We all want to get the most yield from our efforts. So, we often rush into our work tasks. When crafting slides to support your story it pays to ‘slow down to speed up’.
Are you giving a talk where you are the main star? Or are you just presenting (yet another) monthly status update?
Does your audience know the subject well? Have they had the chance to read your materials up front?
How much time do you have?
What is the set-up? Face-to-face? Teleconference? Videoconference? Classic presenter-to-audience?
Your visuals should be crafted accordingly and should differ depending on how you answer the above questions.
Sketch up a rough structure of your story before you start making slides.
Our secret trick is to write up the Executive Summary first – when done right, each statement in the summary will represent a separate slide. Emphasize one point per slide.
Check that you have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Be sure to end with a persuasive call to action.
With a strong structure in place, it is time to make slides. One slide for each of the main statements in your summary. As you go, draft the content of each slide to ensure that it supports the headline. A few tips:
How you should present differs greatly depending on the set-up. Relaying a message via a conference call is different than doing it in person. But there are some universal principles.
Start with briefly laying out the structure of the whole story. Then walk through each slide, start with the headline, then explain the content thoroughly, and finally conclude.
Clear the slide completely by asking for questions before advancing in your presentation.
That is it. Follow these 4 steps and you’re well on the way to make great presentations.