Memorable Messages

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
“One small step for a man -- one giant leap for mankind.”

These iconic sound-bites are burned in most everyone’s memory. And while we may or may not remember the rest of each speaker’s content, we will always remember their general message.

Even if you are giving a small presentation, you need to have one phrase or word that your audience can take away with them. Not only will they remember the general message, it will make your presentations stand out from other speaker’s and your own.

To create your message memorable, you need to pluck it from the core of your presentation. First, identify your main point. What is it that you want to inform people about or change? Remember, you’re not a head-of-state – probably – so it’s fine to have your core message be: Problems with the TPS report.

Now that you have the focus of your presentation, don’t rush in and create a memorable message. First create your presentation. It should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. No, that’s not being facetious, that’s just good presentation structure. The beginning should capture your audience’s attention and orient them to the rest of the presentation. The middle is the meat, and where you will give the most information. The end summarizes what they’ve just learned and guides them towards your main points. The end also sends your audience away with what they were supposed to take with them.

Once you have your presentation laid out, go through and highlight where your core message appears. If it is only once -- or only at the end -- you’ve got some editing to do. Your audience should know what the presentation is about almost as soon as you begin. Should it be the first words out of your mouth? Sure, but a nice, “Hi, how is everyone?” is a good beginning too. Don’t leave your core message out of the middle either. At the beginning of every sub-section, you should mention how the next part ties in with your core message. At the end, sum up and point out how it all goes with your main point.

What is it about your core message that you want people to walk away with, to remember? In the example, “Problems with the TPS report,” people are not putting cover sheets on their reports, and this has to stop. In this case, a memorable message that could be used is: The TPS… no cover - no report. You’ll never forget that, will you?

Memorable messages don’t have to be just words; they can be pictures or sounds as well. Using our example, during a web conference, we could share a picture of a TPS report -- without a cover sheet – that is on fire. That would stand out in employee’s minds. If we were delivering the TPS report presentation on an audio conference call, then whenever we said our memorable message – it’s “no cover - no report”… just in case – the sound of paper tearing could accompany it. Again, it’s different, unique, and will stand out in people’s minds.

Odds are people will not remember a lot of your presentation’s content, let alone every bullet point. However, they will remember your memorable message, its context, and the general information behind it. And long after our example office has gone paperless, employees will always remember they need to put a cover sheet on the TPS report.