117 Making a Presentation
nervous energy into the performance itself. Prepare well, and you
will be ready to bring the presentation to life.
You can prepare in three areas:
1. the material;
2. the audience;
3. yourself.
In each case, preparation means taking control. If you can
remove the element of uncertainty in these areas, you will be
ready to encounter what can’t be controlled: the instantaneous
and living relationship between you and your audience.
Managing the material
Many presentations fail, not because the presenter is weak, but
because the material is disorderly. The audience tries its utmost
to understand, but gets lost. You have to remember that they will
forget virtually everything you say. They may remember rather
more of what you show them, but only if it is quite simple. Don’t
expect any audience to remember, from the presentation alone,
more than half a dozen ideas.
In presentations, more than in any other kind of corporate
communication, you must display the shape of your thinking.
That shape will only be clear if you keep it simple. Detail doesn’t
make things clearer; it makes things more complicated. If you
want to display the shape of your thinking, you must design it.
Managing the material is a design process (Figure 7.1).
Defining your objective
Why are you making this presentation? That’s the first, and most
important, question you must answer. Everything else – the
material you include, its order, the level of detail you go into,
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118 Improve your Communication Skills
how long the presentation will last, what visual aids you will use
– will depend on your answer to this question.
What do you want your audience to take away at the end of
the presentation? More importantly: what do you want them to
Define your objective
Analyse your audience
Construct a message
Create a structure:
•
SPQR
•
pyramid
Put it on cards
Add spice
Design visuals
Rehearse!
Figure 7.1
Planning a presentation
( c) 2011 Kogan Page L imited, All Rights Reserved.
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