Whether you have to make a presentation to the rest of your team or to a client, preparing for it is essential. You don’t want to make a fool of yourself. You want to show everyone that you know what you’re talking about, so read on to get some vital advice that could help you out.
Sell a Narrative
If you can deliver the information that you want to deliver at the same time as fitting it into a form of narrative, you might really hook the audience. This will help you to develop a real connection with your audience. You can add a personal element to the presentation, which can endear the audience to you and your message. It could be as simple as lending a narrative arc to the way you deliver the information in your presentation. So, have a clear start, a middle part and a conclusion that wraps everything up at the end of the presentation. This is simple, but it does ensure that the presentation will be well-rounded and satisfying for the audience.
Show a Video
Standing in front of a crowd and simply reeling off information can be difficult for you, and it can also be boring for the audience. If you want to spice things up, how about using a video. If you place it halfway through your presentation, it will act as a break from your speaking. It will help to break up the presentation into smaller parts. Plus, it will add something a little different and interesting. Videos offer an accessible and digestible way to get your message across without people’s minds straying to other things. If you want to back up what’s on the video, use transcription services to create a transcribe that everyone can refer to after the video is over.
Give Everyone Documents
I’m not saying that you should give everyone a paper copy of your entire presentation. But it is a good idea to type up some of the information and hand it out to the people who have turned up. This gives them something that they can take away and read again in their own time. If you don’t give them something to take away with them, the information might simply go in one ear and out the other. It’s a small thing; it doesn’t cost much money and it could massively boost the effectiveness of your presentation.
Avoid Rambling
The worst thing you can do when you’re delivering a presentation is ramble on and on. People don’t want to be spoken at in a way that is dull and uninteresting. It is very easy to fall into the trap of rambling when you don’t have a real plan of what you’re going to say. If you want to make sure that you don’t do this, write a script that you stick to throughout the entirety of the presentation. And if you notice that you are starting to ramble, have a look at your notes and get back on track. You will only lose the audience if you ramble on about not much at all, so it’s not a risk that’s worth taking.
Balance Humour and Serious Points
On the one hand, you need to be serious and show people your expertise when you are delivering a presentation. But, on the other hand, you also want to be entertaining and show people that you can have fun with the subject you’re talking about. The big challenge is to find a balance between these two things. It’s something that is certainly not easy to do, but it can be done if you prepare what you’re going to say carefully. You should tailor your approach to the audience. If you are trying to impress a room full of business professionals, then you need to focus on the serious message first. But you can still slip some humour, jokes and light-heartedness in there too.
Challenge People’s Existing Ideas
I’m not saying that you should be controversial for the sake of it, but challenging people’s thinking is always a positive thing. People like to have their existing ideas challenged because it opens them up to new ways of thinking. That’s what an interesting business presentation should be all about if you ask me. Nobody wants to listen to a presentation that is full of things that they already know about. That kind of presentation is nothing but a complete waste of everybody’s time, and, as you should know, time is precious in the world of business. So, say something new and different and persuade people that your way of thinking is the correct way.
Get People Involved with an Activity
The last thing you want is for people to get bored while you are delivering your presentation. When you are standing up there, you will start to notice that people are checking their watching and looking bored. That’s not what you want, so you will need to plan something that will keep everyone interested in what you’re saying. You could do something like asking questions or creating a little game out of the presentation. There are many options for you to consider, so consider all of them. It doesn’t really matter what you do as long as it manages to keep people listening to what you say.
Take Questions at the End
When you have finished speaking to the people who have assembled to watch you, you should take questions from them. When you simply finish speaking and then walk away, it can appear to be a little inconsiderate. So, rather than doing that, why not make the whole experience even more interactive? If the presentation that you gave was difficult to understand, then people might need to ask questions in order to comprehend it all. So, it’s important that you give them that chance. You want everything to be as clear as it possibly can be. It will extend the length of the presentation, so make sure that you factor this in when you are planning it all.
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