To be a Powerful Presenter Use the 4 P's
by Dana Bristol-Smith

Casey Gwinn is the CEO of the YWCA of San Diego County. Casey is a former prosecutor and City Attorney who has dedicated his life and career to helping women who are victims of domestic violence. Casey is a masterful communicator and he is engaging, funny, humble, and passionate when he stands on a stage.

At a recent conference, Casey was talking about how people from different organizations needed to work together towards a common goal rather than getting stuck on their positions. He covered the challenges they were facing as an organization and gave suggestions on how to overcome them.

Here’s how Casey used the 4 P’s.

1. Have a Purpose – His speech had a purpose, a clear objective that every fact, story, and example pointed to and illustrated. His purpose was to get people to work together towards a common goal.

2. Make it Personal – Casey shared something about himself that connected him to the topic and connected us. He told a story about his teenage son who just lost a friend to cancer. His son learned about the importance of listening as he spent time with his dying friend and realized how much he didn’t know about him because he really hadn’t listened much to him before. He had been so busy doing activities that he realized he didn’t really know his friend very well. Casey engaged our emotions by telling this personal story that affected his family. Listening was one of Casey’s main themes of the speech and he illustrated it in a number of ways.

3. Be Personable – He showed his human vulnerable side by sharing a humbling experience and what he’s learned from it. Another story was about how when he was first married he thought it was his job to be the boss, the way his father had been. He learned that in order to have a good marriage, it was more important to listen to his wife than just be the boss. (How many men would admit that?)

4. Show and tell your Passion – You can hear it in his voice, see it in body language, facial expressions and feel it in the room! Casey’s passion is helping women who were victims of domestic violence. He shares their stories of courage and success and connects to the common goal that everyone in the audience has.

Now, what about you?

You might be thinking that you are giving a business presentation and well, you just don’t feel passionate about it. Yes, I agree that could be challenging.

Here’s how you can use the 4 P’s:

1. Have a Purpose – Why are you giving this presentation? Why is this important – what is the bigger picture? How does it connect to the mission of your organization?

2. Make it Personal – How are you connected to the topic? Why is it important to you? What examples or stories can you share that personally connect you?

3. Be Personable – What challenges have you had? What have you learned from them? What can you share that will show your humanity and vulnerability? We feel closer to people that share the real stuff--warts and all.

4. Show and tell your Passion – Why do you care about this? What excites you about it? You need to connect to your own emotions. When you do that your audience will be drawn to you.

Remember this:

If you want your audience to care about what you are presenting, you have to show that you care about your material and about them!

About the author
Dana Bristol-Smith is the founder of Speak for Success, an organization that works with companies that want their people to communicate with confidence and credibility. You can email Dana at:dana@speakforsuccess.net

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