How To Drive Home Key Messages When You Present – without sounding like a broken record

If you’re presenting to senior leaders, clients or teams, you’ll want the message to land in a way that drives action.

To achieve that, one principle rules above all – but most speakers overlook this. Your content need to answer the question, “What’s in it for me?”. This is the key benefit of the talk – from the audience’s point of view.  If you don’t have that, there’s no fundamental emotional driver to create action.

Yes, you may have an excellent rationale with the facts and data to back it up. That makes people decide that the action makes sense. But what gets them to act? It’s the WIIFM that underpins all your content.

Here’s what WIIFMs look like, and how to find them. Have a look then come back here….

And you’re back.

Repetition, Repetition: our minds are sieves

Most people won’t remember the WIIFM if you say it once. You need to repeat – at least three times – for the message to stick. For example, how many times have you listened to a fascinating podcast or read an enlightening piece of text only to forget it within hours?

The problem I often come across is in presentation training courses is not the need for repetition but: how to repeat this key message – your WIIFM – without sounding like a broken record

To that end, here’s a table with prompts for each stage of your presentation to use throughout the structure.

How to Reinforce the WIIFM Throughout Your Talk

Make Your WIIFM Concrete – Then Put It Through A Prism

You don’t have to state the benefit in exactly the same way each time. For example if your WIIFM is ‘Strategic Clarity’, you’d be well-advised to rephrase this. Ironically, this phrase is quite foggy. To make it more concrete, you can echo this in several ways:

• “Visibility”
• “Decision-making confidence”
• “Control over outcomes”
• “Fewer blind spots”
• “Faster alignment”

This keeps the message fresh  and meaningful while reinforcing the same core value.

To present with impact, this rephrasing will make your message land, whether the stakes are low or hitting the roof.

Your Action:

1. To refine your presentation skills, ensure you state your WIIFM at each stage.

That’s it. One action but it’s the one that will give you the edge, helping you to significantly elevate your presentation skills – whether the stakes are low or going through the roof.

Need some help with your presentation skills? Look over here at all the options in presentation skills training and coaching. I can customise too. Get in touch with me here to see how we can work together. No commitment, no strings attached: just a 15-minute free Discovery Call.

Photo by Kevin Andre at unsplash.com