Large Thick Crust Pepperoni with Half Bullets, Half Clipart

By Jim Endicott, Owner/Manager of Distinction

When it comes to your presentations, maybe you're a meat lover kind of guy or gal; straight bullets, a little clipart here and there and a dash of bar charts. All the ingredients seem to be right at your fingertips and the process has become a real no-brainer. If all we ever did was deliver our presentations in a mirror, this approach would be a winner and we'd probably be pretty enamored with our performance.  Everything would make perfect sense, there would be no ambiguities, and the best part, no chancy Q & A session to worry about.  There's only one small problem. Effective presentations that clearly hit the mark have more to do with your audience's preferences than your own.  A meat lover message delivered to a vegetarian audience will always be disastrous. Yet despite these known warnings, thousands of presenters do just that every day.

Over the last few months, I've been working with George Fox University in Portland, Oregon. With their increased focus on adult education programs, stronger and more effective tools were needed to communicate key program elements to prospective adult students. The easy way out would have been to produce a dozen different bullet slides, add in a few photos and call it good. Easier maybe, but certainly not more effective.  Here are some insights into how this client impacted the persuasiveness of their presentations with a more purposeful, audience-focused choice of presentation imagery.

Audiences would sometimes consist of adults with interest in numerous program offerings.

When our audiences can't always be defined in the narrowest of terms for message shaping, sometimes we need to provide the presenter with options for addressing multiply content paths.  After some introductory screens that set-up the necessary context (student need), an interactive screen was created in PowerPoint that represented the four primary adult degree programs. The university's presenters could now tailor make mini presentations to different audience interests.  Since the information was structured from high level all the way down to specific program details over 6 slides, the presenter could go as deep as they wanted for each topic.  To get back out at any time, a simple click on the university's logo brought the presenter back to the primary option screen, which then set up a clear close to the presentation.

Statistically, close to 80% of adult education students made an enrollment decision based on personal referrals.

Printed literature is the backbone of many marketing initiatives and this place of higher learning was no different. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent in print but, when it came to adult education prospects, it was the personal connection that made all the difference.  Knowing that single fact dictated a fundamental change to the usual and customary approach to these presentations.  Each departmental section began with a 60-second digital video segment featuring the department head doing a personal introduction (carefully scripted) to the program and its value.  "Flesh and blood" (in a digital format) was integrated to create more personal connections with the audience.  Also, each recruiter/presenter was asked to develop and practice a single personal story of an individual who they worked with who went through their program with a rewarding outcome. Attention was paid to share the same fears and apprehensions that the prospects might be experiencing. At a specific place in their presentation, the well-rehearsed story was played out. Each program section was then wrapped up with a 60-second digital video segment of a past student, their experiences and successes. The presentations just got significantly more personal.

Return on their educational investment was key to an informed decision.

Simple and relevant data is always the most compelling. Prospective George Fox University adult education students were presented with just a few raw statistics. The ones presented, however, answered specific questions that were sure to be asked later.  "If I invest in my education, how can I expect my increased wages to create a return on my education investment?" (Not unlike the ROI questions a prospective customer of any product and service may ask) With a technique called "immunizing," we provided answers to specific challenges that were sure to be in our audience's mind, defusing barriers to decision-making early on. A constant chart frame was created in the master Photoshop file. Then the imagery was custom created in that visual context.  No 21 flavors of chart look and feel here; one simple professional look was used.

There's pizza and then THERE'S PIZZA

I'm guessing that somewhere in your neighborhood, there's the ultimate pizza place.  Everyone knows where it is and they're very willing to wait in long lines for a great eating experience.  The ingredients are fresh, the aroma is overwhelming and the dough extra thick.  A great pizza place has their finger on the pulse of the preferences of their customers. They're not just making pizzas in the back room for themselves.

The next time you're creating a presentation, consider what makes your elements different. What "fresh" approaches to visual imagery are you employing? How is it tailored to the specific needs of your customer or audience?  For those presenters who go the extra mile, your audiences will beat a path to your door and you'll always be in demand.  Once you've had a truly great "pizza," it's hard to settle for second best.

Learn more about Jim Endicott and Distinction in our Contributor's section.