PowerPoint tip 8

PowerPoint tip 8.

Can you pass the elevator test?
Check the clarity of your message with the elevator test.
This exercise forces you to sell your message in 30-45
seconds. Imagine this is the situation: You have been
scheduled to pitch a new idea to the head of product
marketing at your company, one of the leading technology
manufactures in the world. Both schedules and budgets are
tight; this is an extremely important opportunity for you if you
are to succeed at getting the OK from the executive team.
When you arrive at the Admin desk outside the
vice-president's office, suddenly she comes out with her
coat and briefcase in hand and barks, sorry, something
come up, give me your pitch as we go down to the lobby Imagine such a scenario.
Could you sell your idea in the elevator ride and a walk to the parking lot? Sure, the
scenario is unlikely, but possible. What is very possible, however, is for you to be
asked without notice to shorten your talk down, from, say, 20 minutes, to 10 minutes
(or from a scheduled one hour to 30 minutes), could you do it? True, you may never
have to, but practicing what you might do in such a case forces you to get your
message down and make your overall content tighter and clearer.
Author, Ron Hoff ("I Can See You Naked") reminds us that your presentation should
be able to pass the David Belasco test while you're in the planning stages. David
Belasco was a producer who insisted that the core idea for every successful play he
produced could be written as a simple sentence on the back of a business card. Try
it. Can you crystallize the essence of your presentation content and write it on the
back of a business card? If the task is impossible for you, then you may want to
think again and get your message down pat in your mind. This too is certainly
something you do before you ever begin to open up PowerPoint (Keynote).