“I know I need to do a presentation but I have no idea what to talk about!”
It’s something that we hear all the time here at The Networkers®! Once you’ve done a couple of presentations, it can be difficult to come up with new topics to talk about, and often people fall into the rut of either not presenting because you don’t know what to talk about or always presenting on the same topic.
We highly recommend you try to mix up your presentation topics. From the audiences perspective, it can get pretty boring to hear the exact same thing every single time someone presents.
So, we’ve compiled a (non-exhaustive) list of topics to inspire your next presentation at your networking group.
Presentation Ideas:
1. Introduction
“People do business with people they know, like, and trust”
A great first presentation is an introduction to you. Use this opportunity to get people interested in who YOU are. Some things to include are:
- How you got into your industry
- Your Values
- Ideal Clients
- Overview of products or services
2. Overview
If you have lots of products or services, an overview of them all is a great way to introduce them at a basic level. It’s good for people to know what products and services you offer. This way they can learn if what you offer can benefit their business, heir personal life, or other people that they know.
3. Product or Service Deep Dive
Take people through a deep dive into your products and services. You can answer questions like:
- Why would someone engage with this product or service
- What would it look like to engage in this product or service?
- What results should you expect from it?
- What is the process of this product or service?
- What are the Product specifications?
- How long will it take?
- How involved is it?
4. Case Study
A great way to get people to understand your products or services is to share a case study. This showcases the products or services you offer, how you work with your clients and customers, and how it has changed their lives. This way, when your audience faces the same challenges os your clients or meets someone that does, they know that you can help to solve their problems.
5. How to do [service] yourself
This topic really depends on your industry and it might seem a bit counter productive. If you’re here to promote your services, why would you teach someone else how to do it?
For starters, teaching is a great way to show your knowledge of that service. For example being able to explain how to explain how someone can sell their own house shows that you know exactly how to do it.
But you can also use this topic to explain why they should get a professional to do it. It might be time, peace of mind, legalities, price, etc. When people know how much time, effort, and knowledge goes into what you do, they’re more likely to decide that it’s not something they’re interested in doing for themselves.
6. When you need me
It’s important for the members of your networking group to be able to identify when they or someone they know might need your services. Take some time to go over ALL the different situations that your clients or customers find themselves in where they need your help, and then explain how you can help them to solve their problems. Then when the group members find themselves or someone they know in a similar predicament, you’ll be the first person they call!
7. Comparison
Use your 10 minutes to compare two similar but different products or services. This is useful to educate people more on specific aspects of your industry, and helps them to potentially make decisions down the road. And when it does come to decision time, they’ll remember to contact you.
Examples could be:
- Marketing: Social Media Management vs Social Media Advertising
- Accounting: Xero vs MYOB vs Hnry
- IT: Windows vs Apple
- Electrician: Smart Lighting vs Normal Lighting
8. A day in the life
A day in the life is a presentation about what your average day might look like. What kind of meetings you have, what kind of behind the scenes research and development you do, how you find the right solutions for your clients.
The idea behind this kind of presentation is that is shows all the behind the scenes stuff that you wouldn’t usually talk about. Rarely would you talk about all the different systems you use and why you use them, the research that you do, or how you solve each individual client’s needs.
9. Process of services
You might think that this topic is the same as some of the other ones above, but it’s a bit more in depth than that. Use your presentation time to take your audience through a process of your service from your perspective. From your initial meeting with a potential client about this specific service, what are the different steps that you take? From start to finish, even the boring bits.
10. Product walkthrough
This is the product version of the above. Use your presentation time to walk your audience through a product, which could be something you sell or something you use in your work that they could too. This topic is all about educating your audience about your products or more about the behind the scenes work you do.
11. Troubleshooting
AKA “What to try before calling me”. If you’re in the profession of fixing things, this one is for you. This is the presentation where you tell people to “try turning it off and then on again”. Teach people how to troubleshoot some common problems that you see.
This presentation is great because you’re showcasing your knowledge, you’re helping people out, and you’re reducing the chance that they contact you with an easy to solve fix. It’s a win win!
12. How X Product or Service can benefit you
This is less about the hard sell and more about the power of suggestion. Your audience may not have ever thought about how your products or services could benefit them or their business. Often people are so busy running their business they don’t take the time to think about how they can make it better through new products or outsourcing. Here’s your opportunity to open their eyes to what they might be missing out on.
13. Onboarding a client
This topic is a bit out there. Why would people care about your onboarding process? Well if they ever decide to work with you, it’s good for them to know what your onboarding process is. It’s also a good way to weed out people that might not be a good fit for your business.
Make sure to include things like:
- What you need from them
- What they can do to make your life easier
- How they can identify if they’re a good fit for your business
- How they’l know if they need your products or services
14. Seasonality
Most businesses have products or services that are more applicable during certain seasons throughout the year than others. And by seasons we don’t just mean spring and summer. There’s also tax season, the school holidays, back to school season, holidays like Christmas. When you’re coming into that season it’s a good idea to promote those products and service. It jogs people memory of that they’d like to do that season, and hopefully gets them booking with you sooner rather than later.
15. Tips and Tricks
A tips and tricks presentation is always a good time! People love to know how they can apply new things into their business and life. And it doesn’t have to specifically be tips and tricks for the products and services you offer. And great example we’ve heard was a real estate agent who did a presentation on “top things to make your house sell for more”.
16. Quiz
Everyone loves a quiz! If you’re in an industry that people should know a lot about, doing a quiz is a great way to show people their knowledge gaps and then fill them in. It’s engaging and fun, which is something we’re all about.
We recommend not having more than 10 questions though – otherwise you risk going over your 15 minute presentation slot.
Best of luck for your upcoming presentation! Hopefully these 16 topics have given you inspiration for several presentations to com! And if you’re still stuck on ideas, ask your facilitator if you can just do a Hot Seat, where your group asks you questions and you answer.
