The prospect of developing and delivering a presentation can be more than a little bit daunting for some people. Yet, with the right approach, you can make the process a doddle. Find out how to master a presentation.
Tell Your Audience a Story
Most people don’t like to deliver presentations, and most audiences don’t like listening to them. Yet, they are an essential aspect of business. Rather than boring your audience with boring stats and information they will forget once they walk out the door, aim to tell them a story to add insight and meaning into your message. Facts and stats can back up your findings, but a story will trigger an emotional response from the audience, so they are more likely to walk away with something of value.
Use the Right Presentation Template
Your slideshow should naturally guide you through a presentation, and is there for a visual aid only. For this reason, you must ensure the visuals grab your audience’s attention, as they will be turned off by a boring stock template that looks boring and unprofessional.
For this reason, you should utilize the best presentation software to take control of every element of your presentation. Choose from different themes, layouts, fonts and media to grab your audience’s attention, and incorporate insightful videos and high-quality images that are relevant to your message and story.
Consider Both Introverts and Extroverts
There is a good chance your audience with be split 50/50 with introverts and extroverts. For this reason, you should never develop a presentation with one specific audience in kind. While extroverts might love the opportunity to interact throughout your presentation, you can guarantee introverts will want to head quickly to the nearest door. A presenter must therefore aim to find the right balance across the presentation, so ask a few questions, but don’t expect everyone to answer.
Stick to Three Interesting Points
Most people have short attention spans, especially when watching a presentation. You can therefore trust your audience will never remember – or listen to – your tenth point. Win your audience over by sticking to three points to maintain their attention, which you can expand upon in your delivery. Any more and your presentation will become instantly forgettable.
Sell an Idea
People don’t buy products, they buy into ideas that relate to their needs or lifestyle. For example, people buy the Apple Watch because they want to become fitter, healthier or communicate quickly. When creating a presentation, remember that it is not being developed to close a sale. You are developing a presentation to sell an idea that will resonate with your audience. This idea should then make people passionate to buy a product, sign-up to a service or make an investment. It is your job to convince them that they would be foolish to let go of such a unique, life-changing idea. Yet, you must avoid making a presentation sound like a sales pitch, as it will only dilute the message.