Crafting Your Sales Presentations
I’ve been working on a new public presentation and wanted to share some behind the scenes insights with those of you who may be preparing your own presentation. This presentation will be geared toward small business owners wishing to use blogging to increase their web presence and generate income from their blog.
Before the Presentation Preparation
I was able to gather four individuals who had an interest in the subject and use them for my test group. In preparation for my presentation I had notes on the key points that I wanted to convey. Initially, I had twenty key points that I wanted the group to take away and implement. My time expanded from one hour to two and a half hours. This was because of the questions and relaxed nature of this group. But in a control group like this-you have the luxury of bringing in a ton of key points. I will be using PowerPoint during this presentation but will add the slides after I have the main message constructed. Please note as we have discussed before-I did not start with my slides and work my presentation around the slides!
Real Time Analysis of the Presentation
For a first run the presentation went fairly well. I was interested in gaining the groups insights and paying particular attention to their ah ha moments as well as their “what are you talking about moments.” It was a very interactive session which helps my learning curve even more.
The beauty of having a very interactive session is gaining immediate feedback and noting what is and is not clicking with the group. Key to this learning curve is the fact that one of the group members recorded my presentation as well as taking copious notes. The recording is an essential tool of your preparation. It allows you to hear yourself under fire and see where the major disconnects appear in your presentation.
Feedback from the Presentation
At the conclusion of our session I asked the group to send me an email telling me in their own words what their main “keepers” were. In addition, I asked for the most beneficial points as well as what I should eliminate. In previous posts I have mentioned how critical it is for speakers to get evaluation forms from their audiences and this email feedback certainly filled that requirement. All of this information has greatly helped me and will help me craft the final presentation. As you can see there are a lot of tedious tasks that go into a successful public presentation but every presentation we do is a sales opportunity and we as well as the company we represent will be judged! I hope this will help you craft your fabulous presentation.
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