Do you need to do a killer presentation—perhaps at work or because you’re a budding entrepreneur and need to convince cold-eyed venture capitalists to invest in you?
A killer presentation involves a lot of work, which is probably why so few presentations are really good. And your efforts should start with planning.
First, a few statistics from various reputable sources:
- 75% of people are anxious—at least to some degree—about public speaking.
- 70% of those who present regularly agree that presentations are critical to work success.
- 33% worry that they won’t captivate their audience.
- 75% would like to improve their presentation skills.
Now, the planning part.
Kristin Long (@KristinMLong), who wrote the article this post draws on, quotes Ben Franklin. “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” There’s no doubt that planning is essential to success. Putting a presentation together without much, if any planning, two days before it is due and practicing it once is may work if you’re an expert in winging it. For most of us, though, it’s probably not a good idea.
Here are three planning tips:
- Identify one key message and build your presentation around it. Why just one? Because most people will remember 25 percent of your presentation. That fact alone should encourage you to make your presentation brief. Forget the 45-slide monsters.
- Structure your presentation like a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Set the scene and introduce your topic. Explain the challenge, why you care, and (my thought) why your audience should as well. Show how you met the challenge and give your audience helpful tips.
An alternative approach might be the classic challenge-solution-results structure used in case studies.
- Write each of the points that supports your key message on sticky notes and arrange them in order on the wall. Rearrange them until you get the flow right.
At this point, you haven’t started the writing part, but when you do, the planning part will make the job easier.
What I’d also like to add here is “Do your research.” Even if you’re fully conversant with your topic, you will inevitably find information that will supplement what you already know. And that will inform the planning process.
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