In your presentation, proof points give the audience ways to understand your ideas and reasons to believe you. They help you create both logical and emotional resonance with the audience. There’s no reason presentations, even highly technical presentations, have to put audiences to sleep. Strategically placing proof points throughout your presentation reinforces your key messages, adds interest to the material and builds your credibility. Proof points reinforce your key messages by making abstract concepts more concrete. The old adage “seeing is believing” captures the power of examples, explanations and demonstrations to bring ideas to life.
When speaking to audiences who already recognize a need, the key to success is providing some type of evidence that proves you can best meet that need. They become the “proof of concept” that shows your listeners you can actually deliver what you’re promising. Two powerful forms of proof points are explanations and statistics.
Explanations literally seek to make something “plain” or understandable. Three of the most effective types of explanations are definitions, functions and causes.
Explaining by definition
Explaining by definition involves laying out the essential parts of a concept. For example, a consultant might explain the concept of short-term interval staff management or an attorney might define a point of law. Definitions are particularly useful when a concept is unfamiliar or commonly misunderstood.
Explaining by function
Often, something is best understood by explaining its function. An insurance agent might explain differences in insurance policies by what they are designed to accomplish. A consultant might explain elements of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance by showing how they are designed to function.
Explaining by causal relationships
Explanations involving cause and effect relationships usually focus on what produced the current state of affairs or which course of action is likely to produce the desired effects in the future. A financial planner might explain how the combination of overspending, poor debt management and failure to save caused a couple to become mired in debt. He might then go on to show how changing those habits will lead them out of debt and help them save.
You can also use a combination of explanations. For example, you might explain mutual funds by both defining them and showing how they function.
When used appropriately, statistics can make a presentation more credible, more persuasive and more authoritative. Statistics can be a powerful form of support, but they can also alienate your audience and bury important points you’re trying to make. It’s unlikely you’ll be presenting to a room full of statisticians, so you need to find ways to translate those numbers for a lay audience. You’ll be more effective using statistics when you make them attractive, contextual and economical.
Making Statistics Attractive
: Many people process information visually rather than verbally. Use graphs and charts whenever appropriate to reinforce your point visually. Visuals also aid retention and will help the audience remember your point.
: Infographics are a special type of visual representation. For example, if you wanted to talk about the difference in domestic oil production between 2000 and 2010, you might use a barrel symbol to represent X million barrels of oil. This easily recognizable symbol adds visual reinforcement to the message.
Making Statistics Contextual
: An analogy works by explaining something unfamiliar in terms of something the audience already knows about. When CD-ROMs first arrived, people had difficulty grasping how much information they could hold. One way to explain would be to say that a CD-ROM holds approximately 450 floppy discs. For the computer illiterate, a better explanation would be to say that a CD-ROM holds 200,000 pages of text. Analogies become even more important as the number of zeros increases.
Use reference points
: Statistics are meaningful only when the audience has a point of reference to understand them. Contextualize your statistics within a point of reference the audience understands.
Making Statistics Economical
Round your numbers
: Unless there is an overriding need for precision, round off your statistics. No one needs to know there are 311,045,607 people in the United States. Saying the population is 311 million will be more memorable and make your point more succinct. Round off statistics whenever possible.
Proof points help you to create believability and to bring your ideas to life. When you are more persuasive and better understood, you’ll come closer to getting the business.
©2011 Peak Communication Performance. Excerpted from Rainmaking Presentations: How To Grow Your Business by Leveraging Your Expertise, available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. Download the first chapter at www.RainMakingPresentations.com. Affluent Magazine’s Presentation Expert, Joseph Sommerville, Ph.D., shows professionals how to design, develop and deliver effective presentations. When you book him to show your organization how to create more persuasive presentations, you’ll discover why better communication means more business. Contact him at Sommerville@RainMakingPresentations.com.