5 Tips To Improve Your Next Presentation
Note: these tips are taken from a Presentations Workshop entitled “Presentations 101: The Art Of” co-created with Ideasicle Expert, Monica Taylor.
Presentations are arguments. Arguments designed to convince someone, or a group, to take action in a certain fashion. A marketing team tries to sell its product managers on a new ad campaign. An advertising agency tries to sell its credentials to a prospective client. A teacher tries to sell the local Edfund board members on an idea, for which she needs a grant. Below are five things to try when composing and delivering your presentation. Things that, in my experience, will increase the odds of success whether in person or over Zoom.
1. outline first. slides last.
It’s important for any presentation to tell a story. Identify a challenge (act 1), explain the journey (act 2), and present your resolution (act 3). It’s very difficult to tell a story if you begin composing the presentation in PowerPoint or Keynote. Instead, open up a Word doc and make your argument in bullets in its simplest form. Then decide what content you need to include to help amplify the challenge, say, articulate the journey, or rationalize your resolution, and go ahead an add those bullets. Don’t worry about slides at all, just the argument. Once you and your team are cool with the outline, THEN start making slides. You’ll save a ton of time and agony and likely have a more powerful argument.
2. Remember YOU are the presentation, not the slides.
You may have slides, you may have printed boards, and maybe some props to help make your case, but don’t depend on them too much. Use them only to magnify yourself, because YOU are the presentation. In fact, minimize what’s on the slides and boards and verbally deliver the meat of the material. You want your prospects looking at you and feeling your conviction (even if it’s over Zoom). Which brings us to…
3. you better believe it.
Here’s what’s perceived by the audience when you are presenting:
The information you’re presenting (tangible)
The arguments you are making (tangible)
Your confidence level in making the arguments (intangible)
If you aren’t confident, you certainly can’t expect your audience to be. In order to be confident, you have to believe in the content. Start there. Then, know your stuff. Rehearse the presentation so you deliver it fluidly and without uncomfortable pauses that telegraph uncertainty. Speaking of uncertainty…
4. Minimize diminishers.
Diminishers are words and phrases that slowly “diminish” your power in a presentation. Things like, “I think..” and “It could be” and “Sort of…” Diminishers tell your audience you’re not 100% sure about your pitch. Now, often these phrases are personal ticks and will take much practice to eliminate. But if you know the content cold (and believe in it) and rehearse several times beforehand, the points you want to make will come more easily and you will less likely feel the need for diminishers.
5. team presentations: interrupt each other.
This one is subtle, but its effect can be quite powerful. When presenting as a team—e.g. an ad agency pitching new biz—do not be afraid to interrupt each other. It shows both enthusiasm for the topic (he can’t wait to get his point across) and shows that your team has chemistry with each other. In fact, in my experience, showing chemistry between team members actually builds chemistry with your prospect, because they want to be a part of your club. So map out your presentation, have different people present, but always be open to interrupting each other along the way.
Presentations are critical business moments. They posit a possibility with the hope of getting agreement. Try these tips in your next presentation. And remember, it’s all about increasing the odds of success.
Will Burns is a brand consultant and Founder & CEO of the revolutionary virtual-idea-generating company, Ideasicle X. He’s an advertising veteran from such agencies as Wieden & Kennedy, Goodby Silverstein, Arnold Worldwide, and Mullen. He was a Forbes Contributor for nine years writing about creativity in modern branding. Sign up for a video consultation through my Intro Page.