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Personal Business Coach
Inspired Development and Coaching |
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How to write knockout presentations
We have all heard the oft repeated adage that in preparing effective presentations we need to think about: telling them what we are going to tell them, telling them and telling them what we have told them. This is good practical advice, but this must not be at the cost of making your presentation overly laboured and pedantic. After all, whatever else a presentation sets out to do, it must entertain and engage.
Preparing and organising your material
Before you start writing, you must be clear on your objective in giving the presentation. You should then distil this objective into a clear message. This message is the essence of what you are trying to communicate and it should be repeated several times throughout the presentation. The sooner you can finalise this critical part of your presentation the better, because your mind will then be able to gather material, both consciously and subconsciously, around this core.
The next important step is to think clearly about your audience. Who are they? Where are they from? Do they know each other? Why are they attending, and what are they expecting to gain from being there? What do they already know about the subject? What do they feel about the subject? How many will be there? What is the nature of the event? Who else is presenting?
As well as knowing your audience, you must also know your subject. If you have taken the time to research and fully understand the topic you are speaking on, it will show. Talk to people, read around the subject, search on the web, open a file on the speech in which to keep relevant articles and materials.
Start with the middle
Start by preparing the main body of your presentation. You should not write your introduction and conclusion until this is largely completed. Go back to your objective and key message and ask yourself: “what are the three main points I want to make to support the aim of my speech?” The main mistake people make is in putting too much into their presentations. The less you put in, the more your audience will remember.
Three points are ideal, four are acceptable and five the absolute limit. If you make too many points, people will simply attack the weaker ones to undermine your whole argument.
For each key point you can then brainstorm illustrations, sub points and quotations. The basic rule is, if you make a point, illustrate it. Stories in particular draw an audience in and capture their imagination. So do not be afraid to paint verbal pictures for the audience, illustrated with the names of people, places and companies, and with conversations. People will tend to remember the story and then be able to relate it back to the point.
Being so prepared that it looks “off the cuff”
The real joy of a simple structure is that it frees you from over reliance on a script and from fear of drying or losing your way. Research has found that people can hold seven, plus or minus two, chunks of information in their conscious mind at any one time, so even the most challenged of us can easily retain three points. If you are well read around your subject, and know the importance of illustrations and examples for each point you make, it is relatively simple to hold the whole presentation in your mind, knowing that if you miss bits out, nobody is going to notice. The freedom this gives you will make your presentations much more impactful and clear.
Tell them what you are going to tell them and tell them what you told them
Once you have completed your work on the main body, you can then turn your attention to the opening and conclusion.
The opening needs to command the audiences attention and draw them into the world that you are about to paint for them. The purpose of a good opening is to break preoccupation and arrest attention. Ideas for effective openings include: a significant quotation or idea; a challenging question; a statement that excites attention, arouses curiosity, surprises the audience or is particularly informative; a story of human interest; an outline of the benefits to be gained; a challenge to the audience; or, “a funny thing happened on the way here today”. In addition to these ideas, take time to look at how good journalists open their articles.
And finally, the conclusion. The purpose of a good conclusion is to end on a strong note and to leave them thinking of your key message. Many of the ploys for a good opening also work for conclusions, In addition to these you could: simply summarise your main points and theme; call for action; point to the future; dramatise the conclusion; build to a climax; or simply and with an illustrative anecdote.
Which reminds me about the story about ……….
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