Putting a Presentation Together

 

In the previous article we looked at the benefits of giving presentations, the barriers to doing it, and started to look at preparation. Remember the six P’s?

Proper Preparation Prevents Pretty Poor Performance

 

So when preparing for your presentation, think first about the

ENVIRONMENT

Where are you doing the presentation? Does the room layout suit your style of delivery – is it formal or informal? Will you have the right facilities?

How much time have you got? 30 minutes sounds a long time but it can go very quickly, especially if people are asking questions.

What kind of aids do you need? Would some form of prop be useful? If using technology, always have a back-up plan as failure of technology can be your undoing. A colleague of mine “lost” the PowerPoint presentation I had emailed to him. Fortunately PowerPoint was only a guide so I was able to deliver the presentation without it. PowerPoint is not the presentation – it is you that is important.

Who are the audience? How many will there be and what do they already know? What do you need to convey to them? What kind of questions are they likely to ask? Consider that your audience might be asking themselves “So what and who cares?”

Having worked out the environment, think about your OBJECTIVE for the session. A SMART objective will make the presentation easier for you to prepare, structure and deliver. In other words, the objective should be: -

• Specific

• Measurable

• Achievable

• Realistic and Relevant

• Timebound

 

Now it’s time to prepare the STRUCTURE so that people will follow and remember what you are saying. There are many options for structuring a presentation but my favourite is a five part structure: -

• Attention grabber

• Introduction

• Main body

• Conclusion

• Link back to attention grabber

An easy way of structuring the main body of the presentation is to break it down into 3 sections or headings, and then put each vital piece of information under a heading. Keep it short and simple – people can only take in so much at a presentation.

Remember Action Cures Fear

The more you do it – the easier it becomes!

This time we have looked at how to go about preparing for a presentation, taking into account the ENVIRONMENT, your OBJECTIVE and the STRUCTURE. Next time we will have a bit of fun looking at personal styles – prepare to meet the Hand Washer, the Reluctant Nudist and other interesting characters …..

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