Presentations involving answering a lot of questions from the audience. These questions are not always verbally asked or even thought of by an audience member. It’s the presenter’s job to understand their message so well that they answer any and all questions within the presentation. To get through the process, you have to start by asking yourself some questions.
The Content Standard offers tips on brand storytelling that can be applied to your presentation. One of their suggestions for better brand storytelling is to use questions phrased with “how” and “why.” These two words can allow you to expand on details of your message and add movement to your story. A presentation should be closely aligned with your brand, so this resource can be used to elevate both. For this article, we are staying in the presentation realm. These presentation skills will show you how to use “how” and “why” to hook your audience.
How does your message solve a problem?
First, examine how your product solves a problem. How does it make their lives easier? This question speaks to what keeps the audience up at night. But setting up the problems, your audience will better relate to your message and trust you as a speaker. The more specific your answers are, the more you can satisfy an audience’s need. The Content Standard says, “Your job as a storyteller is to fulfill the audience’s desire and provide an answer that makes sense. Whatever the question, the answer rejects all the other potential scenarios.” This is how the how hooks your audience in.
Why does your message work?
The second half for these presentation skills is to answer why your message works. Why is your product the best option? This question sets up the benefits for your message. The answer to this question will work to explain the benefits and differences of your product versus a competitor. This is another way to hook your audience with a real example. You can set up this answer with a case study, customer testimonials, and other data displayed visually to make your argument. Answering the why is a persuasive why to hook any audience to your presentation message.
Creating a strong hook for your audience take presentation skills. You can expand yours by offering audiences personal answers to how your message will help them and why it works so well. For more presentation skills training, download our free presentation starter kit. It’s full of resources you need to become a persuasive public speaker. You can apply these skills and more towards creating an impactful presentation.
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