(This is a contributed post)
Business presentations are the perfect way to convey ideas to colleagues; whether you’re trying to start a new project or you’re a business owner trying to find the capital to expand you need to be able to give a proper presentation. While you might think that giving a great presentation is easy, there is an art to it. It’s all too easy for a business pitch or presentation to get boring very quickly if you don’t know what you’re doing. It doesn’t matter how good the content of the presentation is, nobody will be excited by your ideas if you don’t deliver them properly. Check out these tips to make sure you don’t send anybody to sleep next time you’re giving a presentation.
Have Access To Documents
There’s nothing worse than standing up there in front of everybody, stuttering because you can’t remember your facts and figures. It makes you look unprofessional and you can’t explain the benefits of your idea without backing it up with the numbers. That’s why you always need access to any relevant documents so you can bring them up right there in the meeting. Visit www.templafy.com for more information on document handling systems that can be a huge help here. They’ll make sure that the branding on all of your documents is uniform as well as organising them so they’ll fit into the presentation seamlessly.
Keep It Brief
People tend to have a pretty short attention span and there’s only so long that you can listen to somebody talking at you before you start to switch off. You need to get across all of the relevant information before that happens. Keep your presentations brief and only include things that are absolutely necessary. It’s also a good idea to introduce your presentation with a quick summary. That way, people will know where you’re going with it and they won’t switch off before you finish.
Tell A Story
Having solid factual information to backup your ideas and arguments is important but you can go overboard with it if you aren’t careful. Bombarding people with endless data will cause them to switch off pretty quickly. You need to keep them interested by telling them a story. Focus on your idea and why it’s good, paint a picture of the future for them. Then you can come in with the facts to back yourself up.
Consider The Audience
Some people prefer to have all of the information given to them while others prefer a more hands on presentation with workshops etc. It’s likely that your audience will be a mixture of the 2 and you need to keep that in mind. If you stick to one style for the entire presentation, you’re always going to alienate certain people in the audience. You need to mix it up and make sure that you’re offering something that appeals to everybody.
A good presentation can make or break a business in a matter of minutes so you’ve got to make sure you follow these rules and hone your skills.