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society for Marketing Profeional service

Here’s a question or you: How many times have you attended apresentation and aterward thought to yoursel, “Wow, what agreat presentation! Inormative, well-structured, and convincing—I’m so glad I took that hour out o my busy schedule to attend”?Chances are, you can count on one hand how many times thishas happened. A ew months ago, I was on a ight headed rom our Bostonheadquarters to our West Coast oce in Sacramento, CA. Ateran uneventul takeof, I noticed the gentleman sitting in ront o me turn on his computer. My interest was piqued as PowerPointlaunched. I’ve always had an interest in presentations—call it asick hobby, i you will—and so I began to wonder, what crucialmessage was this business person preparing to deliver and how was he going to do it? As I peered over his shoulder, he began to cycle through hispresentation. His slides immediately triggered ashbacks o every bad presentation I’ve ever attended. You know the ones:Presentations with endless bullet points that the presenter readsto you line by line. Custom animations where the text “ies” ontothe screen, complete with accompanying sound efects. Cheesy clip art that was added as an aterthought just because that slideneeded “a little something extra.”Sound amiliar?Unortunately, this is the current state o presentations in our world. Bad presentations have become so pervasive that a termhas been coined or them:

Death by PowerPoint.

In countlessboardrooms across the country, employees are subjected to thiscruel orm o torture day in and day out. Don’t get me wrong: When used efectively PowerPoint can be a powerul tool to shareknowledge, drive change, and create solutions. But sadly, rarely do we see it being used to its ull potential.So what does it take to make a truly great presentation?Here is a summary o what I’ve learned over years o witnessingcountless presentations and, more importantly, reading the workso some truly groundbreaking thought leaders in the world o presentation (see the books by Garr Reynolds and Nancy Duartereerenced at the end o this article). I’m hopeul these tools canhelp you create a truly great presentation.

First Things First

What is the rst thing we do when we begin to create a presen-tation? More oten than not, we turn the computer on, re upPowerPoint, and of we go. Unortunately, this “rst step” shouldreally be the last. Instead, when you sit down to create your nextpresentation (and beore you open PowerPoint), ask yoursel thisone question: What is my message?

BY BENJAMIN SAWA

Best Practices:

Great Presentations

Marketer/October 2009

It sounds simple, but the single most common mistake I’ve seen with presentations is an unclear message. Te message might beclear to you, but without a clear thesis, your audience may havediculty connecting the dots. So beore you do anything, makesure you know what your message is rom a big-picture standpoint,then plan supporting points to clearly deliver this message.

Brainstorm

Remember that thing called

brainstorming?

Beore beginning any presentation, I always do a brainstorming session, either alone or with others. Te process is less painul than it sounds. I usually start with a resh set o sticky notes and begin writing any and all words and ideas related to my message that come to mind. Tepoint here is quantity: Get as many ideas as you can, as quickly asyou can. Te less thinking involved, the better.Each note gets posted on my oce wall until the wall iscovered. Ten as I look or common threads and group themaccordingly, I can see my presentation beginning to take shape.

Craft Your Story

Stories have been the most efective way to communicatesince man came into existence. In trying to teach his childrenhow to hunt and gather ood, do you think a caveman usedan organized outline complete with hierarchal bullets? Probably not. I’m guessing he told stories. Why stories? Recent research in neuroscience suggests that it isdicult or people to remember and comprehend inormationpresented in hierarchal lists. Why is this? And what can a story do that a bullet list can’t? A story puts the pieces together and provides context to otherwisecomplicated or abstract ideas. Stories are real and concrete;they add meaning and understanding. Stories also appeal toour emotions, provoking empathy. As we all know, people careabout people, so nd a way to connect to your audience by tuning into the emotional side. You will nd that your audienceis more likely to pay attention and remember what you said.

Design Your Presentation

Designing a presentation takes time, patience, and a little skill.But once you know what to look or, it’s actually quite easy.

1. Restraint.

What is the single most important rule inpresentation design? Apply restraint. Say “no” to that extrabullet point. “No” to the ashing company logo on every page.“No” to the animation, the busy backgrounds, and the glaringcolors. Keep it simple.

“What is the single most important rulein presentation design? Apply restraint.Say ‘no’ to that extra bullet point.”