Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes - The Goodman ...

pg. 34
“Finish early. Your audience
will be amazed, thrilled,
delighted, and thankful. ”
– Edward Tufte
Professor Emeritus
Yale University
Building Better Presentations
How to Take Your Audience from A to B – cont’d
Closes
The close is your chance to cement what audience members have learned and to send
them off inspired to act on that new knowledge. Most public interest presenters will
end their presentation with their final major point, and if time permits they will
entertain questions. This will, indeed, bring the curtain down, but it is not the most
effective technique for sending away an audience that is motivated to act.
With audience attention on the rise for the final time, skilled presenters (1) present
a summary of the major points, (2) provide time for questions, and then (3) deliver a
prepared close, which is distinctly different from the summary.
4
S
Q|A
Close
(1:00 to 2:00)
1. The Summary
This is the “tell ’em what you told ’em” part of your presentation: a short reiteration of the
major points and a restatement of your overarching message.
2. Question-and-Answer Session
As noted earlier, many of our expert commentators prefer to sprinkle Q&A throughout
their presentations to let audience members check in whenever the need arises. Due to
time constraints and imposed formats, however, you will often have time for Q&A only
toward the end of your session. In these instances, there are several techniques that can
help make this time more productive:
• Do not begin by asking, “Does anybody have any questions?”
“It’s the worst question anybody can ask,” says Gerry Tabio. “It doesn’t work.” Instead,
Tabio recommends, “asking a question that’s interesting to answer, such as: I just taught
you some techniques. If you were to try this tomorrow, what parts are you not confident
in? What fears do you have?” This gets audience members talking, breaks the ice, and
starts the flow of questions. Having questions ready to fire at the audience can also
help you come evaluation time, says Kristen Grimm. “If you end your Q&A session
early because of a lack of questions, you will get a bad evaluation,” Grimm warns.
“So it’s always good to have two or three provocative questions to ask them and get
them talking.”
B