This updated presentation was inspired by Peter Adams when I mentioned a quote from a colleague who said “if you are boring face-to-face, you will still be boring via video conference. Peter added, “twice as boring!” If I may also add, I have sat in on too many presentations lately that were as Peter suggest twice as boring.
As you get your presentation ready for any event or investor meeting, there are many benefits to getting your presentation “pitch perfect” for live or via webinar including but not limited to:
- Top performing source of qualified sales leads by providing a venue for customer, channel and press education.
- Lasting customer value shelf-life including ability to share knowledge to many others involved in the decision-making.
- Multi-purpose uses in “thought leadership” for articles, videos, white papers, channel websites, analyst presentations and other venues.
- Shared knowledge – the investor or customer you are presenting is likely not the only person involved in the decision making process. By providing online archive versions of your presentations you can gain visibility with those who may not be there for the live or webinar presentation.
Here are just some of the steps in the successful development and delivery of a viewer high-rated “live” presentation or webinar. Each step may have more details not mentioned here.
____Topic – Title – deciding upon a compelling title and “thought leadership”
____Audience – determine content development approach based on audience. That is, have multiple presentations and a “slide library” available.
____If via webinar promotional flyer – date/time selection (minimum three weeks prior to; six weeks or more preferred), webinar platform, copy for flyer and prize selection
____MARCOM – marketing-communications promotions to news and social media audiences – write a PR-press release, post on blog/website, Linkedin, Twitter, FB and other media distribution platforms, newsletters, advertising, third-party email blasts, list purchases and ongoing promotion
____Platform delivery selection – evaluation of platforms including registration services, CRM integration, survey/polling support, etc.
____Outline design– creating a detailed presentation outline and compelling story
____Research – prepare a written draft for each topic in the outline
____Presentation development – creating “story board” of each slide with premise of one bullet and one graphic per slide or about 3-6 slides per minute of delivery – remember people can read 5 times faster than you can speak so if you put all the bullets on one slide they will have read all of them before you finished reading the first bullet
____Script – writing a script/screenplay for each slide – note: about 100 words per each minute of presentation
Scripts are not read by speaker; but provides phrases and reminders to be covered as well as presentation pacing (on time/message)
Demos are not recommended offered to those interested for private briefings as well as videos
____Speaker(s) selection
____Graphics – gathering paid graphics from royalty-free sources (not the internet)
____Presentation organization – integration of graphics into presentation
____Survey/Polling design and delivery – after webinar survey and event polling
____Testing – alpha testing of presentation to key staff and select attendees
____Rehearsal – final testing and recording of presentation with webinar platform and making final adjustments
____Delivery – presentation delivery to live audience and never-ever have the presenter(s) use a speakerphone for presentation. There is often too much room echo that makes hearing difficult and seriously unprofessional.
____Moderator – have a non-presenter as the moderator handling Q&A and keeping presentation on time and on message
____Survey analysis and recommendations for ongoing webinars/presentations
____After webinar thank you email and presentation distribution within 24 hours PDF to all registered attendees not just attended live.
In addition, add link to company newsletter and website.
____Archive – save recorded version to website – often only 10-20% attend live; archives have a long shelf-life and some have been seen by hundreds of thousands on YouTube, makes great Twitter bird feed as well as integration with other articles, papers, etc.
____Marketing packaging – repackage/repurpose/reuse webinar in other content formats (sales, channel, etc) and media formats such as articles, videos, PR, white papers, etc.
If you have anything I missed, please email cross@gocross.com and I will include them and glad to give you any guidance or review of any presentation you have.