by Craig Clemons

Good Gravy! Quit boring your audience to death. Far too often, fundraisers, volunteers and well-meaning Board Members put audiences to sleep instead of delivering an informative, compelling and inspirational message.

Below are some flawed techniques and deliveries…along with considerations for a better (more effective) approach.

Some General Rules: The average presentation should run no more than 15-25 minutes. Best Practices ‘sprinkle in’ a hand-raising survey, audience interactivity, animation, a fly-through video, a testimonial speaker (2-3 minutes is nice) or some other interactive element. Go ahead and promise your audience that you will deliver remarks/wrap up in 20 minutes and cover Q&A at the end. This sets up focused attention and (hopefully) no one will be studying their smart device for this short window.

So here are 7 bad approaches observed by Clemons & Associates:

1. Too long, too much information. If using a visual slide show (and 77% of individuals receive information visually so this is a good idea), limit to no more than 15-20 slides and 1-3 concepts/bullets per slide. A good rule of thumb (average pace) is :60 second per slide.

2. Practice, Practice, Practice on delivering a high-energy, authentically-impassioned presentation. If a presentation is boring, 10 minutes can seem like 10 hours.

3. Reading the slides. Don’t you dare read the same text word for word represented on the screen. Your audience is not likely a class of 4th Graders.

5. Lack of interactivity or testimonials. You can wear your Sunday best and be a supreme orator but you will get the audience’s full attention if you showcase an Educator, Student, Staffer, Recipient…whose life was/is changed from a benevolent gift. Be thinking how to curate, direct and facilitate meaningful ‘story sharing’ moments from select constituents.

7. Room Set-Up and Technology. I highly suggest these three tactics: a) ask host about smart TV, monitor/screen, speaker array and ability to ‘screen share’ from your PC; b) arrive early (one hour?), set up and test systems; work through all bugs and check visuals and audio; c) have a back-up plan in place which might involve a friendly technician should things go awry.

Now that we’ve covered the “Seven Sins,” the below tactics will help deliver an impactful, beautiful and effective (high close rate) presentation:

1. Interactivity. Think of the endless opportunities for the speaker to interact with a top donor, an impassioned staffer, a thankful student/program recipient, a special volunteer, a committed Board Member or other representative.

BONUS IDEA: If a donor is in the room which gave six or seven figures in the last campaign, highlight his/her philanthropic spirit and ask if they will share a few comments (give them notice in advance and gain their permission; they will likely appreciate a few notes surrounding metrics/outcomes from last campaign).

2. Enthusiasm and Passion. It’s a crying shame when so much energy/effort takes place to successfully gather stakeholders, prospects…only to fail on message delivery with the right amount of inspiration, motivation and enthusiastic messaging.

3. Length and Structure. Practice delivery with your team, volunteers, spouse or dog at home ensuring you can deliver all points (and include your metaphors, humor and antidotes in your practice) aiming for specific allotted time before taking Q&A.

4. Clear Message. Be sure to limit your key points to three or four concepts and be sure they are well-framed and thoughtfully positioned (crystal clear). Practice on a ‘mock audience’ before standing in front of donors/business leaders/philanthropists.

5. Visuals. We are HUGE fans of visuals. We worked with a media agency and spent $35,000 on a branded campaign film to enthusiastically explain our project with music, voice over and high-end renderings (we raised $108 million in three years). The point is: you might want to spend operational monies in order to compellingly communicate opportunity via Fly-Through, Video, Animation, Live Streaming with recipients or stakeholders or other visually-rich element.

6. The ‘Ask’. 99% of the time, you should deliver the Call to Action and make the ‘ask’ at the end of your campaign presentation and compelling case for support. Don’t be shy; your audience is usually sophisticated and wants to know ‘what is it you are looking for’ anyway. Be genuine. Be honest. Be diplomatic but passionate in your solicitation. And genuinely thank your audience for their time, attention and consideration.

7. Post Presentation. Be sure to engage all key attendees (the donors) even if it’s a quick handshake, hug or expression of appreciation. If you get a “come see me” from an attendee, this is usually a good sign you have inspired their philanthropic intentions and a pledge/gift could be discussed at your coffee meeting.