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 THINK OUTSIDE-IN: focus your presentation on what your audience wants to hear rather than on what you want to say. What trends are affecting them right now? What challenges are they facing? How can you solve their problems?
STRUCTURE IS EVERYTHING: give your presentation a clear, logical structure that enables you to make your points in sequence – as if telling a story. Include signposts throughout, such as clear section headings, titles, headlines, etc.
BE CREATIVE: If you can, strengthen your presentation with a theme or concept – e.g. a budget and forecast presentation can be brought alive with the simple analogy, ‘The news & the weather’; a company merger can be more powerfully presented using a series of images and headlines that convey collaboration or teamwork.
DON’T JUST INFORM, ENTERTAIN: you can optimise impact and engagement by peppering your presentation with relevant quotes, anecdotes, metaphors and analogies (just not for every single point, this isn’t War & Peace!).
KNOW YOUR STUFF: if necessary, undertake desk research for relevant topical information to reinforce your message – and to show you know your stuff. Also anticipate any questions and get the answers ready.
NO DATA DUMPING: don’t overload your audience with data or information; instead, think in terms of messages. By all means impart information, but also summarise its implications. What does it mean for the audience?
APPEARANCE MATTERS: visual mayhem distracts attraction, damages your brand and undermines your quality assurances – therefore, avoid jumbled typefaces, misaligned text, non-brand colours, different sized bullets, etc. And keep any creativity within your brand guidelines.
A PICTURE SAYS A THOUSAND WORDS: statistically, your audience will be a mix of verbal and visual thinkers; cater to both types by including images to reinforce – even make – your key points. (Remember, it’s illegal to download and use most images from the web without first purchasing them)
LESS IS MORE: avoid the temptation to crowd your slide with words and images to reduce the strain of presenting. Each unnecessary element will only obstruct your message – so cull the number of words and bullets without mercy! Unfortunately, there’s only one way to avoid the strain: practice…
FINISH WITH A FLOURISH: prioritise your last slide; what do you want your audience to think, feel or do? Summarise your main points and make your call-to-action clear.
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Best Practice Guides |
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