One of the best and most basic presentation tips that I have used over the years came from the amazing and talented Joey Asher at Speechworks in Atlanta. The concept is to organize your message around three main points. 

This simple 3 point concept has made a huge difference in not only my presentations, but also interactions with bosses and co-workers.

You'll hear other speaking coaches talk about the premise and if you pay attention you'll hear the great speakers apply this concept.

But here's the problem. If you start off your presentation by saying the three things you plan to share in your presentation, you better darn well deliver those three things. Otherwise your audience will feel cheated.

Who wants to order a three course meal and find out at the end that there were only two courses - with one course served on a divided plate. It's just not the same experience.

I just attended a presentation where the upfront expectation was to share three interesting-sounding points, but they were never revealed. Instead we got a wandering discourse about subjects that didn't seem to fit with the event. 

The three points were perfect and they were so intriguing that I immediately started trying to figure out how they could possibly all fit together. I got excited - yeah, here's a speaker who has learned the secret! 

But by the end of the presentation, I was tired and frustrated, having never learned about two of the three points that were promised. And worse, I was exhausted at the effort it took to try to pay attention for the hour. It's a shame. I'm sure there was some really wonderful information there.
 


Comments

Bill Kennedy link
10/08/2009 20:05

It probably won't surprise you to hear that the classic church sermon is built on three points.

Having said that, you're absolutely right that it's one thing to promise and quite another to deliver. Many of the accountants I hear speak have not taken the time to polish their delivery and cut out the extraneous stuff. No matter how good the material, if it doesn't drive to your point - cut it out!

Another piece of advice a speech coach gave me was that it's better to end 5 minutes early than 5 minutes late. There's always someone who needs to rush out the door and is getting impatient. Other people will treat the extra 5 minutes as a gift, or use it to ask questions (or maybe even rush up to the front to ask you for your card - who knows!)

Great blog!

Bill

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