I have a challenge for you, ditch your powerpoint.
Do this for the next week, or even the next month. Wondering why?
I want you to go into your sales meeting, or proposal meeting, or keynote presentation without a single powerpoint slide so that you can focus on your message and story.
I want you to be able to liberate yourself from the shackles of a “presentation” and instead have a conversation with your audience, whoever that audience may be.
Here’s the thing, when you’re using a deck of slides, you often will automatically enter “pitch” mode and engage in a “presenter/spectator” relationship with the individuals who are watching you.
The conversation is often one-sided, and forced into the confines of whichever topics the powerpoint presentation happens to be focused on.
When you abandon a series of slides, you allow for a conversation between colleagues, and give your audience room to breathe, as well as help them retain more of the conversation because the dialogue isn’t rigid and structured. You’re able to engage freely and more naturally which in turn develops more trust with the people you’re speaking with.
Give it a shot, and let me know what happens.
