Lately, the best thing about FedEx Office is the commercials. Thanks to our Program Leader Maria Ralph – who’s constantly on the lookout for examples of good, bad, and ugly communications – here’s one of the best from FedEx Office’s latest campaign:

You need to be airport security for your organization (bonus points for channeling the big burly guy with the dangling keys). Take an x-ray view of your presentation and inspect the message. That doesn't mean reviewing the slides. In fact, shut down PowerPoint and ask a few key questions – all critical elements of your message:

• Listeners: Who are you talking to? Why? What do they expect? Why would they challenge you? Summarize your listeners into 3 adjectives (skeptical, budget-conscious, time pressured, detail-oriented, etc.)
• Point Of View (POV):What’s the one thing you want them to walk away with? How do you want them to change the way they think or act about your subject? Maybe it’s something like:
  • Simplifying systems
  • Broadening their perspective of your offering
  • Getting closer to customers with social media
  • Adopting a new protocol or standard
• Action: Once they buy off on your POV, what’s next? Tell them what to DO! Make the action timed, physical, and measurable. It’ll become your golden nugget of accountability.
• Benefit: What will they get if they take the action? Don’t just give them a standard corporate line of “greater ROI” or “more revenue to the bottom line” – give them something that they care about. Remember how you described the listener above and target that description: if they’re risk averse, talk about a benefit that will ease their mind.

The rest of the message should address what the listener needs to know to buy off on your POV, take the action you suggest, and realize the benefits. Things like: the current situation, examples of where you succeeded while others failed, addressing objections, the coolest thing about your proposal, and emotional reactions about your topic.

Last but not least, your slides better grab your listeners' attention and support that message. Remember, don’t just give them sales figures. Yawn.