Presenting for Any Sized Audience

Excellent presentation skills are a hallmark of successful sales engineers.  Often the stereotype of an engineer giving a presentation is of a scientist, head down, reading notes off a podium, not connecting with his audience, and describing a topic so technical that most of the people in attendance have no idea what he is talking about.  Unfortunately, this is not very far from most of the technical pre-sales presentations we have all witnessed in recent times.   This series of posts aims to address those issues.

Sales Engineers are teachers who build bridges to unknown from the collective knowledge of the audience (from the known to the unknown).   They do this in the context of the industry they are in, the product/technology they represent, and the objectives of sales call.   Simply relying on PowerPoint slides to convey the message more often than not results in poor retention of knowledge, and a less than memorable product pitch.

What can be done to avoid a droning technical sales pitch and truly connect with any sized audience?


Build good rapport.  Rapport is defined as a relationship of mutual trust or emotional affinity.  Gaining good rapport as a presenter is both an art and a science.   It takes practice in your everyday life in social situations outside of sales engineering (perhaps a topic for a later post).  In the context of a technical meeting, it can start even before you meet the audience in the way your team members introduce your role in the presentation, and it is cemented in your interactions with the audience.   Understanding your audience members point of view/perspective is critical in gaining good rapport.  This will help you see yourself through their eyes while you present.   Gather rapport building information before you open your mouth.   Who is in the room?   What are their roles?   What do they expect to come away with from this meeting?  Address this information as much as you possibly can while you are presenting.   Put yourself in their shoes by thinking of the times you have had similar roles or recalling other people you know that have done similar things.  If you are not familiar with their role, ask them to clarify.   This is especially effective with a small audience.


In a large group, it is often not possible to gather all of this information.  So what do you do?   Look for the "group leaders".   These are the folks who the other audience members are following, whether they do this consciously or not.  They can be the most vocal in the room, or they can be the person who doesn't ask any questions with their arms crossed in the corner.  How do you know?  Look for body language.   If someone moves then other people start matching and mirroring their movements, they are the most likely candidates for being a group leader.   Present directly to the group leaders.   Make eye contact with them and speak directly at them for segments of your presentation.   Find as many group leaders throughout the room and circulate your attention to them.   I am consistently amazed how many people compliment me afterwards because they felt that the presentation was directed at them specifically, even though I did not focus on them as a group leader.   That's the magic of addressing group leaders in a large audience.   The rapport you make one person at time will spread among a much larger group.  

Rapport is one of the skills that makes up great presentations.   Other skills that I will cover in future posts include: using metaphors, getting audience participation, focused demonstrations, addressing questions/issues, and proper wrap up.