One of the reasons there are very few really great presenters is that it is hard work! It’s important to recognise that giving a great presentation is not a gift but a skill, nurtured and developed. Great presentations take planning, preparation and practice. They don’t just happen. The best presentations take time.
This blog aims to share insights and steps towards those great presentations but it is most important that if you have visited this blog looking for a quick fix that you recognise the best thing you can do to improve your presentation is take time to prepare. Too many of us do tomorrow’s presentation today.
How much preparation time should you give your next presentation? Easy, 5-10 minutes per audience member. SO if there are 6 people you should be spending somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes thinking and planning and constructing your piece. If there are going to be a 100 people in the audience, then you should consider 10-12 hours worth of preparation. It sounds a lot but you need to consider that for your 20 minutes in the spotlight, your audience have given you over 33 hours of their time. If you value your audience as they value you, you should put the time in. Then your presentations will start to improve.