How
would you feel if you missed a golden opportunity only because your presentation
lacked that punch and you could not effectively deliver that critical and
important message that you wanted to. Yes, presentations have become an
important part of our professional life and people (but not all) prefer the use
of visual aids as it helps them connect with the audience. Though there are
various ways of presenting something (can be a report, project work, research) I
would be focusing on the use of Microsoft PowerPoint. Projecting your precise
and well constructed ideas had never been so easy, thanks to PowerPoint. In
this post I would like to focus on some important points that might help you
with your presentations.
THE PROCESS:
The
primary objective of any presentation is to ensure that your message or any
other information that you would like to share during the course of your presentation
is understood by the audience or the people whom you are presenting to. Therefore
it is important that you define the purpose and the objective of your
presentation first so that you can work on it. The next step is to know your audience
and know the venue. Find out or try to understand what type of audience you
will be presenting to, what is their level of understanding and what their
intellect is. Also, take a look at the venue and make sure that the venue is technically
prepared for the presentation (it also helps to set the font). Once the
purpose/objective is finalized, gather relevant information and start drafting
your presentation.
THE STRUCTURE:
An abrupt beginning and end
will only complicate things. A proper structure or flow is required to ensure
that your audience follows you. Every presentation must have a proper introduction,
main content and a crisp conclusion. Such segregation will help simplify things
and will help you during your presentation. The best way is to explain as if it
were a story by effectively connecting the dots. One of the best examples being
the legendary Steve Jobs who was one of the best presenters. His keynote
addresses are being used to teach presentation skills to students.
DESIGNING AN
EFFECTIVE PRESENTATION:
a)
Less is always more : A slide cluttered with lots of information is
never appealing. Remember that it is you who the audience should be looking at and
listening to most of the time. If you clutter your slides with tons of
information, the audience would be busy reading the slide and majority would
have missed what you were explaining. So use bullet points and prune your
information.
b)
The 8 second rule: Adding a bullet point doesn’t mean
that you can add as many lines as you wish to. The audience must not take more than 8 seconds
to read any bullet point. It means that for every new point displayed on the
slide, the audience should shift their focus at the presentation for only 8
seconds.
c)
Fonts and
colors: As I had mentioned earlier, knowing your venue helps you set
the font size and you will be saved from the embarrassment from people who were
seated in the last row and could not see your presentation. Use a font which is
simple and attractive. Similarly, do not use awkward colors. Use colors which
match the theme/template that you are using.
d)
Use of images, videos, flash, smart art: A presentation with text, text
and only text can be boring most of the times. So pep up your presentation with
some images and videos. When inserting a video, please hyperlink it carefully.
These tips may be simple but they are effective. As a presenter you need to understand that your presentations i.e the theme/template you use can become monotonous and predictable over a period of time. So it is important that you come up with new templates, if possible design your templates. Think out of the box.
These tips may be simple but they are effective. As a presenter you need to understand that your presentations i.e the theme/template you use can become monotonous and predictable over a period of time. So it is important that you come up with new templates, if possible design your templates. Think out of the box.
MOST COMMON MISTAKES
50 % of the mistakes happen before the presentation
50 % of the mistakes happen during the presentation
Some of the most common mistakes that we tend to commit are :
b) Lack of structure & clarity- A clear structure helps simplify things.
c) Being ‘Me’ focused – It is the audience whom you are presenting to, not the mirror.
d) Too much information- Lack of concentration, audience lose interest.
e) Not creative - Makes the presentation boring.
f) Reading from the slide – It is only a visual aid, not supposed to read everything from the slide.
g) Fillers- Using Ehh..err..Umm. Rehearsals help overcome them.
h) Weak opening/closing – Ensure that you begin and end confidently.
It is quite common to get those butterflies when you are inexperience or sometimes when you address a huge gathering. The key is to be relaxed all the time, meditate for a couple of minutes if required before the presentation as it helps.
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