Sam put them to sleep within the first 10 minutes of his 40-minute presentation. He’s not alone in being able to do this.
The problem with corporate presentations is they’re lifeless. Audiences slowly drown in a sea of droning boring corporate “they all look alike” PowerPoint presentations.
They all start with, “Today I’m going to talk to you a little bit about…”
Then they unroll a slowly moving parade of too many uninspired slides endlessly connected by unimaginative transitions of, “Now on my next slide you’ll see…”
If this is you, you’re gradually putting them to sleep. Your audience slowly, but politely, disengages. Their minds start drifting and they start covertly multitasking, their attention desperately seeing something to keep them awake.
If they possibly can, your audience will start interrupting you. I coached a VP last week who told me that when his people present to executives they always hear, “Okay, let’s stop here, stop presenting for a moment, just let me ask you some questions ….” and the execs just take over and drive the presentation into a ditch (as far as the presenter is concerned).
Here’s the thing to know about audiences: they only stay with you as long as they are learning from you, and what they’re learning must be new and interesting.
I know, I know. The problem is you don’t have exciting content to work with. You have, well, corporate presentation material. And, let’s face it, nobody’s ever made an action movie out of a corporate presentation. I understand your challenge.
But just because your material may seem boring, it does not mean that you have to be.
There truly is NO such thing as a boring presentation, there are only boring presenters. A great presenter can bring anything to life.
It takes many skills to do this. Let me show you one.
This is something you can do with your own presentations to keep your audience on the edge of their seats, the secret of how a great professional presenter keeps their audience engaged.
When you read a really good book, you may have noticed that great authors tend to end one chapter with a sentence or two that makes it impossible not to turn the page and start reading the next chapter. This is called a cliffhanger. You can check this out. Pick up some really great books, and just read the last part of each chapter. Are they cliffhangers? Why do they make you want to go on and keep turning the pages?
Have you ever read a book that made you stay up all night, a book you couldn’t put down? The author of any book that does this is really great at crafting cliffhangers.
How this applies to your presentation is in the art of transitioning from one slide to the next.
It’s called a “segue” pronounced (SEG-way). Segue came from a Latin word which means “to follow”. A segue is a smooth transition from one thing to the next.
Segues are WAY more important than people realize. And there’s a fantastic ART to the segue which a real professional executes with flair and style.
Segues prevent your corporate presentations from turning into endless hypnotic droning.
It’s all in the way you set up your next slide. Here’s what you do.
Introduce the next slide BEFORE showing it. You’ve just finished with one slide. But instead of saying, “Now on the next slide…”
…instead of that, set them up for your next slide with a statement that will make them INTRIGUED, leaning forward even, to hear the next thing you have to say.
Here are some examples. BEFORE you show your next slide, look at your audience and say:
That’s not all. I’m now going to show you what made this quarter different from every other… (now show next slide)
After what you just saw, let me tell you what we weren’t expecting …
Based on what you just heard, you would think that ________… But what we found was completely different …
And then something unexpected showed up …
You would think _______ is what would happen, but it didn’t. Let me show you what did happen…
What’s interesting is what happened next ….
But what does all this mean? It means nothing if you’re missing the next point …
The interesting thing about what the next slide shows is …. [how dramatic], [how vital], [how unpredictable], [how silly], [etc.].
What I want you to notice about the next slide is …
This next item will keep our team from falling off a cliff ….
There’s no point in giving us the additional resources we’re requesting if the following 3 things don’t happen …
There are 3 things about the investment I’m asking you to make that creates the future we all want …
There are 3 things about next quarter that we have to get right …
I’m going to show you how we’re approaching this strategically ….
I want you to ignore everything on the next slide except for one thing ….
What happened next shocked us …
What happened next had our entire team working ‘til midnight …
Questions work extremely well. Here are some examples. Ask the audience as if you expect them to answer and then leave it hanging for a brief moment … and then answer:
Is what I just showed you important? … Only if you care about one thing … (show next slide)
Why would what you just heard matter to you? … I’ll show you …
How would you handle a problem like that? … Here’s how we handled it …
What makes us unique? … It’s not what you think …
If that’s the past, what’s the future going to look like? … I can assure you, nothing like the past …
What does it take to be successful? … You’ll be surprised to find out ….
Why would you care about that? … You wouldn’t, except for one thing …
How long does all this take? … You’ll be surprised to know …
How does this affect you? … In one big way …
How is this going to help you accomplish your purpose? … By doing one thing …
What are we going to do about that? … Not the usual response you would expect …
Is there any way out of this mess? … Only one, and that has 3 steps …
Answer your own question as above. Let it hang for another brief second to sink in. And THEN click to the next slide.
It’s simple. It only takes a couple of minutes to plan this. Once your presentation is created, spend an additional five minutes creating really interesting segues from one slide to the next. Spend another couple of minutes practicing just the segues.
Think of yourself as a great author, ending one chapter with something that makes them eager to see what’s on the next page.
For a really powerful presentation, create great segues for every slide.
See what a difference it makes in your audience’s engagement. You’ll see them leaning in. You’ll keep them captivated all the way to the end.
I would love to hear what happens when you try this. I enjoy hearing stories about the magic created when presentations stop being “corporate presentations” and presenters start being GREAT communicators who can sweep an audience away.
Look around you. No one in your corporate world does this, right? Well, then I think it’s time for you to stand out.
Be the cause!