Crafting Effective Business Presentations
Creating a compelling business presentation is an essential skill for professionals seeking to communicate their ideas effectively. Whether presenting monthly results to stakeholders or proposing new strategies to your team, the success of your presentation can significantly impact your effectiveness and perhaps your career.
Many presenters do not follow any sort of organized process when preparing a presentation. Some believe they can wing it while others believe they need to include every detail. Both approaches lack a unifying format. A structured format keeps you on message and better able to attend to how the audience is receiving your message. Additionally, your confidence grows knowing you have prepared a thoughtful, effective message.
An engaging presentation requires effort. Outlined below are the crucial steps to prepare a business presentation that not only informs but also persuades and inspires your audience.
Start by Clarifying Your Topic. Get clear about what it is you want to talk about. First, create a topic statement. A topic statement clearly identifies the topic and perhaps the intended audience. Trying to create a presentation without a clear focus will result in a message that is vague and ineffective.
Examples of vague topic statements:
Communicating with Customers
Time Management
Safety Guidelines for Home Health Nurses
The same topic statements with a narrower focus
Effective Customer Communication: A Guide for Retail Sales Associates
Time Management Essentials for New Supervisors
Safe Home Visits: Strategies for County Home Health Nurses
The next step is to identify your purpose. Do you want the audience to ---
take action
decide between alternatives
change their behavior/mind
be informed / updated
Finally, identify the outcomes or audience take aways: What will the audience specifically know after your presentation? Keep it simple. The takeaway for a presentation that is intended to inform is the important facts about the topic. For presentations that have a purpose of getting the audience to take action, to change or to decide, the presenter will need to give the audience the facts and help them understand the information.
If you want the audience to remember the facts, make it easy for them. Create a memory aid to remember key points.
If you want the audience to understand, give them time to talk about it or summarize it in their own words.
Creating a focused topic statement and identifying your purpose and outcomes are critical as your first steps because these elements determine your content, format, and length of your presentation.
Once you have clarified your topic you can begin to gather and organize your information. Follow the steps below to organize your information.
Create a list of the information and data needed
Organize the information in a way that builds to your final point
Group related items under one header
Use a maximum of three headers.
The example below illustrates this organizing method.
Presentation Topic: Critical Tips for Managing Remote Employees
Below is a list of information the presenter has determined is needed for the presentation.
Challenges of working remotely
Establishing work-at-home guidelines
Technology-must have/nice to have
Connecting w/remote employees
Communicating your expectations
Accountability and success
Building trust and community
The same information is grouped into three headers the presenter has identified: challenges, requirements and critical communication strategies.
A. Challenges of working remotely
B. Requirement
Establishing guidelines
Technology-must haves / nice to haves
C. Critical communication strategies
Day-to-day interactions
Communicate expectations and foster accountability
Maintaining trust and sustaining community
You could give the presentation using the seven points as the presentation outline. The resulting presentation is more of a to do list and does not help the listener understand why these are critical strategies. Help your audience remember by organizing the information into headers that give meaning to your content.
Creating three headers to organize, categorize and unify your content not only gives meaning to your content, but it also helps you avoid the trap of information overload.
As the presenter you want to give a full picture of your topic. It is a struggle to balance the urge to tell them everything you consider important and to keep your presentation concise. Information overload is the primary reason an audience member tunes out. Omit long rambling explanations or too many details. If you find yourself with 5 or 6 points under each header you have too much content. Keep them engaged with a well-paced delivery. If they want more details, they will ask.
Once you are satisfied with your content consider the audience. Considering the audience at this point in your preparation rather than at the beginning will save you time and effort. It is easier to adjust a general presentation to the audience’s needs rather than creating multiple tailored presentations.
Adjusting your presentation to the audience’s needs requires you, as the subject matter expert, to decide what the audience needs to know to think or act differently. If you don’t know your audience, ask. What do they want to know? Knowing this will help determine:
At what level of complexity to talk about the topic
What language is appropriate for this group
What examples, stories or data will this audience find relatable
Your last steps in the preparation process are to consider how you will open and close your presentation.
The purpose of your open is to – focus attention. You focus attention by –
Creating interest in your topic
Connecting with the audience and creating rapport
Providing a brief overview of what you will cover
There are many ways to create interest in your topic. One of the best and easiest ways to create interest is to tell the audience what they will know or be able to do after your presentation.
The most important aspect of connecting with your audience is the language you use. Choose words, terms, and examples that your audience understands and can relate to. When you introduce yourself explain why you are the best person to deliver this message, highlighting your credentials. Finally, create rapport by demonstrating that you are there to help them, by providing information that they need or can use.
The last suggestion for creating an open that engages the audience is to provide a brief overview or road map of your presentation. Informing the audience about what you will cover captures their attention and helps them remain engaged throughout your presentation.
And finally, how will you close the presentation? This is perhaps the most important aspect of your presentation because it is the last thing they will hear. A close is brief but powerful. Leave them with what you believe is the most important message about your topic. Two methods I often use to close a presentation are:
The power of three. Leave the audience with the 3 points you want them to remember. For this article my three points are Clarify your topic / Organize around 3 headers / Create a dynamic and energetic open
Use a quote as your closing thought. I use this quote by Mark Twain to close my Presentation Skills class.
It takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.
Twain’s witty quote emphasizes my final point that preparation is the key to a successful presentation.
Crafting an effective business presentation is a crucial communication skill for all professionals. By thoughtfully planning your content, considering the needs of your audience, and capturing their attention with a dynamic open, you will clearly convey your message and leave a lasting impression.