Have you attended a presentation where you were waiting on every word the presenter was uttering? You were so glued to the message. Read on and I’ll explain what they did right.
I love it on the TV when an important announcement is being made and you hear the loud drum roll. Or when the Prime Minister or President is about to make a statement and the TV presenter queues it up dramatically. Or when the Best Man at the wedding taps his glass to create the ringing sound and the audience hushes to hear the announcement.
The world is illustrated with examples of impactful messages being queued up.
And it’s this that powerful presenters do well.
They simply queue up the key message so this point occurs at the end of the sentence not at the beginning. That way it takes precedence in the minds of the audience. Let me give you some examples.
“I had a miraculous escape on the train this afternoon.”
Better still “This afternoon on the train…I had a miraculous escape” sounds so better.
How about “We’ve made record profits this half year because of our cross selling and customer engagement activities”
Sounds better as “because of our cross selling and customer engagement activities this half year…we’ve made record profits”
Or instead of “We’re going to be recruiting 25 more sales staff for our customers services division to further our customer care aims for this year” try “To further our customer care aims this year we’re going to recruit 25 more customer services people”
So next time you’re writing your presentation, ensure you put your impact phrases at the end of your sentences, where they’ll have…well…maximum impact.
