Presentation Best Practices

Editor's Notes

• #2: Talking points: Establish your goals up front What is the purpose of the presentation What do you want to achieve What action do you want your audience to take At the end of the, every presentation is about selling. Its to make a point, to sell one or more ideas. So If you believe in your idea, sell it. Make your point as hard as you can and get what you came for.
• #6: Talking points: The average person’s attention span is 8 seconds, that’s less than a goldfish so you need to manage your message and keep it direct and simple if possible
• #7: Talking points: The average person’s attention span is 8 seconds, that’s less than a goldfish so you need to manage your message and keep it direct and simple if possible
• #8: Talking points: The average person’s attention span is 8 seconds, that’s less than a goldfish so you need to manage your message and keep it direct and simple if possible
• #9: Talking point- be sure you consider your audience, what is the best way for you to convey your message to them? Do they need to hear it formally, do you need to show data and statistics to back up your claims, etc. When we say use a theme, I don’t mean talk in a pirate voice or cover your slides with Hawaiian flowers, its more about connecting the dots within your presentation so your audience can follow along and more importantly so they can remember. For example, I coach a lot of presentation teams that are looking to be selected for a project or a key account and a theme we use often is People Process Results. We use the People section to introduce the team members and talk about their role and relevancy to the project or account, then we roll into how company A can help client B under process and we close with results summarizing the firms experience and reasons for selection. By grouping the message of the presentation into these three chapters if you will, it helps organize the talking points and provides a natural progression to a strong closing.
• #10: Talking point- be sure you consider your audience, what is the best way for you to convey your message to them? Do they need to hear it formally, do you need to show data and statistics to back up your claims, etc. When we say use a theme, I don’t mean talk in a pirate voice or cover your slides with Hawaiian flowers, its more about connecting the dots within your presentation so your audience can follow along and more importantly so they can remember. For example, I coach a lot of presentation teams that are looking to be selected for a project or a key account and a theme we use often is People Process Results. We use the People section to introduce the team members and talk about their role and relevancy to the project or account, then we roll into how company A can help client B under process and we close with results summarizing the firms experience and reasons for selection. By grouping the message of the presentation into these three chapters if you will, it helps organize the talking points and provides a natural progression to a strong closing.
• #11: Talking point- be sure you consider your audience, what is the best way for you to convey your message to them? Do they need to hear it formally, do you need to show data and statistics to back up your claims, etc. When we say use a theme, I don’t mean talk in a pirate voice or cover your slides with Hawaiian flowers, its more about connecting the dots within your presentation so your audience can follow along and more importantly so they can remember. For example, I coach a lot of presentation teams that are looking to be selected for a project or a key account and a theme we use often is People Process Results. We use the People section to introduce the team members and talk about their role and relevancy to the project or account, then we roll into how company A can help client B under process and we close with results summarizing the firms experience and reasons for selection. By grouping the message of the presentation into these three chapters if you will, it helps organize the talking points and provides a natural progression to a strong closing.
• #13: Talking points: Consider what you are saying and the best way to say it. Sometimes its better to say something vs have it physically up on the screen for people to read. Don’t use the slides as the script for your presentation – what you say doesn't have to be physically on each slide I like to recommend that people think of each and every slide as an individual ad and encourage them to test them to make sure they hold their audiences attention Fancy slide transitions and fly-ins get old quickly so use them sparingly if at all. have all your bullets appear at once rather than one at a time. Avoid sound effects make slides that reinforce your words, not repeat them. Create slides that demonstrate, with emotional proof, that what you’re saying is true not just accurate.
• #14: Talking points: Consider what you are saying and the best way to say it. Sometimes its better to say something vs have it physically up on the screen for people to read. Don’t use the slides as the script for your presentation – what you say doesn't have to be physically on each slide I like to recommend that people think of each and every slide as an individual ad and encourage them to test them to make sure they hold their audiences attention Fancy slide transitions and fly-ins get old quickly so use them sparingly if at all. have all your bullets appear at once rather than one at a time. Avoid sound effects make slides that reinforce your words, not repeat them. Create slides that demonstrate, with emotional proof, that what you’re saying is true not just accurate.
• #15: Talking points: Consider what you are saying and the best way to say it. Sometimes its better to say something vs have it physically up on the screen for people to read. Don’t use the slides as the script for your presentation – what you say doesn't have to be physically on each slide I like to recommend that people think of each and every slide as an individual ad and encourage them to test them to make sure they hold their audiences attention Fancy slide transitions and fly-ins get old quickly so use them sparingly if at all. have all your bullets appear at once rather than one at a time. Avoid sound effects make slides that reinforce your words, not repeat them. Create slides that demonstrate, with emotional proof, that what you’re saying is true not just accurate.
• #19: Talking Points: Remember - If people can’t read my slides from the back of the room, my type is too small and it might as well not be up there There is nothing more annoying than sitting in an audience and not being able to read the slides. If you are like me you quit listening to the presenter and try to evolve into a higher creature in order to read it. The more words you use, the less readable they become. So keep it simple If you need to include a report in your presentation, hand it out, don’t put it on the slides. If you must include something from a report, just fill up a whole slide with the one number or one statement you want people to take away from the presentation. Remember that every slide doesn’t have to stand on its own. You can use one slide to set up a point and then the next slide to bring it home. Consider the presentation environment - Presenting in a large room? Make your text larger than usual so people in the back can read it. Presenting with the lights on? Dark text on a light background is your best bet for visibility.
• #20: Talking Points: Remember - If people can’t read my slides from the back of the room, my type is too small and it might as well not be up there There is nothing more annoying than sitting in an audience and not being able to read the slides. If you are like me you quit listening to the presenter and try to evolve into a higher creature in order to read it. The more words you use, the less readable they become. So keep it simple If you need to include a report in your presentation, hand it out, don’t put it on the slides. If you must include something from a report, just fill up a whole slide with the one number or one statement you want people to take away from the presentation. Remember that every slide doesn’t have to stand on its own. You can use one slide to set up a point and then the next slide to bring it home. Consider the presentation environment - Presenting in a large room? Make your text larger than usual so people in the back can read it. Presenting with the lights on? Dark text on a light background is your best bet for visibility.
• #21: Talking Points: Remember - If people can’t read my slides from the back of the room, my type is too small and it might as well not be up there There is nothing more annoying than sitting in an audience and not being able to read the slides. If you are like me you quit listening to the presenter and try to evolve into a higher creature in order to read it. The more words you use, the less readable they become. So keep it simple If you need to include a report in your presentation, hand it out, don’t put it on the slides. If you must include something from a report, just fill up a whole slide with the one number or one statement you want people to take away from the presentation. Remember that every slide doesn’t have to stand on its own. You can use one slide to set up a point and then the next slide to bring it home. Consider the presentation environment - Presenting in a large room? Make your text larger than usual so people in the back can read it. Presenting with the lights on? Dark text on a light background is your best bet for visibility.
• #22: Talking Points: Remember - If people can’t read my slides from the back of the room, my type is too small and it might as well not be up there There is nothing more annoying than sitting in an audience and not being able to read the slides. If you are like me you quit listening to the presenter and try to evolve into a higher creature in order to read it. The more words you use, the less readable they become. So keep it simple If you need to include a report in your presentation, hand it out, don’t put it on the slides. If you must include something from a report, just fill up a whole slide with the one number or one statement you want people to take away from the presentation. Remember that every slide doesn’t have to stand on its own. You can use one slide to set up a point and then the next slide to bring it home. Consider the presentation environment - Presenting in a large room? Make your text larger than usual so people in the back can read it. Presenting with the lights on? Dark text on a light background is your best bet for visibility.
• #23: Talking Points: Remember - If people can’t read my slides from the back of the room, my type is too small and it might as well not be up there There is nothing more annoying than sitting in an audience and not being able to read the slides. If you are like me you quit listening to the presenter and try to evolve into a higher creature in order to read it. The more words you use, the less readable they become. So keep it simple If you need to include a report in your presentation, hand it out, don’t put it on the slides. If you must include something from a report, just fill up a whole slide with the one number or one statement you want people to take away from the presentation. Remember that every slide doesn’t have to stand on its own. You can use one slide to set up a point and then the next slide to bring it home. Consider the presentation environment - Presenting in a large room? Make your text larger than usual so people in the back can read it. Presenting with the lights on? Dark text on a light background is your best bet for visibility.
• #25: Talking points There are lots of options out there today and they all have their merits. Electronic presentations such as power point, prezi and haiku deck allow you to make edits up until the last minute but they are also reliant on technology to cooperate which can be risky On the flip side, Printed materials have longer lead times and can be costly Its up to you to determine what medium will help you deliver your sales pitch in the most effective way
• #26: Talking points: If you know you will be giving a presentation that multiple audiences would benefit from, consider recording it and offering it to additional people online or just have it as an asset for future use. A lot of professional organizations today are requesting videos of speakers during the consideration phase of call for papers.
• #28: Its important to remember that Our brains have two sides. The right side is emotional, musical and moody. The left side is focused on dexterity, facts and hard data. When you show up to give a presentation, people want to use both parts of their brain. So they use the right side to judge the way you talk, the way you dress and your body language. Often, people come to a conclusion about your presentation by the time you’re on the second slide. After that, it’s often too late for your bullet points to do you much good. Sure you can wreck a presentation with lousy logic or unsupported facts, but you can’t complete it without emotion. Logic is not enough. If all it took was logic, no one would smoke cigarettes. No one would be afraid to fly on airplanes. And every smart proposal would be adopted. Logic is essential, but without emotion, you’re not playing with a full deck. Presentations all you to talk emotionally to the audience’s right brain (through their eyes), as your words can go through the audience’s ears to talk to their left brain. You have to hone your presentation skills like you would any other essential business skill. The more you work at it, the better you will get. And the better you get the more compelling your presentations will become. Remember you want to deliver your presentation in an authentic way where you can connect with the audience and not recite it by reading it like a teleprompter
• #30: I strongly believe that you can learn from any experience so I encourage you to poll your audience on your performance. You can do it live and ask “show of hands questions” you can pass out a performance review or send an electronic survey – whatever you do, do something so that you can incorporate any feedback into the next presentation. In most cases, you spend a great amount of time preparing for a presentation. You have followed my tips here and made an outline, designed a stellar deck, practiced, and hit a home run with your delivery. Don’t let all that hard work stop there. Think about ways you can re-package the content to get more miles out of it. Can you publish the deck on social media? Can you summarize down into a an e-book or one-sheeter that you can use as follow up for those who attended your presentation? Can you turn it into a blog article or by lined article for traditional press? They sky is really the limit, get creative and keep the content train going.