The number one thing people remember from any presentation, whether it's a one on one presentation, or 10,000 people are in the room. And it's a speaker up on stage. The number one thing people remember the stories, stories are the ultimate example. People do not remember facts delivered in a straightforward way. Now, this is one reason why a lot of people feel they're much better in one on one presentations than they are so called formal presentations standing up in front of people, because a lot of people are comfortable giving case studies, example stories, talking to one person and they don't feel comfortable doing that to large groups. Well, that's a problem for them.

You don't have that problem. If you normally tell story, tell stories, in your one on one presentations. Anything that is a message that's important to you, you need to have stories, examples, case studies that will flesh out that story. Now, here's where the skill comes in place. It's not just you following a set script. It's more like if you remember the old timey jukeboxes, you've got a seven B two, C three, you've got all these different options.

Some may be in the genre of oldies, and some may be in the genre of hard rock. But you've got a lot of different choices. So this is where the more you know about the person you're meeting, and the more you get them to ask questions are to answer your questions. That's where you can tailor So for example, if I'm meeting with a prospect who's interested in hiring me for public speaking training, I might ask them again, is there anything that makes you uncomfortable when you speak? And there's usually a range of responses sometimes it's when I speak to large Audiences if that's it, then I have a whole series of anecdotes and I can talk about specific clients and how they have exactly the same problem. And how I solved it.

Sometimes people say, well teach I have completely relaxed with a large group. I just feel like that's a piece of cake. I get nervous when I'm speaking to five colleagues on the Monday morning staff meetings. Well, that's something effort thousands of times to, so I'll pull out very specific examples. And stories of clients I've helped, what their concerns were, how I videotape them, rehearse them, coach them, and get them to the point where they were equally as comfortable speaking to large audiences and small audiences. So that's what's critical for you.

You've got to have real life stories, case studies, successful examples of what it is you do because that's what sticks in people's memories. Otherwise, it's just abstract. And they may be meeting with five other people who do what you do. And let's face it, some fields are harder to differentiate than others. If you're selling insurance services, financial management services, a lot of those things blur together after a while and are seen rightfully or wrongly as commodities, by certain customers. So, you've got to flesh it out in a meaningful way that can be remembered.

So any important point that you want people to remember, it is important to really flesh that out in a way that they can't forget. I know that firsthand, because you know, there are a lot of people who are presentation coaches. And sometimes people just assume Well, it's because you're naturally gifted at it. You're always articulate, and some level it's hard to learn. And I always stress it. No, that's not it at all.

I was not Born a good speaker. I was pretty shy. And I had to learn lessons the hard way. I remember once I was going on to talk radio show more than 20 years ago. And the host asked me my opinion on a particular presidential candidate running I gave the opinion and he said, Mr. Walker, I have more respect for a Klansmen than I do for you and he pulled the microphone right out of my hand that's a bit shocking. And down in South Florida it's a talk radio show nobody can see me but I'm pulling the microphone back.

Yeah, yeah. But Mr. Steak when I really think before I could say anything else. This host Mr. Stick, reaches under the table, pulls out a gun and pointed at me. Now do you see my point Mr. Walker? You know what I said that nothing much if anything came up.

Finally, you girdled so it was not my finest moment was not my best one on one presentation. But you know what I did get through the interview. He didn't shoot me. The good news is, every interview I've ever done since has been a piece of cake. I either went back to that radio station Two weeks later, and guest hosted other talk radio shows. Now I stayed away from that host.

But I did go back because I like speaking I like helping other people speak. And I don't let one bad situation or experience ruin it for me. And I've been speaking and helping people speak ever since. So what did I just do there? I just told a little story. It took less than two minutes.

But I was trying to flesh out my point. That Hey, your presentation coach wasn't born. Perfect knowing how to speak it's a learned skill. And then I happen to have a real commitment to it. And that's how I've learned A lot and how I can possibly help you. That's the message I was trying to convey.

But if I just said it in a straightforward way, in 10 seconds, it wouldn't be remembered. Whereas I have clients who I haven't seen in 15 years, I bumped into them and they'll say DJ had more guns pulled on, it sticks in their memory. By the way, it's a true story to your stories don't have to be as dramatic as someone pulling a gun on you. They do need to be true. And they need to have a few basic elements of introduce a character. What's the setting?

What's the problem? How did you feel? What did that client or customer colleague say to you? What did you say back? That's it. All of us tell stories all the time.

All day long. We do it with friends, family, colleagues we're comfortable with we do it over the phone, one on one in the hallways. But there's something about us when we get into trouble. thing that feels formal. We often stop telling the stories. Well don't do that.

You want to tell that story. Now, if this is a meeting with a really important customer, who is well known in the industry and you've never met before, and they're wildly successful, and they're a billionaire, I understand the temptation is to think of this as really formal stiffen up. Well, it's not formal to them. They just want to hear something interesting. So don't want to be formal in a way that seems stuffy or flat or stodgy or boring. Now, if you normally wear flip flops every day and cut off shorts because you work at home, and now you're meeting with this person in a big fancy office, and this person is going to be an expensive suit.

Well, I'm not suggesting you just show up in your flip flops and cutoff shorts. Certainly you may dress in a formal way but how you speak should be conversational and interesting. I've never once heard anyone, whether they're an audience of 1000 people listening to someone speak or talking to one person I've never heard anyone say, wow, I really am glad this person was formal with me today. I've heard people say, I'm glad this person was interesting. I've heard them say, I can't stand the fact that this person board the you know what, Atomy, but I've never heard anyone specifically request that someone be formal. So let's come up with our stories for each one of our message points.

That's your homework. Now look at your outline that you have, and write down a couple of words to remind you of the relevant story for each one of your message points.