One Minute Pause No 40

Way back in OMP #6 I talked about the importance of a transferable presentation message. Today I would like to touch upon something a bit similar: the concept of usable presentations.

Usability is a bit of a buzzword in internet and technology. It describes the target market’s comfort level about finding the information they need without getting lost, confused or frustrated. The concept of usability inspired today’s OMP because I find that sometimes we don’t make our presentations very usable for our audience. In other words, if the audience can’t put the information you give them to good use, they are likely to switch off and forget all about it.

How do you ensure your presentations are usable?

1) Work on your messaging
Good communicators cut down messages to bare bones. They strip out the fat and leave bite sized portions of mental protein. By cutting away excess words, you give your audience maximum chance of remembering your messages, and passing them on in a useable way to others.

In 2006 some journalists at a press conference asked Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco’s CEO, about the secret of Tesco’s success. “It’s frighteningly simple”, said Sir Terry. “Staff keep satisfying customers. Customers keep coming back.”

Sir Terry could probably have spent two hours answering that question, such is the man’s knowledge of the organisation. But he made his message usable for the audience - in this case journalists who needed a simple grab for the nightly news. And the message made over 70 financial publications, so it worked.

2) Ask the audience
Ask the following to the audience prior to the presentation: “How can I ensure that my presentation is as useful as possible for everyone present today?”

3) Simple steps
People respond well to simple steps and accessible plans. Make your presentation usable by spelling out the 1-5 simple things that the audience has to act upon.

Having a presentation that not only comes across well, but can be used by the audience, will be your key to presentation success.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 28th, 2007 at 8:54 pm and is filed under One Minute Pause, Presentation clarity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.