
Answer: Necessity – Over millions of years, cheetahs have had to become faster and faster to be able to catch increasingly swift prey. When one’s survival is going to depend on a particular skill, one tends to become better at it.
The same is the case with presentations. The more presentations you are required to make, the better you become at it. Ask any consultant and he/she will tell you. Consultants spend most of their waking lives preparing and delivering presentations to varied audiences. Making a presentation to a VP - Product Development head is not the same as making one to a Brand manager or a Sales head or a CEO. But the underlying objective is the same – to impress the audience, to make them say ‘wow’!
Easier said than done.
How does one create the wow factor in a presentation?
It is never easy. Nor is it ever guaranteed that the audience will react the way you want them to. But one can improve one’s chances by paying careful attention to each the following aspects:

Spend a lot of time thinking about what you want to say through the presentation. There may be a lot of thoughts in your mind, but the audience can get confused if you put too many thoughts into one presentation. Hence, simplify your thoughts into a few key messages that you think the audience needs to be left with. In most situations, your key messages would need to cover two things.
- The necessity for taking action
- What is the recommended action
These days, the ‘wow factor’ comes increasingly from providing the audience simple and effective thoughts and ‘calls for action’. Thinking about the exact messages that you want to convey is a crucial first step.

Cheetah Image Source: Bernie Condon
Thanks for the Post.
ReplyDeleteEach presentation is different, and should be customized to the audience.
It is also important, as the author pointed out, to have a call for action. Many presenters forget this.
Thanks!
Excellent points. It is so important to prepare and think about what you want to accomplish no matter how small the meeting
ReplyDelete