Tweet

Business Presenting - How To Make A Great First Impression

Guest post by: Milly Sonneman

Article Overview: In presentations, as in life, you only have one chance to make a first impression. This is why the titles of your presentations act as crucial magnets for anyone choosing to attend. Discover how to title your presentation to immediately attract your audience.

Business Presenting - How To Make A Great First Impression

In presentations, as in life, you only have one chance to make a first impression. This is why the titles of your presentations are crucial. In this short article, let's examine how to title your presentation to immediately attract your audience.

What's in a presentation title?

If you look at most business presentations, strategy messages, and sales pitches, you'll notice one thing. Deadly boring titles.

If you were giving an award for the most boring, the dullest, and the most tedious titles, you'd have to have a lot of ribbons to hand out!

Sadly, many professionals title their presentations without thinking of catchy words, emotional spark or what the audience is really seeking.

This gives rise to titles such as:

Enterprise Sales Enablement Solutions

Research Findings For Field Utilization From The ACME Study

Strategic Initiatives In Alignment to The Corporate Vision for 2020

What's your response to these titles?

Yawn.

If presentation and conference titles were looking for extra work, they might double as a cure for insomnia. Think I'm kidding? Try reading the titles in your industry's conference brochure and staying awake!

Well, you're not alone in falling asleep while skimming the titles.

Here's what your clients and prospects are thinking as they preview the titles: "I'm getting sleepy and bored before I ever sit down. Maybe I do need to skip out and grab a latte."

And as luck would have it, they may not come back from the coffee shop in time for your talk! Instead of risking the dreaded fate of presenting to an empty auditorium, get out your red pen and do some editing.

Be ruthless. Aim for dynamic headlines to describe your talk.

Here are a few pointers for titling your talk, pitch or report:

Tip 1. No Passive Language

Use verbs! Speak in active terms.

Tip 2. No Long Words

If your title is easy and catchy, you should be able to say the name of your presentation without sounding as if you have marbles in your mouth.

Tip 3. No Corporate Jargon

You are giving a dynamic presentation, aren't you? Signal this to your audience. Avoid using words that only belong in the corporate bylaws or annual report. Avoid sounding like you never get out of the office park.

If you aren't sure whether your title passes this 3-point test, do not check with an office mate. He or she may not be able to spot the lack of luster in your title. Instead, check with a 6-year old. If your young friend understands, can repeat the title and can say it without effort, then you deserve a gold star!

Hint: most likely you will sit in a meeting or presentation this week. Notice how the title of the presentation or talk affects you. Now you know the rules. Play a little game to challenge your inner-editor. See how you can rename these presentations to ignite interest and spark excitement.

Once you get used to renaming other people's presentations, it's a whole lot easier to edit your own. Funny thing, eh?

Write powerful titles to make a great first impression and cut through the clutter. Use the right words and pictures to connect with what matters most for your audience.

Related Articles
  The Proposal Document
  Bridges and Walls
  One Last Rule Never Put Everything in Your Advertisement
  You’ve got 50 milliseconds to wow me
  June is Time to Polish What You Say Before You Speak
  How To Leave A Lasting Impression
  What is Personal Branding
  15 Presentation Tips to Convert your Sale
  First Impressions
  First Impressions
  Isn’t it Time to Add Teleseminars to Your Marketing Mix?
  How to Make your Presentation a Success
  Help! I Don't Have Time to Learn Presentation Skills
  Impact and Influence in Action – Being Nice Doesn’t Mean You’re Not Working
  8 Presentation Flaws that Steal Your Money
  What Happens When You Try to Hard To Sell?
  Personal Branding: Make the Right First Impression
  Dressing for Success - What Not to Do!!!
  Are You A Network Marketing Sore Loser Or A Loser Who Soars?
  Shoes / Watch / Grooming

Article Tags: business presentation, presentation coach, visual story



Related Forum Posts
Top 19 Copywriting books - 1. Ogilvy on Advertising. David Ogilvy. Wiley. 2. Positioning: The Battle for your Mind. Al Ries and Jack Trout. Warner. 3. The New Positioning. Jack Trout. McGraw-Hill. 4. Tested Advertising Methods. John Caples. Prentice-Hall. 5. How to Make your Advertising Make Money. John Caples. Prentice-Hall. 6. Guerrilla Advertising. Jay Conrad Levinson. Houghton Mifflin. 7. Direct Mail Copy that Sells. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall. 8. Sales Letters that Sizzle. Herschell Gordon Lewis. NTC Business Books. 9. Herschell Gordon Lewis on the Art of Writing Copy. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall. 10. Romancing the Brand. David Martin. American Management Association. 11. The Art of Writing Advertising: Conversations with William Bernbach, Leo Burnett, George Gribbin, David Ogilvy, Rosser Reeves. NTC Business Books. 12. Confessions of an Advertising Man. David Ogilvy. NTC Business Books. 13. My Life in Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books. 14. Scientific Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books. 15. How to Become an Advertising Man. James Webb Young. NTC Business Books. 16. The Lasker Story as He Told It. NTC Business Books. 17. Advertising Concept and Copy. George Felton. Prentice Hall. 18. The Copy WorkShop Workbook. Bruce Bendinger. The Copy Workshop. 19. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads. Luke Sullivan. Wiley. This should keep you busy for at least a year. Enjoy!
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Quote of the Day - "The only people witho - Thanks for sharing this Evan, there are some very powerful quotes in there, I particularly like this one:- You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really are now? Don't think about who you have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully. regards, Mal.
Chacha search engine - Great suggestion Andy! I read about ChaCha in Inc or Business 2.0 a few months ago. They have an interesting story - I wonder how they are going to scale as they grow if they have to pay their guides. Have you had any experience using ChaCha?
Finding creativity - Great topic Andy! For me it's: - Going for a walk (I always try to get out at least once during the day) - Taking a shower - Reading business magazines (especially Inc and Business 2.0) - Late at night (I'm more productive / creative at night than during the day) - Relaxing with a drink at the bookstore


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Having It All... With No Sleep

Listen to Your Inner Melody

The Future of Online Marketing

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.