Or perhaps this has happened to you.

Why does this occur?  Well it’s because many presenters wrongly assume their summary or recap slide is their final point, or the presentation’s conclusion.  Unfortunately the summary slide is not the final point, at least not for the audience.    

You see a presentation is like a journey; a journey of logic.  As the presenter, imagine you are the driver of the bus and you are taking your audience i.e. your passengers (ideally engaged and involved ones!) on your journey of logic.

And as with all journeys, a presentation must have a final destination – a final destination where you want to take your passengers.  So, the end of your presentation is not a summary or recap of all your points within the presentation.  The end of your presentation is your final destination and the final destination needs to be all about your audience, not about you and your points!

Creating a memorable destination 

To make it sticky, make it short.  Ideally only 1 sentence, which has two parts:

i)             Decide what audience reaction you want i.e. what do you want the audience to do/think/feel as a consequence of your presentation? 

ii)            Determine their motivation i.e. the WIFT (what’s in it for them), or what might be the consequence, that will motivate them.

Combine reaction + motivation (any order) to = the final destination.

Here’s an example of a destination based on this blog: 

If you want to deliver a memorable message and

end your presentations with conviction (motivation)

you need to finish your presentations with a final destination

that focuses on the audience (reaction). 

I said before that a destination is not the same as your summary.  A summary is simply a recap of your points of interest and persuasion along the journey.  More about those soon!

One last thing – perhaps a word of warning(?).  Deciding your final destination can take a bit of time.  Like deciding where to go on holiday; so many choices!  But make the effort to think carefully.  You may only get one chance to take your audience on this journey, so make it matter, make it memorable, make it count.

p.s. remember it’s your personality that powers your presentation performance.

Then he/she gets to the recap.  You’re looking forward to having the key insights from the presentation delivered in a crystalised, golden-nuggetty form for you to take away.  But no!  Instead the presenter decides to deep-dive back into the content, flaying around in his evidence, leaving you tediously bored and utterly frustrated.

Make sure you never make the same mistake.  Use my simple 2-step process to help you develop a short, sharp recap – and deliver it with impact.

Step 1:  Look at each chunk of your presentation (usually determined by your agenda – every business presentation should have one!) and decide what is the key point of interest or persuasion from that chunk of information.  Decide this point of interest or persuasion for each presentation chunk.

Step 2:  To deliver your recap, all you need to do is remind the audience of each chunk of the presentation that you covered and the key point of interest or persuasion from that chunk.  Easy! 

No deep diving back into the content.  No fat, flabby recaps.  No sinking summaries.  Simply the key points re-iterated; short, sharp and gift-wrapped for your audience.

An example from this blog…

Summary:

Step 1 –  develop your recap by deciding what the key point of interest or persuasion is from each presentation chunk.

Step 2 -  deliver your recap by reminding the audience of each chunk of the presentation that you covered and the key point of interest or persuasion from that chunk.

So in future, don’t bore or frustrate your audience just when they are supposed to be feeling enlightened and uplifted. Nail your key points and deliver a concise, impactful recap they’ll remember.

p.s. remember it’s your personality that powers your presentation performance.