The great news is that Effective Virtual Meetings:  Seven Ways to Boost Your Virtual Meeting IQ is that it was interactive and there were a ton of questions.  The bad news is that when there are 500 people in the audience, you can’t get to them all.

Following is one that came in that I didn’t get to during the presentation:

Patti D. wrote, “Is it a good idea to repeat the emotional or benefits statements 3 times or more as I’ve been instructed to do for sales presentations?  Have you got a rule of thumb or comment on this?”

I think so.

Remember assumption #1:  design and deliver as if they’re multitasking.  Repetition may be necessary for your message to get through once.

Two, we learn through repetition.  How many people in your life remember something after you tell them one time?

Three, behaviorally there’s one difference online to take into consideration.  Unless it’s a very small audience, you don’t see them walk into the room – so you don’t know if they came in late and missed the first time you said it.

One thing that I do given the educational nature of my presentations:  I’ll repeat top-level points, while the next level of supporting detail I don’t – I put those in the handout.

To the extreme, however, sales presentations need to make a persuasive point, and I think your whole presentation – including repeating key points or benefit statements, is critical.

“If I make sure my audience only remembers (insert number here) things tomorrow, what are they going to be?”