Action! Action! Action!
THE CLOSING
The Closing of a presentation is about recapping and circling back the agreements made during the session and ultimately is about what you want your audience to do with what they've learned or acknowledged.
Many studies have demonstrated that people will only remember 10% of what you said. Not because you are not interesting, smart or good enough, just because our brains can only retain so much.
In general, we tend to remember three basic things:
An Impactful Experience – something that changed us drastically – from a very good experience to a very bad one. Something Relevant – basically everything that relates to our current situation, our lifestyle, a life event, a personal preference, etc., in psychology, this is called “selective memory”.What We DO - we remember what we are able to experience with some or all our senses. This is a basic learning principle, the more we engage an individual in applying what was said, the better the fixation will be.
After you’ve presented your relevant topic, and you get people’s attention, when the closing time comes, remember to recap what was covered, ask if there are more questions, present a follow-up plan and focus your closing remarks so they become pragmatic solutions.
So be creative and think of something your audience can DO in order to help them: remember and learn.
The challenge is not to transmit a concept, or an idea. The real challenge it is to help modify a behavior or transform a belief.
When I coach my clients during our one on one sessions, we focus on the answer to these questions:
What would you want your participants to feel?
“I would like for them to feel capable of healing themselves through the power of meditation and good food.”“I wish at the end, they believe that by applying this formula, their lives can be easier.”
What do you want them to do?
“I want them to sign up for my course during the Fall.”“I wish they buy my book and focus on the Chapter where we…” “They should all be able to set up a basic exercise routine to improve posture.”“I need all of them subscribed to my YouTube Channel and like my Instagram page in order to ensure they receive my next video.”
An action that generates commitment and personal accountability could convert a "very nice presentation" into a "my life presentation".
If each person does at least ONE THING to improve their personal and professional lives, that’s already a powerful outcome, and exponentially a phenomenal ripple effect of the drop you’ve given them that day.
Say for example that you have 30 people in your session, each one has one thing they´ll do better starting that same day. Now you have 30 improvements in one day. Now imagine 3,000!
One small thing. One action. One life changed.
