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Your responsibilities as CEO include speaking and presenting to different audiences. This requires speeches and presentations that Put the Audience First. They resonate with and are specific to each audience. The speech you deliver to shareholders will address concerns of shareholders. The speech you give to employees will address their concerns.

Use these 5 Tips for CEO Presentations to write and deliver speeches and presentations each of your audiences will believe is meant especially for them.

Tip #1-Make a handwritten list of the top three pain points of each specific audience.

Examples

Industry audiences: local and global competition, government regulations, growth opportunities

Shareholders: challenges to growing market share, plans to grow market share, near and long term vision for share value

Company executives: initiatives for growth, funds available for growth, changes in product/service offerings

Company employees: near and long term issues of market share and how these affect employees, how your expectations about productivity will affect them, creating a positive work environment.

These lists of pain points for each specific audience will impact how much your audience feels that you have Put the Audience First.

Tip #2- Make a handwritten list of potential calls-to-action for each specific audience

“Inspire them first…Inform them Later” is a must in today’s world. Information is no longer the primary reason people listen to speeches and presentations, because vast amounts of information are instantly and freely available online.

What a CEO must do provide is inspiration. Call it renewed enthusiasm to tackle a tough job, willingness to grind out the work for an intense period of time, motivate people to do something they would prefer not to do-that’s inspiration. Taking people from their default choice and moving them to undertake a new activity is inspiration.

You need a specific call-to-action that’s related to one or all of the items you’ve listed in Tip #1.

You will use your call-to-action at the end of your speech or presentation, and you’ll write everything else that precedes it to drive steadily towards it.

Tip #3- Craft an attention-getting opening for each specific audience. This goes far beyond thanking people for being there, or thanking the person or group that invited you. (You shouldn’t do either of these things.)

An attention-getting opening asks a question or poses a challenge that is clearly and evocatively related to one of the pain points you listed in Tip #1.

Examples of audience-specific attention-getting openings:

Industry audiences: “Local and global completion is like a marathon. You have to get off to fast start and keep going the distance. Where does your company fit in the fast and furious race that is local and global competition?”

Company executives: “Imagine one year from now you are being featured in the Wall Street Journal for our company’s extraordinarily successful new product or service. What would that feel like? What will it take to make it happen?”

Company employees: “Picture your wallet (pause) and picture your briefcase/back pack (pause). What would it mean to you and our company if our market share filled the briefcase or backpack instead of the wallet?”

Tip #4- Craft key points for your speech that drive to the call-to-action for that specific audience

Industry audiences: Let’s say that your call to action will be “Today, and every day, you have the opportunity to look forward for growth opportunities. The next time we meet, I want to hear at least one amazing effort from each and every one of you in this room.”

The key points that lead up to this call-to-action could be:

Key Point 1 -Studying adjacent markets, either horizontal or vertical, helps you understand the opportunities for your own company’s expansion.

Key Point 2 – Gathering and analyzing data from users of these adjacent markets should be designed to highlight what is missing. What do the current customers want that they aren’t getting?

Key Point 3 – Select a few people you wouldn’t normally put on a team together to brainstorm about the question “what growth opportunities are out there and which ones should we pursue?”

Tip #5-Select content for your speech that is deeply relevant to the specific audience and that leads powerfully to your key points.

Building on the example in Tip #4:

Leading materials (stories, research results, statistics, visuals, handouts, references to popular culture) for each key point:

For Key Point 1 – Present the results of research studies and marketing statistics on adjacent markets; show some visuals of advertising or websites used by these companies; ask the audience to share one way their company relates to these markets with the person sitting next to them.

For Key Point 2- Use statistics and analysis to discuss the unhappiness factor. Be a little humorous by referring to a well-known movie or television character that is always unhappy. Ask the audience to imagine what it would take to make that character happy.

For Key Point 3 – Present some interesting studies that used atypical groups of people to brainstorm about a problem. Go deep into how different people have different perspectives and how they make brainstorming a really valuable effort. Tell a story about a product or service that was the result of an unusual group of people brainstorming.

Get started today with an inspirational speech or presentation that reflects your position as CEO and clearly Puts the Audience First. When they love what you have to say, they remember it and they are inspired to take action.

Looking to stand out in the crowd? Yet still need to ‘fit in’ to the corporate culture, norms and standards for business presenting? Don’t fret. You’re not alone.

Millions of people grapple with this tough dilemma. You want to be different, cutting-edge and radical. But you don’t want to alienate your boss, clients or prospects.

Hey, what’s the right thing to do?

In many popular books by leading experts in public speaking, you’ll find similar advice. It’s all about standing out and shining. You’ll find commands such as: Be unique. Get radical. Push the envelope. Go for shock and awe. Break the rules.

While this sounds good on paper, in the back of your mind, you’re thinking about ‘real world’ issues:

“What would my boss say?”

“That would never fly in my firm.”

“In your dreams, buddy.”

Let’s face the facts. Daring presentations are essential and important.  But there are organizational expectations and realities to face up to — if you want to keep your job.

In planning your next presentation, look at your options in 3-buckets: the good, the bad…and the ugly.

The Good

Action: You take a radical approach to presenting.

Instead of a hum-drum PowerPoint pitch, you turn on the juice with whiteboard presenting. By getting your audience involved in a lively discussion, you expose a hot issue that your clients are going crazy about — one that your firm is able to solve.

Result: Good!

Your boss commends you for taking the risks. Plus he is thrilled because you’ve brought in the rewards. Now, he wants you to find a training company that teaches visual storytelling so all the members of your team can be as proficient at the whiteboard as you are.

Benefit: Good!

You get an A+. Your boss loves your work. Your team admires you as their natural leader. Oh, yes. Don’t forget that hefty bonus check.

The Bad

Action: You take a radical approach to presenting.

You ditch the boring corporate-approved slide deck in favor for a whiteboard approach to storytelling.

Figuring that sketching with a marker in front of a group isn’t as hard as it looks…you jump in without coaching, practice or training.

What happens? Your busy clients are intrigued by your whiteboard scrawl. But they are looking bewildered. They aren’t sure why you bothered. Hint: if people can’t read your writing or understand your visual diagrams, your whiteboard presentations are going to bomb.

Result: Bad!

Your boss is pissed off! After yelling at you in front of the team, you are treated to the silent treatment. Not sure how to proceed, you toy with several options:

1. Get training in whiteboard interaction

2. Never use a whiteboard again

3. Start sending out your resume

Benefit: Instead of jumping first and getting help later, you now know the importance of targeted coaching and training! One bad experience is enough to light a fire underneath you. No more waiting. You’re actively seeking out coaching, training and online classes. No more procrastination. You’re focused on building your skills and getting help right now.

The Ugly

Action: You take a conservative approach to presenting.

Instead risking embarrassment and humiliation at the whiteboard, you grip on to your clicker and run with the same slide deck you used last time.

Feeling confident in your client presentation, you don’t check in with other team members. Moving along in the corporate-approved deck, you have a sense of warm certainty in your tummy that everything is going your way. No rocking the boat like some of your other teammates.

Result: Ugly!

Your boss flips out! You get the riot act. Some wild yelling and head slapping, accompanied with: “I can’t believe you showed that generic deck to these clients! We were counting on that deal. What were you thinking?!”

Feeling betrayed and disillusioned, you ask for help from a close teammate. He tells you that the newest trend in presenting is visual storytelling. He shows you how to draw icons and create a simple visual diagram at a whiteboard. In just minutes, you’ve got an easy story to tell that is fun, inspiring and anything but hum-drum.

Benefit: While you start sending out your resume for a new job, you now have a new awareness of presentation trends. You’re a lot less likely to rely on the same-old-same-old the next time you’re in front of busy clients.

In fact, you’ll be much more prepared to blow your audience away with whiteboard sketches and visual storytelling. Just the thing that important clients and prospects can relate to.

Now, let’s get personal. What’s your plan for your next high-stakes presentation? Take a close, hard look. Aim for interaction and visual storytelling. Remember this: Your boss and clients will love it. Imagine the rewards and benefits: you’ll get an A+ and land a big bonus.