No, I’m not confessing to being bad at my job or criticizing my team. They produced clean, professional slide decks with accurate grammar and clean formatting that met brand standards. Yet, at least half of the presentations were, subjectively speaking, bad.Why? How? What could we have done to fix it?
At the time, our control over presentation development was limited to providing strategy input, building slide decks, editing content and coaching presenters. Our impact on the final product varied based on the quality of engagement with the team delivering the presentation. As much as we wanted to ensure everything was great every time, success relied on the people who stood in front of the client – how well they prepared, worked together and executed the presentation.
The moral is this: even the tightest, best looking slide deck is just nice wall paper if the presentation flow, content and delivery are off. Also, a really bad deck can ruin your presentation (we’ve all seen it), but the best-looking deck out there can’t save a presentation that is otherwise bad.
So, how do you ensure your presentations are compelling, effective and successful? For that matter, how do you know if they’re even any good?
It’s Not What You Think it is
Imagine you’re a client seeing your presentation for the first time? Was it interesting and engaging? Would you feel compelled to act?When was the last time you got unbiased, honest feedback on your presentation? Does your team feel like they can give you, and each other, straight-forward critiques?
Presenting is one of the scariest things most people do at work – they can be avoidant, stressed or downright hostile (seriously, it’s in the top-20 phobias, right behind fear of death). As a result, it can be challenging to prepare for a presentation, and the ensuing procrastination can torpedo the whole thing.
Then, people don’t want to hurt others’ feelings, or take the political risk of criticizing a superior. So, presenters are rarely candid with each other (the presentations support team, on the other hand, got to see all of the dirty laundry).
Consider that you may not know how effective your presentations are...and no one has been willing to say what they really think out loud
Then again, there are those people who are natural presenters. They’re compelling, sincere and engaging, and their presentations just seem to work every time. How do they do it, and how do you teach it to your team?
The Rules
What the “natural” presenters do is only partially based on innate characteristics. They are successful because they follow processes and adhere to some standard rules that drive their presentation development and execution. This is what makes their presentations hit, every time:1 Story is Everything (and it comes before visuals)
The story or message determines the flow and scope of the presentation, and should be nailed down before you even start thinking about creating slides.2 Know Your Audience
Really knowing your audience, and what they actually need, is the foundation of everything.3 Visuals Matter (but not like you think they do)
Ultimately, a presentation slide deck really is cool wall paper – make it memorable.4 Connection and Engagement (put away the dog and pony)
Whether it’s five people or 500 it’s not a presentation, it’s a conversation.5 Practice, Practice, Practice (then get some feedback) and Practice Again
Yes, there is such a thing as practicing too much and being stiff or over-rehearsed (see rule 4), but knowing your stuff is actually the key to talking about it instead of presenting it.Bonus Round: How to make this happen organization wide, for every presentation and every presenter
This is (very) high-level and, clearly, there’s a lot more to these. I’ll be sharing the details behind each in the coming weeks, including what they mean and how they work in the real world.
One final thing – Yes, there are people out there who don’t break a sweat when they have to present. I am not one of them. I had to learn to be a good presenter the hard way, including sweating my way right off of my shoes and nearly falling in front of a training class. It can be done – everyone can learn to present well.
I’ve worked with people who had to go for walks, breathe into bags, and one who threw up before every presentation. Yet, with the right resources and process, anyone can create and deliver successful presentations.
Who am I to tell you how to present? After almost a decade, thousands of client-facing presentations, and hundreds of strategy meetings and coaching sessions, I bring a whole lot more to the table than just another pretty slide deck. I help clients with presentation strategy, provide devil’s advocate input (even if it’s challenging), coach on delivery and execution, and create visuals for technical, creative, data-based, sales and educational presentations.
Do you agree with what I have here? If not, leave me a comment – I’m always open to new perspectives and alternative opinions.
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