Making Presentations POP Contrary to popular belief, business presentations don’t have to be boring. Skeptical? If that’s true, then why are so many of them so mind-numbing? We’ve all sat through countless sessions where someone clicks though dozens of drab, identical slides of bullet points while reading verbatim through each one. By the third slide, their voice has faded to a background drone. We alternate between skimming the bullet points and watching the clock. Wearily, we wonder why it was necessary to spend half an hour of our time on something this blah. Also, how long is it until lunch? Wouldn’t we all hate to inflict this kind of torture on anyone else? Fortunately, we can avoid it if we try. Here are three areas to focus on to create presentations that won’t put the audience to sleep – instead, let’s make them POP: P: PowerPoint Okay, “PowerPoint” is shorthand here for any slideshow software or visual aids – but the principles are the same, whether we’re using Google Presentations, Apple Keynote, or a simple whiteboard. The good news is that people seem to be gradually catching on to the proper use of visual aids – Adobe reported that the average number of slides per presentation, as well as the number of words per slide, has been declining over the past few years. That is a fantastic trend, because one of the worst things we can do to our audience is overstuff our visual aids, or use more slides than we need. Remember that the slideshow plays a supporting role in our little production – not the lead. Most of us have probably watched a few TED Talks. Notice that the speakers almost always seem to have just a handful of slides, if any? The center of the TED talk is the individual speaker, standing there on the stage. The emphasis is on their unique message, not their graphic design prowess – unless, of course, the speaker happens to work in graphic design, and that’s what they’re talking about. (There are exceptions to every rule.) Think of the PowerPoint as a Zen garden: it should be attractive, it should be simple, and it should help people see things in a new way. Use high-impact pictures and graphs more than words, make sure that any writing is in a large font and high-contrast color, and minimize the use of zippy animations and transitions. These really don’t help keep the audience awake; if they’re overdone, and they often are, animations can actually wear out people’s eyes and cause distraction. If any animations are used, make them consistent: if everything glides onto the screen from the right, it’s much easier on the audience’s eyes than having things spin and zoom in from all different directions. O: Outline Sometimes presentations seem to be a long journey with no particular origin or destination. Whatever our subject matter, we should find a way to keep it from being a data dump or a pointless slog through a wilderness of corporate jargon. There’s nothing less interesting than a bunch of numbers with no context; the audience might as well be watching paint dry. This can create a particular challenge for presenters who are in sales, technical or financial fields; the trick is to build a story around the data that shows the audience why it’s relevant. This is why we need to outline the presentation. It’s worthwhile to take the time to draw a map; it’ll keep both the presenter and the audience from getting lost. We need to figure out where we should start, and where the audience should end up – because of course, our presentation has to have a purpose. What do we want our audience to do, think, or feel when we have delivered our message? What action do we want them to take? We need to make that explicit, and our whole presentation should be geared towards eliciting that reaction. Telling a story is the most effective way to draw an audience in; remember that stories, too, have a beginning, middle, and end. Outlining an attention-getting opening, an informative and engaging body, and a memorable conclusion will give us a solid framework for our presentation – and can even provide us with the structure we need to resize it, in case our time gets cut short. Build the body around just three or four powerful or persuasive points, and flesh them out as needed. P: Presence A presentation is nothing without a presenter. We can’t hide behind our slideshow and expect people to care about our message. Like it or not, our PowerPoint – however awesome and well-designed it might be – can’t be the entirety of the show. Our presence, our engagement, and our enthusiasm are critical factors in getting the audience interested. If we don’t show any interest, we certainly can’t expect them to! If we’ve outlined an effective structure and story, we’re halfway there; the other half is a delivery worthy of the message we’re trying to communicate. Most of us aren’t experienced professional public speakers, but these are skills that can be learned and improved. Watch a few TED talks or other addresses, and think about what makes the speakers interesting to watch and listen to. What techniques do they use that we might be able to emulate? If any of them seem dull or irritating, think about exactly what is lacking, and how to avoid making similar mistakes. The best way to prepare is to practice. Talking to a mirror, a pet, or a family member can help us overcome nervousness and get comfortable with our material; an even more beneficial approach is talking to a camera. Most of us have easy access to cameras on our computers and mobile devices. Just record the presentation and then watch the video; what is going well, and what needs improvement? Here are a few specific things to watch for: Eye contact – can the camera see our eyes? The audience will want to. Speed – are we speeding up when we get nervous? Maintain a measured pace. Volume – are we speaking loud enough to be heard across the room? Check projection and think about breath support. Body language – do we look confident? The audience will be watching; consider the messages they would get from hunched shoulders, nervous hand-wringing, or shifting from one foot to the other. A solid, confident stance and controlled gestures will make us appear more credible and help the audience to engage with our message. Making Presentations POP! With a good PowerPoint, Outline, and Presence, we can really make a presentation that pops. Keep in mind that the purpose of making any presentation is to engage and inform the audience, and move them to adopt a mindset or take an action. To do this effectively, we have to ask ourselves what the audience wants from us. What is important to them? What will induce them to pay attention and convince them that our message is important? How can we draw them into our story and encourage them to take action? If we can answer these questions and create a presentation that pops, we will ensure that the next time we speak to an audience we don’t see drooping eyelids and clock-watchers. Let’s prove to everyone that business presentations don’t have to be boring! Baker Communications offers leading edge Presentations Training solutions that will help we address the goals and achieve the solutions addressed in this article. For more information about how our organization can achieve immediate and lasting behavior change that leads to success during presentations in any setting, click here.
