Creating and organizing your content is a vital part of every great presentation, but once that is complete it is time to start looking at the visuals that will support your content as well as the steps needed to be fully prepared on presentation day.
If you missed our recent post we covered steps 1-3 which were: Develop your content, Outline your presentation, and Manuscript your presentation. Today we are going to cover steps 4-6 to help you not just prepare but deliver a next level presentation.
Step 4: Create your Design
Let me start by saying if this step gives you anxiety just thinking about it, stop what you are doing and reach out to the Ethos3 team right away. We would be happy to design your next presentation for you. However, if you are interested in stepping out on your own there are a couple things you should think about when it comes to designing your next presentation. To start out you have to decide what platform you will use. PowerPoint is the typical choice but there are many new presentation programs on the market, you need to select the one that serves you best. Once you have selected a program it is time to actually start laying out your slides. The days of PowerPoints full of bullets are quickly disappearing. Instead people are looking for highlighted content, bold images, and engaging design. Don’t fall into the fatal flaw of placing all of your content on the screen, instead use your content to support what you are saying, I promise your audience will thank you.
Step 5: Practice
I cannot say enough about how important this step is. Recently we wrote about the importance of practice and how practice doesn’t make perfect, instead it makes permanent. That means that if you want to take your next presentation to another level you have to take the time to do the hard work and practice your presentation not just once but repeatedly. Make sure to use this time to recognize and eliminate distractions so that you will be distraction free when it’s time to stand in front of an audience. It is also important that you practice the right way. Don’t think that something will change once you are in front of an audience because it won’t. It may feel awkward but just do it.
Step 6: Stand and Deliver
Congratulations you have made it to presentation day. You have done the hard work to prepare well and now it is time to stand in front of your audience and show them what you got. Be sure to arrive early, to ensure you are ready to go at the start time. Come dressed to impress, that doesn’t necessarily mean dress in your nicest suit instead do some homework and know your audience then dress to engage them. Finally deliver your presentation confidently, trust yourself if you have done all that you can to prepare then lean on that when it comes time to deliver.
Presentations can be scary. Stage fright is a very real thing, but if you put into practice these 6 simple steps you will have everything you need to not just create, but also deliver a standout presentation.
If you want more information about improving your presentation skills check out presentationmentor.com.
