WIIFM - "WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?"

By Shirley M. Carolan

Whether you are a novice or a seasoned speaker, if you incorporate “WIFFM” into all of your presentations you will succeed in capturing your audience’s attention,loyalty and patronage. That’s a pretty strong statement but it works every time.

For starters, what is “WIIFM?” WIIFM is an acronym for “What’s In It For Me?” WIIFM is very simply having and keeping your audience’s interest and attention uppermost throughout your entire presentation. Any presentation you give must address what’s of importance or of interest to your audience.

How can you be sure this will work for you? Before you script any presentation take a moment and ask yourself the following questions:

• Why have they come to hear me speak?
• Is it because I am an expert in my field?
• What are their needs, wants, goals, objectives?
• What are their expectations?
• Do I have the requisite skills and knowledge?

Now ask yourself “what are MY objectives? What would I like them to take away today?

• An idea
• A valuable shortcut
• A new product, research, etc.
• A commitment to take action on something?
• A cosr effective business technique?
• A desire to learn more and become my client?

Once, you know your audience, what makes them tick, why they are here, and can answer the above questions truthfully, you are on your way to success! You will be able to demonstrate your integrity and credibility, combined with your business expertise! This is also known as a win-win situation.

You may be the novice speaker or new Toastmaster reading this and saying “Yes, but ... what does this have to do with giving manual speeches? Good question! Everything! Once you know your audience’s expectations you will know how to fill them and leave them clamoring for more!

Start now to think about your audience first, their expectations and then craft your presentation around their interests. It’s a matter of WIIFM!

Most folks fail to do this because they are too busy “telling” the audience something vs. "showing” them. Why doesn’t this work? When you “tell” the audience something you run the risk of being boring, preachy, self-absorbed, uncaring, and/or totally inept. (Incidentally, I’ve written about this topic previously entitled “Show ...Don’t Tell! Please check out my blogsite http://smcarolan.blogspot.com to see the entire article)

You also run the risk of rambling because your presentation is not organized into meaningful parts, i.e., an opening, a body, and a conclusion! There are no transitions between the parts, nothing in it for the audience, and nothing to keep their attention focused on what you are saying. Consequently, folks will tune out on you. Later on, they may even misquote you because they take things out of context because they didn’t fully pay attention to what you said! Good organization, therefore, is tantamount to giving your audience what it needs and deserves!

Paying attention to and incorporating these few tips into your next presentation will pay you dividends! It will catapult you from being a mediocre speaker, give you more credibility in your chosen field, name recognition, and a desire by others to do business with you!

Voila, you have killed two birds with one stone and are on your way to speaking success and/or increased business!

If you would like more information on how to structure a presentation making good use of WIIFM, please email me your request and I will be happy to send you my free article “How To Use What’s In It For Me (WIIFM) Effectively!” My email address is: artistwithaflair@att.net.

Shirley M. Carolan
artistwithaflair@att.net
Phone/Fax: 760-732-0332
www.shirleycarolan.com
http://smcarolan.blogspot.com
http://angelscross.blogspot.com

Copyright 2007 by Shirley Carolan. All rights reserved. To reprint any part of this article simply contact Shirley Carolan at artistwithaflair@att.net.