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This might seem like a strange question to ask, but trust me, it’ll make sense in a bit. When did you last see a seat or bench that you hadn’t seen before, and yet know exactly how to use it? It could have been in a restaurant, or a bar, perhaps in someone’s office, or even in the park. Yet when you saw it, you knew exactly how to use it, right? Question is, how did you know? Still a serious question… The answer is a mix of things… You had seen ones like it before, your brain compared to previous experiences, you looked at how other people were using them and so on. So, with all of that happening in a thrice of a second, you didn’t even notice what was going on in your brain, and went ahead and sat down. Brilliant, itsnt it, how our brains can spot these patterns and act on them?

Now let’s compare that with something a little silly… What if you knew that ONE of the spaces to sit down was going to collapse, because it was being filmed, and the “hilarious” result would be broadcast on TV and the Internet. Wouldn’t that lead to some different behaviour on your part? Of course. A totally different pattern would likely see your brain playing a very full part in choosing where to sit. You would give it proper thought and attention.

Our brains get into patterns which is very useful a lot of the time. It saves time and thought by just letting us get on with things. But this same process happens all over the place, including in work situations. Which is why anything predictable… Like a work presentation, is liable to be experienced in the same auto pilot way as the seating example I just ran through. The answer then, to keeping our audience interested, is to find ways to interrupt these standard patterns.

This is about finding ways to be different when presenting. Not different for the sake of it, but different in order to prevent our audience fighting a losing battle with their own levels of attention. It is not about intentionally being wacky, crazy, humorous, funny or so on. We don’t desire to be provocative, or to cause offence, or upset, though any of these things may happen as a result of us seeking to be different. The reality is that a presentation with great content and a very standard style of delivery will get the same level of attention as a presentation with average content and an amazing interest generating style of delivery.

Look at most conferences and situations where there are a number of speakers and you will see one person after another doing the same things with pretty much the same lines over and over. Standard conference etiquette for example means that speakers use a podium or lectern, therefore speaking from the same spot, and a clearly defined structure makes it harder for any speaker to be noticed.

What we are looking at then is to identify patterns which often hold sway in presentations, and do something different. Remember, we don’t want to be different for the sake of it, we are looking to interrupt patterns to engage our audience and to demand their attention. This is a simple process to do, identify those habits many speakers have, just take note of what many speakers do, and look to do something differently. Here are a few points to start you off.

PowerPoint is one of the most common patterns that many speakers find themselves falling into, so the biggest interruption is to avoid using slides. When I say that to people they always go into a panic about how they can speak without slides, but if you can speak without slides, among a sea of other people using PowerPoint, you can certainly interrupt a strongly defined pattern.

Assuming you need to use slides for some reason, then consider your layout and design. Many conferences and organisations insist on a “house style” but this very style is putting you into a pattern.

A lectern forces you to remain in one spot… So when arranging your speech, ask for lapel microphones. This simple difference means that your audience can see you, and you can be yourself. Consider how other people are using space as they present, and if they are moving a lot, then consider standing still. Whatever patterns you see from other speakers, do something different.

Most speakers and conferences have a convention where they “open the floor to questions” at the end, so why not invite questions throughout? Think also about style within speaking, so look to take a contrary approach, which means use humour where others don’t, or challenge when others are more compliant and so on.

Finally do an audit of your personal presentation habits, and work hard to change them. Many habits are shared by speakers… So interrupt those patterns. Look out for people twizzling long hair, glasses off and on, ballpoint pen popping, phrases like “for those of you who don’t know me” and so on… It’s easy to see this as flippant and trivial details, but for those determined to gain and maintain their audiences attention, it’s essential that we find ways to interrupt our patterns. Good luck.

While most trade show exhibits highlight individual product presentations, there are times when an exhibitor might do well to stage a live presentation/demonstration to better present, explain and demonstrate its products and services in the often confusing trade show environment.

The idea of staging a live product presentation/demonstration is not at all new. Many corporations over the years have successfully used the live medium to communicate complicated product information to large audiences. There are many products and services whose features, benefits and sometimes complex applications might be more easily and effectively communicated by staging a live presentation/demonstration type show, rather than trying to rely solely on individual face to face sales in an exhibitor’s booth.

Studies show that sight is the most used human sense and that 75% of all environmental stimuli are received through visual reception compared to 38% from audio messages. According to a recent University of California at Los Angeles study, 55% percent of what an audience learns comes directly from the visual messages.

A Wharton Research Center study has also shown that the retention rate of verbal only presentations is approximately 10%. However, when you combine visual messages with verbal communication, you increase the retention rate to nearly 50%. And a cleaver use of audio, visual with an added feature of a light entertainment factor promises to increase retention even more dramatically.

A primary objective in deciding to embark on presenting a live presentation/demonstration at a trade show should be to have enough time and environmental control to cleverly and clearly communicate and deliver your information to more prospects and customers at one time than you could with the standard form using individual booth duty personnel.

There are many advantages and opportunities to be gained by designing, developing and presenting a live product or business presentation at any given trade show.

According to Kristin Veach, VP of Marketing, Live Marketing, Inc. ([email protected], (http://www.livemarketing.com/) there are 5 important reasons to consider producing and presenting a live presentation/demonstration at your next important trade show.

1. Maximize Your Visibility
A live presentation serves as a magnet to draw your target audience-prospects, existing customers, strategic partners, consultants, investors and the press-providing many opportunities to retain key customers, reinforce a company’s branding and positioning, introduce new products and services, and generate qualified sales leads.

2. Effectively Communicate Your Message
A significant portion of a salesperson’s time at a show is usually spent presenting a company’s products, services or solutions one-on-one with prospects. A live presentation uses the most effective communications techniques to achieve impact, understanding, and memorability to deliver that message to as many people as possible. Attendees learn more in less time, and key prospects will more likely stay in the booth longer to discuss their needs with booth staff at a higher level. As a result, the sales team is freed to directly address prospects’ applications, answer specific questions, and discuss the next step in the process of making and closing deals.

3. Engage the Most Qualified Prospects
A live presentation attracts, educates, qualifies, and connects potential buyers with booth staff. After the presentation, “tire kickers” usually leave, while key prospects are identified so sales staff can focus their attention on those attendees having a committed buying interest. The sales team benefits by talking with a constant flow of informed and pre-qualified prospects, motivated to take the next step.

4. Increase Memorability
On the tradeshow floor, surveys have shown that live theatrical presentations and demonstrations are the single most powerful factor in increasing brand and product memorability. 69% of attendees rated live presentation strategies (product demonstrations and stage/theatre presentations) as a factor in influencing memorability, compared to 64% for product interest and 51% for a well-known company. (Source: Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), “Most Remembered Exhibits: An Analysis of the Factors Affecting Exhibit Recall,” MCRR 5040.)

5. Built-In Follow-Up Mechanism
A live presentation contains a built-in mechanism to educate and motivate attendees and prospects to take further action-from initiating a follow-up conversation, to participating in a hands-on test drive, to taking action on messages heard in the event.

In addition, you’ll want to evaluate the following to help you decide if there’s a live presentation/demonstration in your trade show future by considering:

1. When your products and/or services are too complicated and difficult to explain in the short time frame of a trade show booth visit, a live audio/visual presentation/demonstration can offer an opportunity to present more in depth, technical and essential product information to get your message across the first time and every time there after.

2. When your corporate public relations strategy wants to expose most all trade show attendees to new product developments, financial and corporate advancement information or industry wide business developments and they also want to provide an opportunity for informal two way communications.

3. When you need a totally controlled environment from which to communicate complicated, detailed information to your prospects, customers, employees, dealers and/or distributors on a more selective basis.

4. When you want to combine light entertainment with your product or corporate business communications to better get your message across in a more professional theatrical type fashion.

5. When it’s time for your corporation to take a different route to trade show exhibiting and you just want to try something new, exciting, creative, memorable and fun to out distance the competition.

Once you decide to design, produce and stage a professional presentation/demonstration you’ll want to ensure that the people you hire are experienced and totally capable of guiding you and your management staff through the various stages of show development.

Your exhibit will need to be designed and constructed just like a modern theater including comfortable seating, proper ventilation, adequate sound system, proper staging allowing for front or rear screen projection and appropriate lighting. You’ll want to make sure that all rules and regulations of the trade show convention center are met before design and construction of your theater begins.

Before you begin the process of vendor selection, you’ll also want to create a document outlining your goals and objectives of the exhibit and live presentation/demonstration to ensure that everyone in your company is on the same page and that there will be no surprises. This important document will also be used to guide the vendors you select and provide them with a solid foundation on which to develop their proposals, plans, budgets and creative treatment documents.

The program material should be written, visually supported and produced to entertain, educate and inspire your audience while the key information messages are communicated, demonstrated and effectively presented. It is reasonable to design and create the presentation/demonstration to last between 15 and 20 minutes as long as it is cleaver, informative and rather fast paced. The finished presentation should be performed as written and produced time after time leaving little chance for mistakes, omissions or improvising.

Most trade show attendees seem to welcome an opportunity to sit down in a comfortable theater environment and be entertained instead of being asked to stand in an aisle or noisy booth while a dry sales pitch is presented by various levels of competent sales/marketing and or technical people.

It is also my experience to notice that most attendees will simply walk by most forms of canned audio/visual presentations being indiscriminately presented with the inexperienced exhibitor’s hopes of “grabbing” prospects and customers in the aisle.

Your overall live presentation goals and objectives can be accomplished by combining modern audio and visual technologies with creative entertainment techniques that promises to add a new and exciting dimension to your trade show exhibit program.

When tied to effective at show promotional activities and pre-show advertising and communications, your trade show live presentation/demonstration will become a must see on the show floor and be remembered by all who experience it.

After all, there’s no business like (trade) show business.

The study of power and its effect is important in the understanding of negotiation and relationships (or common ground) flowing from any negotiation. Every interaction and every social relationship, in side and outside organizations, involves an exercise of power.

INTERPERSONAL POWER:

French and Raven suggested five interpersonal bases of power that are important to negotiators.

1. Legitimate power
2. Reward power
3. Coercive power
4. Expert power
5. Referent power

We will examine only Expert Power and Referent Power in this article, but should you wish to learn more about Legitimate Power read the article entitled “The Use of Power in Negotiations” on http://www.ezine.com. To learn about Coercive Power and Reward Power read the article entitled “Release your Power in Negotiations” on ezine.com

EXPERT POWER

A person who possesses expertise that is highly valued has expert power. Experts have power even when their rank is low. An individual may possess expertise on technical, administrative, or personal matters. The more difficult it is to replace the expert; the greater is the degree of expert power that he or she possesses. Expert power is sometimes referred to as information power and is often a personal characteristic. For example:

A secretary who has a relatively low-level organisational position may have high expert power because he or she knows the details of operating the business – where everything is or how to handle difficult situations.

According to Lewicki et al. (1985:249), men and nations will act rationally when all other possibilities have been exhausted. Within the context of negotiation, expert power is the most common form of power in use. Expert power refers to the persuasive, influential nature of the information itself. It refers to the accumulation and presentation of information that will change the other’s point of view on an issue.

Lewicki et al. are of the opinion that expert power is a special form of information power. Information power can be used by anyone who has studied and prepared his position for negotiation. Expert power, according to this author, is accorded to those who are seen as having mastered and organized a great wealth of information.

Lewicki et al. are of the opinion that there are methods by which a negotiator can establish him or herself as an expert in the eyes of the other party:

• By citing facts and figures.
• By ‘name dropping’.
• By citing examples of detailed experiences gained in well-known institutions.
• By being known through the press or through other people, or through writing articles in well-known journals (by being visible).

Presentation of information:

Within the context of negotiation, information power is at the heart of expert power. Even in the simplest negotiation, the way that information is presented could make a large impact on the outcome. In the light of this it can be seen that visual aids like charts, graphs and good statistics have a substantial impact on a negotiation. Market research on other prices in the area, on consumer’s opinions and on financial position and the interest of suppliers is important information to gather when preparing oneself. Care should be taken that this information is trustworthy, since if it is proved to be untrue this could damage the trust built through negotiation in a serious way.

Information power is often used in a distributive way so that information is manipulated to control the options open to the other party. For example, the other’s choice of behaviour is influenced by sending him positive information about the option we want him to choose, or by concealing information about an option we don’t want him to choose.

In some cases experts are brought into negotiations since people are less likely to argue with a perceived expert in the area of his expertise. To really take on the challenge, the non-expert would probably have to consult with another expert, which is costly, time consuming and somewhat risky. The lack of confidence of the non-expert is often quite visible in his body language, posture and manner speaking.

Countering good information:

Countering information power can be a real problem. When information or an expert is brought in to counter the other side’s information, it can lead to an escalation in conflict with either a negative result of no resolution of the conflict and hence agreement; or a positive result which leads to a search for other alternatives which could be beneficial to the negotiation process. So the best approach would be to:

• Explore all the information at hand
• See an expert for what he is. All experts have abilities in a certain field, but seldom over the whole field covered by the negotiation.
• Either specify or generalize depending on the posturing of the opposition. For example, if the opponent comes with very specific information, an effective counter would be to return with very general information.

REFERENT POWER

It is common to identify with and be influenced by a person because of his personality or behavioural style. The charisma of that person forms the basis of referent power. A person with charisma is admired because of his or her personality. The strength of a person’s charisma is an indication of his or her referent power. Charisma is a term used to describe the magnetic personalities of some politicians, entertainers and sports figures. Some managers are also regarded by their subordinates as extremely charismatic.

Referent power is sometimes referred to as personal power. Referent (or personal) power is based on the target’s attraction to the power holder – liking, perceived similarity, admiration, desire to be close to or friendly with the power holder. This attraction may be based on physical attractiveness, dress, mannerisms, lifestyle or position, but can also include friendliness, congeniality, honesty, integrity and so on.

Truly charismatic people – those who have a unique blend of physical characteristics, speech, mannerisms and self-confidence- are able to influence very large groups of people by their actions. Referent power is based on the need of an individual to identify with people of influence or attractiveness. The more the target admires or identifies with an individual, the more referent influence the power holder has and the more control he can exert because of this identification. This form of power is often regarded as one of the strongest in negotiation.

In international negotiations governments realise the importance of sending professional negotiators or individuals with special qualities of referent power to negotiate on their behalf. If personal power is abused by any side it can lead to tremendous distrust between the parties involved. Personal power is seldom associated with destructive tactics of any form, because individuals with an abundance o personal power will often try to find those agreements that could befit both sides as not to leave any victims in their wake and thus lose their source of attractiveness.

The personal integrity of an individual in the opponent’s team could be a very strong from of common ground in negotiations. Many negotiators fall back on the integrity of the parties and the relationships built up between individuals as the strongest bond that exists between negotiating parties. The very existence of this bond will encourage them to find solutions for any conflict that may occur.