37. Choose a format
1. I was there. Now I’m here. Here’s how I
did it.
2. Most frequently asked questions.
3. Inverted Pyramid: Recommendations,
Reasons, Rationale.
38. Edit for simplicity.
• Eliminate
anything not
absolutely critical.
• Be ruthless!
• Let the handouts
do the heavy
lifting.
39. 1.Storyboard with
Post-Its or Power
Point notes
pages.
Step 3: Tie it all together.
2.Choose a
format.
3.Edit for
simplicity.
42. The two most important questions:
1.What is my point?
2.Why does it
matter?
43. Choose your key points carefully by following
these 3 steps:
1. Set the stage.
2. Brainstorm ideas.
3. Storyboard for flow.
44. Additional resources:
BOOK: Beyond Bullet Points
by Cliff Atkinson
www.BeyondBulletPoints.com
http://beyondbulletpoints.com/book-resources/
BOOK: presentation zen
by Garr Reynolds
Beth Carter
630.637.0013
Beth@FreelanceWritingSolutions.com
Notes de l'éditeur
Introduction to the general purpose of the new Speakers Bureau series?We have a lot of speaking expertise here at the ChamberThe Speakers Bureau would collectively like the share that expertise, to help all of you become better speakers … so that each one of you can Become a Powerful Voice for Your Business.
Beth Carter is, first and foremost, a writer. She founded Freelance Writing Solutions when she realized that not everyone loves to write like she does. Through her company she provides a wide variety of business writing services, but she specializes in helping her clients figure out what their marketing should say. She’s also very active within the Chamber of Commerce – both as a member of the Speakers Bureau and as the immediate past Chair of the Business Resource Network. She’s currently working to launch a business book club within the Chamber, so stay tuned for more on that in the weeks to come. Within the Naperville business community, Beth loves to share her passion for writing by presenting frequent seminars, conferences, and workshops.
So how about you? Raise your hand if you’d consider yourself decent at giving presentations. Raise your hand if you feel like you need a lot of help.
If you’re in business, you’re a public speaker, whether you realize it or not. It doesn’t matter if you never ever step behind a podium or turn on an overhead projector. The simple fact is, you make presentations all the time in business. You might present a proposal to a potential new client. You might report your quarterly results to your management. Or you might talk to your employees to bring them on board for a new strategic direction you plan to take.Whatever the circumstance, it’s a fact that you WILL be called on to make presentations – maybe occasionally, maybe frequently.For many of us, that thought can be stressful. So I’m here today to help you. As a professional business writer, I write all kinds of things – from corporate taglines (which might be only 3 words) to white papers that might be 20 pages. I’m VERY good at figuring out what I need to say, and how to organize what I need to say, so that my audience “gets it.”
For me, getting started is always the hardest part. You know that panicky feeling when you’re sitting at the computer, and you’ve opened up a bland Word document or maybe a blank Power Point presentation, and the cursor is just flashing at you, and you’ve got to figure out what to say? Yeah, that part’s hard.And that’s what we’ll talk about today.
So, if you’re anything like me, your initial instinct is going to be to bombard the audience with everything you know about your topic. I mean, you don’t want to leave anything out, right? So if you’re preparing a Power Point presentation, you might end up with a bunch of slides that look like this: (Groan!) Imagine sitting through 30 or 40 slides like this. How many of you have sat through presentations like this? ClickWhat you want is to something closer to Steve Jobs than Death By Bullet Points. You want to engage your listeners. You want them to open up and be receptive. You want it to be a pleasant experience. You want them to like you. But most of all, you want your listeners to:Understand your key points,Remember your key points, andTake action!To do this, you need to think carefully about how to engage your listeners. And the best way to engage a listener is to tell a story.
So, if you’re anything like me, your initial instinct is going to be to bombard the audience with everything you know about your topic. I mean, you don’t want to leave anything out, right? So if you’re preparing a Power Point presentation, you might end up with a bunch of slides that look like this: (Groan!) Imagine sitting through 30 or 40 slides like this. How many of you have sat through presentations like this? ClickWhat you want is to something closer to Steve Jobs than Death By Bullet Points. You want to engage your listeners. You want them to open up and be receptive. You want it to be a pleasant experience. You want them to like you. But most of all, you want your listeners to:Understand your key points,Remember your key points, andTake action!To do this, you need to think carefully about how to engage your listeners. And the best way to engage a listener is to tell a story.The trick is to choose your key points carefully. You can’t include everything. So what do you include???
So I’ll ask again, where do you start? You’ve got all these ideas in your head. How do you get them down on paper – how do you decide what to say, and how do you organize all of those thoughts so that it makes sense to your listener?It’s not enough anymore just to share information. We’re all bombarded with information every day. There’s nothing unique about it. It’s your job to give the listener context and perspective, so they can understand what you’re saying and why you’re saying it.People want to hear the “story” of your facts.But this means you have to step back and really assess what is important and what is not. It’s far too easy to get caught up worrying about bullet points and images on slides, rather than thinking about how to craft a story that is effective, memorable and appropriate for your audience. (click)So how do you decide what to say, and how do you say it?
But it’s a lot easier than that sounds. In fact, all you need to remember is 3 simple steps:Set the stage. This is where you set the stage for your entire presentation, and this is where you grab your audience’s attention. You’ll be asking your audience to do something, to take some sort of action. I’ll show you how to figure out what claim to make, and how to phrase it in terms that puts your audience in the center focus. (click)Build the evidence. I’ll walk you through how to select 3 key points that support your claim, so the audience understands why they should do something, or maybe how they should do it. (click)Tie it all together. The funny thing is, a lot of presentations start here, with the detail, and then they zoom out to describe the big picture, and then they end up making their claim. But that’s actually a backward way to do it. The best presentations start out with the big picture, make a claim, and then provide the detail needed to support that claim. And I’m going to show you exactly how to do that!So the beautiful thing is, as we complete each of these steps, you’ll be creating the content that goes on each one of your slides. So by the time you’re done with these 3 steps, you’ll have your entire presentation completed!
BUT FIRST – before you even open up that Power Point file, you have to stop and ask yourself two questions. These are the most important points of my presentation today!(click) What is my point? If the audience could only remember one thing, what should it be? If you could only have one slide, what would it say?(click) And why does this one point matter? What’s in it for the listener?It’s really, really easy to just jump into creating slides and putting the information you know into a series of bullet points. But those bullet points aren’t going to relate to your audience. And your audience is the whole point! It’s your job to make sure you understand why this is important to the audience. And as we walk through the steps to creating your presentation, we’re going to spell that out very carefully for the audience. It’s up to you to connect those dots for the listener.As you’re creating your presentation, come back to these two questions repeatedly, to keep yourself focused on what really matters.Okay, so once you’ve addressed this elephant in the room, now you’re ready to move on.
Okay, so Step 1! This is where we set the stage for the entire presentation. We’re going to figure out who we’re speaking to, why they’re here, and what we think they should do.
Okay, so Step 1! This is where we set the stage for the entire presentation. We’re going to figure out who we’re speaking to, why they’re here, and what we think they should do.
Before we can make a claim, we’ve got to define the big picture. We need to set some context for the presentation. So for example, for this presentation, we’re in an educational setting, and you’re all in some sort of business. And I know that in the course of your business, you’re goingto have to give presentations – and because you’re here for this topic, I can assume you might not feel you’re very skillful at giving presentations.(click) I can put all of this into a sentence, and that becomes my first slide.
This was my first “real” slide in this presentation. With just one sentence, I’ve defined the big picture and begun to set the context for everything else I’m going to say.
Make the big picture personal for the audience. Let your audience know that this presentation is all about them!Your audience might be an individual person, such as a client, or it might be a group, like an organization or a committee.So Slide 2 defines what the audience is doing here. When you make it personal, your audience will pay attention.
For me, getting started is always the hardest part. You know that panicky feeling when you’re sitting at the computer, and you’ve opened up a bland Word document or maybe a blank Power Point presentation, and the cursor is just flashing at you, and you’ve got to figure out what to say? Yeah, that part’s hard.And that’s what we’ll talk about today.
You need to show the audience what their challenge is. They’ve got a problem; they’re stuck at Point A. But they don’t want to be at Point A.This becomes Slide #3: Identifying the challenge.In this presentation I pointed out the slide with all those bullet points. This is definitely what you don’t want if you’re preparing a presentation.
So, if you’re anything like me, your initial instinct is going to be to bombard the audience with everything you know about your topic. I mean, you don’t want to leave anything out, right? So if you’re preparing a Power Point presentation, you might end up with a bunch of slides that look like this: (Groan!) Imagine sitting through 30 or 40 slides like this. How many of you have sat through presentations like this? ClickWhat you want is to something closer to Steve Jobs than Death By Bullet Points. You want to engage your listeners. You want them to open up and be receptive. You want it to be a pleasant experience. You want them to like you. But most of all, you want your listeners to:Understand your key points,Remember your key points, andTake action!To do this, you need to think carefully about how to engage your listeners. And the best way to engage a listener is to tell a story.
The next step is to show the audience where they want to be. This is Point B. This is the solution to their problems.In this presentation, I showed you an image of Steve Jobs – a rock star when it came to preparing presentations. You definitely would love to prepare presentations like Steve Jobs!Don’t be afraid to stir things up a little bit. Create some dramatic tension. Get the audience emotionally involved!
So, if you’re anything like me, your initial instinct is going to be to bombard the audience with everything you know about your topic. I mean, you don’t want to leave anything out, right? So if you’re preparing a Power Point presentation, you might end up with a bunch of slides that look like this: (Groan!) Imagine sitting through 30 or 40 slides like this. How many of you have sat through presentations like this? ClickWhat you want is to something closer to Steve Jobs than Death By Bullet Points. You want to engage your listeners. You want them to open up and be receptive. You want it to be a pleasant experience. You want them to like you. But most of all, you want your listeners to:Understand your key points,Remember your key points, andTake action!To do this, you need to think carefully about how to engage your listeners. And the best way to engage a listener is to tell a story.
The next slide will answer that question. You’ll show the audience precisely how they can get from Point A to Point B. It’s a clear call to action, and it’s really quite literally the entire point of your presentation!Use strong words in the call to action, and keep it simple and straightforward.My call to action for you today is to “Choose Your Key Points Carefully by Following these Four Steps.”
That’s right – it’s not enough anymore just to share information. We’re all bombarded with information every day. There’s nothing unique about it. It’s your job to give the listener context and perspective, so they can understand what you’re saying and why you’re saying it.People want to hear the “story” of your facts.But this means you have to step back and really assess what is important and what is not. It’s far too easy to get caught up worrying about bullet points and images on slides, rather than thinking about how to craft a story that is effective, memorable and appropriate for your audience.
Okay, so Step 1! This is where we set the stage for the entire presentation. We’re going to figure out who we’re speaking to, why they’re here, and what we think they should do.
Step away from the Power Point and tap into your right brain. Brainstorm ideas. Probe. See the issue from all sides. Don’t edit yourself! It’s okay if it’s messy at this point. The key here is to let the ideas flow.
Review your ideas and group similar ideas together. Look for a unifying theme that will be the thread running through your presentation.And remember those two big questions you asked yourself early on:What’s my point? Why does it matter?Keep that in mind – and keep your call to action in mind – as you pick the three most important points out of the ideas you brainstormed. These will be the key points you make, that support your initial call to action.
As you develop each of your 3 key points, you’re going to provide supporting details. Essentially, you’re creating a hierarchy of detail, like an organization chart. Always go from most important detail to supporting detail. So you start with your call to action, and you develop 3 key points that explain the call to action. (click) If you want, you can take it one step deeper and provide more explanation for each call to action. (click, click, click) And if there’s still more detail, you can take it one step deeper again (click).Each level – each point, explanation or detail, becomes a slide.When I prepare my own presentations, I actually use a table with columns just like this – and after this presentation, I will email to anyone who is interested a link to the template I use.
As you develop each of your 3 key points, you’re going to provide supporting details. Essentially, you’re creating a hierarchy of detail, like an organization chart. Always go from most important detail to supporting detail. So you start with your call to action, and you develop 3 key points that explain the call to action. (click) If you want, you can take it one step deeper and provide more explanation for each call to action. (click, click, click) And if there’s still more detail, you can take it one step deeper again (click).Each level – each point, explanation or detail, becomes a slide.When I prepare my own presentations, I actually use a table with columns just like this – and after this presentation, I will email to anyone who is interested a link to the template I use.
As you develop each of your 3 key points, you’re going to provide supporting details. Essentially, you’re creating a hierarchy of detail, like an organization chart. Always go from most important detail to supporting detail. So you start with your call to action, and you develop 3 key points that explain the call to action. (click) If you want, you can take it one step deeper and provide more explanation for each call to action. (click, click, click) And if there’s still more detail, you can take it one step deeper again (click).Each level – each point, explanation or detail, becomes a slide.When I prepare my own presentations, I actually use a table with columns just like this – and after this presentation, I will email to anyone who is interested a link to the template I use.
Put your key points, your explanations and your details on Post Its or on Power Point notes pages. This makes it easier to see the big picture, to see what items can be cut, what needs to be added, and what is clearly essential to the core message – without ever losing sight of the structure and flow.
So as you’re arranging your story, keep in mind a few possible presentation formats. Using a formula like this is easy-peasy to remember.First, you’ve got the “I was there. Now I’m here. Here’s how I did it.” format. This is helpful if you’re speaking in front of like-minded professionals. I know of a real estate professional who had to give a presentation in front of her realtor association. She used this format to demonstrate that a few years ago, she was a total novice with no connections. But now she’s been in the million dollar club for three years running, and here’s what she did to get herself there.The second format, where you ask and answer the questions you’re most frequently asked, is another easy, straightforward option. It’s not necessarily very fancy, but it gets the job done.And finally, the Inverted Pyramid presentation is terrific for situations where you’re presenting a proposal or making a recommendation. Most presentations like this start out by setting the stage in which they ultimately made a decision. They’ll provide lots of background information, details they uncovered that led up to a decision. Instead, jump right into it and make your recommendations. Then identify 3 reasons to support your recommendations. Then go into the deeper detail for the supporting reasons. So you’re starting out with the end, and then reverse engineering how you came to the decision. This can be very powerful – and this format will hold the listener’s attention much better!
As you’re settling into a structure and flow, you’ve got the opportunity to go over your ideas one last time … and this is where you have to make tough calls. Edit ruthlessly! If you don’t absolutely need it – if it doesn’t support your call to action or a key point, get rid of it! When it doubt, cut it out. (click)You want to keep this presentation simple. Straightforward. You’re not helping anyone by including too much detail; you’ll just overwhelm your audience. (click)If you’re really torn about deleting a detail, put it in a handout. You can create super-duper detailed handouts if it makes you feel better! At least with handouts, the audience has the choice of whether to read them or not. They’re not sitting captive while you speak! (click)
So you’ll recall that when we started today, we pointed out the example that nobody wants to be: The Death by Bullet Point slide presentation.
And then we compared it to the Steve Jobs approach, one of the most memorable and engaging speakers we will ever know.
If the audience could only remember one thing, what should it be?If you could only have one slide, what would it say?As you’re creating your presentation, come back to these two questions repeatedly, to keep yourself focused on what really matters.
And we showed you that really, all you need are 3 simple steps. You need to set the stage up front in your presentation, so your audience knows you’re talking to them, you’ve identified the challenge they face, and you’ve established how they can solve that challenge. And we’ve given the audience a strong call to action – because we want them to do something!We’ve then talked about how to brainstorm ideas to pull together the key points that will support your call to action. We’ve also shown you how to support those key points with just the right amount of detail, to tie everything back to your call to action.And we’ve shown you how to organize the flow of your presentation with a storyboard approach that makes it easy to rearrange and adjust your story to make sure it flows smoothly and naturally.So by following these 3 simple steps, just like Steve Jobs, you too can deliver a memorable and engaging presentation!
If you look for Book Resources on Cliff’s website, you’ll be given the opportunity to download the Beyond Bullet Points toolbox – completely free of charge. Within that toolbox is a template, that I believe is one of the best free presentation planning tools I’ve ever come across. I used it to prepare this presentation, and I highly recommend you take a look at it the next time you’re planning a presentation!