Ep. 220 Connect Deeply with Your Next Audience

Hey there, Mark Brown. So every audience is different. We think, we forget that though. We know who we are. We know our speech, we know our content, we know our presentation. We have our slides. We've done this before. But never to them. Never to them. We have to connect differently in order to connect more deeply, deeply, deeply. Oh, with every single audience.

Audience? Yes, sir.

They're not the same.

Anyone can give a presentation. Few deliver unforgettable presentations. What's the difference? You're about to find out. Welcome to the Unforgettable Presentations podcasts with your hosts, world champion speakers and coaches, Mark Brown. Mark Brown.

Your life tells a story and there's someone out there who needs to hear it.

And Darren Lacroix. And Darren Lacroix.

Stage time. Stage time. Stage time.

Ready for some powerful presentation, Ahas? Let's dive right in.

Mark. We are 100% responsible for, for our connection with the audience. We are not 100% responsible for the room setup, the lighting, the microphones. We're still responsible, but yeah, maybe not in charge of different aspects. We're going to talk a little bit about the people and connecting to the people, but also setting the stage because again, I had a recent event where. What, what, what?

I want to hear that story. And now I'm curious.

And I remember Mark too. I had one where, you know, sometimes we go through our little checklist. Do not take for granted your checklist. Even if you get a pro staff and team, we are still 100% responsible. We are not 100% responsible for each aspect, however, we're still responsible. So, Mark, I was doing one back in the day in Tulsa, Oklahoma and they had one of those meeting rooms that's like a double wall, you know, they middle a while back, right? And everything was set, everything was good, Tested the mic and boom, in the middle of the presentation, half the people in the back of the room started getting up and leaving. And I'm like, what? Okay, maybe I wasn't great back then, but I wasn't like that bad. Well, turns out I found out after the fact that it's my responsibility to still do the mic check. But because it was a double room, they didn't have the speakers on in the second room and they were using the overhead speakers. You know, usually they've got a really good smoke and sound system up front that carries throughout the room, but if they're using the old built in speakers and they didn't have the speakers turned on in that other room, but guess what? I am responsible. I did a mic Check. But I didn't walk around the room. No one was listening in the back of the room to see if it was loud enough. And I can blame anybody I want. Oh, that's a sound guy's job. Well, guess what? They still left on me.

And I, I, again, I always, I frequently say this. I hope you all, I hope you all caught that. Hope you all caught that. Darren said for soundcheck, and if anybody has done one or two sound checks, you know, you go on a stage, mic check, 1, 2, 3. Testing, testing. Don't bang the mic. Is this thing on? Boom, boom, boom. Don't do that.

However, sound people do not like that.

Yeah, they, they. You will not be, you will not be there if you tap the mic. Please do not do that. That being said, you want to walk on the stage, you want to feel for creeks, that's fine. But Darren Lacroix, I appreciate you sharing this for, for the last 20 years, I guess, with people. When you do a sound check, wear your microphone and walk around the room. Listen to what the audience in the far left rear corner hears. What's the person in the middle of the room between all the speakers? What are they hearing back there? The sound person may be off to you right in the back and they give you a thumbs up, but it never hurts for you to walk down there yourself and hear what the audience hears. And I did not think much about that. And going back to our last week's episode, what did you know? I didn't know about this when I first began speaking, but I realized all the value of literally walking the room to hear what everybody else hears in the room, especially if you are one of those presenters who likes to literally go down to the audience and walk around during your presentation, which I believe both Darren and I have done. It's really important to understand that you're going to lose connection with the audience if they can't hear you. That kind of makes sense, right, Darren?

And see you lighting the lighting in the columns. Yeah, columns too. The lighting in the room wasn't great, but what they had in the package, they didn't have great lights, but it's okay. Look, they've got a budget. They're spending tons of money to be at a casino in Vegas. So I get it. I don't fault them. But it's our responsibility. If we want to connect deeply, they have to see us, they have to hear us. So, Mark, here's two things that were, like, stood out for me that I'm like, no, we got to talk about this one is I had a sound check at 8 o' clock the night before and one of the clients, one of the sponsors actually doing my interviews ahead of time to connect more deeply and know them and find out their frustrations and what drives them crazy. One of the sponsors invited me to dinner. So I went to dinner at 6 o' clock with the sponsor and their team and it turns out there's a few sponsors there and I wanted to run some of my custom material by them to see if I was on the right track. I got there a little early, was there a quarter of. So I was like hey, let me just go up to the meeting room and see what is going on. Even though my got my mic check later, I got a couple minutes, let me do. And thank goodness I did. I walked up there and the guy who was working the room setting up the room walked over and he explained to me that he just broke down the stage.

What?

I was like what? Excuse me? He said yeah, the client decided that they didn't want the stage. I was like, what? Because looking at the room and I went and stood at the front knowing I'm short, knowing it's a deep room, that means people would have had to have been looking around other people if I was standing on the floor.

Wait, I mean you're not six foot nine?

Well when I wear my three foot stilts. But knowing I was also planning it was 17 minutes to your dream or my all in keynote. I do a little skit if you will, where I go back and talk to the eight year old Darren. So now I'm sitting on stage on a little kid's chair. So now if I'm doing that on the floor, no one's gonna see it or only the front couple of rows will see it and that's gonna hurt my connection to the audience. So I immediately jumped on the phone. I made a mistake. I should have brought my whole client packet with me. I had my computer to test it. So I immediately jumped on the phone, I called Jennifer, my speaker agent. I was like I need Katie's number right away, right away. Cause the guy told me hey, if they want it set back up, I got to do it now or it's not going to happen. Now I know I have to do the best I can with what I have to create that connection. So immediately through my mind I was like, okay, I'm going to take that bit out and I'm going to take the 88 year old Darren bit out and I will do My best to make it work. That's why we're pros. But I've got to at least ask. So I educated the client, I stressed the importance of it. Now here's the thing, Mark. They've never used a stage before.

Oh really?

They've never had that riser, that platform. So I understand it. And even though it was in my contract that they're need to stage, they just kind of didn't think it was that necessary. And guess what? It costs money. A lot of the properties in Vegas, any. If you. Yeah, if you want anything, it costs a lot. So I get it, I understand it. But at the same time, I explained why I needed it and if they were bringing me in to pay for me to do the keynote, to start off the conference. Because the rest of all the workshops are detailed, industry specific. So I was brought in to kind of make it entertaining, inspiring to set the tone. The keynote of the conference. So I was like, if that's what you want, a riser is going to help me do that. So they jumped through the hoops, they sent the email. I handed the phone, talking to the event planner, handed the phone to the guy setting up the stage because he can't hear it from me. He has to hear it from the person with the budget. And so it worked out. They set the stage up. Now, Mark, it was a smaller stage. So I didn't get a full stage. That's okay. What do we do? And I'm just thinking, how do I connect? How do I connect? So because I have the two little chairs, the little kids chairs, and then I have two chairs and a walker or something when I do the 88 year old Darren. So I'm like, how do I do this on the small stage? And here's the other thing, the lectern, they, because they had announcements and things before, I had to make sure that they had a screen all the way over on audience left. But if the lectern was right in the middle and then they're going to wire it and tape it down, the person on the far right, audience right, isn't going to see it. So I made sure, when I was talking to the guy setting up the stage, I said, please make sure the lectern's back. Obviously can't be in the back, you can't stand behind it, but back part way so that person over there can see and I can walk in front of it because, you know, I'm a walker. But then I was like, what do I do with the kids chair? Stuff they brought in the stage, because I used that as an example. Now I have to do it. But the stage isn't big enough for four chairs.

Usually one small spot. Okay, yeah.

If you remember, you know, when I did a Toastmasters, I have one end of the stage and the other the other side of the stage. And I kind of journey with my music as I go there. And it's emotional, which is the point. So, Mark, what was cool was they couldn't see the riser was only, like, a foot high. So we're not saying I needed some big stage. I just needed vertical height.

Elevation. Yes, elevation.

So I put the two kids chairs on the floor in front of me in front of the stage. So the stage was taller than that. So only people in the front row could see it, see them. And that's okay. It's not optimal. But here's what you also have to be careful. People who want to keep the stage clean, I gotta make sure everyone knows. No, that's my prop. You gotta leave it there. Cause people were moving chairs because I had the two kids chairs, and then I had two adult chairs where I could go and grab them and put them on stage to set up the scene. Well, there were two regular conference room chairs. And somebody's like, oh, we should get those out of here.

No.

So we have to be careful and bob and weave and do our best, but we have to educate the people. The introducer also introduced me, and he had a great personality, super nice guy. And I handed him the intro, and he didn't read it ahead of time. And at the end, I have, like, a yellow bar, and I was like, here's the outro. Well, he read the whole thing. He read the intro and the outro. I'm like, hey, guess what? This is gonna happen. We're professionals. He's probably not being paid. I'm being paid. I need to do the best because I was gonna make a joke about it. But here's the thing. If we're gonna connect deeply, he's been on stage for an hour already, and he's getting some laughs. He's likable. I am new to them. Right in that moment.

Right. Stranger.

I can't diss him, even if it's playful. I don't have permission yet. So in the moment, as I'm standing next to him reading the intro. Yeah, because they had to switch computers. And of course, your computer, if you don't use it for a while, it shuts down. Got a password?

Sleeps.

So just because we're moving the HDMI cord from one computer to the other computer. And look, you may have ideas on how you could have avoided what I'm setting up. Good. And there's always something. There's something. And so I had the audio connected, tested the audio, it was good, but the video. So I had to be up there to wake up my computer again. He reads the intro and the outro and so in the moment I'm like, they don't know you yet. Shut up, Darren. Because usually I would be playful. Like, if it was you, Mark, or something and the audience was paying. Yeah, I would. If they knew me and they knew the person, I could be playful. I don't have permission yet. So, Mark, here's one of the quote, unquote, other big lessons learned. I pulled the frip and I walked around the audience, even though I'm an introvert and I don't really want to. And I started introducing myself.

Oh, wow.

Shaking hands. This was a new one for me. So I walked around and I know I'm not going to get everyone, but people were generally. Now, this is a billing association, so they're more on the introverted side. Not really kind of facing up people who emote a lot, but they. I mean, they were all very kind and they're good people. And so I'm shaking around. They were super pleasant. Well, I'm going around hitting as many people as I can. But then some people have their chairs where I couldn't walk behind. So I skipped a couple of rows and this lady walks up to me. This was a first. She goes, you skipped us. It's like, what? She's like, you skipped us. I was waiting to shake your hand and you skipped me. And my friend, you better go make sure you say hi to her. I was like, wow. But it was a lesson learned. Yeah, they're all watching me and they're seeing what I'm doing. But now I created this expectation, I'm going to shake everyone's hand. And I didn't. So I made a beeline over there, apologized and, like, shook her hand and said, hello. But they're watching you. They're watching everything you do beforehand.

And it's so funny. We're talking about how you can connect deeply with your next audience. There's an idea for you. If you go out into the audience, you're gonna meet everybody. You have to meet everyone. But I bet, Darren, because you were willing to do that, that was in a way, that was a way for you to connect deeply with them. Before you actually went on stage to deliver your presentation. And that was pretty, you know, it's a fun story in some ways a funny story. But it also makes me wonder, are there audience members who want that connection with us, who want to get to know us, who want to get to meet us? And I have found Darren by being at events and having a breakfast with an audience member or a table, or the night before, go to a mixer and just talk to people. I was just impressed with how many individuals just really want to connect with the speaker. And I often said, your audience wants to hear you and they really want to know you. I don't just say it so it sounds cute. It's a nice foundational phrase. But the truth is they do want to know who you are. And the more they know about who you are, along with your mastery and expertise in your subject matter, that allows you to build a deeper connection with the audience on an emotional level, not just. Only not solely on the level of your. Of your professional expertise. That was hard to say today. Forgive me, folks. Getting a little tongue tied.

Nice. Now, Mark, here's the key. Is it worth it? Is it worth this effort? I absolutely believe it is. But let me show you a couple ways that it is. The event planner, I always ask for a testimonial after and the event planner, I could probably play it on my phone, but she said, you know, I asked her if she would do a testimonial. What it was like, you know, the customizing. I did, and she did a testimonial. And then she's like, wait, wait, wait, I got one more thing to say.

Oh, wow, that's cool.

That was very cool.

But wait, there's more. Yeah.

And look, if you're listening to this, I'm not saying this to brag. I'm saying this to get you to do this more so you can get the results. She said, we've been doing this conference for 23 years. No one put in the energy and effort to customize to us like Darren Lecroy. And she said, now we have certain ways we do things. And Darren has his ways. Trust him, Trust him. He knows what he's doing. Which was when she was talking about the stage, because they don't usually do it. But she had said that it really made her think. And somebody came up to me after and she said, when you were doing the eight year old conversation with Darren, I started to cry.

Ooh.

Because she was thinking of what she would say to her 8 year old self, which is the point but what if I didn't do that, Mark? What if I didn't take the time to figure out a way to connect, to make the chair thing work? What if I did? That's just so key, so important, Mark.

Take time to figure. Take time. I love what you said. Take time to figure out out a way to connect more deeply. And the. And the two keywords here are take time. I suspect, Darren, our listeners, viewers, particularly those who are less experienced, may not realize that when we talk to our clients about this is the tough work, the time investment to find the right story and to see what's going to work for you. We talk about that. But it's very possible that many of us, when we are preparing our presentations, don't go the extra mile just solely for the purpose of making sure we establish the connection. And here's one of the keys to the truth here. If we do not have that connection early, as powerful as our content may be and as superior as our expertise may be, without that connection, we stand a very good chance of falling short and mitigating or lessening the impact we could have had if we had connected more deeply with the audience in the first place. And Darren, you're 100% right. The testimonials and comments we get afterwards are a testament to how deeply we connect with our audiences. So maybe one of your goals for your next presentation, and it may not be a professional presentation, but it's to find out the impact that your talk has had on the audience. It could be locally at a local youth organization or a YMCA or chamber of commerce. It matters not. But are you listening to what people are saying? And Darren, you've always said, record yourself when you deliver a presentation where this is recorded with a small microphone on your lapel or in your house on your garment. Would you say, Darren, you say when you're finished talking, don't turn it off. You say, leave it on. Because then you get to hear. Well, you tell us why. You say leave it on.

Well, because then you can hear the sincere feedback and what they thought. We're so caught up in the high, the speaker's high. In that moment, we may not capture everything they said. And if you go back to last week when we challenged you at the end of the episode to ask your friends and family, family. What feedback they might have if you're courageous enough. Now, again, what they thought and felt, not necessarily how to make it better, but what they thought and felt. Now you get genuine, sincere feedback from somebody who just heard you, who's a stranger. But now when somebody's like, oh, that was great. I always ask what part was helpful to you, what part? You need some specifics. And Mark, I'm gonna pull a Mark Brown here. So, Mark, I took. I always ask for 10 people ahead of time. And these are my notes. Now, this might look like a ton and it's a fair amount, but they gave me 10 people. And if you're watching the YouTube version, you'll see this. If not, just picture my hands full of papers and it might look like a ton of work. It's not a ton of work. Each conversation is maybe 10 minutes tops. And I always end each conversation with, do you have any questions for me? So, Mark, here's more of the. The value that the effort was worth it. Michelle had asked me, do you always put in this much effort? And I will say it's been a while since I had. I usually put in some, but when they told me acronyms was one of their challenges, I have a great acronym routine that I fill in with their acronyms. So I did do more than I normally do because I was also bringing in a camera crew, Dawson and three tripods to film it for new demo video. So I was. I have to say I was putting in a little more for that too, because I wanted to capture this, but I knew I had that opportunity. But Mark, I sold more books per head than I had in a long time. Mark, for the first time, I had people buying two and three books.

Wow.

I had one lady who bought 20 of them for her whole team.

Wait, wait, wait. One person watched two zero. I love to hear that. That was a result of your connection, brother. I love that.

And if you were in the moment, if you know the speakers thing, we love to feel the emotion, the emoting. It was there, but at a really low level. So it's not like when you're at a Toastmasters, when you're direct marketing group, monthly level marketing group, where they, you know, high energy. So it wasn't that. So in the. I was working. I was working and I got some response, but this is how I know they got it. They wanted the books and they bought books for other people. And Mark, I kid you not. This literally came in as we were recording. It's a text from one of the people that I interviewed. He said, I'll just read this, Darren, I hope you're doing well. I passed your information onto the company name here. Coo. In case we're looking for a speaker for our January sales kickoff, it would Be fun to have you there.

Wow.

So I got a referral, literally while we're recording this podcast. And he was the guy who invited me to dinner. And Mark, you know me, I didn't really want to go to dinner with a group of strangers, but I knew the value of it, especially because I had these questions on the customizing. And each day I was working on the acronym routine and. But they gave me a list of 43 pages of acronyms and.

43 pages, 43 pages.

And mark. And it said short version, shortened version. And so of course I said your abbreviations.

I love it.

Yeah.

Short.

But I'm bum.

You know what? Yeah, go ahead. Sorry. Go ahead.

And Mark. One of the cool things was they told me right up front was the acronyms was a challenge to the new people. One key way to connect with the whole audience is to connect with the new people. So I asked, who has been in this organization for less than a year or less than two years? And so they raised their hand. And so I walk out into the audience and I like, this is for you. I realized that English is not your first language. You didn't know that you would have to learn another language. Acronese. And so that got a big laugh from everyone because the people who've been around a while, they had to go through it for the new people. They're going through it and said, look, you didn't know what you'd be putting up acronyms. Acronese. I'm like, God bless you for going through this. That's why you're here at this conference. And. And I really believe that helped. So if you want to connect, connect deeply with the newer people to the industry or to the organization or even to that conference first timers. So they might be in the industry for a long time, but first time at this conference, when we want to connect, think of the new person, serve them, make them feel like they're glad they came to this conference. Because the meeting planner, I could see her in the back of the room and I could kind of tell she was like, loving it. Because all the rest of the presentations are more about. They're more about the technical stuff that they need. They need that. But they also need me to edify the conference.

Yes.

And how to get more out of the conference to ask that. Some of the best questions are in the hallway. So I'm giving permission. I even say for you, the who are introverts, raise your hand. If you're like me and you're an introvert, just Halfway, Just halfway. So that got a laugh. And a few of them went up halfway. And I said, here's the question. What are your pet peeves? What are your biggest pet peeves? To just have an icebreaker. So give the new people and. Or the introverts an icebreaker related to your subject. And then mark. Another new thing was they had an app, I think it's called WOVA WH.

O V A. Yep, yep.

More conferences are doing things like this. And it took me some time, but I jumped on. I put in my profile, I put in my icebreaker. If you're not familiar, it's an app to create before rapport with each other. And, hey, what are you doing? What's a favorite show? What show you gonna see in Vegas? Let's go together. So they have meetup groups. It's a great, great way to create a connection before they even come to the conference. So that was new to me, but I jumped on every day. I messaged people and it was again, a way connect deeply with your next audience. Every audience is different. We've got to connect to them. It's our job to build the bridge from our content to their world.

And I'm glad you mentioned that method of connectivity, Darren, because I remember I have done several presentations at state school organizations and state school districts and even local school divisions. Because in some parts of the country, you don't say school district, you say school division. You get, you get. You get smacked if you don't say the right thing. And I've always enjoyed. Now, I think we talked last week, we said, did you know? We talked about how you can have your story connect to the story of the audience. When I'm, when educators. I know up front in my family, education runs five generations deep down to my son, who was a schoolteacher himself, right? And one of my sons now is still. He's doing a drumline coaching in Los Angeles. But I connect to the audience and my family. But I also identify those individuals who've been in education for a long time and for a short time. So I talk about. I ask them all to stand, you know, and I'll say, okay, if you're teaching more than 30 years, please sit. And we go down 30, 20, 10, 5. And I go, okay, if you're here, if you're in three years, more than three years, you sit. I end up with the rookie teachers who are there first year, second year, you may get five or six people in the room. I said, you are the rookies. You are the new Blood. You have no idea what you're in for. And the whole place laughs. And at other times, I had them all stand and say, fewer than five years. Sit. Fewer than sit. I get the 35 years. Sit. People standing. If you've been teaching 40 years or more, remain standing. I may see three or four people. I say, you know what? I won't go any further to give anybody's age away. But you are still here 40 years later, which means you continue to care for kids every single day. You're an example to everyone in this room. And they get recognized, man. The crowd loves it. So I'm asking the experienced educators and the new educators. Uplifting both. Both at different kinds of different ways. But that's also a way to connect. Why? I didn't just come and give a speech. I made what I had to say important to them. I acknowledge leaders. I welcome those who are new and inspired. Encourage them. When the audience really feels that you care about them, that's one way you can connect more deeply. So here's a thought for everyone to consider for your next audience question. Are you willing to put in extra effort to find a way to connect to that specific demographic? We continually say, have interviews, talk to people, have conversations. Yes, but what can you do for your next audience that will enable you to connect deeply with them in such a way that they really want to hear from you? They want the benefit of your wisdom, your knowledge, your expertise, and your experience? It's important because when they feel connected, you will not be rejected. Oh, I like that.

No one will feel neglected.

No, that's nice. Not rejected or neglected. When the audience feels connected.

And Mark, you had mentioned, too, even if you know the audience, for example, you and I speak to toastmasters around the world. We know the audience, we know the heart, but we don't know those people.

Yes. Yes. And that's important. You're right, because you know. And please don't lose your thought. But I gotta say this. I've been often asked, Mark, you would give talks in schools five days a week, two, three times a day, for 100 days a year. You talk to over a million kids. How do you not get tired of giving the same speech over and over and over again? Because every audience is different. And that audience has not heard that speech on that day, in that room, in that environment, ever. In my. In. In their lives. So even though I may deliver a similar presentation, the audience is new. Their situation is different. No two schools are alike. No two kids are alike. And after I began doing this in 1990. I gave my first youth talk in the fall of 1995 at my son's elementary school in Mount Vernon, New York. I even wore a suit back then and a wired. A wired lavalier. Darren. I was bringing a wide level microphone. Okay, that's almost 30 years ago. My first youth audience. And I just gave a talk to a youth audience on October 3rd. I got a call in. Can I do one? November 29th in Atlanta. I'm still giving this talk and I'm still excited because it's a different audience every single time. How can I connect with that audience in that environment on that day in a special way that best serves them? That's the question to ask. And will you put the work in? Will you make the effort to understand who they are and how you can best serve them?

Yeah. My final thought too is find out who the patriarch or matriarch is, the person that is the mentor to many that people look up to. Go have a conversation with them. They'll appreciate it. Honor the years they put in helping people get a story or two from them. But reaching out and connecting with them, now you can mention that from the stage. Now you get connected to their juice and they will probably, unless you're a jerk, they will probably give you a blessing because you took the time to do it. But now that is another way to connect deeply with your next audience. Their mentors, their favorite sponsors, the people that work hard, the member of the year who went above and beyond to help other people. There's so much you can do.

Yeah. And I gotta go back to one thing you said there. I really appreciate this. When you get a testimony on the spot that tells you how well you serve them. But we've also said, listen to your audience. We got to listen to the audience before they're the audience to our meeting panel, the client. What. How can I best. How can we best serve them? What tweaks and adjustments can we make? How do we customize what we have for them? And when you do that well and you get a testimonial, it'll be an amazing thing. You mentioned getting one recently. You couldn't find it on your phone. I got one a few years back for a group in Chicago and in her testimonial, maybe you can hear it. Let's see if I can play it for you. If you're going to come through.

Case Conference in Chicago, and we just had Mark Brown do our keynote and he was everything that we hoped for, bringing energy and excitement and inspiring our Guests here to get us kicked off for the conference. He did a great job listening to us ahead of time and tailored everything to our particular audience.

He did a good job listening to us ahead of time and he hit on his comments to meet our audience. We couldn't be happier with it. I don't play this to brag. I play this to show that when I did a good job listening to us ahead of time and tailoring his presentation for us to have a great conference. They hire you, they ask for you for your expertise, but you want to connect deeply, listen to what they need, make the adjustments so when it's over, that was on the spot right after I spoke. So they'll say right away, look, Darren, Lacroix was awesome. Maureen was fantastic. Oh, Janice, she was amazing. She listened to us, she knew what we wanted and she made sure that she served us in the best way possible. That's what happens when you connect deeply. But it can't happen unless we invest that time ahead of time to make sure what you need. How can I serve you? And how can I serve you more effectively?

Darren, tomorrow morning you have the privilege of 2,000 lives for.

Oh yeah?

What will you do with that? So every audience is different, every world that they come from is different. So we've got to understand how to bridge that gap. Hope this has given you some new insights on how to connect more deeply with your next audience. We'll see you next week.

Make sure you subscribe to our show.

Remember to subscribe because if you miss a week, you miss a lot.

If you like this episode, please leave us a review. If you want to get more from Mark and Darren, check out Stage Time University where they provide experience, presenters, a proven path and world class feedback. To become the speaker everyone is talking about, go to stagetimeuniversity.com join us next week. If you're going to take the time to prepare a presentation, make it unforgettable.