Preparing an Effective Presentation

You do not have to be in sales and marketing to be required to give a presentation. Perhaps you are asked to talk about your project, your products, or your plans. You may be speaking to company management, potential customers, or a group of peers at a technical conference. Whatever the event, it helps to think of a presentation as a sales device. You may be selling yourself as a credible information source, you may be selling the merits of an idea, or you may be selling a product; but you are selling. This means that the audience is your customer and it is your job to make sure that they get it by helping them through both your content and presentation style. Creating an effective presentation requires time and thought. You must consider your desired outcome, the background knowledge of your audience, and the environment of the presentation itself. The presentation materials can set the tone and provide support during and after the presentation.

The cover page of your presentation should include the title and your contact information. The title should have meaningful content - not just an expedient such as: The Program Plan. Selling begins with the first page. You may want to provide context for the briefing by identifying the intended audience on the cover page e.g., Presented to the graduate students of the University Business School. The contact information introduces you, the presenter. It also provides a link for the audience in case they want to take some action after hearing your briefing. The beginning of your presentation should tell the audience what you are going to tell them. For a long briefing, an outline sets expectations and shows the relationship of topics to the goal of the presentation. For a shorter briefing, a simple statement of purpose will suffice.

Your briefing should have a consistent format. Use a common header and footer, such as a corporate or organization logo. It’s a good idea to put the title and slide number in small print at the bottom of each page. Next, select a font or font family and color scheme. Do not use too many different fonts (a main font, an accent font, and an action font should be enough). Also you can use colored text to visually highlight important points. A colored background for slide sections can help pull together common pieces. Not a rainbow of colors but, complimentary colors for visual emphasis. There are several sites on the web that can help you choose a color scheme.

You can use animation features available in many common presentation development environments, such as Microsoft's Power Point, to effectively accent a key point. But apply caution here. Putting too much glitz and dazzle can backfire and dilute your content and hurt your credibility.

Do not put too much text on a slide – break up the space with open areas (white space) and graphics. This is more visually pleasing and also makes it easier for your audience to see the trees in the forest. Group items together under key points and use connector graphics to show cause/effect or before/after comparisons. Finally, remember that not everyone learns best from text. Your briefing should include captioned graphics that backup your conclusions. A good graphic provides a visual representation that speaks to visual learners in the same way that text speaks to readers. Meaningful graphics can take a lot of time and thought to create.

The final slide in the presentation summarizes your key points. You are telling the audience what should be concluded and what actions, if any, should be taken by them. Strategically, the cover sets the assertions and the final page provides the conclusions. Everything between the cover and the last page is the justification and explanation to support the conclusions. A final lesson I learned the hard way: Sometimes presentations take on a life of their own – they are copied, shared, and used for reference. Therefore, presentation materials should stand on their own because you may not be there to explain what you meant.

It is a good idea to have someone not intimately familiar with the product or work to review the presentation. An outsider may point out places where your explanations or justifications can be enhanced to better communicate your point. Be sure to spell check your writing. It is amazing how bad a spelling or grammatical error looks when it is 3" tall on a display screen. You may also want to dry run the presentation in front of a friendly audience. Even though you wrote the materials, presenting them smoothly and effectively takes practice.