We will be having a sales conference where we can present our marketing plans and programs for 2009 however my problem is a straightforward presentation usually puts our sales force to sleep. It's very boring for them so I have to spice up my presentation.
Can you give any themes or ideas on how to engage my audience to participate and pay attention to the presentation?
Why don't you do a video clip every fifth slide, introduce viral marketing or similar. Viral marketing tends to be funny/controversial. Take a look at the Durex "Get it on" video – it mightn't be to everyone's taste but it's very effective. Will certainly wakeup the sales people!
You could also do audience participation – they'll stay awak to avoid getting called up on stage!
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Upbeat visuals along with music that invigorates.
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Get the sales people involved! Give them a chance to participate. They will enjoy themselves and you'll get lots of laughs and a lot of applause at the end. There are many ways to do this.
You could 'sound them out' in advance and see what they would enjoy responding to.
You could invite them to submit questions and comments in advance, anonymously if they wish, but it is better if they are happy to be identified to the audience. Then you could read them out and base your presentation around their comments.
You could have a 'roving microphone' held by an assistant who goes into the audience and invites people to speak. Some of these could be pre-arranged so you have a prepared answer or mini-presentation which looks spontaneous.
You could invite members of the audience on stage for scenarios which, as above, could be prepared in advance or could be spontaneous.
What themes to use? I don't know the industry you are in or the products / services you are selling, but a 'credit crunch' theme could be good, talking about scenarios for effective selling when no-one has any money to buy.
Discounts, staged payments and loss leaders could all be portrayed in amusing scenarios involving the sales team playing both themselves and their most difficult / impossible customers.
You could call your presentation: 'Sales and marketing for the credit crunch'.
Hope this helps!
Katy Ortega
http;//www.biz247.biz
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