A recent tweet from a colleague Edd Broad asked me for my top 10 tips on giving presentations to a large group. Being a man of a certain age, a certain musical upbringing and a certain literary experience, top 10s are always a challenge but I’ve put down a little list of what I consider top 10 tips.
- A presentation is about what the audience needs not what the presenter wants.
- Write an elevator pitch that would persuade a potential audience member to change their plans just to come listen to your presentation.
- Identify a single, memorable message
- The best presentations have three steps within them.
- It is not a data download, they do not work.
- Construct a presentation that supports and explains that message but ensure that it comes in at 80% of the time available
- Use fewer slides to illustrate that message than you think you need.
- Be consistent in design
- Practise more and at least once without slides
These are my top 10 tips. The astute will notice there are only 9: less is more. What is your top tip?
[…] creator of the P Cubed Presentations website, will repeatedly come back to a major theme: “A presentation is about what an audience needs, not what the presenter wants.” There is little faster way to lose your audience than to be speaking entirely above or below […]