Do This to Get More Out of Your Presentations
Adopt this simple yet powerful slide deck structure which uses checkpoints and Q&A breaks to elicit more insights than you get in a classic, one-way customer presentation.
Recurring agenda with checkpoint questions
An agenda keeps you on track and it builds a sense of good progress if you refer back to it during the presentation. Showing the agenda again also gives you an opportunity to pause and ask checkpoint questions.
Checkpoint questions make sure your audience is with you and create a short feedback loop on just covered topics. Such constant interaction with the audience significantly increases the chances of learning opportunities for the presenter.
Start with a group introduction
Don’t just introduce yourself. Get to know your audience too. This gives you the opportunity to dynamically adapt your talking points for the specific audience. It also shakes off any initial shyness of your audience and prepares them for speaking up during checkpoints.
It should not be long. Just say your name and what you do or what your main responsibilities are:
Hi, I’m Petr Vacula and my responsibility as a product manager is to know my product and listen to my users.
And then ask your audience to do the same, as you did.
Prepare your questions in advance
In most cases you just want to hear honest feedback and a good question enables such feedback. Think about what you want to learn and form a question around it.
You just built an awesome prototype, and you want to know if people will buy it. So, what would be the motivation for them to buy it? Is it solving a problem for them? Is there an emotional motivation? What is the boundary between buying or not?
What functionality the prototype needs before it can be used in your household?
Avoid vague questions
Asking good questions enables two-way communication. What is a good question and when is the time to ask? The simple rule of thumb is NOT to ask YES/NO questions or “any questions” and ask often.
“Do you have any questions?” is an example of “any question”. It’s too broad and gives an easy way to escape the question. Can you guess what the escape strategy is?
BAD: “Do you have any questions? “ — “NO”
You want to avoid YES/NO questions to give your audience a chance to articulate their thoughts. Set a concrete context and ask the question right.
GOOD: “What do you think about the prototype?” — “I think that …”
Wait for the answer
Give your audience time to formulate their answers. Awkward silence works for you — count to 10 in your head before proceeding. In most cases someone will break the silence.
Since you did your preparation work and you have thought about your questions upfront — forming a follow up question for the respondent is like a natural reflex. You will learn what you intended to learn.
Set the next steps
Make sure you have enough time closer to the end of your time slot to set the next steps. Guide the audience actively in setting the next steps together with you.
It might be as simple as an agreement on a date and time when you meet next time. Or a call for action guiding the audience where to find more information and how to stay engaged.
All the tips shared here work very well together and will help you in having an active engagement with your audience. What increases the engagement one level up is when you have fun and share it with your audience! :-)
