Steps to prepare a presentation
- Is the presentation necessary?
The first thing we need to ask ourselves is if our presentation is really necessary. Is it possible to share the message or information via e-mail or videocall? It will only be worth preparing our face to face presentation if it can somehow contribute additional value to the audience.
- Know your audience.
If we decide to prepare a presentation, the second step would be to ask ourselves who our audience is. What do they expect from us? How can we help them? What can we put on the table to make there own jobs easier? This is why every audience needs their own tailored presentation. Yes, it is more work for us, but it is the only way we will be able to awaken their interest and draw their attention to us.
- Message
The message sums up your presentations content. Imagine you only had 1 minute, 1 glorious minute to complete your presentation. Would you use up your minute on introductions, aknowledgments, data and other things like that? Or would you try to present only the most relevant, important and crucial points to your audience? The message must be pointed out both at the beginning and at the end of your presentation.
- Story
Telling a story is the best way to deliver a message in a memorable way. We will do so following the three main steps of storytelling: By creating a beginning, a middle and an ending. In our case, the beginning will be our current situation, the middle will be the problem or the part that needs to change, and the end will be our proposed solution; which we will complete with a detailed description.
- Slides
Slides should follow a certain design and pattern. The use of a template is recommended. This will make your presentation more consistent and easier to follow by the audience. It is important for the slides to have very little text (so they can be read quickly and from every corner of the room) and for the pictures or photos to be of the best quality possible so they are helpful to us during our exposition.
- Handout
The handout is the document that we will give our audience (not copies of the slides!) that includes more detailed information about the subject of the presentation (tables, data, calculations, references,…). This information will help the audience follow the presentation while it lets the speaker focus on his or her main message.
- Delivery
Now comes the moment we have all been waiting for! Conveying and transmitting our ideas is only possible if we show our true selves to the audience. We need to express things that we ourselves truly believe in… It is the only way we will be able to reach the people that are listening to us.