This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Getting Aha!s
Let’s review what we’ve discussed so far.
When stories are complicated, when continuity is absent, when the audience is overwhelmed, and when the presenter doesn’t establish a clear bond with the audience, presentations fail. The MEGO syndrome sets in. As a result, no business gets done: The investment isn’t made, the deal isn’t consummated, the sale doesn’t happen.
Your goal, of course, is just the opposite: to get your audience figuratively or literally to ask, "Where do I sign?" That is the essence of persuasion.
Persuasion is the art of moving your audience from Point A, a place of ignorance, indifference, or even hostility toward your goal . . . navigating them through an unbroken series of Aha!s . . . to Point B, a place where they will act as your investors, customers, partners, or advocates, ready to march to your drum.
It is only possible to move your audiences along this path when you follow the principles of Audience Advocacy: to place their needs at the heart of your presentation. The central expression of Audience Advocacy is presenting Benefits rather than Features.
Few communicators achieve the sheer exhilaration of end-to-end Aha!s. But most communicators can come a lot closer than they usually do . . . as you will when you apply the Power Presentations techniques in this book.