The Six Keys to Confident Presenting

1. Start with the end in mind. Know where you are hoping to end up before you utter the first word in a communication. Do you want your listener/reader to be inspired, educated, motivated to buy or concerned about their situation? What do you want them to think, feel or do by the end of the engagement? For example, if you are hoping to deliver a learning opportunity whereby someone could make a behavior change, know that at the outset and create your material accordingly. In this example, don’t overwhelm them by sharing all of what you know; share just what’s needed to help them digest, learn and move on to the next topic. If you what them to buy something you are selling, create compelling stories and examples of what will happen if they don’t decide to work with you – what will befall them from inaction. If you don’t know where you want your audience to end up and you can’t state it clearly and objectively, you can’t start preparing what you want to communicate.

2. Know your audience. I’d like to repeat this sentence five times to underscore its importance. If you have an audience that doesn’t have the core knowledge about something, don’t go to grad-school level courses and information out of the box! If you have a sophisticated audience who knows much of the core material, don’t bore them with background they don’t need and will lose focus on. If your audience doesn’t have the same objectives for outcomes as you do, clarify this at the beginning. Learn what they do care about so you can share commentary and information meaningful to them. If you don’t care about who they are, and what they want, they won’t care one whit about what you are sharing with them.

3. “Chunk” material in a thoughtful and step-by-step manner. Communication is storytelling; you are sharing a story about what you know, what you want someone else to know and what you want them to do with the knowledge. Lead them in an organized manner to what you want them to know, learn or do. Instead of presenting communication that can be jumbled and overwhelming, break it down into bite-sized pieces with a flow that is meaningful. Organize into no more than seven chunks of information, hopefully in the three to five range. People don’t have the mindshare or focus to assimilate 15 things at once. Don’t ask them to.

4. Provide context so the information is meaningful to them. I was reading a letter about a change in advisor status an RIA was about to send out. The entire letter was about the firm, what the firm is doing, the advisor’s background, how the firm serves its clients and so on. In reading it, I couldn’t help but think if I was the client, I would be wondering, “What about me? How is this meaningful to me? Did you even think about me when you were writing this?” Remember everyone’s favorite radio station, WII-FM. What’s in it for me? We can’t help but be self-focused and adult learners have difficulty in taking in new information that isn’t important or connected to and for them. If you don’t connect to them, make it matter and move from just the what, to the why, they aren’t going to be concerned about what you are sharing. They might read it or hear it, but they won’t remember it.

5. Respect and recognize the communication needs and style of your audience. I’ve lost count of the number of times a senior leader tells me they have let someone on their team know about something, but then in talking with the person who should be in the know I learn they don’t even remember receiving the information. Few people learn by reading, and yet we default to email for everything important. Few people learn by auditory, and yet we will tell someone something and think we are done with it. People have different styles – some need time to process, some are ready to act as soon as they hear about something. If you don’t know the needs of your audience, you can put together the best information imaginable and have it land poorly. Especially if something is important, mix up the methods of communication and check-in with your listener/learner/participant to make sure the message is received and understood.

6. Consider your preferred style of communicating. It’s always interesting to watch leaders, especially when they are delivering negative news, hurry through the message, be short and curt or talk too much to convince the listener(s). Presenting well is an elusive skill, but for those in leadership it is a necessity to learn how to communicate effectively. The first step is to know thyself. Ask for feedback (and take it where you can), seek support from experts in ways to hone your skills, practice and then practice some more. The better you are at communicating the more likely people are to care about what you have to say.

7. Confirm outcomes. If you start by knowing where you want to end up, once you have delivered your message in whatever format you choose, confirm that your message was received and your audience knows what needs to happen next. If there is an action to take, when, where and how do you want them to take it? If there is learning that needs to happen, how will you confirm they are able to implement? If you want someone to buy something, what steps do they need to take to do so? If you want them to stand up and clap saying it was interesting and provocative, help them to know this is the end state. If you set up the end at the outset, when you get to the end, closing the communication should be effortless. But do it, either informally or formally, so you know you succeeded in what you set out to do.

Effective communication takes work. Consider what additional steps you might need to take to be sure when you convey a message it is clear, concise, understood and somewhat actionable. Not only does it make you a better leader, but it helps your audience know what to do with the information you are giving them!

Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry, in 1995. The firm also founded and manages the Advisors Sales Academy. The firm has won the Wealthbriefing WealthTech award for Best Training Solution for 2022 and 2023. Beverly is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate and graduate students Entrepreneurship and Leading Teams. She is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA).

She has spent over 25 years in the investment industry and has been featured in Selling Power Magazine and quoted in hundreds of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, Investment News and Solutions Magazine for the FPA. She speaks frequently at investment industry conferences and is a speaker for the CFA Institute.

Read more articles by Beverly Flaxington