Presentation Training Tips:
Follow These Three Keys to Presentation Success

By James A. Baker
Presentations Training Institute.
March 2009

We all know what it is like to listen to a great presenter. We sit mesmerized as she keeps us on the edge of our seats with engaging commentary, memorable stories, and catchy visuals all wrapped up in a relaxed, confident, convincing delivery style that has us standing and wildly applauding at the end. That is when we remember that we have a presentation of our own to do next month and we begin to despair of even being able to keep our audience awake for the whole thing.

While it is probably a mistake to compare ourselves to those top-rank (and top-dollar) professional presenters, that doesn’t mean we can’t learn a few things from them that will prepare us to deliver a solid, effective presentation of our own when the time comes. Here are three key principles used by all the top presentation pros:

1) Do Your Homework – You have been invited (in some cases assigned) to deliver a presentation for a particular reason. Make sure you understand the goals and the subject matter well enough to hit that target dead center. Is your goal to inform, to motivate, or some combination of both? Have you assembled and organized your material so that it will clearly lead your audience in the direction you want them to go, without being too technical or dragging on too long? A short list of key points – backed up by up by brief supporting data and a few easy-to-read, clean, memorable visuals and a couple of stories – will be more effective than pages of confusing statistics and rambling commentary. Decide what is most important to say, say it clearly and efficiently, and sit down. It requires more work to put together a tight, targeted presentation, but it is worth it. It is always better to leave them asking for more than it is to have them asking you to stop.

2) Speak to the Needs of Your Audience – Do you have an adequate understanding of the needs of your audience? Have you even thought about this? C-level executives have different needs and listen for different types of information than rank and file managers. Top executives want you to get right to the point with high level information that is accessible and practical. Don’t bog them down with details; that is someone else’s department. Rank and file managers want proven solutions they can use now. They don’t have time to talk in theoretical terms about pie-in-the-sky theories. On the other hand, IT managers and financial officers actually require that you dig into the details and give them all the supporting data you have.

You get the idea. Give some thought to your audience before you even start preparing your presentation. If necessary, make a few phone calls and interview those who are close to the group you will be addressing. Ask them to give you insights into the needs and concerns of the key players who will be in attendance. Any leverage you can gain in this area will be very helpful. All your hard work will be wasted – or at least ineffective – if you don’t target your presentation to speak clearly to the needs and expectations of your audience.

3) Get to the venue early -- This advice has a broad application. If your presentation is taking place in another city or another continent, try to arrive at least 24 hours ahead of the time you are supposed to make your presentation (maybe even more for overseas events). You want to have plenty of time to relax, refresh and be at your best. You also want to allow time for your luggage and any important presentation components to catch up with you. With airline travel becoming ever more hectic, stressful and unpredictable, leave yourself plenty of time to recover from unexpected delays and losses. In most cases, it is wise to ship important materials several days ahead of time, just to be save.

However, even if your presentation is in your home town – or maybe even in your home office building – get to the venue as early as possible. It is extremely important that you make sure that all your equipment is in working order, and that all necessary handouts, manuals or other materials have arrived. If your computer won’t talk to your projector, or if you discover at the last minute that your PowerPoint file has been corrupted, you want to at least have plenty of time to fix the problem or implement plan B (and allow yourself plenty of time to regain your composure). After you have assured yourself that everything is ready to go, you can make excellent use of the remaining time by mingling with the participants as they arrive.
Sometimes you pick up helpful insights during these brief conversations that you can use during your presentation.

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