Giving a presentation doesn’t stop when you’ve finished speaking or addressing client concerns.
Staying relevant to your audience means being aware of how people receive your pitch. You need feedback and criticism to learn how to improve your business presentations’ speech tone, slide content, and delivery style.
In an anthology on integrated marketing, Dawn Iacobucci and Bobby Calder compile a collection of marketing wisdom. One of the chapters presents four types of feedback to sort through and learn from, similar to how companies use feedback to improve both their credibility and customer relationships: the disgusters, delighters, annoyances, and frills.
Sorting the Four Types of Feedback
After giving your sales pitch, remember how the audience reacted.
Did they agree with some parts of your presentation? Did they look bored with lengthy explanations? Were there times that they laughed along with your jokes?
Group these reactions into positive and negative groups, then sort the four types:
1. Delighters
Reactions like nodding in agreement, applauding and laughing at compelling visuals are all part of the delighters category.
This is a type of positive feedback that contributes the most to a successful presentation. It defines what you’re good at doing and tells you what works and what you should retain the next time you give the presentation again.
2. Disgusters
The polar opposite of the first item, the disgusters are parts of your presentation that form the bulk of your negative impressions. These are important issues that need to be addressed if you wish to improve your presentation style.
If your listeners seem bored because of text-heavy slides, complicated graphs and a heavy reliance on note cards, sort through these to find out what to avoid next time.
3. Annoyances
While not as serious as the second type, annoyances are minor inconveniences that can be overlooked but should also be considered as points for improvement.
Seemingly simple habits like pausing too often or linking your sentences with filler words might go unnoticed, but can be problematic if done too often and not curbed with practice.
4. Frills
Your presentation’s extra bells and whistles are pleasing to see but only act as support to the PowerPoint and yourself.
Appropriate ambient music and fancy fonts are nice touches, but these must be properly used with the delighters to make your presentation effective.
To maximize this, define your main idea and supporting points first, then know your client’s expectations.
The Takeaway
While these four types of feedback help identify your strengths and weaknesses as a presenter, be aware of how your words and actions affect your audience.
Making a great impression of yourself, your company and your brand plays a big part in selling your products and services.
To help you maximize these positive impressions, all you need to do is get a reliable presentation partner to help you out.
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“A Presentation Expert’s Guide to Knowing the Audience.” SlideGenius. April 28, 2015. Accessed July 21. 2015.
“Avoiding Filler Words in Your Corporate Presentations.” SlideGenius. May 11, 2015. Accessed July 21. 2015.
Iacobucci, D., Calder, B. J., J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, & Medill School of Journalism. (2003). Kellogg on integrated marketing. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
Royston, Mary. “What Is Values-Based Marketing?” CreditUnions. August 28, 2006. Accessed July 21. 2015.
