I was recently invited to
speak to MBA students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business as part of a
unique program called the Mastery in Communication Initiative. In its expert
speaker’s series, Stanford invites “pioneers in the field of communication” to
share their insights and to coach business students in the art and science of
persuasion, pitching, communication, and presentation skills.
In my presentation, which you
can see here on the Stanford Business School YouTube Channel, I gave students
very specific techniques they could use immediately to pitch their ideas to
colleagues, instructors, and professional investors. I shared three essential
components of all successful presentations. By ‘successful,’ I mean
presentations that accomplish their intended effect—to move people to action,
to close a sale, to receive project funding, etc.
Successful presentations are
understandable, memorable, and emotional.
Understandable. Successful presentations
are free of jargon, buzzwords, complexity, and confusion. Although there are
many ways to make a presentation clear and understandable, my favorite
technique is what I call the “Twitter-friendly headline.” I learned this from
studying Steve Jobs and other inspiring communicators. In 2001 the iPod was
“1,000 songs in your pocket.” In 2008 the MacBook Air was “The world’s thinnest
notebook.” Steve Jobs always described his products in one sentence. Even
before Twitter existed, Jobs’ product descriptions never exceeded 140
characters.
The other day I spoke to
bestselling author Daniel Pink about his new book, To Sell is Human. Pink is
skilled at public speaking and had years of experience as a political
speechwriter before he wrote books. When he prepares for a presentation he asks
himself, “What’s the one big idea I want people to take away from my
presentation?” If you’re pitching a product, what’s the one thing you want your
customers or investors to know about it? If you can express it in 140
characters or less, you’ll help your audience make sense of your product and
how it will benefit their lives.
Memorable. If your audience cannot
remember what you said in your presentation or recall your idea, it doesn’t
matter how great it is! Again, there are many techniques to communicate ideas
in memorable ways, but my favorite is a concept I’ve discussed in an earlier
column—the rule of three. Neuroscientists generally agree that the human mind
can only consume anywhere from three to seven points in short term, or “working
memory” (This is why the phone number is only seven digits. Long ago scientists
discovered if you ask people to remember eight digits, they forget just about
the entire sequence of numbers). The magic number—not too many and not too
few—seems to be three.
Try to incorporate the rule
of three in your presentations. You can divide your presentation into three
parts, discuss “three benefits” of a product, or give your audience “three
action steps” they can take. Packaging the content into groups of three makes
it far easier to remember.
Emotional. There’s a large body of
research that shows the emotional component of a message trumps the analytical.
Yes, you need to show data and evidence to reinforce your position, but it’s
the emotional part of a presentation that often moves people to action.
Storytelling is the easiest
and most effective way to make your presentation emotional. I once interviewed
a prominent attorney who won the largest punitive judgment against a
pharmaceutical company at the time—$250 million. He showed me the slides he
used in his opening argument. The first six slides told a story and showed
pictures of the person who lost his life. When the trial was over he asked the
jurors why they voted the way they did. It seems the drug company lawyers had
called to the stand scientists who confused the jurors with mountains of data
and statistics. The jurors, however, were more moved by the simple story that
opened the trial. They specifically mentioned the story as one of the reasons
behind their decision. Stories are powerful, under-appreciated, and rarely
used. If you want to stand out, tell more of them.
Poor communication and
presentation skills can sink your brand and your career. I see it happen all
the time. I’ve also seen way too many great ideas go undiscovered because the
people who have those ideas fail to communicate effectively. We need big ideas
to solve big problems, and we need inspiring leaders who can present those
ideas so they are understandable, memorable, and make an emotional connection
with their audiences.
Source:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2013/02/22/the-three-basic-secrets-of-all-successful-presentations/
Wow ternyata nge-blog juga, baru tau...
BalasHapusIa dong hahaha, biar up-date abis kayak Herda juga.. follow dong blognya.hahahha
HapusPresentasi itu kayak nyanyi harus pesannya sampek dan diinget. Luar biasak sekalih. #nyampah ��
BalasHapuswww.hairulachsan.com