Or a slide that says ‘Questions?’

Ending matters, and these two are not good endings.

It’s the closing minutes of a sixty-minute meeting, most of which has been taken up by slides flashing across the screen. What will help the audience create a mental model of what has just happened, to walk out with a clear idea of what this was all about, what it means to them, and the most critical points to ponder and take action on?

A thank you slide or a conclusive and positive resolution?

We can do better

I can’t tell you how many exceptional solutions and great ideas, even some of my own, have been defeated by mediocre incumbents over the years.

The reason? It's not your product. It's not your price. It's something far more fundamental.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: Most B2B sales decks completely miss why buyers stay frozen in place.

Let's address an increasingly challenging issue accentuated by the surge in online meetings: Most presentations are dull and overly long, and honestly, they are really quite awful at their job. They are uninspiring and fail to engage their audience effectively. As a result, very few people are excited by the prospect of sitting through another hour-long carousel of slides.

With the increasing frequency of meetings encroaching upon both our time and mental bandwidth, every casual conversation seems to morph into a scheduled online session ‘Hey, quick catch up on the weekend?

Belonging isn’t something we openly talk about much, certainly not in the work context, yet its presence or lack of it influences our self-image, motivation, behaviour, health and well-being, and the lengths we will go to fit in, often at the expense of our own identity.

Think back to a time when you found yourself in a situation where you felt out of place, and that familiar voice in your head whispered, “I don’t belong here.” Can you recall the rush of emotions that followed that thought?

Have you ever watched a puppy discover the fine line between good habits and bad ones? That moment when everything they learn could go either way?

My labradoodle Rupert, now a seasoned six-year-old café veteran, has mastered both sides of this line. Today, he's eagerly sharing his "wisdom" with an impressionable pup at our regular breakfast spot, and I can see that pivotal moment approaching – the one where life lessons are about to be learned.

But this isn't just a story about my breakfast adventures with Rupert.

We've all been there. One presentation ends with the audience energised, aligned, and crystal clear on the message and the next steps. Another wraps up with furrowed brows, conflicting interpretations, and a room full of people who seem to have attended entirely different meetings. The difference often isn't the quality of the content or even the presenter's delivery – it's the precision of the message strategy. Understanding this difference is where a simple analogy becomes powerful: the difference between a target and a dartboard.

A lesson in brand strategy from a 45-year-old light aircraft

Ever flown in a small aircraft? Chances are it was a Cessna - the workhorse of aviation that's trained more pilots than any other manufacturer. In fact, they've built more Cessna 172s than Boeing 737s (and we've all flown in one of those).

33 years after my first flying lesson in a Cessna, I found myself back in the cockpit of one built in 1979. It is still airworthy, doing precisely what it was designed to do and still loved by those whisked into the air for their first flying lesson. But this isn't just a story about my history with aircraft.

Hours, days, weeks, and sometimes months of work have led to this moment, and it’s time. It's time to release your message and share it with the world.

And the fear kicks in: Will they get it? Will it make sense to someone who has not been on the journey? Will they buy into our thinking, into us? Will we get what we need back to have made this all worthwhile?

Sometimes, these stories are harmless and merely reflect the human tendency to simplify, while in others, they can be misleading or manipulative.

It can be an unconscious adaptation or an intentional strategy to avoid facing or revealing more complex or challenging realities.

I am referring to the stories of convenience.

The story of convenience often serves a particular agenda. By aligning with common beliefs or prevailing trends, it is easy for people to buy into and support that POV without requiring significant thought.

There are times when the orientation matters more than the content. But all too often, the easy path wins at the expense of the better outcome.

A story about the brand, product or service can be oriented in one of two ways:

Inward story - which I define as ‘all about you’

Outward story - which is what’s in this for the audience - ‘Why should they care?’

We all know the adage of the low-hanging fruit, but what happens when the things right in front of us are the last things we should touch?

I am talking about changing messages and branding.

I know it can be easy to make these changes.

I know we get bored with what we say and see long before the market does.

And yes, it’s right there in front of us every day.

What do most presentations miss that makes them ineffective - the fundamentals of a story structure and what happens, as a result, is they end up with:

• Too much information

• Information that isn’t relevant to the core point

• Long and overly detailed explanations

• A flow that does little to draw the audience in or connect them to the content is a way that helps them process, store and recall the key points.

• A forgettable presentation

Not every presentation needs to be a story; many would benefit from applying some of the fundamentals, but when the outcome depends on the clarity of the delivery, knowing how to craft one becomes a critical skill.

Great strategic storytellers know that tone is a powerful tool for keeping their audience engaged throughout their story. Just as our senses become dull to unchanging stimuli, an audience can tune out when there’s no variation in the presentation, if we hold on one slide for too long or become monotone and drone on.

Consider how a beautiful view loses its impact after seeing it day after day or how the constant hum of an aeroplane engine fades into the background on a long flight —until a sudden change in a note suddenly awakens our senses. This same principle applies to tone in storytelling. If your tone stays static, your audience's attention may drift as they tune you out. But you can capture and hold their attention if you adjust your tone.

Every business has information that falls within the 'we need to make sure they know' folder. Sometimes, these business facts are viewed internally as very important, even critical, to win over the audience, and as a result, they make it into the opening few slides. They establish the story.

I am referring to details such as the number of offices and markets the business operates in, the number of staff, the number of years in business, the vision, the mission, and even the company values.

It's not that this information isn't important. There is a caveat: sometimes it really isn't. But most of the time, it's in the wrong place.

Data, research and statistics are all great for making and validating key points; however, without context, they can also be dangerous, particularly when the audience returns to your slides or has to present them to someone else.

Sometimes, the stat will come before the story, ‘Hey, we have this great research that should be in the deck.’ Or there will be a push to include specific data because there is a feeling that making the point without them lacks substance or because the number itself feels powerful.

When landing key messages, moving the audience to action, and winning business are the desired outcomes, three things matter:

Confidence in your presence

How do you show up when it comes time to present important messages, solutions and ideas?

Confidence in the story structure

How does your content show up in your presentation?

Confidence in the audience needs

How does what you do show up in relation to what the audience needs?

How does it feel when the time you thought you had to present gets cut in half?

The importance of crafting a narrative that guides a flowing story extends beyond how we receive, process, and store information and even beyond how it helps us present and the audience stay connected. These are amazing benefits on their own, but stories also help us compress and expand when circumstances change. And change they will.

Every strategic storyteller needs to feel the pain of the problem.

To assist you in crafting a compelling story that connects your content with your audience, you need to determine the smallest number of people who can have the most significant impact on what happens next for you and your content.

Managing the Influencer is critical to staying in the game.

To assist you in crafting a compelling story that connects your content with your audience, you need to determine the smallest number of people who can have the most significant impact on what happens next for you and your content.

Without a Connector there is no point in presenting.

To assist you in crafting a compelling story that connects your content with your audience, you need to determine the smallest number of people who can have the most significant impact on what happens next for you and your content.

Until the audience has what they need, it will be difficult for them to give you what you need.

Let’s establish a basic principle: when you present anything that won’t be approved, actioned, signed off on or bought on the spot, you need your content to have a life beyond this first presentation.

You might only present it once, but to get any follow-up—whether that is feedback or direction on the next steps—your content will be reviewed, cut down, and shared with others, perhaps several times before you hear anything.

As a client, I have often felt lost, confused and even frustrated when I could see there was the genesis of a good idea being presented to me, but I couldn’t see how I could take these slides and present them to my team or how I could explain exactly what was presented further up into the company for buy-in or sign-off. One thing I can be certain of is that if someone is confused by what they have seen, they are sure as hell not going to try to explain it to their boss.

Filming a movie without a storyboard is a recipe for disaster

And it’s the same for presentations.

Given that I deal with content delivered using some form of visual support, be that PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote or even Canva, there is a flaw within each platform you should know about. Slides are evil.

Entertainment isn’t as effective as persuasive storytelling.

You know those meetings where you turn up, unsure what to expect, and it turns out to be an entertaining hour bordering on the Wednesday night comedy club, but you wonder what it was all about and whether you really needed to go? As a result, nothing changes as you get back into your work.

Picture yourself standing at the edge of a dense forest. You're familiar with the path, but those who've entrusted you with their time aren't. Your responsibility is clear: ensure they navigate the journey smoothly, stay connected, and never feel lost.

Success isn't about racing through the rocky terrain; it's about how well your audience traverses it. It's about leading them with care, allowing for pauses, and ensuring everyone absorbs the journey at their own pace.

The more you know, the easier it becomes to lose your audience.

We have this amazing ability to hear what we think we are saying and find it very hard to distinguish between our inner dialogue and what the audience is actually hearing.

The value lies in the problems solved.

We obsess about our products and services.
What the competition is doing, and how the market is performing.
What next, and what do we need to do to keep up…

What about the customer? What do they want and need?

It's the thing that all presenters dread – the silence that follows a presentation.

The days that follow your presentation are critical to success. This is when the people you presented to should be passing on your content to others, becoming content ambassadors and evangelists for your message. But in that silence, it can be hard to tell what is really happening.

Have you ever sat through a presentation or even read a book and thought, This isn’t for me, what is this all about? or Why am I bothering with this? That isn’t how you want your audience to feel when you present, but I can’t tell how often this happens.

This usually occurs when the audience for this specific presentation isn’t clearly identified upfront. As a result, different pieces of content get added for everyone ‘who might be interested’ or who might attend the meeting. All bases get covered. What could have been a clear message for the right audience, addressing a clear problem, becomes a waffly rambling collection of something for everyone.

The Show Up Paradox that we are living with right now is where we need to be seen and form meaningful connections more than ever at a time when we have never been more invisible.

It is not just external factors such as distraction and diluted attention that contribute to this; the choices we make, whether consciously or subconsciously, can gradually alter how others perceive us and even affect our own self-perception.