What I really meant to say was!

Stopping to ask somebody for directions this morning I was reminded how often we find this simple request so difficult. Most of us probably think afterwards "No, what I should have said was.......!"    My all time favourite example of comic-direction came from a chap who said "go down this road and turn right where the old cinema used to be!!!!!!" 
Of course he understood perfectly what he meant.  "Where the cinema used to be" made complete sense in his world.
It's surprising how often we sit in conferences and listen to presenters who seem to suffer that same problem. To them, the meaning of what they say is quite clear. Unfortunately they haven't heard what they are saying to realise that it is not that clear at all.   Just one of the numerous consequences of inadequate presentation planning!
Let's be honest. We presenters hate the planning part of presenting. Sometimes it is genuine lack of time. Sometimes we just want to avoid it, prefering to "keep it fresh and spontaneous???"

I saw it in a conference that I attended recently. The audience were left unclear about key messages as presenters fell into the familiar traps: - too much time on too many of the issues and nothing on the actions, or not enough time on the issues and too much on unjustified actions.
If any of this has a familiar ring to it why not make a start on the first good habit...clarifying your presentation objectives.
After all you only have about 15 minutes of good attention and 20 minutes maximum, so ask these questions:
What broadly speaking would I like to achieve with the audience?
1. Do I want them to simply appreciate and understand a wide range of issues or opportunities and therefore I should plan for that?
2. Or, do I want them to understand the more important issues/opportunities and recognise the actions/solutions that could be taken, and prepare for that?
3. Or, do I want them to really understand the key issues and commit to agreed actions? Is this what I should plan for?


Bob Howard-Spink is a partner in Persuadability. For more tips and advice on improving the persuasiveness of your business messages visit http://www.persuadability.co.uk/