Product Demonstration as a Wasted Opportunity.

To All Communi-Creators:

In the last week I have both presented and been presented to in the genre known as "the product demonstration". The presentation I delivered ended with a woman shouting a marriage proposal from the back of the room.

I couldn't believe it either. But it actually happened.

The presentation delivered to me was a bit different. It lasted just over an hour, only about 15 minutes of which was relevant in any way to anyone in the room. The balance was wasted time consumed by the presenter rambling on and on about their corporate history, their team's skill set and a range of product features which have no relevance to our company's business whatsoever.

So, what was the underlying, fundamental difference between these two events? Why did one end in a proposal for marriage and the other result in the audience begging for the pain to stop? Simply this, one speaker (me) understood their audience and what the audience wanted out of the presentation, and one speaker (the other guy) did not.

By tailoring my presentation to my audience I made maximum use of the opportunity and met their expectations. Because I told them what they needed to know, because I made my message relevant to their needs - I was rewarded. The person who presented to me did not align their message with the audience's needs and therefore wasted everyone's time, including his own.

What did I do to assure my presentation would align with the audience's needs? Simple. I asked what those needs were. I called in advance of the presentation, thanked them again for the opportunity to present and asked them what in particular would they like to know? They told me, and appreciated the fact I inquired.

Had the other speaker inquired as to our needs we could have told him we'd already researched his company, we were confident in the skills of his team and were most interested in viewing a particular set of features. Had he done this, his message would have been more on target and the results of his presentation would have been very different.

THE POINT: Don't waste a valuable opportunity by delivering the wrong message. Ask your audience what they want out of your presentation - and then deliver just that.