This is where you can tell the difference between seasoned speakers and amateurs.
Often we hear someone tell us that the experience was the “best they ever had”, “proved the company was the best” in the field. What does the best mean? Is it a life changing event. If so tell us that and explain why in clear, vivid, detailed words. Did it make the company a provider of some unique quality, or the largest provider. Again, explain this in vivid, descriptive, sensory terms. Your goal is to take an idea and make it become an image, a taste, an entity we could touch or smell. The more senses you can stimulate in the audience’s mind, the more they are going to take your ideas home and savor them.
In working with a financial institution they wanted to say they were your global partners. Global partners, what does that mean? Once they elaborated and illustrated the idea by “we’re there to hold your hand and accompany you in any business dealing from Europe to Asia to North American and onwards.
How do you get something to stick: to make a strong impression that stays with you over time; grows on you; keeps you thinking about it?
In a fantastic book that “says it all”, Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath use an acronym to give the key criteria.
S- simplicity – your words are “prioritized” – only the key or trigger words are given
U- unexpected- it violates your expectations- creates an expression of surprise which puts the audience in an open, almost vulnerable position to receive your information
C-concrete- I need to be able to experience it with at least one of my senses: see it/feel it/ smell it/ hear it/taste it
C-credible- I believe it– I buy into the idea either for internal ( you’ve allowed me to experience it first hand) reasons, or external references.
E- emotional- make me care about what you’re saying
S- stories- the narration that brings it all together in a meaningful way
Watch this you tube of Dan Heath who explains how to make a presentation stick
be part of the experience: add your story…
