7 Steps to create and give better presentations

7 Steps to create and give better presentations

Written by:
Payman Taei

Dec 29, 2014
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The presentation of your product or service is key to any company's growth and potential.   A good presentation is created to spark interest and prove that you're not like everyone else, and that you have something special to offer to your customers or prospects.  They have a problem and you can help to solve it better than the competition.   

According to Guy Kawasaki (one of the world's leading experts in the field of new technologies and marketing) 95% of presentations are ineffective, long and boring, with too many slides and poorly structured, with information overload; presentations that – in the end - do not sell anything, in turn beating the purpose of giving a presentation in the first place.

A sales presentation should be short, simple and concise; your audience will retain a maximum of 3-4 posts per presentation, so take advantage to target your customer by taking about their needs to gain their trust.


What to do prior to giving a presentation

  •    Make sure that your goal is to convey your message in a memorable fashion.
  •    Summarize the main idea or theme in 15 keywords.
  •    Answer the question "what do I want to get out of this presentation?"  You have to know what you want to happen as a result of someone seeing your presentation.  After all if you don't know the answer, how can you give a presentation around it?

Steps to prepare a presentation

Short, memorable, forceful

Apply the 10-20-30 when you can. Guy Kawasaki suggests that presentations must not contain more than ten slides, last more than 20 minutes and that you should use fonts with a 30-point size. If in those 20 minutes and ten slides your presentation does not meet expectations, you will more than likely lose the attention of your audience. Like most things, simplicity should be your goal.

1

Be as clear and direct with your message as possible

You need to answer questions in advance:  What is the result I expect when someone sees my presentation? Select each word thinking about your audience and the response you're after; and cut out everything else (the noise).  Be clear, concise and direct.

2

Create visual slides

Avoid bullet points much as you can. Instead, rely on photographs and pictures to support what your saying. The information will be remembered more effectively when combining text and images. Remember, 93% of the message is transmitted visually. Use good quality images and avoid Clipart. Avoid excessive use of colors.  All the images you see on this slide were made with Visme.

3

Use hook words

Use a clear, simple and direct language, avoiding complex terms, vague and confusing words.  Jack Welch former CEO of GE, once said, "Insecure managers create complexity."  Try to infuse confidence to every word. Use modern fonts in your text, avoid old fonts such as Times Roman and avoid using Comic Sans; it's gotten a bit of a bad wrap over the years.

4

Create a memorable moment

Establishing an emotional connection with your client is super important.  You can’t miss a moment during your presentation to remind the customer of the benefit of adopting your product or service.  Steve Jobs at every show created a memorable moment that neuroscientists call “emotionally charged moment,” this is the equivalent of a mental note that tells the brain: you NEED to remember this!

5

Use numbers and statistics

Real numbers and statistics that back-up a claim help to prove your point and create trust in what your saying.  The larger the number, the more important are the analogies or comparisons being made.Otherwise, you might lose attention. Use numbers and statistics sparingly (too much of a good thing can complicate your presentation); to support your most important points.

6

Show the real benefits of your product or service

The final and MOST important step: show off the benefits! Let them see what benefits they will get if they become your customers, why should they buy from you! Be sure to establish a connection with their emotions through design, messages, and images.

You can achieve this by asking questions that lead to them to recognizing the problem at hand, and how you can solve that problem easily!

The final message is for them to justify that if your company solves its problems by an exchange of money and that the value of this service exceeds the cost incurred.

For example when I give a Presentation about Visme, I tell people that Visme is free for all; and there are users who justify upgrading to Premium plans because they recognize the amount of time and frustration they can save in exchange for a small fee for using the service.

7

What do you think? Do you recommend something else that has worked for you? We’ll love to hear it!

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    About the Author

    Payman Taei is the founder of Visme (he doesn’t like using the word ”CEO”—it’s way too formal), a DIY platform that allows everyone to create and manage presentations, infographics, reports and other visual content.

    He’s also the founder of HindSite Interactive, an award-winning web design and web development company.