Let's be honest: most business presentation suck. (don't tell my kids I said suck because they get in trouble for using this word!) But they do. So many of them are afterthoughts. A great deal of time goes into other message mediums like your marketing materials, website but how much time is spent designing a beautiful, awe inspiring, jaw dropping, put up your phone because you are paying attention to the speaker kind of presentation? Chances are very little.
What we need is a Presentation Paradigm Shift--a PPS if you will. And below are SEVEN ways to shift the paradigm on how you think about presentations today.
A GREAT presentation is THE MOST POWERFUL marketing tool available.
In our frenetic, fast paced, information overloaded business culture, face to face, high touch exchanges are few and far between. Likewise the up and down the street cold calling practices of yesteryear won't cut it anymore. You simply don't have time. Knowing that, a presentation allows you to get face to face with A LOT of people at one time and show them you are human and three dimensional in a way that a website, twitter account, facebook page or you tube video could never do. Using Presentations in your message arsenal is a way to create contrast from everyone else! 
You can hire someone to design a great website. You can assemble a team of marketing gurus so make you look good on paper. You can employ a gaggle of social media savvy people to drive your social media marketing presence. But a presentation is about YOU. In an age of highly cynical people (don't you wonder when you read a tweet from a high profile person if it is in fact them or a paid lackey to tweet for them all day?) a presentation is the way to SHOW people that you are smart, easy to talk to, funny, engaging and more!
Everything YOU do is a presentation
When you choose your outfit in the morning you are making a presentation. When you attend the networking luncheon for executives in your community and introduce yourself you are making a presentation. Why oh why would you not invest the time to learn to be a great presenter?
Gone are the days that being a _____________ is good enough. Architect, Engineer, Attorney, Human Resources Manager, Banker, Doctor--all of these professions are driven by how well the individual communicates. If you currently shy away from presentations, don't encourage your employees to speak at conferences, or provide training for yourself and your team then know this: people will interpret that to mean that you are not well rounded.
The men and women who speak at industry conferences will get the attention.
The organizations who provide product and service training for the clients are the ones who will come after your clients and win them. The goal of everyone in their industry today should be this: WE ARE THE THOUGHT LEADERS! You want and need your clients and future clients to turn to you when they have a question that falls into your area of expertise. But how do you do this? One way is by GIVING PRESENTATIONS that position you as the smartest group out there on your given areas of expertise. And know this: if you don't do it, your competition will (and may already be) do it.
If you grew up going to church on Sunday like I did you probably have seen the potential of a great sermon to sway people. A really great Preacher can actually change the current of our thinking and motivate us to do better in the coming week. And the formula is rinse and repeat every week. When the message is good we are happy to come back for more because a GREAT message stirs us. There is a collective experience that happens that can sometimes rival the feeling you get at a rock concert! A business presentation can tap into the same emotions as any other kind of presentation. We are all in the job of sales and a presentation sells ideas. A great presentation means people will buy those ideas and give you the credit for exposing them to the idea.
Fair or not, there is compelling research that shows audiences believe a great speaker is smarter than an average or poor speaker. This may not be the case (political history is overflowing with examples!) but we believe that well spoken = smart. And in my experience that has in fact often played out to be true. In the reverse when someone is a poor speaker people perceive them to be less credible and sometimes even incompetent. Ouch? Yes. But there is hope--you are not BORN a great speaker. It takes time, commitment, patience and persistence to develop a speaking style that moves people.
If you are ready for a paradigm shift I hope these seven reasons compel you to embrace the possibilities of presentations. Stop avoiding, denying or bombing! Take the time to develop a presentation that makes people listen and you will reap the rewards!
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