“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four hours sharpening the axe”.
This quote by Abraham Lincoln epitomises the importance of the initial planning stage before a presentation. There are essentially three basic steps that one could adopt in order to master the art of effective presentation.
1. Understanding your audience
In order to provide value to your audience, it is pivotal to understand their expectations and outcomes from your presentation. You must remember to plan and create a presentation that is tailored to your audience in line with what they expect to achieve at the end of the session. One way of understanding your target’s needs is to speak with your hosts and clarify these points prior to designing and preparing your presentation material.
It always helps to put yourself in the shoes of the audience and gauge their expectations. Typical questions you might want to contemplate on…
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What ‘new’ information am I offering to my audience?
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What is the best way I can present this information to make it clear and understandable to my audience?
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How do I sell the benefits of knowing this ‘new’ information in a manner that would encourage my audience to apply it back on the job?
Effective communication is about speaking in your audience language, not yours!
2. Preparation
Once you have a reasonably sound idea about your audience profile, you can start preparing your speech/ presentation material. Think about the best possible method or even a combination of methods that would enable you to deliver a successful presentation. A successful presentation is one which is crafted in a well-constructed and organised manner. It is vital to ensure that the sequence of your presentation is logical and unambiguous.
To get started, you could develop a ‘session plan’, to check for logical flow and sequencing of the presentation topics. This way, you can be assured that the body of your presentation is executed in a well-crafted manner. For those who have trouble articulating your thoughts through structured and logical channels, you can familiarise yourself with tools such as the ‘Minto Pyramid Principle’ and ‘Storyboarding’.
Prepare yourself to put across complex ideas persuasively!
3. Outlining
Before getting caught up in all the gee-whiz features of PowerPoint, remember that the purpose of a presentation is to present information – not to overwhelm your audience with a demonstration of all the software bells and whistles. Take time to decide if your presentation is meant to entertain, inform, persuade, or sell and develop templates and slides in accordance.
Do not commit the cardinal sin of detailed referencing of literature and extensive review of data for there is a slim chance that your audience will remember any of it. The purpose of your presentation is to provide information that your audience will be able to capture and remember – not just in theory, but also in practice! Use effective keywords and outlines of areas you’d like to elaborate on during the presentation. Leave the note taking responsibility to your audience instead of cluttering your presentation slides.
Remember, there is no point in giving a presentation if your audience is not listening!
I hope these tips will prove useful to you while devising your next presentation. If you’d like to fine tune your presentation skills further, come down for our workshop – ‘The Art of Effective Presentation’ (Click here for details on the ‘The Art of Effective Presentation’ workshop).
By Sruti Lal
Senior Consultant (CLC, PSB Academy)
REFERENCE
Article source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Perrine_Oh,
as at 22 December 2009
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