Is Your Presentation Repelling Clients? 3 Proven Strategies to Make Your Speaking Attract the Right Audience
Welcome to the Confident Speaker Podcast by Speaking Your Brand. This is your host, AI Carol. Have you ever found yourself saying, well, this presentation is good enough? Maybe you tweaked an old slide deck, rehearsed it once or twice and figured, I know my material, this will do. You hit the stage or jump on the zoom, deliver it, check the box and move on.
AI Carol:But here's the thing, good enough presentations might not just be dragging down your results, they could be actively hurting your business. Let's talk about why that happens and what you can do to fix it. A few years ago, I sat in the audience of a conference session, the speaker was clearly smart, passionate, and had a great business. But her presentation, it was surface level, stuff I'd expect to see in a beginner workshop. The content didn't match who she said she wanted to work with, advanced professionals ready to go deeper.
AI Carol:As the session went on, I watched the audience zone out and I thought, this is such a missed opportunity. If you want to attract higher caliber clients, get speaking referrals and be invited for premium opportunities, your presentation can't be just good enough. It has to be aligned. It has to be intentional. It has to showcase how you think, not just what you know.
AI Carol:Let's dig into how to make your presentation not just good, but genuinely great and business building. Here are three strategies you can put into action right away. One, know where your audience is in their journey. Before you start outlining your content, ask yourself who's in this room and where are they starting from? Are they beginners, intermediate, advanced?
AI Carol:What are they struggling with right now? And what are they hoping to walk away with? If you don't know, do some digging, ask the event organizer, use the conference hashtag on LinkedIn beforehand and connect with attendees. At the start of your session, ask show of hands questions. The biggest mistake I see speakers make is assuming everyone in the audience is starting from the same place, but your content needs to meet them right where they are.
AI Carol:Two, make your presentation structured, but not stuffed. Good enough presentations often try to cover too much, often in a bullet point dumping kind of way. You know, the ones slide after slide of text. Instead, treat your talk like a story. What's the beginning, the emotional hook?
AI Carol:What challenge are we solving together? What's the turning point? And what's the transformation you're helping them move towards? Use our signature talk framework, act one, act two, act three, to guide the flow. Curate what the audience truly needs to know and make sure you're not just giving facts or tips.
AI Carol:They can Google that. You want to offer your insights, your perspective, and your thought leadership. That's what leaves a lasting impression. Which brings me to the third strategy. Three, align your content with who you want to attract.
AI Carol:Your presentation is like a magnet. It pulls in certain types of people. So if your talk sounds like it's geared to beginners, but you're looking to land advanced clients, you're going to attract the wrong fit. Ask yourself, based on what I say in this presentation, who will see themselves in my stories, in my solutions, and in the way I approach problems, and is that who I actually want to work with? It's better to go deep with fewer people than to stay surface level in hopes of appealing to everyone.
AI Carol:Because here's the truth, you're not just giving information, you're giving direction. You're inviting the audience into your world. Let them know what kind of results you get. Let them see what's possible when they work with you. This isn't about making a sales pitch on stage, it's about demonstrating what it's like to be led by you.
AI Carol:So let's stop settling for okay talks. You've worked too hard, come too far and know too much to deliver presentations that don't fully represent the power of your work. Here's your empowering message for today. Your words shape how others perceive your value. So make sure your presentation reflects the kind of business you wanna build, bold, focused, and dynamic.
AI Carol:If you'd like support crafting a talk that's more than good enough, head over to speakingyourbrand.com. You'll find ways we can work together, whether you're ready for a VIP day or looking to join our thought leader academy. And if you found this episode helpful, be sure to follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so you get more actionable strategies just like this every week. This on demand episode was generated by my AI voice clone trained on speaking your brand content. Thanks so much for listening.
AI Carol:Go out there and speak your brand.
