How to Deliver Proposals and Presentations

Proposals and presentations are forms of public speeches done with few spectators. These are often done with business purposes wherein the speaker is offering a service, a product or presenting actions that need to be done for business advancement. The spectators could be colleagues, persons from the upper management or someone working for the speaker. Proposals and presentations are often done with visual aids for additional information from the speaker.

Proposals and presentations are particularly challenging forms of speeches since they require more than just to entertain and to inform the audience. These speeches have to persuade the audience into doing something. In business setting, these actions could be to purchase a particular product, acquire certain services or have certain changes in the business to improve productivity.

One Goal: Action

While format and delivery in these forms of speeches are very important, they only have one goal: to push for action. The speech will never amount to anything if it will not persuade the listener to act on the said proposals. You can prepare slides, video presentations and flashy PowerPoint presentations but these will not matter if your presentation fails to persuade the listeners into action.

Since the goal of these speeches is to promote action, additional focus should be done on the intended audience. The speaker has to know what and how will the audience react on the content of the speech. Although this might sound challenging at first, it’s easy because there are only a limited number of audience. In a business setting, they would often come from a one department or a single company. That fact could give the speaker ideas in knowing how to persuade the audience into action. There could be additional information needed particularly on certain characteristics of key personalities who will be hearing the presentation but knowing where everyone came from could really help in your preparation.

Focus on One Message

Because a presenter is focusing to persuade the audience for an action, the message should be simple. This will help the presenter improve the chances of letting the audience understand the message better. A presenter should also focus on a single message to ensure that the message will be remembered faster.

But selecting a single message in a presentation that will persuade people could be challenging since you only have one message to build up during the presentation. There are many messages or ideas the presenter can choose from but not every message could have a persuasive effect.

Fortunately, formulating the right message for the speech is simple. All the presenter has to do is answer this question:

“Why should they act?”

The answer to the question should be your main topic during your presentation. But you don’t just talk about a single point since it could be very repetitive. It’s still important to support the message with additional important facts. Without these facts, your message will not be enough to persuade the listeners.

The Benefit of Visual Aids

Visual aids during presentation are very important to convey the right message. It will help the presenter remember the information very well and the audience will have a better idea of the data. Careful preparation in visuals is a must so that the right message will be conveyed.

When presenting visual aids, it’s a must to let everyone see the visual aids. Have a short survey of the area where the presentation will take place, including its equipments, to ensure visibility of the visual aids.

Q&A and Conclusions

One of the best ways to ensure understanding and clarify information you just presented is to allow the audience ask questions. But don’t just answer those questions directly. Take the opportunity to clarify the question so that everyone present will relate to the question. This will educate not only the person who asks the question but the audience as well.

Last but not the least, end your speech with a compelling conclusion. Give a quick recap of what you have just said but end everything on a single message that you want to convey. The message will give a lasting impression to the audience. Be as upbeat as possible so that you can end your presentation in a high note. Persuading people to do something can’t be done without some enthusiasm in your end.