How Can You Best Prepare for a Presentation?
It can be difficult to know where to start with presentation or pitch preparation, so we asked our Bluewood training team for their advice and tips on what to do in advance to make sure your speaking event is a success.
Start Fresh with Your Presentation
It’s easy to begin by just opening up the last set of speaker notes or slides that you used in the previous presentation, but this isn’t the right place to start. We advise starting fresh, with a blank piece of paper, because every audience and every speaking opportunity is unique. So, what next? Ask yourself these four important questions:
- Why am I doing this?
- What do I want to get across?
- Who are the audience?
- What will the audience expect or want from me?
By answering these, you’ll find you have the foundation of the plan for your presentation, and you can then start to flesh out the content.
Presentation Training Research
You can’t go into a presentation or meeting without knowing what you’re going to face. Here are a few things to consider:
- Know your audience: What do you know about their expertise on this subject, their ‘wants’ from your presentation, what do they know about you, and why you’re there?
- Consider the event and venue: Is it face-to-face or online? Will it take place in a boardroom or a large conference hall? Is it being filmed? Are you standing up or sitting down? These answers will help you prepare and shape how you perform.
Define Your Big Idea and Core Messages
Once you have your ‘big idea’—the reason you’re there, whether it’s to pitch your business, educate the audience, or encourage them to take action—you need to define the core messages that will support your idea. Don’t overwhelm your audience with too many points. Stick to two or three messages that clearly convey what you want to say without overloading the audience with too much information.
Supporting Your Messages with Evidence
Your statements need evidence to back them up, or people won’t believe or remember them. For example, saying “We are client-focused” is an overused statement that may not resonate with the audience. But if you say, “99% of our revenue comes from repeat business”, you’re providing evidence that supports your message.
Think about tailoring your evidence to the audience. For instance, a new client with one office in London may not be impressed by hearing that your team has global coverage. Make your supporting statements relevant to the audience for maximum impact.
Use Stories Instead of Just Facts
People connect with stories, and stories have a natural rhythm that draws the audience in. Instead of overwhelming your audience with a barrage of facts, try to weave your messages into stories. Human, relatable examples will make your presentation much more engaging and memorable.
Hold Off on Creating Slides or Notes
Don’t start building your slides or script/speaker notes until you’ve completed your research and established the messages you want to communicate. This ensures that your slides and notes are aligned with your core messages and not overloaded with unnecessary details. Keep slides clean and simple—they should support your presentation, not act as your script.
Practice Makes Perfect. Keep Training For Your Presentation
Practice, practice, practice! Whether it’s in a training session or simply in front of your own camera, practice delivering the content so that it becomes familiar to say out loud. Practising will also help you feel more comfortable and reduce any presentation nerves.
Preparing for Questions
If you’re taking questions, make sure you factor handling these into your preparation. What might be asked, and how can you respond appropriately? You can find some useful Bluewood Top Tips on managing Q&As here: Dealing with Difficult Questions.
Focus on Your Introduction and Conclusion
Two key parts of your presentation to focus on are the introduction and the conclusion. These are the moments when you’ll have the audience’s highest attention levels, so make the most of this opportunity to communicate effectively.
- Introduction: Consider experimenting with humour, telling an emotive story, sharing an unusual fact, or posing a thought-provoking question to engage your audience right from the start.
- Conclusion: Recap your main message(s) and make your call to action clear. Think about what you want the audience to remember or do after the presentation.
Need Help with Your Presentation? Learn More About Our Presentation Training Course
If you want help with preparing or delivering your presentations, Bluewood’s tailored presentation training courses are perfect for building skills and confidence – please get in touch.
Bluewood Training – www.bluewoodtraining.com
