How to Make a Memorable Business Presentation
By: Bill Swetmon
The greatest challenge you face when making your next business
presentation is how can you be sure they will remember what you
said five minutes after you finish?
A good presentation contains three important elements:
A great "hook" that grabs their attention.
An interesting "line" with visuals, illustrations,
and stories.
A powerful "sinker" that puts the message down where
the people live.
The most important part of a speech is the close. That is the
part most remembered because it is the last thing heard. Sadly,
many presenters pay very little if any attention to the close.
Some speakers don't know how to close, so they just stop talking
and sit down. While most people are no doubt grateful the speaker
finally stopped, the audience will remember very little of what
was said if the close has been weak.
Stephen Covey, in his outstanding work The 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People, stated that highly effective people always
begin with the end in mind. They know where they are going before
they start. The same could be said of highly effective speakers...they
know where they are going from the very beginning.
The close is the target.
All of us have heard speakers who did not know where they were
going, so like the energized bunny-they kept going and going
and going.
Albert Einstein was the original absentminded professor. He often forgot
his apartment number while living on campus at Princeton University. He would
call the switchboard operator to ask for the apartment number. She would
remind him to write it down, and he would agree, but for some reason he never
remembered to do so.
One day, the story is told, Dr. Einstein was on a train, and
the conductor came by for the ticket. Dr. Einstein had misplaced
it from the time he purchased it to the time he got on the train.
As he searched frantically for the ticket, the conductor recognized
him and said, "Aren't you Dr. Albert Einstein?"
"Yes, yes," Dr. Einstein replied. "And I seem
to have lost my ticket."
"That's okay," the conductor said. "I know you
wouldn't be on this train if you hadn't bought a ticket. So it
is okay, I don't need it."
Later the conductor came back through the car, and now Dr. Einstein
was going through all his books looking for the ticket. The conductor
reminded him that it was not important, he didn't need the ticket.
Dr. Einstein replied, "It is important! I need to know
where I'm to get off this train!"
In a similar way, every speaker needs to know where to get off
the train-and that is the purpose of the close.
But the close is more than the end; it is also a review-a reminder
for retention. It tells the audience what they have just heard.
It reinforces the information which has been presented in the
main body of the talk. But even more than that, it is an assignment-telling
the audience what they should do as a result of what they have
heard. It is a call to action!
An effective close must include the following:
1. A review of the main points of the message
2. An application/assignment for the audience to apply to their
personal lives
3. An appropriate story/anecdote/quote to end presentation
4. A genuine thank you
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, "Great is the art of beginning...but
greater is the art of ending." When the above steps are
followed, you can be assured that your presentation will have
a much better chance of being remembered long after you have
sat down.
Bill Swetmon is president of Skill-Speak, Inc., providing training that produces
results--Guaranteed! www.skill-speak.com
