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It’s the summer and your mailbox lately has at least one or two wedding invitations in it a week – if not more. You are flattered that you seemingly are so popular and that your friends, colleagues, even acquaintances are not only thinking of you as they make their wedding list, but actually inviting you. Apparently they think highly enough of you that they want your presence as they celebrate their big day.

While you are delighted to lend your presence at the great occasion, you aren’t so delighted when you think of the cost of all those “presents” that you will have to give to all the newlyweds, and this is in addition to the engagement or shower gifts that you already gave to the future bride. You actually are looking forward to joining in the wedding festivities – but wedding gifts are an extra expense that you really can’t afford these days. It is times like this that you wish that you were a hermit living in a log cabin somewhere in the middle of nowhere with no phone or internet. But you are not and somehow, you have to deal with the fact that a present goes hand in hand with your presence at the wedding ceremony and reception.

But who says a gift has to be something you need to buy, something that needs to be wrapped in paper and tied with a pretty bow – or ripped out of a checkbook? The truth is if you have a particular talent or have the ability to provide a professional service that people pay for, you can offer these instead of going shopping and parting with money that you could use for other important purposes, like paying a bill.

If you are a lawyer, perhaps you can review a legal document, or give a complimentary root canal if you are a dentist (or a free teeth whitening of the young couple’s teeth if they are both cavity free). Perhaps you play the violin beautifully, or have a lovely singing voice. You can offer to perform during the ceremony or reception. That “gift” would surely be more meaningful to the wedding party than another blender or coffeemaker.

If you feel that you have nothing to offer in terms of talent or professional services, think again. There is so much you can do to make life more pleasant for them. Your gift to them can involve spending your time rather than your money – which may even be more valuable to them. To that end you can write a “contract” in which you commit yourself to clean their house top to bottom after a holiday party they host. Or you promise to watch their dog during their week-long vacation. Mowing their lawn an entire month, or shoveling their driveway after three major blizzards is another “gift” you can offer. Looking to the maybe not so distant future, you can promise to babysit for 10 nights – over a period of time of course, not in a row. So don’t be afraid to look in your mailbox. Enjoy the weddings and don’t take out your wallet.

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.

Have you ever heard a presentation, a lecture, or an acceptance speech that just left you in awe? Did it make you wonder how they did it? How did they make public speaking seem so easy? Even though it may seem like an innate trait, you can learn to become a better, more powerful public speaker.

Public speaking is a skill that is very important to develop. Regardless of the field you work in, you will be interacting with people or groups. By learning to engage the other party, you will have a better time getting through to them and be able to establish yourself as knowledgeable and powerful.

Whether it is in a small conversation or a large presentation, three key elements of public speaking are:

1. Message content
2. Audience connection
3. Message impact

Here, we will discuss the message impact and message content.

First, let’s understand what message impact means. When you are giving a speech, what do you want your audience to take away?

Often times in a company, you may be asked to give a status update on a project or explain a new idea. When doing so, start by writing down what you want to have happen after you give the speech. How do you want them to act- whether that is to support your initiative or help coordinate future actions?

Use those questions to guide the speech. Word it so that it pushes your message.

The next element that we will discuss is message content.

I guarantee that you have sat through a speech that either has gone over your head or became very boring. Often times, it is very technical speech that you cannot fully process.

Yes, having facts in a speech is good- it shows that you are knowledgeable about your presentation- but a good speech is about more than just numbers and charts and data.

If there is a lot of information that you must get across, try breaking it up into different segments, with an engaging break in the middle, or sending out the data sheets afterwards, via email.

The key here is to not bore the audience and ensure that they can process what they are told.

Learning to become a good public speaking will help you get your message across in a more efficient manner. Use these three elements and see how it changes the way people pay attention to your presentations!