Planning a Presentation
Planning is fundamental for a successful presentation. Decide on your primary and secondary objectives, create a take-home message and research your audience.
Preparation is Key
The casual, seemingly effortless presentation is likely to be the result of a great deal of planning, research and hard work. If you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail. In the same way as you build a house in stages, so you can develop your presentation in a structured, layered way.
The planning and research phase is like laying the foundation. Although never seen, the final product stands, cracks or falls because of it. On this foundation you lay the bricks for your presentation by generating ideas and structuring what you are going to say. The rooms can be your key ideas. And, of course, you need to decorate the rooms – the visual aids, anecdotes and supporting evidence.
You might pay particular attention to the front view people get of your house … how you open your presentation. And finally add those finishing touches, which come from your unique personality and style.
Preparing in Stages
Don't expect to sit down and write your presentation in one sitting. Before you write your presentation, you will need to clarify your objectives, understand your audience and research your topic. Only then will you be in a position to structure your message, decide on your key points, put an opening and a closing together and add supplementary material for impact. After that you need to prepare yourself as the speaker, practise delivery and get yourself into a confident state to present.
Setting your Objectives
It will be easier for you to decide what to say in your presentation if you know:
- your primary objectives;
- your secondary objectives;
- your take-home message; and
- something about your audience.
Your primary Objective
The most fundamental thing in preparing your presentation is to have a clear objective. Unless you know where you are going, how can you begin the journey? It is essential that you are clear about what you want to achieve. What is your goal? Why are you presenting? If your objective is unclear, you are likely to end up where you don't want to be. Like any good navigator, once you are clear about your destination, you can more easily identify the route to that powerful presentation.
In clarifying your primary objective, think in terms of your listeners and how you want to impact on them. After your audience have listened to you, how do you want them to:
- think
- feel
- do?
The more specific you are with your answers, the more helpful your objectives are likely to be.
These are not objectives:
- ‘I'm speaking because it's the annual sales conference.'
- ‘I'm speaking because I am the regional sales manager.'
Your Secondary Objectives
Your primary objective might be to get the Board to agree next year's sales figures. However, other things may also be important to you. For example, you may wish to project a highly professional image of the sales team.
Creating your take-home Message
If you had only 30 seconds to speak, what is the one thing you would want your audience to hear from you? Your take home message is like a slogan for your talk. It needs to be catchy, easy to remember, compelling and thought provoking. It is the essence of your talk in a phrase or sentence.
