In this leadership training video, Jennifer Bridges, discusses the art and skill of communicating during client presentations.
Here’s a shot of the whiteboard for your reference!
In Review: How to Give a Client Presentation
Jennifer noted that presenting project updates to clients can be intimidating, but offered her tips for a successful presentation every time.
Jennifer’s top tip?
Think of the word “Present-ing” and consider your clients: they want you, the expert, to provide them with the information they want and need. If you think of your presentation as if you’re giving them a “present” (literally, your expertise), you can re-frame the meeting in a way that fills you with the confidence you need to communicate effectively.
In fact, a client presentation is all about communicating, as Jennifer noted. There is a lot of information that you have as the project manager, that your client doesn’t have. They’re not as well-versed in the project as you are. So, give them the gift of communication.
To do this successfully, Jennifer outlined 10 tips:
- Simplify, simplify, simplify (Don’t try to impress with jargon.)
- Speak their language
- Focus on what matters to them
- Make your point clearly, concisely and quickly
- Confirm they understand, and remember to ask questions
- Be respectful
- Avoid shaming their questions (they don’t know what you know!)
- Excite them (Be enthusiastic about the project).
- Set a vision for them and help them see how to get there
- Explain the process and let them know where they are.
If you apply these simple tips to your presentations they will become not only more productive but you’ll find that people will be eager to attend and engage and, most importantly, leave with a feeling of success.
Pro-Tip: Another tip when leading a presentation is the use of the royal “we”—not in an elitist way, but in such a fashion that you include yourself and everyone in the room in the discussion. This is a team effort, and even clients are part of the team!
Take it further: Even the best intentions and planning can result in a poor meeting that’s beyond your control. However, it’s not beyond your control to redirect it. Read Jason Westland’s tips in his article How to Save a Bad Meeting.
Thanks for watching!
Transcription
Today we’re talking about how to give a client presentation. I’m not sure why we get so nervous about this. I mean think about it. If you have a present, aren’t you excited to give it to other person? So a reminder I have for myself is I think of literally giving my client of gift. Also, think of like if you present something, that’s the giving of something and the presentation is the way in which you give. So when we’re giving something, a presentation to our client, well, they’re seeking your professional advice.
So let’s look at the information they want. So when we give a client presentation, they really wanna know how long is something going to take and how much is it going to cost? They also want to know how many is going to be produced and how much they’re going to cost? They may want to know how many and how long is it going to take. Basically, they’re talking about items of the Triple Constraint as identified by PMI. It’s the time, the cost, the scope, and the quality.
So there are 10 tips that we found that’s really helpful in giving a client presentation.
First of all, simplify what you give them. Right? Don’t overwhelm them, make it simple. Speak their language, something they can understand and relate to their world. Focus on what matters to them. Make your point clearly, concisely, and quickly. I mean they do not want to be there all day, like taking forever. They want you to get to the point. Get them to point A to point B quickly.
Confirm they understand what you’re talking about and stop and ask. Do you have any questions? Is this what you expected? Is this helpful? So give them pause and give them time to think about it, to make sure they following you, and give them an opportunity to ask questions. We also want to be respectful. I mean after all they’re the client so they don’t know what you know. So we want to be respectful if they have questions and they may not get it yet. We also want to avoid shaming them for their questions. I mean they may have questions that for you is like immature, but they don’t know.
So it’s important to give them the space and honor what they’re asking. Excite them, get them excited about what you’re presenting, something about their project, or their status or where they’re going or what they can obtain from this. And also it helps to set a vision for them and help them see how to get there. If you set a vision and they can’t even conceptualize how in the world we’re going to pull that off then they’re going to be left dazed and confused or they’re not gonna believe that it’s possible. And you also want to explain the process and let them know where they are in the process of the project.
So again there are some bonus phrases that we feel like we call “The Phrase that Pays.” Number one let them know and tell them we will take care of you. That’s really comforting to know. You are in great hands. Let them know that you and your team are there in great hands. And also let them know we are excited to work with you. That really gets people to know that you’re engaged and use the phrase, “We.”
So if you need help presenting to your client then sign up for our software now at ProjectManager
