There’s a failure that occurs in almost every presentation that you, or I, have seen.

It’s a failure that you have almost certainly been guilty of, and it’s a failure that lies at the heart of why so many presentations fail to get results. Or at least they do get a result – but usually the result of boring their audience to tears!

In the last three years I’ve coached high-level directors, international traders, hedge fund managers, magazine designers and editors, corporate lawyers, helping them to improve their presentations, and in every single case the people I’ve worked with have failed to seriously consider these two questions :

‘Who are you talking to?’

‘What do you want your audience to do, or to know, or to feel as a result of your presentation?’

These two simple questions often transform the content and delivery of a presentation, it’s really impossible to overstate how important they are. Here’s a (nearly true – a few details changed for anonymity) story from a recent coaching session.

One of the people I was working with wanted to show me her presentation. She’s a marketing manager, and I’ll call her Jenny. Jenny began her presentation: “Ok, I want to run through the research methods that we use in marketing and bring you up to speed on what the results of the research are, and to tell you about what we do in marketing so that you all know…”

My first question to Jenny was “Who are the audience? Who are you actually speaking to?”

Jenny: “Oh, lots of different people in the company, sometimes the sales team, sometimes the board, sometimes customer relation team…”

Me: “Ok, and do you think that each group of people is equally interested in the research..?”

Jenny: “Oh, I wouldn’t think so. They’ll all be interested in different bits of research.”

Me: “Right, and are they all equally interested in what you do in marketing? Would they all use your department in the same way?”

Jenny: “Definitely not, they’ll all want different things.”

Me: “Great, so you’ve got several different presentations, haven’t you?”

Jenny: (With a slightly worried face) “Well, I suppose I have…”

Me: “Are you looking worried because it sounds like a lot of work to prepare?”

Jenny: (laughing) “Yes, I am!”

Me: “Don’t worry – you just have to define your audience and ask the question ‘What do I want my audience to do, or to know, or to feel as a result of my presentation’ for each audience – let’s take the sales team as an example…”

Jenny: “Well, I want them to know that marketing are there to support them, and that we can give them the support they need to sell to their clients…”

Me: ‘Now that’s sounding like the start of a better presentation – and are the sales team interested in the fact that you do research in marketing, or are they more interested in the results of that research?’

Jenny: ‘Oh, defintely the results”

Me: “Great, now we’ve got enough information to re-draft the opening of the presentation…”

About 5 minutes later, after a couple of tries, we had an introduction that Jenny was much happier with:

‘Hello everyone, this morning I’m going to give you some really interesting new facts from our latest research which will immediately help you in selling to your customers. I’m also going to show you how we’re really here to help you in your selling. The marketing department is a very friendly and important resource that you can use every time you’re planning a big sell…”

Imagine you’re a sales person listening to that presentation. Isn’t it much better than:

“Ok, I want to run through the research methods that we use in marketing and bring you up to speed on what the results of the research are, and to tell you about what we do in marketing so that you all know…”

That whole process took about 15 minutes, three cups of coffee and two questions.

Action: Look at your most recent presentation, or your next presentation, and ask those two questions. Make sure that you really answer them. Your presentation will improve and your audience will love you!