Presentation in the meeting. How to show your product in 18 minutes and hold attention

You have about 18 minutes#

A person does not hold full attention for long. The number I work with is 18 minutes. So my presentation must not go longer than that. I will not get more time.

I did not invent this number. Look at TED. A speaker there gets 18 minutes and not a minute more. Chris Anderson, who runs TED, said why.

It is enough time to say a serious thing. And it is short, so people still listen to the end.

Attention researchers give a similar range, from 10 to 18 minutes. After that the listener gets tired and starts to think about other things.

This gives the first rule. Time is short, so the presentation keeps only what this client needs.

Four steps of the presentation#

The structure is simple, and I always keep to it.

1. The problem. What the client deals with.
2. The solution. How people usually solve this problem and how your product solves it.
3. The proof. Why your solution works.
4. The next step. What we do after the meeting.

Salespeople often stop at point three. They told the client how good the product is, and everyone went home. There is always a next step, and you are the one who must name it.

The maximum step and the minimum step#

I go to every meeting with two plans.

The maximum step is that the client signs up and starts to use the product.

The minimum step is smaller. We agree who else we need to talk to. Or we pick the day when the test run starts.

Sometimes I do not get the maximum. Fine, then I take the minimum. But if I walk out with nothing agreed, I count that meeting as lost.

A presentation is like breathing#

I do not like monologues in a meeting. A presentation for me is like breathing. I say my part, and then I ask the client something. They answer, I listen, and we move on together.

It goes like this the whole meeting. Try to talk for 18 minutes with no stop, and you will see it yourself. The client is gone before you reach the proof.

One presentation for different clients#

By the time of the presentation you have done the discovery. You know the client's business and what they care about. So you adapt the presentation and the way you show the product to this client.

You show a few slides in detail. You stay longer on what matters to this client. You skip the rest. I never give the same presentation to two different clients.

One slide, one idea#

My slides are simple. Each one has one idea on it, or one number.

I do not read the slide out loud. The client has eyes and reads faster than I talk.

I always want to put more on a slide, I know this feeling. I stop myself and leave less.

The presentation must work without you#

There is one rule that is the hardest to follow. The presentation must work without you.

Here is what happens after the meeting. You are gone, the file stays with the client. In a week they open it again, or they forward it to the boss. Nobody is there to explain your slides, so the slides must explain themselves.

Overloaded slides do harm here. The client reads them in their own way and passes them on inside the company with the wrong meaning. The person who makes the decision gets a different message.

So simple slides help you twice. In the meeting they do not take attention away from you. After the meeting they sell without you.

Stories work better than features#

Storytelling works. Nobody remembers a list of features the next day, but a story stays.

I tell both kinds, the wins and the failures. The best story is about a client with the same business as the person I am talking to. They hear it and think, this is about me.

Pace, pauses and questions#

During the presentation the client's attention must stay on you and on the product. Three things hold it.

• Pace. Too fast is bad, too slow is bad too.
• Pauses. I say the main thing and I keep quiet for a second. The client needs this second to think.
• Questions. Bring the client in, like in breathing. In and out.

Checklist for the presentation in the meeting#

A short checklist that you can take to your next meeting.

Before the meeting

• Take a timer and say the presentation out loud. It must fit into 18 minutes
• Check the structure. Problem, solution, proof, next step
• Write down the maximum step and the minimum step for this meeting
• Remove everything extra from the slides. One slide, one idea
• Show the presentation to a colleague with no comments. If they get the idea alone, it works without you
• Prepare one story of a client with a similar business

During the meeting

• Speak about the things the client told you in the discovery. Skip the rest
• Do not read the slides
• After each block, ask a question and listen to the answer
• After an important idea, make a pause
• Finish with a next step and a date

What to stay away from

• Do not give a monologue for all 18 minutes
• Do not show all the slides to every client
• Do not leave an overloaded presentation with the client
• Do not leave the meeting without the minimum step