7 Secrets Of Visual Impact Presenting

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Are you giving powerful presentations that truly make a visual impact? Find out 7 rarely shared secrets. Learn how you can make an impact…even if you don’t consider yourself visually inclined.

 

All day, every day you need to give presentations to win attention, communicate with clients, and sell ideas. More and more professionals are searching for a competitive edge in presenting.

 

The fact is…many business presentations are gigantic data dumps. You know the ones. You may have given them…or fallen asleep while on the receiving end of one. These number heavy, word dense presentations are responsible for poor communication and lost productivity.

 

If you want to get a leap in giving powerful presentations, use these 7 visual impact tips to get ahead.

 

1. Escape The Norm

If tedious PowerPoint presentations are your organization’s norm, be the rebel. Stand up, stand out and do something radically different. Be the first one to grab a marker and sketch out a diagram. Go to the whiteboard and guide an interactive conversation.

 

By taking the lead, you might get in trouble. More likely, you’ll rise in your organization. Creativity and innovation always make some waves. Those are the waves of greatness.

 

Visual Tip: Present at the whiteboard. You’ll create a powerful environment for uncommon creativity.

 

2. Free Up Conversation

Smart people don’t like to sit passively. Ask your audience what they are feeling, experiencing and thinking. Find out what’s at the top of their ‘big ugly problem’ list. Hint: it’s always easy to get people talking about what’s wrong, what’s not working, and what’s keeping them up at night.

 

Once you get the ball rolling, don’t stop there. Move from problems to solutions.

 

Visual Tip: Record what people are saying…while they are speaking. Add shapes, colors and simple visual icons to reinforce key ideas.

 

3. Brainstorm Solutions

Continue the conversation with your audience. Once you’ve tapped the gusher of emotional outpouring on problems, guide the group. Use open-ended questions to brainstorm and problem solve.

 

Hey…you didn’t put your marker down yet, did you? Working at a whiteboard signals that you’re ready to roll your sleeves up and trouble-shoot together.

 

Visual Tip: Be ready with your marker. Your readiness signals an active, creative environment for brainstorming.

 

4. Organize Solutions

Ask any consultant, business professional or innovation expert…is it easy to come up with solutions? He or she will nod and tell you, “of course!”

 

The question is…what do you do next? While brainstorming solutions is a blast, it can lead to overwhelm and exhaustion. Unless you know how to organize the output.

 

Working interactively, sort ideas into categories. Ask the group to make the tough decisions on the spot. By working in real-time, you’ll include the group and build buy-in.

 

Visual Tip: Name categories and mark in similar size. Assign a color to each category. As the group starts to refer to categories by color, you’ll know that everyone is engaged.

 

5. Prioritize

What’s the single most important thing to do? If prioritizing is not your strength, get the group to help you. Ask them the all-important question. Get ready for intensive discussion because as you know, not everyone will have the same perspective on what is top priority.

 

6. Sequence

Working with your participants, organize ideas, projects and commitments into a timeline sequence. Many groups find that working in 3-10 years is too long. Due to rapid rate of change, you may get higher buy-in to planning what has to happen in the next 6 months.

 

Sequence the tasks and priorities.

 

Visual Tip: Use sticky-notes to make it easy to move items from month to month. Hint: get the big chunks organized month-to-month. Then, work on what must happen each week.

 

7. Commit

With the ideas organized, prioritized and sequenced, it’s time to commit. Commit names, dates and milestones in writing. One of the secrets about commitment is to allow people to choose what they want to ‘own.’ This creates self-sustaining teams, built based on personal motivation and self-selection.

 

Visual Tip: Sign your name next to the task, date and team. This visually and symbolically underscores ownership.

 

Want to get outrageous results with visual presenting? Get the training and coaching you deserve. Use all 7 visual tips and you’ll have a tremendous head start.