Preparation
Tips
Everybody is
anxious to give a presentation, even the most seasoned
professionals experience some form of anxiety before
stepping on stage. So why do they shine? Because they come
-prepared-. Please find below a few tips to help you become
prepared. Don't expect to master all this in one go. But
giving them conscious thought will ensure that you can go
and give your presentation with confidence.
Establish aim
It may be
obvious, but if your presentation has no story, no focus,
no end-goal, it’s doomed to fail. So, start with the
end in mind. Before you even open up PowerPoint, sit down
and think about the purpose of your talk. Why were you
asked to speak? What does your audience expect? What is it,
that you want them to take on board from you? What are the
most important points you want them to take away? Remember,
even if asked to merely share information, rarely is just
the transfer of that information satisfactory from the
audience’s point of view. After all, they might just
as well have read your book or article or hand-out in
stead. So, establish your aim, carefully. And, take your
time doing so!
Know your
audience well
Before you
begin laying out your presentation, you need to ask
yourself many basic questions. One of these is about your
audience. Who are they? What are their backgrounds? What do
they already know about your topic? What is the purpose of
the event? Why where –you- asked to hold this
presentation? What’s in it for them? What are their
expectations? Where is the location? When is it? Etcetera.
All of this matters greatly in your preparation.
Content,
content, content
No matter how
great your skills in delivering a presentation may be, no
matter how beautiful your slides, if it lacks substance,
you will not succeed. Content alone will not see you
through, that’s for sure. But lack it, and your
audience will know and dismiss you instantly. Content is a
necessary condition, but not sufficient in itself. But only
content will suffice in building a successful storyline
with which to persuade your audience.
Simplicity
rules
Simplicity
means the minimum amount of information you need to convey
in order to make your point. Never underestimate your
audience, they’re every bit as smart as you.
Simplifying things is hard on you, for it takes real effort
from your part to get down to the essence of what you want
to bring across. But simplicity will be greatly appreciated
by your audience, as it will help them to come to terms
with your message quickly, and leave room for their own
thinking. Don’t distract your audience with
information overload. Just trim it down to the essence.
Structure,
structure, structure
No great
presentation was ever made by opening PowerPoint right
away. PowerPoint (or Keynote) is just a tool, a tool you
use at the end of your preparation when all your thinking
is complete. So, shut down that computer and start with a
pen and a stack of blank sheets of paper. Think analog, not
digital. Those 15” in your monitor limit your
thinking, and you cannot toss ideas around easily. All
great presentations have one thing in common: they have an
iron-clad structure. Structure is paramount, and this
cannot be emphasised enough! Without structure, you are
sure to fail. If you took the time to establish your aim
you’re now ready to outline the logic of your
arguments. People think in structures, so help them by
delivering your message in the same way. Write down the
main message of your presentation on an empty sheet of
paper. Then, write down why this is the case. A fail-safe
method of developing your structure (or, in effect, the
logic of your arguments!) is to answer these questions
next: 1) what is the situation, 2) what is the complication
and 3) what is the solution. The situation is the context,
the background. The complication should tell why this
context represents a certain problem. And finally, the
solution states what can be done to solve that problem.
Voila, there you have the next level in the logic of your
argumentation. Then, per section, drill down until you get
to the individual points you need to make. If you do this
thoroughly, you should be able to pin all those sheets of
paper to a wall in the form of a pyramid, with your main
argument at the top. Now, take a step back, literally.
Read. Does it make sense? Does the logic of your
argumentation become apparent? Is not, go back and shift
things around, trim, redo or add, until it does. This, by
the way, is the McKinsey way of doing thins. There is a
reason why they have been and remain so successful. It is
their ability to bring a logical structure to arguments.
"So what?"
It may sound
simple, but this question should be asked very often when
regarding your content. If you cannot answer the question
‘so what’ when looking at a particular point in
your argumentation, then there is no need for that point to
remain! And be sure that your audience will be asking
themselves this question too. If you cannot answer this
question conclusively, don’t expect them to be able
to do so.
The elevator
test
Imagine
having prepared to give a presentation, when 5 minutes
before the start, the main person in your audience
(remember, it’s him or her you want to persuade!)
tells you he’s sorry but cannot attend the
presentation. He ask you to ride down the elevator with him
so you can give him the pitch there. Can you? Can you bring
across the main argument of your presentation in 10 floors?
Just four sentences should be enough: the main argument
(always start with the conclusion!), the situation, the
complication and the solution… And even if
it’s not the elevator, more often than not you will
be asked to shorten your presentation due to other time
constrains. Make sure you can.
The art of
storytelling
People
don’t remember data. They remember the story in which
this data plays a role. Great presentations are also great
stories. If you want your audience to remember you, and
moreover, the point you’re trying to make, then you
should find a way to make it relevant and memorable to
them. Thing about your presentation as a 30-minute
opportunity to tell a story. Good stories have great
openings, engaging middles and a clear conclusion.
Remember, it is not information transfer that is the bulk
of what goes on between an audience and a speaker: it is
emotional transfer.
