Why Should Your Audience Listen to You?

Everytime you present to an audience, you are entering into a bargain with them - they are swapping their time to listen to what you have to say.

What is it that you have to say that they are going to value?
Do you know what the What's In It For Me (WIIFM) factor is?

Why should they listen to you? Are you going to....
* Save them money?
* Save them time?
* Reduce their stress?
* Make them richer?

I was working with a fantastic coach, with a great product and she wanted market her programme to potential clients using some free presentations. Her working title was "Time Management" but it had no WOW, no promise, no WIIFM. By the end of our session, she got crystal clear on the benefit to her audience - and decided to promise that she could save her audience an hour of time every day if they used these techniques.

That is some WIIFM factor!
Would you spend a few hours listening to a presenter who can save you an hour every day of the week?

Think about this when you are designing your presentations - why should your audience listen to you?

Selecting Images that Speak to Your Audience

This week I've been creating a very 'Zen' style presentation on the topic of Parent Advocacy.

I love 'Zen' design and my slides were looking good.....

• Simple.


• Stylish.


• Strong beautiful images.


• Powerful phrases.

I was feeling pretty chuffed with myself until I noticed one thing.....

I had tin cans connected with string for communication.
A power of books for information and advice
A megaphone for parent voice.

But not as single picture of either a parent or a child.

This entire presentation is based on reminding parents how important they are, and how we want to give them a new voice in our region. How could I have missed that?

A few minutes later and the revised version is much stronger - showing images we have taken at our events, and people (young and old) my audience will relate to.

Now, all the powerful phrases such as "Giving Parents a Voice" are next to images of a parent holding a microphone.

I put the audience in the picture, so to speak!