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Presentation ideas
Tips on how to create a great presentation, steps 1-3.
Step 1 – Holistic Viewing
To begin, always think from the perspective of the client you are presenting to. Find out as much detail about the audience as you can before the event, look at the agenda of presentations before and after, their physiological needs of the people present, where they have come from, how they got to the presentation, even so far as how this week’s news affects the audience. Through a holistic approach to the audience, you will begin to understand their needs, eliminating anxiety as you proceed. Since we are all now used to 360 degree appraisals, the same should be applied to presentations, looking at the audience, yourself and the material to ensure no rock is unturned. Start by asking yourself the following questions:
Audience 360 Degree View
Who are the audience - education, age, gender, number of participants
What have they come to hear, what information have they been told already?
Why did they come – are they here voluntarily or forced by their organisation?
When is the presentation – timing, who is presenting before and after, what has been the day’s agenda?
Where is the presentation to be held – auditorium, room, theatre, etc.
Self 360 Degree View
This is often difficult and would be easier if you have a colleague who can be critical of your skills. If you are quiet, nervous, or simply too enthusiastic, have a colleague in the audience give you hand gestures to mark timing points, rid bad habits, and simply, to ask a question at the end.
Environment 360 Degree View
As a rule, there should be no surprises when you start your presentation, you will have imagined yourself successfully delivering your presentation to this exact audience, in this very room beforehand. It is important to alleviate pre presentation anxiety by familiarising yourself with the surroundings, equipment and agenda before writing your presentation. It may be that the physicality of the building warrants a style of presentation that you had not thought of. Points to note are:
Material 360 Degree View
Taking a holistic view of the material involves combining audience, self and the environment, as these will determine the direction and amount of creativity that you can get away with. Think of the material from an audience perspective - can it be demonstrated, are there examples to be drawn from, can you hand out samples? Fire the imagination, use the senses and think from a 12 year-old’s perspective, otherwise, you will lose your audience.
Step 2 - Mind mapping
Step 2 focuses on getting subject areas and ideas together that make up the presentation. By displaying the ideas graphically, the presenter can ensure that all ideas are exhausted and linkage can be done between subject areas to ensure continuity. There are many techniques used to graphically represent ideas in a cohesive fashion. One of the most effective techniques focuses on stem reversal and allows for additional ideas to be portrayed. For example, if the topic is pushbikes, thinking backwards results in transport and creates additional ideas like buses, airplanes, etc. This technique in particular, ensures that ideas are not curtailed, but encouraged, until all stems are exhausted. In addition, it brings a multitude of new ideas to the table that may well not have been thought of.
The benefit of mind mapping is that ideas are captured that would otherwise have not been recorded. The ability to graphically see all the potential points of a presentation allows the presenter to begin to assign importance to each element. It is estimated that this technique allows seven times more information to be collected and analysed over traditional techniques, ensuring that the presentation is both content rich and factual in its nature.
Step 3 – Narrative Composition
The audience needs structure in order to focus on the salient points being addressed. You should make it easy for the audience to follow, consume or understand what you are trying to convey. In a short period, you will subject the audience to a four step communication response sequence:
The easiest way to put structure around a presentation is by Narrative composition, drawing up a series of boxes (max 10) on a board with a start, middle and an end. The boxes should represent key sections in the presentation which automatically lend themselves to becoming slides, overheads or flipchart sheets. With a visual representation of the presentation in front of you, start asking what is the point of each box, how do they interact with each other, are they dull or lively (signified by and up or down arrow). If they are dull, should they be next to a lively slide or can you add a lively diversion, for example, video. Once the overall presentation begins to take shape, timing can be added, allowing for key slides to be addressed more thoroughly, and highlighting natural breaks if different presenters are to be used.
The point of narrative composition is twofold, firstly, to look at how sections interact with each other, and secondly, to look at how the story begins to unfold in the eyes of the audience, ensuring continuity, clarity and the overall objective is met.
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