Immediately after being told by the boss that they have to make a presentation, most employees will open up PowerPoint and begin crafting it. That's a big mistake. Best-case scenario, it will take much longer than necessary to create; worst-case, it will lead to a poor quality or misdirected presentation. This article provides an easy to follow structure for developing your presentations so that the next time you have to go in front of a group, you will shine.
In order to develop a winning presentation, the speaker must keep 2 key questions in mind:
1. What is my objective for this presentation?
The first step in crafting an effective presentation is knowing what you, the presenter, want the audience to leave with. All presentations fall within one of two categories:
o A call to action
o An information exchange
Do they need to make a decision about whether to continue with a particular clinical trial? Do you want to inform them about the upcoming equipment shutdown and get commitment on them feeding information back to you? Is the meeting for a go/no-go decision and you want them to give you the go ahead?
Knowing what you want the audience to do or understand at the end of your presentation is paramount - so much so that you should would write it down and keep it visible at all times as you develop the presentation.
2. How can I make it easy for my audience to understand what I'm trying to convey?
Now that you know what you want your audience to take away from your presentation you are ready to craft it. This can be broken down into a 4-step process:
a. Outline
A good presentation is like a good story: it has a beginning, middle, and end, it has a through-line or plot, and it's easy to understand. As with the essay you had to write for 7th grade English class, you should begin the writing of your presentation with an outline. One of the easiest and most widely used structures is the Tell 'em format. First you tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em, then you tell 'em, and at the end you tell 'em what you told 'em. This makes it easier for your audience to remember your key message by giving them 3 repetitions of what you want them to see and hear.
b. Storyboard
Storyboarding is a technique developed at the Walt Disney Studios in the 1930s and is still used for movie, animation, and even web-site development. The way to use storyboarding for a presentation is to develop the key statements you want to get across for each part of your outline. These key statements should be complete sentences and ideally should be no more than about 12-16 words in length. When complete you should be able to read each of the sentences in order and have a compelling, cohesive story that achieves your written objective. This is not an easy process and may take much iteration.
One trick is to write each sentence on an index card or post-it note, put them on the wall, and move them around, adding and subtracting to make the story flow. This is the most critical step in assuring that you have a well-developed presentation. Resist the temptation to start designing slides and take the time to get a really solid storyboard. It will pay off.
c. 1st Draft
Each sentence of your storyboard will be the headline of its own slide. Don't waste the opportunity to tell the audience the key message of the slide in the headline. A consistent format for the slides is another way to help your audience - it trains them to know where to look on each slide for particular items. The body of the slide should support the key take-away, the headline. This is where quantitative and qualitative information goes to back-up the point made in the headline. A kicker box, if used, should provide the 'so what', the implications of the point that the slide is making. Other items such as section titles or diagrams, or fact sources should be placed at the top and bottom of the slide respectively. To see an example click on the following link Slide Example.
d. Review and Edit
Now that the first draft has been completed, it's time to dry run the presentation and make any changes. Close your office door and rehearse the presentation out loud, so you can hear the flow the way your audience will hear it. Does it need any adjustments? The benefit of having spent so much time on the storyboard is two-fold: it makes the need for changes to the presentation minor, and by the time the presentation is developed you will already know the flow extremely well, which helps immeasurably when it comes time to deliver it.
The next time you're asked to give a presentation, first make sure that you are absolutely - clear about what you want to achieve. With your objective posted prominently in front of you, follow the 4-step process of Outline, Storyboard, 1st draft, Review and Edit and relax, knowing you are ready to deliver a first-rate presentation.