Five quick, simple and actionable ways to ensure your Call To Action is heard.

Every presentation should trigger your audience to act. If you’re selling, you want them to buy. If you’re training, you want them to put your ideas into practice. If you’re sharing an idea, you want them to spread your message.

You might spend ten minutes, an hour, even days with an audience gripped by your every word, but what happens when you stop talking? They need to know what they are meant to do next, so you need to tell them with a clear call to action before you let them go. Here’s my five tips to ensure your audience make the right move.

Keep It Simple

If you couldn’t print it on a pencil, it’s too long. Your call to action should be one clear request so everyone in the room knows exactly what you want from them. If you ask too much of your audience they’ll walk away overwhelmed, forget what they were meant to do, and subsequently do nothing. If your call to action is too broad or general, your audience may not know where to start. So work out what one solid action they can take that would make your presentation a success. Some examples are:

• Purchase my book
• Sign up to my newsletter
• Register for an event
• Donate money to this cause
• Tell one person what you learned today

Keep It Easy

Don’t give your audience a chance to forget you. You want them to buy a product? That product should be waiting outside the door with a salesperson and a credit card machine. Asking them to sign up to your mailing list? Have staff with an iPad outside the door – or bonus points if you can send them a link in their post-event communication!

Perhaps your long term goal is for them to adopt your new technology across their whole business? That’s a huge action and it doesn’t happen overnight, so  simplify their action to stage one of that process; set up a meeting, or book in for a live demo. If your audience have to remember too much or work too hard you will lose them, so remove as many obstacles between them and their action as possible.

Know Who You’re Speaking To

Rule number one of every element of presenting is to know and understand your audience. You should understand everything from their age range, professions and educational level, through to their beliefs, values and pain points. I could write about audience analysis for hours, but for now I’m going to assume you know who you’re speaking to.

This knowledge is more important than ever when it comes to triggering action. Perhaps you’re looking for funding or investment; are the people in front of you the final decision makers or budget holders? Or are they people that can influence change or suggest new ideas? You would want a completely different action from each type of person, so it’s important to understand who is in front of you.

Make It About Them

Your audience are only going to act if it’s in their best interests, so focus on the advantages for them, not for you. Taking action should improve their life, not yours, so tell them how it will.

This can be as simple as reframing your pronouns. If the action you’re asking of them is “contribute to my research project” then tell them “your contribution will make an impact by…”. If it’s “set up a one-to-one meeting with me”, then say “you can learn more and take advantage of this knowledge by speaking with my directly”.

Offer Them A Reward For Moving Fast

Your audience need an incentive to act quickly while all your words and visuals are fresh in their mind. So if you want them to sign up to your next online seminar, give them the link and tell them if they sign up in 24 hours they’ll receive a bonus live Q&A session. If they buy your book on the way out, they’ll get a discount and have it signed by you. If you’re asking them to train for a triathlon, remind them that the sooner they start, the quicker they’ll be across the finish line!

Remember, a great presentation gives a lot to the audience and this is your chance to get something back, so make it count by keeping it simple, easy and targeted. Your audience won’t just do what you’ve asked them, they’ll feel good about it too!