Recently I gave a presentation and did not tell my audience what the agenda was.
The sacrilege of it all!! No agenda??!! That’s the first rule of presentations:
“Tell Them What You Are Going to Tell Them.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t have an agenda to present, but I gave them something better: Walking Points!
Walking Points tell the audience what they are going to leave with.
- Today you will learn how to…”
- When you leave, you will understand the benefit of…
- By the end of the presentation, you’ll be able to explain…
The agenda just tells them what you are going to talk about. Walking Points tells them the benefit to sticking around.
Really want to make your presentation standout? Tell them you will give them something: a handout, a pencil / pen, code to watch your video on YouTube or your website.
Don’t give your audience walking papers; give them Walking Points. They’ll thank you for it.
