Will Bennis, the owner of Locus Workspace, spoke at the June meeting of the Prague Networking Group. He was the second speaker that night, following Pavel Suchanek. The presentation was in a bar, The Office, with the audience standing in front of the speaker. Will had a relaxed and engaging speaking style, but I think he can make some changes in order to present his company better and to allow a clearer and more powerful message for the audience.
Below are some details and advice for future presentations.
Rating system: 1 = outstanding 5 = sucks
You can see a detailed description of my review criteria here
Rating system: 1 = outstanding 5 = sucks
You can see a detailed description of my review criteria here
Message - rating 4
I wasn't quite sure what the core message of your presentation was. Did you want to tell us about the benefits of co-working? Was this about how your company is different? Sometimes it felt like the main message was showing us how great your competition is! Your message was lost in a large amount of information on many different topics.
Advice: For your next presentation, Will, sit down and think about what you want from this presentation and what your audience expects/needs to hear in order for your message to be clear. You don't want your audience to guess what your point is. Make it crystal clear for them! You want them to remember ONE thing about your presentation - what should it be?
Content - rating 4
Too much (positive!) information about your competitors. Too much information about your background. Not enough information about how your company is different and better. The order of your content was off e.g. you didn't tell us who your target customers are and the benefits of your company until the end.
Advice: After you‘ve figured out what your core message is, throw out every piece of content that isn't directly connected to that message. Give your audience a maximum of four content points. I can imagine they might be: What is co-working?/What is Locus Workspace?, Who is it for? What are the benefits of being a Locus client? What are the specifics of doing business with Locus (prices, hours, amenities etc)?
Attention - rating 4
You started your presentation by telling us about yourself for about 10 minutes. This is a common mistake made by speakers. While I would enjoy sitting down and learning more about you, this is not a way to get the audience's attention when you start a presentation. Also, I think because you have academic experience, sometimes this felt more like a lecture than it should have. There just wasn't enough focus on the audience and keeping their attention. Also, the ending was weak ('Thanks for your patience. Sorry it was longer.'). Don't ever apologize at the end of your talk! Make a strong impression at the end.
Advice: Most people don't yet know what co-working is so start your presentation by asking us what we know about it (and be prepared for a whole range of answers). Ask if there are any freelancers in the audience. Ask what problems there might be when people work from home. Make us curious about these topics! Create a knowledge gap! End your presentation by telling us what to remember or reminding us about the benefits of Locus.
Slides - rating 3
Your slides were of the standard, bullet-point variety. Nothing amazing, but not horrible either. But, I think your topic offers the opportunity for your slides to be a lot more interesting. And, when you showed us the photos of your workspace, you said, 'The place is better than it looks in the photos.' Either get better photos or don't point this out! Also, you kept looking at your slides or pointing your thumb at them (for no apparent reason) instead of focusing on the audience.
Advice: Find great photos of co-working spaces, people working from home, frustrated people etc. And, please get new photos of Locus so we can see how great it is during the presentation! Also, take out all complete sentences on your slides. You are giving your audience an option - read or listen (we really can't do both). Unfortunately, most audiences choose to read and, therefore, ignore the speaker.
Presence - rating 2
It's clear that you are an experienced speaker and you were enthusiastic about your topics. You had a speaking style that was engaging and easy to listen to. I felt like you really cared about your audience's understanding of your topics and I think everyone felt comfortable asking questions and interacting with you.
Advice: This is really your strong point and gives you an advantage because a lot of people have to work very hard to feel comfortable speaking in front of people. When you've worked on the other points I've mentioned, you will have no problem being outstanding next time - I'm looking forward to seeing it!
© 2010 Jeanne Trojan. All rights reserved
I wasn't quite sure what the core message of your presentation was. Did you want to tell us about the benefits of co-working? Was this about how your company is different? Sometimes it felt like the main message was showing us how great your competition is! Your message was lost in a large amount of information on many different topics.
Advice: For your next presentation, Will, sit down and think about what you want from this presentation and what your audience expects/needs to hear in order for your message to be clear. You don't want your audience to guess what your point is. Make it crystal clear for them! You want them to remember ONE thing about your presentation - what should it be?
Content - rating 4
Too much (positive!) information about your competitors. Too much information about your background. Not enough information about how your company is different and better. The order of your content was off e.g. you didn't tell us who your target customers are and the benefits of your company until the end.
Advice: After you‘ve figured out what your core message is, throw out every piece of content that isn't directly connected to that message. Give your audience a maximum of four content points. I can imagine they might be: What is co-working?/What is Locus Workspace?, Who is it for? What are the benefits of being a Locus client? What are the specifics of doing business with Locus (prices, hours, amenities etc)?
Attention - rating 4
You started your presentation by telling us about yourself for about 10 minutes. This is a common mistake made by speakers. While I would enjoy sitting down and learning more about you, this is not a way to get the audience's attention when you start a presentation. Also, I think because you have academic experience, sometimes this felt more like a lecture than it should have. There just wasn't enough focus on the audience and keeping their attention. Also, the ending was weak ('Thanks for your patience. Sorry it was longer.'). Don't ever apologize at the end of your talk! Make a strong impression at the end.
Advice: Most people don't yet know what co-working is so start your presentation by asking us what we know about it (and be prepared for a whole range of answers). Ask if there are any freelancers in the audience. Ask what problems there might be when people work from home. Make us curious about these topics! Create a knowledge gap! End your presentation by telling us what to remember or reminding us about the benefits of Locus.
Slides - rating 3
Your slides were of the standard, bullet-point variety. Nothing amazing, but not horrible either. But, I think your topic offers the opportunity for your slides to be a lot more interesting. And, when you showed us the photos of your workspace, you said, 'The place is better than it looks in the photos.' Either get better photos or don't point this out! Also, you kept looking at your slides or pointing your thumb at them (for no apparent reason) instead of focusing on the audience.
Advice: Find great photos of co-working spaces, people working from home, frustrated people etc. And, please get new photos of Locus so we can see how great it is during the presentation! Also, take out all complete sentences on your slides. You are giving your audience an option - read or listen (we really can't do both). Unfortunately, most audiences choose to read and, therefore, ignore the speaker.
Presence - rating 2
It's clear that you are an experienced speaker and you were enthusiastic about your topics. You had a speaking style that was engaging and easy to listen to. I felt like you really cared about your audience's understanding of your topics and I think everyone felt comfortable asking questions and interacting with you.
Advice: This is really your strong point and gives you an advantage because a lot of people have to work very hard to feel comfortable speaking in front of people. When you've worked on the other points I've mentioned, you will have no problem being outstanding next time - I'm looking forward to seeing it!
© 2010 Jeanne Trojan. All rights reserved
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