The Broadband Connection. Alan Carroll

      Vibrant means spirited, lively, full of life, energetic, vigorous, vital, animated, sparkling, effervescent, vivacious, dynamic, stimulating, exciting, passionate, fiery, and sometimes feisty.

      Purpose is your source of power. It energizes you and illuminates the data. It is much easier to manage the space of the room if you are standing in the light of purpose. However, most presenters are not always clear on the purpose of the conversation because they haven’t been trained in the distinction of purpose. They don’t realize how important clarity of purpose is to a successful presentation.

      Imagine guiding a group of people down a dark tunnel. In one scenario, you are using a powerful flashlight; in the second scenario, you have a tiny candle. Clarity of purpose is like the flashlight; it illuminates the space.

      Purpose follows understanding needs. The speaker needs to understand and diagnose the audience’s pain to prepare a conversation that will heal the pain. One difficulty the engineer faces is insufficient information about the customer in order to diagnose the problem accurately.

      Here’s one of the first questions I ask when invited to do a presentation: “What is the audience’s need or pain for which my presentation is a solution?” I want to make sure they are hungry for the data food I will serve them.

      A presenter, who is often a systems engineer, has an enormous number of product features, functions, and benefits on which to draw. But the engineer needs to know what the specific disease is in order to mix the correct prescription. The prescription is the medication or treatment that will cure the disease or reduce the pain of the customer.

      What do I have to give that will be perceived as valuable? What do I have that will make a contribution and be of service to the audience?

      The definition of sales is identifying the customer’s need/pain and how your features, functions, and benefits will solve it. If you can do that, it increases the probability the customer will buy your solution.

      Making a presentation employs the same concept. The speaker has identified the customer’s need/pain and has prepared a conversation to address it.