They put you to sleep, it’s a poor reflection on a good brand, and its just a down- right bad presentation, but they are still spreading around the globe.
I experienced one just the other day.
The saddest part of this story, these presenters were not first-time entrepreneurs committing a branding crime or a recent graduate new to the business world. These were executives from a large company, with resources, who should have known better.
Here’s a recap:
· The company is new to the market.
· Every move they make is crafting their brand with the local business community.
· They invited 50 would-be clients and referral sources to a very nice restaurant for lunch.
· An executive spent 30 minutes walking through a word-infested, bullet pointpacked, boring stock photoloaded PowerPoint presentation, covering what the company cared about, their goals for market share, their sweet spots for business and their strategies for growth.
· Then another executive followed with 30 more minutes of tranquilizing content with the same dreadful slides, same boring blah, blah, blah.
Nine ways to turn a speech into a brand-building event.
1. If an executive, or business leader, is not a great speaker, don’t let them speak or limit their talk time to one to two minutes.
2. Open every talk with something funny, shocking, or compelling that engages the audience within the first few minutes. If you need help with being funny, read Punchline your Bottomline by David Glickman, a fellow Floridian and my buddy. Although the book is no longer in print, you can grab a used copy on Amazon for pennies. Or hire David to punch up your materials.
3. Leverage stories.
4. Lose the bullets.
5. Highlight one to two big, important points only.
6. Use PowerPoint as an aid to help stay on your message course, not as a dissertation document.
7. Use simple, memorable graphics to back points or concepts.
8. Focus messages on topics that are relevant to the buyer and tell them what’s in it for them and the benefits.
9. Prepare and know your topic.
Speaking opportunities are powerful opportunities to make lasting impressions and build a brand.When you have a stage to show off your stuff, tell your story and leave a lasting impression to build your brand. Be grateful. Don’t waste the situation and don’t be dull and boring. That is worse than lice.
Brand on!
