Why are Presentations Important? How can you Prepare a Professional Presentation?
A truly professional presentation is a key way to communicate your expertise and skills to others. Start small, but as you improve your presenting skills you can invite your key stakeholders and supporters to widen your influence. Not everyone finds professional presentations easy though, so we’ve provided a checklist to consider whenever you’re preparing a presentation.
We’ve combined our NLP Training and Presentation experience to come up with these top tips to making successful presentations.
- What’s the purpose of your presentation?
- What do you want your audience to feel, think and do, at the end of the presentation?
- What do you believe about yourself, and your audience, that will help you make a great professional presentation?
- What 3 states would it be useful for you to be able to access throughout the presentation?
- How are you going to engage your audience?
- How are you going to frame the presentation?
- What are you going to say first?
- What’s your basic agenda and structure?
- What metaphors are you going to use?
- What questions are you going to ask your audience?
- What are the most challenging questions you’re likely to be asked by your audience?
- How are you going to answer them?
- What is your structure for answering questions and objections?
- What props are you going to use? Slides, charts, videoes, handouts etc?
- What is their specific purpose? How are you going to best use them?
- What specifically are you going to say at the end of the presentation?
- Do you have a call to action?
- How are you going to rehearse?
What’s the purpose of your presentation?
What do you want your audience to feel, think and do, at the end of the presentation?
It can be very powerful to state this at the beginning of your presentation.
For example. “The purpose of this presentation is to show that we’re ahead of our plan with revenue. At the end of the presentation I want you to to feel confident that we’ll hit our numbers, understand our approach and be able to tell your stakeholders that that you’re impressed with what we’re doing.”
What do you believe about yourself, and your audience, that will help you make a great professional presentation?
Examples might be.
“I believe that I’m a professional, I know what I’m talking about, and what I say is of genuine interest to my audience.
“I believe my audience audience has a genuine interest in what I’m about to say.”
What 3 states would it be useful for you to be able to access throughout the presentation?
There are many possibilities. For example, you might want to be professional, passionate, and interested. Or, if there is bad news to deliver: empathic, optimistic, and energised.
How are you going to engage your audience?
Possible examples include:
- Mentioning what’s important to them
- Welcoming the individual groups in the audience
- Acknowledging and making eye contact with as many of the audience as possible
- Using a mix of representational systems and thinking styles (meta-programms) when you speak or in your props.
How are you going to frame the presentation? What are you going to say first?
What we say first is exceptionally important as it will help focus our audience’s attention, and therefore set them up for a more useful experience.
What’s your basic agenda and structure? What metaphors are you going to use?
Be clear on the structure of your presentation. Think about what case studies, metaphors and other stories will help your audience easily understand your key messages.
What questions are you going to ask your audience?
Questions lead and focus emotions and thoughts and enable you to find out information. What questions are you going to ask?
What are the most challenging questions you’re likely to be asked by your audience?
Write out the most challenging questions and objections that you’re likely to be asked. Are you going to divert the situation and answer them as part of your presentation? Or are you going have a prepared answer using your favourite structure?
What props are you going to use? (slides, charts, videos, handouts etc). What is their specific purpose? How are you going to best use them?
Ideally your props support what you’re saying and not vice versa. How specifically do they add to what you’re doing? Bad props can damage an important message.
What specifically are you going to say at the end of the presentation? Do you have a call to action?
What we say at the end of the presentation can significantly change the story your audience tells themselves about their experience afterwards. A popular and effective technique is to refer back to what you said right at the beginning of the presentation. Remember to emphasise any call to action.
How are you going to rehearse?
Always rehearse several times, out loud, and check your timings. If you can, rehearse before someone whose honest and whose opinion you trust.
Professional Presentation Review
And if you want to get really good, develop a formal after presentation review. What lessons were learned? What would you do again? What will you never do again? Practice with these tips and you’ll soon be excelling at professional presentation.
