
As we all know, there is nothing more dull than a poor Power Point presentation. So, here are some hints on how to liven up your presentation.
First, ask yourself about the audience. Here are some questions I posed to myself for a client presentation in front of an audience of about 100 people:
What do I know about the audience?
- Why is the audience there? This audience was participating in an annual meeting, so some members were more vested in what I had to report than others.
- What is your purpose? Mine was to demonstrate the value of my public relations program.
- Are you part of a larger program or the main attraction? My presentation was part of an overall meeting with other presenters preceding and following mine.
Given the above, I knew that I had to make my presentation engaging as well as informative.
My solution:
- Grab audience attention by starting with a video clip or visual. The combination audio/visual speaks action.
- Build suspense. Rather than start at the beginning of the report , I used an excerpt and said, “We’ll tell you more about it later.” This creates a sense of anticipation
- Spice up the slides with visuals and colorful charts. There were a lot of statistics to report. To add interest, I used visuals and colorful charts.
- Minimize slide content. To keep the pace moving, limit the text on each page to no more than three major points, avoiding long explanations.
Originally posted August 10, 2010.
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