You are preparing the things you’ll say, the points you’ll make, your materials and the date is set to make that grand sales/business/school/organization presentation. The question remains – will your presentation help you close the deal/wow the audience/your boss/your group?
Oftentimes, you’ll only have a few minutes, wherewith you must excite the room and make your listeners understand your points, get convinced and actually go with your conclusions. In this article, we’ll provide some of the most useful tips for you to kill any presentation.
Make it Relevant to Your Audience
The best place to start the presentation is not on your laptop or a piece of the notebook. Oftentimes, it’s best if you close your eyes for a second to contemplate. Take a moment to think about your audience and how to make the presentation relevant (matter) to them.
Your presentation shouldn’t just focus on your knowledge about a certain topic, or even how awesome you, your company or your idea is: it’s a chance to demonstrate to your audience how much you can help them and the value of what you present.
In short, the presentation is for them, and that’s essentially a remarkably hard conclusion and decision to make – something that many presenters never manage. Therefore, set yourself apart and get your audience on your side as soon as possible by tailoring your presentation from their perspective, not from your own.
Build a Clear Structure
Your first few slides need to set the scene and get your audience interested and engaged. Don’t lose them by letting your presentation drift from one point to another in a meaningless way. Always create a clear structure to assist your audience’s focus on your presentation.
Reveal your structure after the introduction: lay all the key points that you’re covering, and try to keep them to just around three or four. Three is a scientifically proven to a number of points for most people to remember.
Tell Stories to Connect and Engage
Dry figures and facts can put even the most focused audience to sleep. Therefore, present your facts and figures through an engaging story, gloomy numbers turn to drama and the experience is altered.
People like stories because they tend to trigger their imaginations and stimulate emotions. Emotions work to pin information to our memories better, so make use of the elements of surprise, tension, humour or suspense where suitable.
Use Images to Improve Communication
Visuals are vital tool for the audience to better understand spoken words and written messages. Ensure that your visuals are clear, simple and relevant to your message; there won’t be time for your audience to interpret an unclear or overly clever link. The visuals must also reflect your brand and the tone of the overall presentation, but you don’t need to overly design – they just need to deliver clear, intelligent communication.
The visuals not only clarify the words but also stimulate the audience’s visual channel, letting them perceive the second layer of understanding and knowledge retention.
Use a Good Presentation Tool
By good, we mean using a presentation tool that everyone knows and familiar with – Microsoft Office Presentation tool that is. While alternatives are available, PowerPoint still offers the most plug-ins and more features to let you create an effective presentation. If you’re using an old version or another third-party presentation software, consider purchasing a personal copy of 365 office, which includes the entire Microsoft Office Suite, plus added features.
If you’re someone who constantly delivers presentations, then it is a no-brainer tool to have.
End Note
That’s it. Remember, your presentation will only be as good as your preparation and execution, so do your best to do both while following the tips above. Best of luck!
