Presentations in Action - Jerry Weissman [6]
I stopped him and said, “So what?”
The CEO thought for a moment, and then added, “which will make our drug the preferred choice for physicians and generate significant revenues for our company.” “Safe and efficacious” were valuable benefits for a physician who could prescribe the drug, but “generate significant revenues” is a benefit for an investor.
One of the most effective ways to avoid the “So what?” Syndrome in your presentation is to insert a WIIFY. WIIFY is an acronym of “What’s in it for you?” and is based on the common axiom, “What’s in it for me?” The shift of the last word from me to you is deliberate because it shifts the focus from the presenter to the audience. The shift also leverages the power of you, the persuasive word you read about in the previous chapter. Think of the WIIFY as the ultimate benefit statement.
To insert a WIIFY in your presentation, pause your forward progress at a key point and start this sentence: “This is important to you because ....” Then finish it with a benefit to your target audience.
Or pause at another key point and pose this rhetorical question: “What does this mean to you?” Then answer it with a benefit to your target audience, a WIIFY.
Or pause at another key point and pose this rhetorical question: “Why am I telling you this?” Then answer it with a WIIFY.
Find as many key points as you can to insert WIIFYs in every presentation you give, and you will see the “So what?” interruptions vanish.
That last sentence is a WIIFY for you.
4. Beware of Jokes: Dispelling a Common False Belief
One of the most pervasive pieces of advice bandied about in the presentation trade is to start a speech or a presentation with a joke. Wrong! No one can guarantee the success or failure of any joke—certainly not a businessperson, but not even a professional comedian.
Consider Johnny Carson. The legendary talk-show host spent 30 years on late-night television telling jokes written by a crack team of professional, experienced comedy writers, but the jokes didn’t always work. Fortunately, one of Johnny’s greatest assets was his ability to recover from failed jokes. Whenever a scripted gag elicited no reaction or even groans from his audience, Mr. Carson mugged a silent take or made a comment about the bomb; either response often produced more laughter than some of the scripted jokes.
Consider one of Mr. Carson’s most prominent successors, Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show.” Although Mr. Stewart’s adulatory studio audiences worship and roar at almost every word he utters, he occasionally produces a dud. Mr. Stewart recovers with one his many rubber-faced expressions or trademark cackles which, as with Mr. Carson, often produces more laughter than the planned gags.
If Johnny Carson and Jon Stewart can’t guarantee a laugh, how can you?
Still, the temptation persists to break the ice in presentations with humor, to lighten up the proceedings, entertain, or engage the audience; all are noble intentions but still risky business. Even if a joke beats the odds and gets a laugh, the laughter is a digression from the main message of the speech or presentation.
The risk of humor is even riskier in today’s globalized world and its diverse audiences. But diverse cultures still retain their original sensibilities, and comedy does not cross borders easily—even with a common language. U.S. humor and U.K. humour differ by much more than a single letter. If you have any doubt, watch Americans in the audience of a British music hall comedy. They are the only ones not laughing.
If, despite all these caveats, you still insist on telling a joke in your speech or presentation, make it self-deprecating. If you fail at making fun of yourself, your failure will be at your expense and not at your audience’s.