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Surviving Presentation Planning in 4 Easy Steps

Guest post by: Milly Sonneman

Article Overview: Big presentation coming up? No doubt you are wracking your brain, and quite possibly tearing your hair out trying to plan the best way to present your story. Use these 4-easy steps to survive presentation planning - and have time to enjoy your weekend.

Surviving Presentation Planning in 4 Easy Steps

Big presentation coming up? No doubt you are wracking your brain, and quite possibly tearing your hair out trying to plan the best way to present your story. If you have any leeway in your presentation, here's how the process usually goes:

You take a huge amount of data and toss it onto your desk or desktop. Then while wrestling the elephant, you remember a bit of news that should be added to the mix. On top of it, you most likely have some urgent additions and 'must-haves' from your boss or team.

Now, in addition to a huge mess, you have an extra huge mess.

Often, professionals I work with start with 300 - 400 slides. I know. It's enough to give you a headache just thinking about this!

To escape the worst and survive the planning process, I'd like you to shift gears. Take a different approach to preparing your presentation topic. It's easy, fast, and best of all, only four steps.

Step 1. Take Extra Time

One of the most critical parts of planning your presentation starts before you begin. Take extra care and allow extra time. Focus on the single critical idea you want to share.

If you allow extra time to define your most important message, you will save hours of planning time. This can translate to important wins such as enjoying your nights, weekends, and having time to spend with friends and family.

I'm not kidding! If you focus on a simple and memorable single idea, your entire presentation planning will be faster, easier -- and much higher quality.

Step 2. Assess Audience Needs

While you may have a 'boiler-plate' presentation, it pays to adapt and adjust your story to match audience needs. Also, even with generic presentations, you'll want to be sure you are hitting the right tone, sharing the right level, and providing the right amount of detail for each audience.

Talking with your contact is the fastest way to determine audience needs. Most professional speakers and presenters make this part of their initial connection with a client.

It's as simple as inquiring, "Tell me more about this specific audience..."

Step 3. Develop a Presentation That Matters

Picking a topic is all about presenting what matters most to your audience. If you're speaking to financial experts, emphasize the numbers. If you're talking to HR, focus on talent development and building future leaders. If you're addressing training directors, emphasize transfer of knowledge.

As you refine your presentation to match your audiences, a funny thing happens. You start to think, speak and address actions that are important to this group. Your essential presentation may consist of similar content. But the way you plan your message will vary to match the orientation of your audience.

Here's a hint: start at the place that is most interesting to your audience. Share important facts and trends. Insert news and critical stories everyone is talking about. Focus on what is most important for participants in the room.

By connecting strong right at the start, you'll be able to engage in an active conversation with your clients and prospects.

Step 4. Focus on Flow

The best stories and presentations flow easily. There are no weird sidetracks or detours. There are no scrunchy or wooly bits that leave the audience wondering if an alien walked in.

The best presentations offer a compelling flow that combines logic with creativity. To insure that your stories have a solid rhythmic flow, use a storyboard to plan your message.

A storyboard is a step-by-step visual depiction of the key elements of your presentation. Working visually, you can spot areas that are redundant or misplaced. Then, just by deleting or moving a section, you can masterfully build a compelling flow.

In short, follow these four steps when you are preparing a speech, pitch or presentation. Your audience will reward you by listening, applauding and buying what you have to offer.

Big presentation looming? Engage your audience with a new easy-to-use visual storytelling system.

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Article Tags: business presentation, presentation coach, visual story



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