Sales Presentations Tip-Do Your Research Before Your Presentation!
I was reading a question posed by a blogger yesterday. He asked: “I always wondered what percentage of speakers who ask the audience questions prior to their speech, actually fine tune their speech at that moment.”
He speculated on what some of the reasons presenters ask audience questions:
1. Cheap and fast market research
2. Grasping level of audience knowledge in subject
3. Discovery of demographic of audience
4. Waking up the audience and gaining their attention
Here is his conclusion: “Anyway, do you feel that some presenters ask these questions but make no effort to tailor their presentations after asking? Sometimes I do…”
So, for all speakers who are giving a public presentation…beware, your audiences today are more sophisticated and demanding-they know this method could be a cheap ploy! I am a big fan of audience involvement but not for cheap and fast market research! This post of presentation openings may be of interest to you.
Before speaking to an audience I don extensive research on their knowledge level, the demographics of the audience and the theme of the conference. All of this information can be gained from the meeting planner as well as interviewing four or five audience participants before the presentation. One of the masters of audience research is David Glickman. For example, if he were speaking to an audience about “application protocol interface” or API, he might come out on stage and show a copy of Application Protocol Interface for Dummies! He would then say something like “I read this fascinating book on the flight over here.” Having done his research he just prints this phony cover and places it over the book. Believe me, your audience will love you for knowing about this innocuous term.
Wouldn’t you rather leave your audience with this impression instead of : “Anyway, do you feel that some presenters ask these questions but make no effort to tailor their presentations after asking? Sometimes I do…”
Here is the link to the audience participation question.
Steve Mertz
Do Research before Your Presentation!
Technorati Tags: Sales Presentations Training, Audince Participation, Public Speaking, Great Speech Openings, David Glickman