The Five P's of Effective Business Communication and Presentations

Getting ready to a presentation? Review these tips to make it your best ever! 

The 5 P's are: Purpose, Preparation, Planning, Practice and Performance.

The first “P” is Purpose:

• Before giving a presentation, going on a sales call, hosting a customer event, or having a staff meeting, ask yourself: 

o What is my desired outcome?
o What is the impact I want to create?
o How do I want the customers or my team to feel during and after this encounter? (Use adjectives such as: moved, passionate, excited, shaken, sold.) 

• How does your purpose for this event/presentation/project relate to your vision? 

o You need to be able to articulate your purpose and then share that with your audience in order to create a shared purpose.
o This is the part where everyone gets on the same page.

The second "P" is Preparation:

• Get as much information about your audience or customer as you can-do the research to know who you're dealing with. 

• Know your material cold. If you're not sure what you're going to say, not sure of the facts about your subject, you won't be able to answer questions from the audience. You will be unprepared and it will show.

Whether giving a presentation, welcoming attendees at a client event, or leading a meeting, preparation is critical to your success. The more you prepare, the better you can successfully improvise. A one-hour presentation that needs to be shortened to 20 minutes at the last minute will not throw you if you're familiar with the material. Time spent at the beginning is a worthwhile investment.

The third "P" is Planning:

• Planning is designing how you are going to achieve your desired outcomes and impact. The more you plan, the clearer your thoughts, the clearer your purpose and the more freedom you have to be spontaneous and flexible. 

• When working with a customer or team member, know the key message you want to convey and what you want to accomplish. Plan what you are going to use to illustrate or reinforce the idea or concept to leave your client with a "picture."