Every good direct marketer knows that a blind headline – one that elicits a “Huh?” reaction – kills sales. It may attract attention, as proponents suggest, but not the kind that makes the cash register ring.
I recently learned of one situation in which the “huh” factor works in your favor. I attended an excellent talk by Debbie Fay of bespeak presentation solutions on “presentations that get heard and get results.” One of her many valuable take-aways was the most effective use of Powerpoint slides.
Debbie correctly pointed out that most speakers think the function of Powerpoint notes is to summarize the speaker’s talk so the audience can refer to the notes later. The result is that the audience focuses more on the notes than on the speaker.
A better use of Powerpoint is a series of short, simple slides that make the audience ask, “What does that mean?” Debbie’s example was “1 + 1 = 3.” Because such slides aren’t self-explanatory, you focus your attention on the speaker — where it should be — for clarification.
