You must know where you want to go…how else will you know if/when you get there?
Like professional athletes, good presenters have a clear vision of success. To design a successful presentation, you too must begin by clarifying your objective – your desired destination. Good presentation skills training will help you describe this destination as an “outcome”.  Once you know your destination, you can decide what path you will take to get there. If however you don’t know where you want to go…any path will do.

How to Clarify Your Presentation Objective
In IWCC’s Presentation Skills workshops, we ask a specific question to help participants clarify their presentation objective – to define the desired “outcome”. We ask: “How do you want your audience to be different at the end of your presentation?”  If you can’t define the desired change, then how will you know it happened?  Worse still, how will you know what content you need to include or leave out?

Here is a simple formula to help you clarify your presentation objective.  Complete this sentence:

“After listening to my presentation, I want my audience to…”

Finish the sentence by defining what you want your audience to specifically:  do, feel, understand, learn or know.

For example...

“After my presentation, I want my audience to approve our recommended implementation plan for Phase two of the Project, so that we can complete the project on time and on budget.”

“After my presentation, I want my audience to understand why we are implementing e-statements, so that they can explain the change to their staff.”

You will also need to decide how you will measure how well you achieved your objective ... How will you know if they approve your implementation plan?  What evidence will you have that they understand the move to e-statements? More on these questions in an upcoming BLOG.

One last tip ... don’t forget to share this clear objective with your audience when you open your presentation. They need to know the expected outcome too – what you want them to do, feel, learn, understand or know.