Without credibility, it’s almost impossible to sell to an audience

In the year 2008, I stood before an audience of about 250 people in Chicago. It was a conference (like most conferences you go to). And it was my turn to speak. After my speech, I made an offer to the audience for some of our products. And most of the audience bought the product priced at about a little over $300.

The interesting part was that I wasn’t the first speaker (I might have been the sixth). So I didn’t have a first-speaker advantage. In fact, most of the audience didn’t know me well. And yet I sold over $20,000 worth of product, without the usual “sales pitch”.

So what causes presentations to come alive?

Most of us have given presentations, but this isn’t about just “giving” presentations. It’s about setting the stage alight, no matter how good the competition. No matter whether your presentation is digital, live or recorded, it needs to get you from “little known” to credible in double-quick speed.

So why is this factor of speed so critical?

As a presenter, you’re either getting the audience to buy into an idea, or invest in a product or service. For a “cold audience” to make such a leap of faith, you need more than good old-fashioned luck. Instead, you’ll need a step-by-step system that allows the audience to be locked into your presentation, from the start to finish. And you know you’ll have done an outstanding job not because of the applause, but because of the action the audience takes right after your presentation.

So how do you get your audience to act? How do you create and sustain that credibility? Is there really a logical structure that gets results every single time?

Here is a list of what to expect:

Part 1: Controlling Presentation Design

• DIY Slide Design: How to create stylish slides without driving yourself crazy
• Understanding the ‘promixity of elements’ and why it avoids visual chaos
• The power of invisible lines and how they help avoid distraction—and increase focus
• Why a simple colour palette saves you endless amounts of preparation time
• How to avoid ‘unwanted noise’ by choosing uncluttered backgrounds

• Why 95% of your slides need just one thought for max impact
• The palm test: How to get rid of unwanted and distracting graphics
• How to use the power of size to make graphics pop on your slides
• Two core methods to instantly increase curiosity on every slide
• Why most photos/graphics are flat on slides and how to bring them to life instantly!

• How to avoid busting your budget on photos/graphics
• Easy ways to stretch your budget without compromising on quality
• How masking and transparency make graphics stand out
• Why most graphs are confusing—and why to avoid 3-D completely

• How to transform graphs into powerful visual data that make audiences sit bolt upright
• How to avoid the downsides of animation
• The secret of how ‘invisible’ animation helps reduce surprise
• Handy presentation resources to help improve your presentation skills

Part 2: Controlling Presentation Delivery

• Why the 13-Box system will change the way you do presentations forever
• A simple way to instantly wake up an audience in a matter of minutes
• The biggest mistakes made with audio and video
• The importance of well-loved stories and how they captivate an audience
• Why ‘easy questions’ break the ice—especially with a tough audience

• How to get engagement with your audience every single time
• The importance of the teaser at the start of your presentation
• Why the right agenda creates a safe zone
• How the fairy tale sequence helps create a flow with your core topics
• How to create drama with statistics, story and problem scenarios

• How examples can save your bacon when you’re running out of time
• How to get a good chunk of your audience to sign up for more information
• Why a break in the middle of your presentation improves conversion

• Goodies: Why they work and when they fail miserably
• Why any goodies or bonuses must have a price point
• Why taking questions at the end is a bad idea
• How to smoothly segue from your presentation to actually selling a product or service

Part 3: Controlling The Event (with premium option)

• The importance of control: And why lack of it leads to utter chaos
• Mastering the three Phases of Control: Pre-event, live-event, post-event
• Teasers: Why they’re an important part of pre-event control
• Why most presenters don’t give any details of presentation content—and why it’s a BIG mistake
• How to use music to influence mood, energy and direct specific behaviour

• Why props change the pace of your presentation—and why this change in pace matters
• How room temperature will make or break your presentation
• 3 Important personal devices no presenter should be without
• Why you need a back up plan. And how to execute on, should things go haywire
• Alcohol: Why even the smallest drink can change the audience perception
• Audience volunteers: Why they play a critical role in keeping you focused on your presentation

• Three check points when using video as a control device
• Why ‘rocking chairs’ and other mundane stories are more effective than more elaborate ones
• A powerful analysis of rhetoric, coercion and story-telling—and why story-telling rocks!
• Three simple keys to create great stories that entrance your audience
• The black slide: A fail-proof method to yank an audience’s attention in a fraction of a second
• Why presenters run out of time—and how to control time down to the last minute

• The challenge set-up: How it adds tremendous suspense and drama to your presentation
• How to engineer the audience testimonial—and how to prevent it from going terribly wrong!
• Why most speakers ignore the ‘radar sweep’ and isolate their biggest potential fans
• How to get rid of the ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ in your speech in under 15 minutes

• The wind down: Why it’s important to wake up a tired audience
• How to create variation with rhythm, pace and volume
• The myth of public speaking as the No.1 fear deconstructed (You have to read this!)
• The critical importance of the ‘free report’ break—and how it helps you get the contact details of audience members

“One presentation changed my business and my life.”

Before embarking on my workshop tour in June I attended the System Internet Seminar in Chicago. One presentation changed my business and my life.

Sean D'Souza's presentation on “The Theory of Consumption in Business” was the most powerful (and practical) presentation I've ever witnessed in my career. Instead of the usual warmed over ideas, presented in a lackluster format, Sean delivered a wake-up call that will change my business dramatically.

One of the brilliant parts of this presentation was demonstrating the parallels in various systems we are already familiar with. For me, the best one is the martial art of Karate.

I don't know about you, but by restructuring my business this way, I'll accomplish my primary marketing objective more effectively.

The Bottom Line: Ask yourself if you can adopt Sean's model to your own business.

I had this vision that Sean’s slides would be a bit more 1990s, so what am I going to learn from him?

I didn’t think it’d need the course, and this for 2 reasons:
1) I already know how to make good-looking slides
2) I have this vision that Sean’s slides would be bit more 1990s, so what am I going to learn from him?
But I had an important seminar to prepare, and I knew Sean was never disappointed in his content, so I decided to proceed.

As a result of buying the product, I was completely wrong on the idea of what a presentation is.
Yes, I knew how to make slides that only have a word, Apple style, but that wasn’t enough. I also needed to understand how to deliver my speech, how to structure it, how to use props, stories, and everything that makes a presentation great. I used this for my 4-day seminar, and I had incredible reviews from the engineers I’ve trained.

Most of the comments I’ve had on the slides, delivery, and presentation were 10/10.
The specific feature you liked most about—The “wake up” opening of a presentation or module. I think most experts do it, and everybody else doesn’t realize how impactful this is. I have been able to be very creative with props, too.

Three other benefits?
The System is really great for structure. The idea of giving preparation material and everything related to preparing in advance for an event has been incredibly helpful for my seminar. I’d probably have been super late and lost the audience many times without the “Book 3.”

Yes, I 100% recommend this product, even if you already know how to tell stories, design slides, or are used to presenting.
If there is something to understand about Sean is, above everything else, he’ll help you make your content and delivery better.
This matters extremely — yes, marketing, funnels, ads, etc… are important, but having a good product people love to consume is equally important, and Sean is probably the only one explaining these parts.

Most books are dull because they don't use graphics, cartoons and captions. The use of the above elements make the reading of the books a very pleasurable experience. Sprinkled within the chapters are lots of examples, so you can get ideas for your own business. Plus there are always detailed summaries that gives you a bird's eye view of every chapter. 

“We are re-inventing significant parts of our own product strategy as a result of hearing this presentation.”

Presenters should pay extra attention to how Sean structures his delivery

Because too many presentations I see are (a) lacking in adequate examples, (b) purely verbal when they could be far more visual, (c) move straight to pitch without the person feeling like he or she cemented what the benefits and takeaways of the presentation were, (d) lacking a simple preview-content-review structure that makes learning so much easier.

All in all, this talk was particularly eye-opening. We are re-inventing significant parts of our own product strategy as a result of hearing this presentation.

That says it all right there.

It’s very possible, because especially recently, there’s been a ton of books on presentations in the market. And yet, you’ll find that this series is different, because it doesn’t just approach one factor of your presentation in isolation.

Instead it takes on the entire presentation spectrum—long, long before you even get on stage, right until what you do long after you’ve left the stage. The concept isn’t just about tweaking your slides or polishing your speech. This is uniquely about mastering every aspect of control.

And more importantly this series keeps telling you what you can do right—and where things go wrong. And how to keep out of that minefield.

The biggest reason why you need to get this series right away is because it will save you the frustration of making all these mistakes yourself. The second reason is simply that it costs you more in terms of time and effort to do even the very next presentation, no matter how small the audience. Travel, time spent, hotels, food—they all add up to several hundred dollars.

I’ve spent way too many hours on the Internet. And I’m sick of get rich quick schemes, and information that’s mostly fluff. The reason I set up this website was to make sure you get the best possible information on topics such as marketing strategy, customer retention, Internet marketing, psychological tactics, advertising, small business ideas, etc.everything you need to know about the wild and wonderful aspects of marketing. And yes, there’s entertainment. Yes the articles are actually…ahem…humorous.

How do I purchase the BlackBelt Presentation Series?

Eligibility:
You will have to have purchased and read the Brain Audit. If you do not own a copy of the Brain Audit, please do not get on the waiting list.

Sean D'Souza
Psychotactics.com