What’s in a Name?

January 22, 2010 by Jerry 

whats_in_a_name

A recent article in the New York Times reported on a study of several hundred British dairies that found that cows that are addressed by name make more milk—about 6 percent in a given year—than anonymous ones. The rationale: “Named cows are more often treated nicely, and well-treated, calm and happy cows make more milk.”

The lesson for presenters is to address members of their audiences directly by name, and to do so several times, throughout any presentation. This means that presenters have to make an effort to acquire the names of the persons they don’t know from the list of attendees, or by schmoozing the crowd before the presentation, or by distributing names tags at the beginning of the presentation. These efforts will undoubtedly turn up other related information about the individuals that the presenter can reference at appropriate points.

Making direct references is one of six other customization techniques you can find in a prior blog. Taken together, the seven are among the most powerful techniques any presenter can use to engage any audience; and yet they are also the least implemented. Most presentations are generic, impersonal recitations of dry business data, but these simple techniques will bring any presentation to life.

If it works for cows imagine what it can do for audiences.

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