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Summary: How to get your point across in 30 seconds or less

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Summary of Presentation

  1. Presentation.

  2. The presentation is 24 slides.

  3. Why 30 seconds? The attention span of a person is 30 seconds.
  4. doctors listen to their patients for 19 seconds
  5. TV commercials do a good job in 30 seconds
  6. if you can't say it in 30 seconds, you likely are not thinking about your message clearly
  7. Uses
  8. Memos
  9. faxes
  10. letters
  11. thank you notes
  12. voicemails, text messages, telephone requests, conversations
  13. messages left with a staff person
  14. technical abstracts, technical proposals
  15. formal presentations at meetings
  16. interviews
  17. sales pitch
  18. complaint
  19. social situation with superiors
  20. chance meetings
  21. giving a toast

Preparation

note: Message could take an hour or more to prepare, plus speech prep time on top!

  1. OBJECTIVE: What do you want to acheve and why?
  2. AUDIENCE: Who is the target of your message?
  3. STRATEGY: How can you get what you want?

Preparation Questions

  • Do you have a single, clear-cut specific OBJECTIVE
  • What does your AUDIENCE want from you?
    • Can you speak in their thinking quadrant?
    • What benefits can you offer them?
  • Brainstorm different STRATEGIES, then select the approach that best meets the objective.
    • What format would be most effective (phone, memo, email, formal presentation, creative presentation, etc.)

Message Content

  1. HOOK: How can you get the audiences attention?
  2. SUBJECT: Are you providing all necessary details?
  3. CLOSE: Are you asking for a specific action or reaction?

Tips for Coming Up With a Killer Hook

  • Use the first statement as a hook to get attention
  • Relate the hook to your objective, audience, approach
  • Your hook can be a dramatic or humorous question or statement.
  • Your entire message can be a hook
  • The hook can be non verbal: action, mime, picture, object
  • Keep a "hook book" of ideas and quotes.

Tips for Preparing a Memorable Message

  • Answer who, what, where, when, why, and how - as they relate to the objective
  • Be brief, be clear, and touch the heart. Use imagery so the message will be remembered.
  • If you don't know the primary thinking preference of the audience, try to communicate IN ALL FOUR QUADRANTS.
  • CLARITY: Concise facts for Quadrant A thinkers
  • ACTION PLAN: Well-organized implementation for Quadrant B
  • IMAGERY: Creative word pictures for Quadrant D
  • EMOTIONAL APPEAL: Building relationships, sharing emotions, personal stories for Quadrant C.

Tips for an Effective Close

  • You must ask for what you want.
  • Demand action within a specific time frame.
  • Or ask for a reaction through the power of suggestion or example.
  • A message without a specific close or bottom-line is a wasted opportunity.

Message Type: Verbal Delivery

  • STYLE: What non-verbal messages are you giving? Monitor your body language.
  • APPEARANCE: Are you well-groomed?
  • SPEAKING: Learn to modulate your voice. Use pauses. Be animated.
  • ACTING: Smile. Use eye contact. Transmit a positive, friendly attitude.

Message Type: Written

  • Write legibly and neatly
  • Use good grammar and correct spelling
  • Where appropriate, also pay attention to a pleasing layout
  • Act as required by the situation, maybe one of these:
    • positive and friendly
    • polite and formal
  • Proof read, edit, then proof read again. Then check again. Get it perfect.

Tips for giving a Formal Presentation

  1. Start and finish on time
  2. Make sure each person on your team is introduced clearly
  3. Speak the language of your audience and state the purpose of your presentation
  4. Use visual aids so peole will better remember your main ideas
  5. Plan time for questions at the end; respond directly to the questions
  6. Be yourself; project energy, enthusiasm, and confidence
  7. Don't exaggerate or critisize -- don't bad-mouth the competition
  8. PRACTICE - make sure you know how to operate your equipment (projector, screen, computers, mikes, lighting, etc.)

How to make your presentation Memorable

Listeners can only remember 3 to 5 points.

  1. Preview the main points to have listeners anticipate them
  2. Continuously tie the points to the structure of the presentation
  3. Provide summaries as handouts if you have many details
  4. At the end, review or reinforce the main points to provide closure