Are your presentations putting people to sleep?
As a motivational keynote speaker, I have listened to many vendor and sponsor pitches over the years and I have yet to see anyone do it really well. They get just a few minutes to generate enough interest to send those attendees to their booth to hear more. It’s a crucial few moments, and most people aren’t using it effectively. The audience just doesn’t listen.
Know the feeling of having a bored audience?
Ever followed a great keynote speaker and you come out sounding like the teacher on Charlie Brown?
Why is this?
Here are three reasons your audience isn’t paying attention.
- They’re bored. Hearing you tell us your name, your company name, and a list of what you do……..I’m falling asleep just talking about it. You would never turn on the television and see a commercial where someone is just standing there listing the things they do. And letting everybody know you have chocolate in your booth is just phoning it in.
- They don’t care about you. Yep. The first thing people buy is YOU. Nothing you say matters until they see you as a person. Skip that, and they’re already tuning out.
- They don’t care about your product. You may be excited (or trying to be) about this service, but if they were excited about it, they’d already be buying it. They will not care about your product until you find out what they care about. That’s the secret. Head to their pain and desire, and how it makes them feel. Once this becomes about them, they’ll pay attention.
The real problem?
You’re telling them what to do, and people don’t like to be told what to do.
Don’t tell them.
SHOW them.
So how do we fix this?
Quite easy actually. There’s one simple tool that has the ability to change everything.
STORY
Instead of making a pitch, or telling me everything you can do, tell me a short story instead. A story that illustrates why you do what you do. Why it matters to you, to me, and to the world. Make it a story that illustrates what I want to buy, not what you want to sell me.
This tiny shift in how you present yourself can make a big impact.