If you are not a particularly strong public speaker, you may be dreading your next business presentation. We may not be able to help with your stage fright, but here are a few tips to ensure that your business presentation design and setup are on point.
Set up the stage
Before you even begin crafting your presentation, find out where you will be presenting and what the setup will be. What sort of AV equipment will you have access to? If you use PowerPoint services, will everyone in the audience have a good view? On the day of the presentation, give yourself plenty of time to set up the stage. Move around the chairs and make sure all the equipment is working. Check the sound and Internet connection (if needed).
Keep it short and direct
A good business presentation design and speech shares only the necessary information. You should have one primary goal and everything you do, say, and show should be essential towards reaching that goal. There should be no extraneous information that distracts or derails the presentation. The reality is that if you can?t deliver your message with brevity, you will lose your audience. To make sure that your presentation is brief enough, ask yourself the following questions:
- Can I summarize my presentation in less than two minutes?
- Are my PowerPoint presentation slide designs brief? Are there fewer than 10 slides?
- Do I use clear and concise language instead of confusing corporate jargon?
Don?t rely too heavily on PowerPoint
PowerPoint is meant to supplement your presentation, not be your presentation. It is your job to get the message across; your audience wants to hear it from you, not read it on a screen. That means that you need to include limited text on your slides. Focus on PowerPoint graphic design ? that is, the images and graphs that will make your verbal presentation more impactful.
Now, some people are quite critical of PowerPoint, saying that the medium leads to poor presentations. However, it?s not the program that?s to blame for boring, unengaging presentations, but the presenter?s improper use of the medium. That is why, for an especially important conference or presentation, you are encouraged to hire business presentation design services.
