9 Rules for a Killer Presentation

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Storyboarding and Presentation Writing (33-slide PowerPoint presentation). You may have heard that management consultants spend the majority of their time cranking out PowerPoint slides. There is much truth to do this--and for good reason. A PowerPoint presentation is not only a great communication tool, it is also the form of most consulting deliverables--i.e. the [read more]

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In today’s world, the presentation skills are a valuable instrument. People who have great presentation techniques and can be organized in front of a group of listeners, becomes more confident and definitely success in his job.

By the way, how to stop making boring presentations that only you understand? Why 90% of the time you should devote to the idea of presentation, why you should plan a specific result and how to make sure that readers do not fall asleep in the middle of a slide.

The answer is clearly, the special service can help you by providing with all important content you need, just pay for essay, and writers prepare unique content for your presentations. What is more, if you have your content done, this article will tell you how to create interesting and effective presentations.

Rule 1: Ask Yourself Three Questions

A presentation is a marketing tool, which has a specific task and expected result. You can’t just call a busy person for coffee, they need to know what to expect from the meeting. A presentation is the same as a meeting, only written on slides and accompanied by pictures.

To make a presentation interesting, you need to ask yourself three questions before you create it:

1. Who will read the presentation? A secretary and a senior manager read documents differently, and you need to understand exactly how the presentation will pass before it gets into the hands of the decision-maker.

Here is a tip: the reason for all mistakes in presentations is the same: a person makes slides, not for the audience, but for him/herself.

2. How will the presentation be viewed: on a phone or computer, on a big screen, or in hard copy? Will the person read it for themselves or will someone comment on it?

3. What outcome do you plan to achieve? You need to know what you want from the person as a result: to write you an email, make a phone call, go to the website, fill something out or meet in person.

Rule 2: 90% of the Time to Create a Presentation Is Idea Development

If it is a good presentation, 90% of the time is spent on developing the idea. The idea is the form you give to your commercial proposal.

For example, you sell vacuum cleaners. You could make a presentation like an instruction manual, in which you explain that the hoses of these vacuum cleaners are longer and nicer than ordinary vacuum cleaners and that the brushes reach into the tiniest crevices on the floor. Or you can tell the story on behalf of all the dust that collects in the bag. What types of debris live inside the vacuum cleaner? How did they get there? Telling a story is always better than reciting dry facts.

When the idea is ready, it takes about 20 minutes to describe it in words in notes or a document.

Another 15 minutes is spent throwing phrases around on slides.

That’s how I put together the stories of the presentations:

• about a wedding agency
• and the services of a financial analyst.

Rule 3: Structure Depends on the Type of Presentation

There are several types of presentations by purpose, and the structure depends on that.

1. Presentations for start-ups (pitch deck). These are 10-slide presentations where all aspects of the market and benefits of the new business are explained one by one.

2. Business presentations. They are divided into subtypes, among which: are sales reports, strategies, cases, budget plans, consulting, portfolios, and franchises.

Here is a tip: a presentation is a marketing tool with a specific objective and expected result.

3. Sales presentations. It’s something like a landing page, but they differ from each other too. Some presentations introduce a company, a specialist, or sell a specific product or service.

4. Marketing presentations. This is a separate world. These include tender presentations, media kits, social media campaigns, SWOT analysis, communication strategies, PR planning, market and competitor research, reports, event proposals, user profiles, content plans, and much more.

5. Training presentations. In all modern universities, students will present their research and projects on slides.

To understand which structure to choose, you need to clearly define what type your presentation belongs to and then search the internet for some examples.

Rule 4: Do Not Overload Your Presentations with Text

In almost all presentations other than reporting and analytical presentations, it is better to break up cumbersome information into several blocks or even slides. Don’t add everything on one slide. Allow people to absorb the main information from the headline and keyword phrase on the slide.

There’s also a tip: leave more white space, and present all the objects and text in a smaller format. Then it seems that the slide is not overloaded.

Rule 5: Choose a Style because of Emotion

Think about what emotions the presentation should evoke. Write them down using five or six adjectives, then select the font and color palette.

For example, it can be logical, adult, kind, modern, and literal, or technological, bright, light, fast.

Rule 6: Each Slide Has Its Purpose

The visual design of a slide must match its task. There are four types:

• A prompter slide – tells you what to talk about.
• Wow, the slide – impresses the audience emotionally.
• A clever slide – explains complex ideas, formulas, or diagrams.
• Challenging slide – convinces with comparisons and arguments.

It also depends a lot on which program you use to design your presentations. PowerPoint and Keynote have official websites with detailed instructions on how their tools work.

Rule 7: Make Slides for the Viewer, not for Yourself

The reason for all presentation mistakes is the same: one makes slides, not for the viewer, but for oneself. When there is too much text on a slide, the picture doesn’t fit the meaning or everything is bad with style – no one cared about the perception of the other person. The author of the presentation thought only about unloading all his thoughts – to dump them into one place. And that place was the presentation. He didn’t ask himself the three most important questions I mentioned at the beginning.

Here is a tip: when there is too much text on a slide or a picture doesn’t match the content – no one has taken care of the other person’s perception.

Rule 8: Give your Presentation as if You Were in front of Your Colleagues at Lunch

It is important to understand the topic of the presentation. When one knows what one is talking about, the hardest thing to do is to just start by seeing 100 people sitting in front of you and saying hello to them. If you have a great presentation, but you did not compose it, or if you copied an idea, for example, you will tell it poorly. Make your presentation the way you would tell your colleagues about the topic at lunch. And don’t try too hard, then you will be fine.

Rule 9: Rehearse Your Presentation

If you don’t have time to prepare your presentation, why should the client make time for it? How will you enter the room? What will you say first? Will your laptop have 10% charging? Where do you expect to find an outlet? Will you rehearse several scripts and your speech?

The answer to all questions is the same: you need to prepare for important meetings. It’s not enough to create a presentation with cool content and pictures – you need to know how to deliver it. You need to be understood, heard, and accepted at the presentation.

Imagine: a person enters the hall and begins to jump – then the 1st slide, then the 7th, then the 3rd. He gets nervous, gets agitated, and forgets what he wanted to say. Will you understand anything? I don’t think so.

People are very good at sensing other people. When you are unprepared, or unsure, you can see it from a distance. My advice: rehearse your presentation in front of a mirror at least three times.

“Meet on the Cover”

Imagine that you came to a meeting, wowed everyone with a great presentation, added to the Facebook friends of the person you were selling to, and have a flower or a skull on your avatar.

First of all, it’s amazing. Secondly, two weeks later, when you text the person on messenger, they won’t remember your face.

Open messenger. If you see letters on your avatar or a person with their back turned, will you remember the person’s face without their name?

No matter how cool your PowerPoint presentation is, if you have a bad-quality picture on your avatar, the presentation will be forgotten.

Remember that your Facebook profile sells when you are asleep. People visit it, read it, and look for something interesting. The visual appearance of your profile is very important.

Can I ask you to do one thing? Upload your avatar on Facebook on a white background and make a cover with your photo and a short description of what you do.

In time you will understand that “meet behind the cover” and get a concrete communication result.

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