walk out the door?” Answers to this question could be: buy my product or services, sign up for my e-zine, visit my website, pick up some materials, or apply the steps I shared with them in their daily lives. Each of these are a very results oriented view and can affect the structure and delivery of your speech. After all, if you want the audience to buy your product, you had better mention your product in your speech. If you want them to apply some action steps in their daily lives, you might want to give them a hand out. Or, better yet, during your speech you can ask everyone to open their planners and make an appointment for when they are going to start your outlined action steps! It’s a great interactive activity for your speech and your audience will be more likely to take action.
Once you know what goals you have for your speech, it’s time to make sure they’re reasonable. You don’t want to set a goal of 100%. This means that you shouldn’t make your goal, “I want EVERY PERSON to by my product” or “I want EVERY PERSON to implement these steps.” It is highly unlikely that either of these goals are possible. Instead figure out a goal that is more likely to happen. “I want 25% of the audience to sign up for my e-zine” might be a good place to start. Keep track of your goals and the outcomes for each speech. For instance, if only 5% of the audience bought your product at your last speech, you might want to set your next goal for 10% or 15% of the audience.
To help make sure that you reach your goals, you’ll want to be sure to repeat the outcomes in your speech. For example, if you want your audience to visit your website for more information, you will want to mention your website about 5-7 times in your speech. Each time, you should mention a different piece of information they can find at your website (i.e. articles, podcasts, news, audio or video files). Or if you want people to sign up for your e-zine, each time you mention your e-zine mention the different articles you’ve written for it and how they would be beneficial to your audience.
Using these simple tips will give you great results for your next presentation. Not only will it help you with the structure of your speech and give you the outcomes you’re hoping for, it will also help your audience because they will have immediate actions steps that will help them after your speech. It’s a win-win!
