If you want to deliver an effective presentation, you need to follow America keynote speaker Steven Covey’s advice and start with the end in mind; in other words, you need to have a goal. Let’s take a look at six examples and how to achieve them.
Six goals your presentation might be aiming for
Inform
This is the purpose of most business presentations, such as presenting the financial accounts for the previous year. You want your audience to leave the presentation better informed than when they entered the room.
Educate
This is when you want to teach your audience something, perhaps about a new policy or new employment legislation. This is more than just informing them; in addition, you want them to learn something.
Persuade
This is when you want your audience to come around to your way of thinking; for example, a politician wants to persuade the audience to vote for them.
Activate
This is when you want your audience to take action. It might be a sales presentation where you want the audience to sign up before they leave.
Inspire
This is probably the most important goal of all. If it can be achieved within any of the others, you know you have done a great presentation.
As this is probably the most important of the six goals, it is worthy of greater examination. This is what a motivational speaker aims for when they set foot on stage. The Chartered Management Institute says that inspiration is important for us to achieve our goals.
Entertain
This will probably be a more informal presentation.
Choosing and applying your goal
Decide on your goal before you start your presentation. Before you do this, you will need to know your audience and what they want out of your presentation.
Remember that you can learn a lot about giving a presentation by watching others. Motivational speakers such as https://www.adventureman.org/motivational-speaker/ have perfected their technique over many years.
Finally, make it personal
Remember that you are a human and you have your own goals for your presentation. Aside from anything else, you need to enjoy delivering your presentation. Whatever your personal goals, there should be an overlap between these and your goals for your audience – the greater the overlap, the better your presentation will be for both you and your audience.
Summary
This article sets out six goals a presentation can aim for: informing, educating, persuading, activating, inspiring and entertaining an audience, with examples such as reporting financial results or a politician seeking votes. It argues inspiring an audience matters most, and advises deciding your goal in advance based on your audience, then making the presentation personal to you as well.
Questions this article raises
- How do you decide which of the six goals fits a particular presentation?
- What techniques help a speaker inspire rather than just inform an audience?
- Can one presentation combine more than one of these goals successfully?
