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Part of developing Great Presentation Skills is to understand the type of presentations which you intend to give. Is your presentation meant to educate, train, inform or persuade and make money?

In this article, I would touch on Persuasive presentations. I think this is the most important kind of presentation because it allows us to close that deal, get that budget we want, sell products etc. In short Persuasive presentations most of the time allows us to MAKE MONEY! Let’s look at the 5 principles of Persuasive Presentations

1) “For Every Action, There is an Equal and Opposite Reaction”

A persuasive presentation always comes with a competitive option. Don’t think that if you are selling an idea or getting a budget approved, there is no “competition”. As long as you are looking to change how the audience thinks or feels, you have entered the competitive world. With every persuasive presentation there are products, ideas, which if accepted, will prevent your audience from accepting yours.

2) A Persuasive Presentation should engage your audience, not dominate and overpower them.

You should not at your first slide come across as “hear every word, see every word and believe every word I say”. If that is the case the audience will automatically shut down. Remember, each and every person in that audience has a unique make up. To change their collective heart and mind you need to constantly read them, adjust your presentation pacing, tone and content for maximum impact.

3) Put Your Audience First

This tie in with the second point above. Before even developing your persuasive presentation you must totally understand your audience. Ask yourself questions like “What can I do to change their hearts and minds”, “What can I do to help them understand, motivate them, get them excited, get their trust etc”. Put your audience first. Start thinking how you can connect with them, not what to put on your first slide.

4) Target the Audience’s Decision Making Process

A persuasive presentation seeks to change how the audience feels and think. Hence it must be strategically planned and delivered so that you are able to touch the “nerve” of the decision making brains of the audience. You must be able to appeal to them so that they can be moved into action. Without understand of your audience decision making process, your goals and objectives of your persuasive presentation will not be realized

5) Persuasive Presentations ask for an Order.

All presentation must have a goal. A persuasive presentation is no exception. If your goal is to sell something to your audience, then you must ASK for an order at the end of the presentation. After appealing to their decision making nerve, asking for an order would allow you to make that sale! Many a times, presenters tell me that they are shy or afraid to ask. No wonder they do not meet their goals.

Often, I have seen people refuse to use a microphone when they’re presenting, whether at an office meeting, community event or industry conference. Yet, using a microphone correctly can make it easier for the audience to hear you and understand your message – which is the whole point of your presentation.

Here are the 5 reasons I hear for not using a microphone – and how you can overcome them.

1. You Don’t Think It’s Necessary
You may think, “my voice is powerful enough and I don’t need it,” but often, that is not the case. Realize that it may be difficult for the audience to hear you, given the size of the room and the amount of surrounding noise. Also, according to a 2009 study by the Better Hearing Institute, the number of Americans with hearing loss has grown to roughly 11 percent of the U.S. population – and six out of ten of them are below retirement age. So it is likely that there are people in your audience with some level of hearing difficulty.

2. You Aren’t Used to Hearing Your Own Voice
The more you listen to your own voice, the more comfortable you will get listening to it. Almost every computer and smartphone has an audio recorder, so use it to record yourself and play it back, so you can get used to how you sound.

3. You Don’t Realize It Can Protect Your Voice
Most people don’t project well without a microphone (unless you have been trained in singing or acting). So you end up shouting when you try to project, which can leave you with a sore throat, laryngitis or vocal cord damage.

4. You Don’t Know How to Use a Microphone
This concern is legitimate and can easily be addressed by practicing with the microphone. Ask the AV staff or a techie friend to help. You want to find out things such as: where to clip the microphone or how to hold it; who will control the volume; how to avoid ear-splitting feedback (don’t point the microphone at the speakers) and where to get an extra battery. Then get in the room ahead of time and practice using it.

5. You Think It’s Too Formal
You may think that using a microphone is only for professional speakers on a stage in front of thousands of people and that it would be arrogant to use it in a smaller setting. Not at all. Used well, a microphone can demonstrate that you’re a smart and respectful presenter who cares enough about your audience to use every tool at your disposal to ensure they can hear and understand your presentation.

Every day, so many tens of thousands of innocent clients and employees are bored to tears by presentations that it ought to be considered a crime against humanity.

Are your presentations guilty of the following sins?

1. Illegibility. Know the size of the room, screen and audience before you create a presentation. The person at the back of the crowd should easily be able to read your slides. If he or she can’t, they’re going to tune out. Pick a clearly readable font that’s large enough for the potential decision maker at the back of the room to read. And make sure to keep your slide backgrounds simple and clean.
2. Information Overload. Presentations are supposed to support what you’re saying, not tell the whole story. Otherwise, why should people listen to you? Use the outline of your presentation to pick and choose the main points on the screen. If you are going over a complex document, give your audience a handout to which they can refer.
3. Bullet Point Abuse. Slide after slide of bulleted text will have your audience sliding into REM. Break up the text with an image, video, chart or other illustration that is relevant and that will crystallize your main point.
4. Lost in the Wilderness. In longer presentations, take the time to put information into context. As you complete each section, flash back to the bigger picture for a moment so the audience knows how all the information fits together. This will also keep your presentation on track because if you can’t fit a section into the bigger picture, it doesn’t belong there.
5. Selfishness. In sales presentations, it’s easy to slide into the trap of telling talking about your product or service, instead of what it will do for your customer’s lives. Internal presentations, be they about sales activities or manufacturing output, should also take their audience’s concerns into consideration. In presenting to your boss, keep the goals he’s set for you and the bigger picture in mind. In presenting to staffers, reinforce the positive reasons why they should be paying attention.
6. Poor Branding. Using a template, especially one that is at odds with your corporate branding, will make it hard for people to recall who presented what, especially if you’re competing for attention. Make sure the design, layout, colours and font used in your presentation could only have come from your company.
7. Copyright Violation. Sure it’s tempting to grab a graphic from a Google Image Search, scan a Dilbert cartoon or use a track from your favourite music CD to spice up your presentation, but guess what? It’s illegal. Even if you’re only putting together an internal presentation: if you didn’t commission the material you wish to use or get it from a royalty free source that allows business use – it’s against the law to include it. You might not get a knock on your door from Sony music or Scott Adams (the guy that writes Dilbert), but if your boss or client is sensitive about protecting intellectual property and is reasonably savvy, you could (at best) end up embarrassing yourself and at worst lose a major account.