5 Things a business presenter should learn from Sachin Tendulkar

What can a living legend in Cricket teach you about Business presentations? Is there any connection between sports and presentations? Read on to find the answers.

Every time Sachin Tendulkar gets on to the field, his game showcases his excellence to thousands of spectators who turn up just to watch his performance. Here are the 5 presentation tips from the Little Master’s game:

·         Never play without practice:

Sachin is considered not just as the best batsman in the world, but also as the best batsman to have ever played the sport. Yet, he spends hours practicing every day, before he enters the field. He never says, “It is after all the same ball and the same game”. He knows that every pitch is different and every bowler is different.

As a business presenter, it is tempting to make a client presentation without making sufficient rehearsals, because “It is the same presentation and the same subject”.  But, realize that your every client is different, and their needs are different. Your audience can easily spot your lack of preparation and they equate it to your lack of sincerity in solving their issues. So, never play without practice. 

·         Don’t play risky shots at the beginning:

Sachin Tendulkar probably has the widest range of shots to choose from, thanks to his unique talent and years of experience. Yet, when he begins his innings, he plays carefully. He realizes that any batsman is vulnerable in the first few overs of an innings. 

For you, this represents the first few minutes of the presentation. You either win over your audience or lose them in those few critical minutes. So, take your time to build your audience trust, in the opening of your presentation. 

·         Don’t play planned shots:

Tendulkar plays each ball by its merit. He knows that shots planned before judging the ball are risky. He achieves spontaneity of shot selection with hours of practice in the nets. 

This invaluable lesson is useful for your Q and A sessions. Answer your audience questions only after listening to them completely. You may get the urge to template your answers, if you have heard similar questions before. But, hold till you understand the spin of the question, before you start your answer. Practice answers to frequently asked questions on the day before your presentation.  

·         Don’t play the balls that are not in your ‘V’:

Tendulkar is always conscious of his playing area or the ‘V’ zone.  He knows that ‘away’ deliveries are dangerous. 

As a business presenter, be aware of the scope of your presentation. Never give lengthy answers to questions that are far removed from the topic of discussion. This not only bores your audience but also might cost you a deal.

·         Look to score a century each time you play:

Tendulkar tries to score a century each time he plays. He walks in with the same determination every time, and the passion shows in every stroke he makes.

As a business presenter, your passion is the most important ingredient that keeps your audience glued on to your presentation. Make every presentation with the intention of making it the best presentation you ever made. You may have made the same presentation a hundred times before. But, for your audience, it is the first time. So, show your passion.

Follow these 5 lessons and become a maestro in business presentations.

Happy presenting!

Top 7 common errors when opening a presentation

 

Presenters themselves set the tone for the way the presentation will proceed. Given that audience attention is the maximum at the start of the presentation, it makes sense to introduce them to the topic. 

But sometimes presenters start on the wrong foot. Have you heard presenters say any of these classic lines at the start up and thus goof up their own presentation? 

1.    I know this presentation is boring. But please bear with me, I have to cover this.

Since you have told the audience what to expect, I can guarantee you that they will be bored. 

2.    I will take only 5 minutes of your time

Saying this sets the expectation that what you have to say is not all that important and can be covered quickly. If it is not covered in 5 minutes, the audience get restive even if the subject is interesting. 

3.    I am sorry about being late 

This tells the audience that the presenter is going to be overly conscious of errors. It gives them the leeway to do the same.

4.    I know that the fonts are not really visible

What do the audience understand with this? They understand that the presentation is not important enough for the presenter to make the visual aids properly.

5.    Sorry about my laptop, it has crashed

Audience feel that they will get less your best because you have support missing. Crashed laptops and corrupt files will happen one time or the other. Many people suggest having a backup. Sometimes backups taken of a corrupt file does not work either. 

6.    I have a sore throat, so you will have to bear with me

Like Murphy’s law, a sore throat will occur just before a critical presentation. But is this the right line with which to start a presentation? 

7.    I would like to share with you this interesting story ( a very long story follows)

The poor audience have no clue why they are listening to a convoluted, long story which may or may not be related to the topic of the presentation.

A good presentation starts with clearly telling the audience what to expect in the presentation. The one thing common with all these openings is that the presenter is focused on himself, his own faults, his story, faults of his laptop etc. Any presentation can be turned around if the focus is on the audience. 

Asking audience what they expect from the presentation, asking audience what they know about the subject, letting them know that you will cover the usual material in a different way – will get them to focus the attention on the contents of the presentation, rather than on your mistakes.

Targeting the decision maker in a sales presentation - BuyAPresentation

Targeting the decision maker in a sales presentation - BuyAPresentation
When you are making a sales presentation, experts advise you to target the decision maker. They assume that if the decision maker is satisfied, then your product/service will be sold.
There are a number of articles with advice on how to find the decision maker in an organization by getting past a gatekeeper etc. The focus of this article is more on what happens next.

Here are some usual assumptions sales presenters make about decision making in a presentations:
1. Senior-most person: The decision maker may not be the senior most individual. He or she may defer to someone else’s point of view, and you might have completely missed out addressing that person in the presentation. It is possible that you got the contact through a business card exchange. But it doesn’t mean you know how his or her mind works. Sometimes just the title doesn’t really determine the person’s responsibility – so beware of making assumptions.
2. Gender: Many times, presenters typically address only the senior men and ignore the women in the group. The man may not always take decisions even if he asked more questions or seemed more interested.
3. Single decision maker: It may be possible that there is more than one decision maker. When there are a number of people attending the presentation, it is not possible to say which factor would affect the ultimate decision.
As you can see, it is very difficult to identify such a person, especially if the group is new to you. So, what options does a sales presenter have?
Follow these simple rules:
1. Address everyone: Address all of your audience when you are speaking, ensure that you make eye contact with all of them and answer all queries equally courteously, no matter who asks them.
2. Stop when 80% are convinced: When 80% or more of your audience seem convinced then you can be sure you have addressed the decision makers in one way or the other.
This applies for the first meeting. As a sales presenter, you would usually follow up on your presentation with the group.
This is the time when you can get deeper into understanding who takes decisions and nuances which lie under the surface. It will help you when you are ready to sell to them the next time.

10 unusual ways people use presentation slides

Slides are visual aids, but given the features in any common presentation software, it’s amazing how people end up using them. Here are 10 different ways people use slides, starting with the most unusual way

1.    Ultimate Animation Software
Many people complain that the animation available in presentation software is too basic. If they were to see the PowerPoint® animation competitions that occur online, they would be stunned by the result. Dedicated contestants use presentation software to create mind blowing animation that could put Flash® to shame. Of course, each slide probably takes hours and a ton of expertise to make. 

2.    Moral Messenger
Every person with an email ID has been forwarded at least one of these - a self-running ppt that talks about importance of maintaining friendships or problems with environment or the ill-effects of smoking or why soft drinks are bad for teeth but good for toilet cleaning. The ppt is saturated with the sender’s concern for your moral and physical well-being.

3.    Gaming Development Tool
With appropriate coding, a simple presentation can turn into a gaming tool, useful for trainers in the classroom and managers who want to waste time.

4.    Brain Dump
Ever seen 467 slides on one topic with absolutely everything that the author knows about it dumped onto the slides? This is a sort of mind mapping exercise and the result is a reference Bible. A training held with a presentation like this is a good substitute for sleeping pills.

5.    Multimedia Self-Learning Tool
Given the features of presentation software, a good voiceover, interactivity with simple animations, videos, internal links and reams of text, slides turn into a complete training tool.  Whether this is a use or misuse, is up to you to decide.

6.    A Resume
The basic word document is almost outdated when it comes to making creative resumes. But does the person who reads the CV really want to see the picture of applicant’s office and read in painful detail about his/her life?

7.    Product/Service Brochure
Marketing teams make up a 5MB presentation with photos and detailed explanation to forward to their customers. They think that the customer actually opens and goes through it in detail. Presentation here substitutes publishing software like Photoshop®.

8.    Greeting Card
As New year or a birthday rolls in, the Presentation kings quickly put together slides with their best wishes. It is filled with more cheer, goodwill and animation than anything a card company rolls out.

9.    Reporting tool
This is one of the most common ways to misuse slides. This type of presentation contains embedded excel sheets, documents, charts, paragraphs of explanations all cramped together in the 7.5 X 10 space. Many college and office reports are submitted daily like this and the information remains incomplete and ineffective. 

10.    Teleprompter
Presenters note down all that they are going to say on their slides and read them out like a newsreader. The only difference is that a teleprompter is not visible to the audience, whereas the slides are obviously visible.

10 unusual ways to use Presentation Slides - BuyAPresentation

10 unusual ways to use Presentation Slides - BuyAPresentation

Slides are visual aids, but given the features in any common presentation software, it’s amazing how people end up using them. Here are 10 different ways people use slides, starting with the most unusual way:

1. Ultimate Animation Software:
Many people complain that the animation available in presentation software is too basic. If they were to see the PowerPoint® animation competitions that occur online, they would be stunned by the result. Dedicated contestants use presentation software to create mind blowing animation that could put Flash® to shame. Of course, each slide probably takes hours and a ton of expertise to make.

2. Moral Messenger:
Every person with an email ID has been forwarded at least one of these - a self-running ppt that talks about importance of maintaining friendships or problems with environment or the ill-effects of smoking or why soft drinks are bad for teeth but good for toilet cleaning. The ppt is saturated with the sender’s concern for your moral and physical well-being.

3. Gaming Development Tool:
With appropriate coding, a simple presentation can turn into a gaming tool, useful for trainers in the classroom and managers who want to waste time.

4. Brain Dump:
Ever seen 467 slides on one topic with absolutely everything that the author knows about it dumped onto the slides? This is a sort of mind mapping exercise and the result is a reference Bible. A training held with a presentation like this is a good substitute for sleeping pills.

5. Multimedia Self-Learning Tool:
Given the features of presentation software, a good voiceover, interactivity with simple animations, videos, internal links and reams of text, slides turn into a complete training tool. Whether this is a use or misuse, is up to you to decide.

6. A Resume:
The basic word document is almost outdated when it comes to making creative resumes. But does the person who reads the CV really want to see the picture of applicant’s office and read in painful detail about his/her life?

7. Product/Service Brochure:
Marketing teams make up a 5MB presentation with photos and detailed explanation to forward to their customers. They think that the customer actually opens and goes through it in detail. Presentation here substitutes publishing software like Photoshop®.

8. Greeting Card:
As New year or a Birthday rolls in, the Presentation kings quickly put together slides with their best wishes. It is filled with more cheer, goodwill and animation than anything a card company rolls out.

9. Reporting tool:
This is one of the most common ways to misuse slides. This type of presentation contains embedded excel sheets, documents, charts, paragraphs of explanations all cramped together in the 7.5 X 10 space. Many college and office reports are submitted daily like this and the information remains incomplete and ineffective.

10. Teleprompter:
Presenters note down all that they are going to say on their slides and read them out like a newsreader. The only difference is that a teleprompter is not visible to the audience, whereas the slides are obviously visible.

Are you ‘closing’ your business presentation or are you ‘ending’ it?

There is a difference between ‘Closing’ a presentation and ‘Ending’ a presentation. The difference is far more than the semantics. 

Over the years of teaching people on how to make winning presentations, I find one strange phenomenon. Presenters take a lot of effort to create a good opening for their presentation. But, they hardly take the effort to plan a good ‘close’ for their presentation. As a result, they end up wasting all their effort and end up losing potential business, which they almost had in their pocket. 

If you are a business presenter, here are two reasons why you must take that special effort to plan your close.

·         The aftertaste has a bearing on the decision making process:

The feeling that lingers after the presentation triggers more word of mouth than the feeling during the presentation. 

The reason is simple. When your audience feels good during the presentation, they do not have much chance to express that feeling apart from the odd claps here and there. But, the feeling they carry at the end of the presentation is usually discussed with friends and colleagues.  So, when you build a great argument during your presentation, but do not close it powerfully – you waste your effort.

·         Your Q and A session leaves the last impression on your audience:

Remember, it is not your last slide, but the question and answer session that follows your last slide, which leaves the last impression on your audience. 

Usually, question and answer sessions are a medley of opinions of your audience and you. You discuss everything, from the one off poor service someone received from your company, to the one extra product feature offered by your competition. These opinions stay back in the minds of your audience – unless you take the effort to contextualize those opinions in light of the bigger picture you wish to present. 

 So, what should you do to close your presentation?

·         Summarize after the Q and A session:

Don’t leave the last impression to chance. Summarize your key differentiators after the Q and A session. If possible, make a one page handout listing the top benefits and distribute them to your audience, at the end of your presentation. 

·         Remind them of the vision:

Make a slide that shows happy audience and your product shot. Leave this slide on - during the entire session of Q and A, instead of showing a blank slide.

Allow your audience to envision the ‘better scenario’ after using your product. These are the feelings you want them to leave the room with. 

·         Show them where they can reach you:

Include your contact details – including your email, website and mobile number on the last slide. Allow them time to take it down.

These simple tips will make a winning difference in your next presentation. Try them.

Happy presenting!