Have you seen a presentation or video so good that you couldn’t help but talk about it?
We’ve all seen viral videos or a public speaker that makes a jaw-dropping presentation and we just want to tell others about it. But what makes a presentation so good?
In a world where everything seems the same, if you know how to communicate in ways that make you stand out then you will have a huge advantage over the other guys.
Here are ways to make your presentations so good that even your competitors will tip their hat:
1. The Big Idea. Before you go off to write your presentation, make sure you know what context your presentation has. Context has the ability to change the meaning of anything inside it. Think of rain for example. Rain is neither good nor bad until there is context around it. If you’re stranded in a desert and it rains then you would say the rain is good. But if you’re in a monsoon and it keeps raining, you would say it’s bad. The rain didn’t change, only the context around it.
Martin Luther King Jr. made his “I have a dream” speech in the context of racism. In the movie, The Great Dictator with Charlie Chaplin, he made his speech in the context of the Holocaust. Context makes the content stand out.
2. Get Them To Say Yes. Watch your favorite presentation, whether it’s a TED Talk or any other presentation and you will notice something…you agree with what they’re saying. Great presentations say things people can’t refuse. When a speaker says that schools need to make students more creative, we agree.
Persuaders call this a “yes state.” You say things that get people to agree with you because it opens people up to being influenced.
-Education needs to get better
-Happiness is more important than money
-To be successful, you have to take action
Those are examples of creating a yes state because everyone would agree with those statements.
3. Grab And Keep Attention. The second you get boring, you’re done for. You can grab attention very easily but keeping it is another thing all together. To grab attention, you just create a pattern interrupt. Pattern interrupts break your current mental state so you pay attention (monkey bubble gum)(see…it’s so random it breaks your state).
But to keep someone’s attention, you have to be a little mysterious. The second people know where you’re going with your presentation is the very second they get bored with it. Always build curiosity and slap the mind to attention with pattern interrupts.
This is why stories are so powerful…they hold our attention by creating curiosity. When you’re listening to a story you’ve never heard before, your mind gets taken on a ride and it’s not sure where it will end up. If the story is good then you reward the speaker with more of your attention. If the story is bad…well…you get the point.
4. Be A ShowStopper. Great presentations have more to do with the person behind it rather than the presentation itself. When you become a great presenter, you become a showstopper; Someone who is so good that people drop everything and take notice.
Michael Jackson was a showstopper.
But have you seen other dancers try to mimic Michael Jackson’s moves?
Although the dancers can do MJ’s moves, for some reason it doesn’t look as good. But why? Michael Jackson’s moves shows that the person doing the presentation is more important than the presentation itself. When Michael danced, he had conviction in every move and this made him a showstopper.
To make great presentations, you have to be great.
5. Close Strong. If you don’t close strong then you’re like that movie with the bad ending; You ruin everything. Some people want to get things over as quick as possible so they gloss-over the ending. They see the light, and instead of finishing strong, they hurry to the finish line.
The way you close will determine how good your entire presentation was.
If you want people to take action then be clear on what actions they should take. If you want them to feel inspired then create lots of inspirational energy at the end. And if you want them to give you money, show them who’s boss. But just remember this…
In the end, people will forget what you say and only remember how you made them feel.
