I was manning a demo booth for my job at an exhibition the last three days, and had good opportunities to talk to all sorts of different people there. I was basically selling, even though there wasn’t a price tag involved. This made it a bit tricky to present, because most people assume you’re selling something with a price.
Selling without a price helped me a lot. I forced me to understand what the audience wanted, instead of assuming right off the bat. I also had the freedom to explain what we were actually promoting, instead of focusing on demo features.
Engaging the audience
Public speaking is not like regular talk. At different points in the presentation, I had to ask my audience what industry they were in, their experiences related to the demo, more or less trying to tease out who they were and why they were at my booth. I did that by making a guess, and by asking generic questions like “what industry are you based in?”. I also made it a point to introduce myself and what the booth was all about. Like I said, most people expect a point of sale, but I had to clarify it wasn’t.
Comfort zones
To me, public speaking isn’t really about coming out of a comfort zone as it is trying to find a new one. You see, once you get the hang of speaking to a stranger, you can speak to ANY stranger. Because strangers will start to look pretty much alike. Sure, it hurts to look stupid when you fumble over lines and such. Maybe you can do what I did – do away with lines altogether. Ask real questions, like, what does the audience want? Who am I to the audience? Stuff that you usually don’t ask yourself, because it’s too common sense.
Surprise yourself
There’s no way you can guarantee a sale. You can only find out who’s interested in what you’re talking about. Which is why people are prepared to pay the cost of a sale, which is the cost of doing the talking. You never know when you’ll make a connection until you start talking.
I surprised myself when people I thought had absolutely no reason for being at the booth signed up for more information about our program. They would not have signed up if I had not explained to them the gist of what the booth was about. And even though I didn’t walk them through the demo, they signed up anyway.
Screw the process
This totally screwed up the “process”, which was to draw in the crowd using the demos, then convince them to sign up for more information. When I explained the idea to them, who I was as a presenter, and asked them about their background, I had a far better response than trying to tease them in with fancy features. Of course, the demos were necessary, it created the perfect backdrop to the conversation. But it’s never the centerpiece of the show. The presenter controls the show, and the audience navigates through the messages.
Don’t lose the plot
It’s always okay to “just present the demo”, and not explain the purpose behind the show. People will sit and listen for entertainment’s sake. They’ll let you finish your sentence. They’ll be nice. But you’ll lose the plot. You’ll go back, asking yourself, what in the world was that all about, and so will your audience. The audiences’ response may not match up to expectations, but don’t ever lose the plot.
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