How to make a Presentation

When I coach presentation skills my summary is:

1. Have a very clear idea of what you want people to think, feel and do as a consequence of your presentation.

2. Summarise the key points/messages that will cause the changes in your audiences' mind.

3. Create stories for each of these messages.

4. Consider tone - funny, serious, emotional - or a mix.

5. Write your presentation out (longhand is best I feel).

6. Read it out loud, over and over.

7. Edit and refine.

8. Have a great intro'...and an even better finish.

9. Consider what you will do if you have to cut by 10/15 minutes (this can happen quite frequently, "I'm really sorry, you have 30 minutes now not the 45 we originally allocated")

10. Once you know your content, (really know your content), then consider how you will illustrate.

11. Do you need visual aids? (Only use them if they truly add to the presentation and never ever have text slides unless it's a single word or similar)

12. Work on the assumption that the power will go down or the projector will blow and you have no visual aids - how will you adapt?

13. Consider your position on the platform - behind the lectern or walking to front of stage (front of stage is so much better btw) or walking amongst the audience (not always possible/appropriate but can be powerful)

14. Consider "spatial marking" - "on the one hand (show your left hand) and on the other (show your right hand)"

15. Mirror your audience - your left is their right, e.g. if you're drawing a graph showing results improving off the scale use your finger to move from your bottom right to your top left

16. Exaggerate gestures - the bigger the audience the bigger the gesture

17. Practice pausing and then pause for twice as long as you feel comfortable. Use the pause for impact and to allow your audience to digest your material (you know it off by heart, they're hearing it for the first and only time)

18. Remember your audience has no idea what you're going to say - you can't go wrong therefore.

19. A serious face in the audience is often a really good sign that people are concentrating. I've received 10/10 scores from people who I thought hated every minute of my presentation!

20. Allow the showgirl to come out - enjoy yourself.