What makes other people remember Your idea among others?

Just a few days ago, I was invited by a friend to an event hosted by a government sponsored organisation supporting upcoming entrepreneurs. The event marked “the grand finale”  of  a 6 weeks workshop, allowing entrepreneurs to present and sell their ideas to an audience in 5 minutes only, followed by 3 minutes feedback. It was indeed a diversified and interesting collection of people and ideas. At the end of the event, the entrepreneurs seemed happy about their performances and the takeaways from the audience.

Now, 5 days later, which ideas do I, as an observer remember…and why?

Another friend of mine is an expert in the field of rhetorics. She is constantly challenging me and others to ask ourselves:  “What is your key message? What does it accomplish? And what’s in it for me?” And then she reminds me that communicating is so much more than words, it’s how you present it, how you are perceived, how you build trust…and not at least, how you manage to create emotions among your listeners.

So the simple answer to the above question is the following:

I recall the ideas where the presenter managed to create emotions supporting the facts and standard selling points.

I remember the presenters who demonstrated passion about their ideas and used more than words and facts to support their presentation.

My first employer taught me that the most effective presentation was one visual…one visual only. It takes courage to actually do so, but I’m finally convinced: There is no stronger selling point than talking passionately from your heart about something that’s important to you without disturbing elements. As a receiver, you might not agree with the idea, but it’s almost impossible to not get affected. And…you’ll remember it longer.

You don’t have to be an entrepreneur to benefit from this. What do You do differently next time You want somebody else to like your idea? How well do You know your strengths as others perceive them and how do you leverage this when selling your idea? I’d like to inspire You to reflect more about this through an e-book issued by my partners Per Frykman & Karin Sandin: “You-a Brand”. By signing up for my newsletter at the bottom right corner, You will get Your own free copy and might dive into this topic further.

Imagine what You would be able to do if You actually had the knowledge about Your strengths and use this knowledge when selling Your ideas.  Let me know Your thoughts by commenting this post!