Business 101: Speaking to Sell – How to Craft a Killer Presentation

Does $90,000 in sales over a weekend sound appealing to you? That’s the reality for a successful platform speaker!

Earning a living getting paid to share your knowledge, your unique gift, does not mean long “sales pitches” that drain the audience or overcoming objections and “convincing” people to buy!

It does, however, mean sharing valuable content and properly monetizing your information, presenting with integrity, authenticity and heart, respecting your audience and their autonomy and generating sales from clients who feel compelled.

Crafting a Killer Speaking to Sell Presentation

A speaker has four key jobs and when crafting your killer presentation, you will need to consider how you will achieve all of them:

#1: Inform
#2: Inspire
#3: Entertain
#4: Transform

Inform – This is the part where you share your CONTENT. Yes, you must have something to say! You’ll want to develop your “buckets” of content and outline the knowledge you will be sharing.

There needs to be real value, real “how” and tangible information your audience can take with them. The effort you put into this is a big part of why you get paid. Anyone can talk over a glass of wine in front of the fireplace and muse about life and how “things should be”.

When you sit down and develop a body of knowledge, flesh it out, organize it and systematize it, you are now monetizing information. People will pay a premium for information because when we receive quality information, we own it. No one can ever take it away. Spend the time needed developing your content is like making deposits in the bank.

Inspire – This is the part where you share YOURSELF with the purpose of reinforcing the content for your audience. It is very important that you get the purpose behind sharing personal stories.

Have you ever felt trapped in the audience where it seemed like the speaker was engaged in a therapy session onstage and you found yourself an unwilling participant? Speaking is not about indulging yourself.

Every story needs to be true and needs to be placed in the presentation because it helps reinforce the content and learn a point from a different perspective. A great story allows the audience to see some of themselves, realize possibilities, connect with the speaker’s humanity and feel inspired!

Entertain – Let’s face it, we all want to have FUN! A dynamic speaker can make the audience laugh and enjoy being at the event. In order to entertain you have to connect with your audience and make sure that it isn’t just you having fun – that they are along for the ride and enjoying it too.

Which means of course, that you DO need to have fun! If you are terrified, nervous or too serious this will be a tedious presentation for the audience. Remember why you are doing this crazy thing called speaking, remember what your big mission is to be able to laugh at yourself and with the audience.

Keep in mind that humor is subjective. Be careful with swearing, especially in front of new audiences. What you think is funny may be offensive to others. Poking fun at yourself in a loving way is effective. If you get into too much self-deprecating humor, the audience will feel sorry for you.

Transform – If you leave out this part then you are just a funny, uplifting trainer or teacher. It is the transformation piece that makes you a well-rounded speaker. This is where your audience comes in at point A and because of the environment you have created and the information you have shared, they move to point B.

Providing transformation for your audience is what will keep YOU motivated and wanting to do this over and over again. Being able to lead a group and watch the “light bulbs” turn on and your audience experience the “A-ha” moments is addicting.

Speaking to Sell Presentation Basics

#1: Be Prepared – This will allow you to “relax”, be yourself and really connect with your audience. Trying to remember what is supposed to happen next will disconnect you from the people in the room and you’ll be presenting in your head.

#2: Vary the Content Delivery – Reinforce the information you are sharing by presenting it in different ways. You will have many different types of audience members in the room. This is accomplished by presenting information visually, auditory, through stories, exercises, writing, partner shares, group shares…mix it up.

#3: Stay Connected – Notice who is in your audience. Be real with them and respond to the feedback they give you. Don’t make them wrong. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and you don’t have to agree, nor do you have to defeat them. Your audience is watching how you handle situations, yourself and everyone else as much as they are watching the presentation.

#4: Deal with the Elephant in the Room – Does the audience have money issues? Are you teaching them a tough topic that is getting them “triggered”? Address the thing you do not want to talk about and you create an opportunity for transformation for the entire room.

#5: Make it Flow – Your content, stories, exercises and offer are most effective when they flow seamlessly together. This is a skill anyone can learn and it is worth the effort. Number one mistake a speaker can make is to “tack” an offer on the end of a presentation. Every piece of the presentation is connected.

#6: Keep the Promises – The “promises of the program” are the bullet points and marketing copy you created to promote the presentation. Make SURE you deliver everything you said you would! Starting and finishing on time is another way to let your audience know you keep your promises.

#7: Respect your Audience – Instead of telling them to “stay put” or trying to control the audience with too many rules, create an environment where people feel compelled to do that. Choose to “carry” the room instead of controlling the room.

I just LOVE speaking and training other speakers and entrepreneurs. If you are considering adding speaking to your business, I say, “Go for it!” Speaking is a form of healing and a powerful way to affect change. Carpe diem, my friends!

Want to know a little more about becoming a professional speaker? Check out Savvy Speaker Secrets to get the video series “How Do I Get Booked as a Speaker?”