The Gifts of Great Presentations

While taking a quick spin around the internet, we found this interesting approach to presenting, just in time for the holidays: When planning your content, think about what gifts you will be giving to your audience.

We’re not talking about giving everyone in the room an Oprah-like gift hidden beneath their chairs, nor a financial gift, nor even a Tootsie Pop. But a recent post by Scott Mautz at Business Insider identifies the types of audience-centric gifts that a good public speaker can deliver, based on an idea from Briar Goldberg, the director of speaker coaching for TED.

Mautz, a speaker on workplace motivation and engagement, shared six specific gifts that can be wrapped within a presentation:

Epiphanies. What compelling and useful insights—think Aha! moments delivered in memorable or clever ways—can you offer to this specific audience?

Transformations. How can you help your audience recognize the benefits of change for their own or their collective efforts? Better yet, how can you demonstrate steps they can take to begin this process?

Solutions. The better you know your audience, the more insight you have into the personal or professional issues they face. What can you share from your own expertise to help them address or resolve those issues?

Directions and a Plan. What actions do you propose that audience members take as a result of your message? Remember that many gifts require assembly. You may need to provide a roadmap, complete with detailed and tangible next steps.

Entertainment. Your remarks can be funny, poignant, riveting, insightful, or sad. Ms. Goldberg says that “audiences love anything that gives them a chance to feel.”

Community. Members of your audience tend to have something in common—either they work for the same company, in the same industry, have the same job titles, live in the same city, support the same cause, or share a similar culture. Powerful messages can help people connect to each other. How can you help them strengthen their sense of community?

Six gifts, no wrapping required. Read the referenced article by clicking here.