Who doesn’t love to make a terrific and memorable presentation? Your audience is engaged, you are on point and the time flies. Unfortunately, we can all remember those programs that have been interminable and the minutes feel like hours. The presenter is reading from slides and there is no escape. You vacillate between boredom and anger but ever hopeful that you will be able to learn something from the material and not how many carpet tiles need to be replaced.
Take heart. Kevin Surace of Inc. Magazine, spells it out concisely below as the “The 5 Things NOT to Do” that are the basis of a great presentation.
1. Don’t use Powerpoint You don’t want your presentation to look like everyone else’s. Use Keynote, the Mac software that combines video and images and has great transitions.
2. Don’t use Bullet Points You should be shot for putting stuff in bullet points. Why put text on a slide? You want people looking at you. If you need to give stats, highlight a few things people should remember, or put the numbers in a visual context such as a pie chart.
3. Don’t be Self Effacing They came to see you, the expert, so stand up and be the expert. Be friendly and energetic, and try to have fun. That means never talk from behind the podium. It’s a brick wall between you and the audience.
4. Don’t leave out the Emotion Lots of people want to be careful and professional when they give a talk. You should want to emote. Swing your audience’s emotions back and forth. You need to say “Here’s how bad life is. Here’s what it can be. Here’s how we get there together.”
5. Don’t Bore us with Facts If you say “I’m going to present 19 slides on the technology we make at Timbuck Widgets,” nobody cares! Show them how the facts are going to change their lives.
©2014 M. Weisner