Masterful Communication: Presentation Development

While working with an Executive Presentation coaching client today, I helped her gain focus on what she really needs to be spending her presentation time on by taking her through the following steps for each of the major content topics she needed to include in her program...

(This guideline is most valuable with her type of presentation - persuasive.)

1. What is the problem and why are you competent to talk about it? (life-driven)

This speaks to why should they care, as well as why should they listen to you discuss this topic?

2. What are the symptoms? (audience-driven)

This is the connection between the topic and the audience members' lives. How do they know if they are affected by this problem?

3. What are the solutions? (presenter-driven)

What are your unique, authentic and relevant answers to their questions? Are you telling them something they have heard a million times or are you telling them something new?

4. What are the simple, basic tasks to accomplish the solutions? (behavior-driven)

Make it simple and doable today.

5. What is your (the presenter) Unique Position Statement? (stickiness-driven)

This is what will anchor everything you say and do in your presentation. This statement should be short, it should have very unique language to you and your take on your topic, it should be action oriented, it should be postively-driven, not negatively-driven (i.e. - it should tell them what TO DO, not what to STOP DOING), it should be catchy and memorable and it should also be counter-intuitive to get them wanting to know more.


After we went through these steps with her four major content areas, she had more unique, specific and concrete language for what she had been teaching for a long time. This will allow her message and strategies to resonant longer with her audiences!

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