Stephanie avoiding death by powerpoint
Stephanie asked Donald to comment on a powerpoint presentation she had prepared to present to groups of business owners. She works for a charity; fund raising.
Donald's critique asks Stephanie about her intentions in presenting the speech.
Stephanie if you presented this to an audience of business owners it would be highly effective weapon, causing death by powerpoint.
In fact if I was a betting man, I'd guess that you see your intention in speaking to groups of business owners as purveying information in the hope you invoke sympathy and a donation. Forgive me if that seems blunt. The written word seems inadequate in these circumstances.
Can I offer a different perspective, or more particularly a series of intentions in speaking to a group of people. These suggestions are based on the questions (usually subliminal) that people want answered in the following order. The questions are; Who is this person? Why should I listen? Can I trust them? What do you want me to do?
Based on these questions your intentions should be, in this order;
- To have them like you. You are a very likeable person. You are the star. They want to hear from you, the real you. They want to trust what you are going to tell them. When you present so much in a Powerpoint, they have to give the screen their attention, ie you are no longer the star attraction.
- To twang a ‘pain' in them. Have them think "that could be my problem, I should pay attention, this lady can help me, if not now, in the future". This is very important because human beings are much more inclined to take action that distances them from pain than move them towards pleasure. I suspect the pain in this situation is about guilt, one of the most powerful emotions. Guilt that in our busy-ness we'd quite like someone else to do the ‘work' in caring for an elderly family member. ie we don't want the inconvenience. Once again a bald suggestion but your work is to wrap it in the most charming terms, appropriate for the audience.
- To have them discover the organisation is credible. ‘best if they discover this rather than you ‘telling' them. You can achieve this with about a tenth of the information, possibly just pictures and a few words in a Powerpoint presentation.
- To instruct them on what they can do about it right now. ie what is the mechanism for making a donation, right now, not later, but whilst standing before them. If you can make if fun even better. It could be as simple as placing a tin can on the floor and inviting people to throw a paper dart (made of money) into it. At very least it could be fill out a form (credit card details) which becomes a ticket in a prize draw. It all depends on what you want from them. It could be a few coins, monthly donations by AP, volunteers or bequests.
- To leave them feeling good about giving you some money. You do this anyway, as a likeable person and maybe a certificate.
You see Stephanie, 90% of your power is you, not the information on the screen. Resist the urge to discount yourself and promote the information, and then be very clear on your intention. Especially for business people, who have the power to make you work easy and fun. They respect people who go about their work with deliberate purposefulness.