A Foolproof Way To Get People To Follow Your Presentation

Imagine for a moment you’re with a group of people in a hue, crowded, outdoor marketplace.

It’s selling a mix of food and clothes and there are literally stalls and people EVERYWHERE.

It’s one you’ve been to before, so you know your way around.

But, the others you’re with haven’t been before. So it’s up to you to give directions.

You want to take them to a specific food stall. One that you know they’re going to love.

So you say to them:

“Let’s go to that place I’ve been telling you about. It’s at the complete opposite end of the market-place. But, just follow me”

You take off quite quickly and start weaving in and out of people.

You head off up one aisle, turn down another aisle, and confidently keep on going, expecting the others to be able to keep up.

You take many twists and turns. Until finally you find your way to the food stall you’ve been looking for.

The only problem is, when you turn around to say

“We’ve arrived! Here it is”

They’re nowhere to be seen………

Bugger. You’ve lost them.

Somewhere in the depths of the marketplace. They mustn’t have been able to keep up with you.

Well, that is exactly what it’s like if you don’t share summaries in a talk (when you move from one key part of your talk to another).

If you simply wait until the end of your talk and assume people are still with you….

…. chances are they’ve got completely lost 😬

Especially if you’re talking for longer than a few minutes.

In that market place, you would ideally make it really clear to everyone that you’re turning down an aisle, to ensure people are able to keep up.

Well that’s exactly what you need to do in a talk.

When you move from one key chunk to another, give people a summary, to ensure they are still following you.

But, be wary of an ’empty’ summary.

E.g. Sometimes people say things in a presentation like:

“So that summarised the problems, now let’s talk about the solution”

Whilst they’re saying they’re summarising it, they’re actually not summarising it at all.

That’s almost like being in the marketplace and saying to people “Follow me….” Without actually saying what the directions are. 😅

Share a sentence that distills the whole section you just took people through.

That’s what a proper summary is.

IN SUMMARY

Don’t wait until the end to summarise your talk.

When you switch between key sections, summarise what you’ve just said.

You’ll ensure everyone is able to follow you – until the very end. 👊

Thanks for reading. As always, I love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Emily