June 2005

Six Keys to Successful Presentations
By Carol Martin, POWER-UP Training & Consulting, Inc.

Thirty million presentations are given every business day. Think about that for a moment. In boardrooms, conference rooms, and training centers all around the world, hundreds of millions of people are listening to at least one presentation today. Unfortunately, many of those presentations will not be successful. Millions of presenters fail to achieve their objectives and leave their audiences dazed, bored, and confused.

How can you ensure your success? Following these best practices will put you well on your way to delivering a successful presentation:

• Know your audience.
• Communicate a clear objective.
• Limit yourself to three main points.
• Connect with your audience.
• Use PowerPoint® as a backdrop.
• Get to the bottom line.

Know Your Audience

Learn as much as you can about the group to whom you will be presenting. Get answers to the following questions:

• What background and knowledge does the audience have about your subject?
• What special interests or issues do they have?
• What is their working environment?
• Do you need to avoid any pet peeves or hot-button issues?
• Where do these people fit in the organization?
• Are they decision makers? Do they influence the decision makers?

As you create your presentation, keep your audience's needs front and center. Use their interests, situation, and knowledge to enliven your presentation. Use examples from their environment to illustrate your main points. Customize your presentation to fit their needs.

Communicate a Clear Purpose

Identify your purpose and communicate it to your audience within the first minute. Confirm with the audience that they are there for the same purpose. If there is a disconnect between your purpose and their expectations, resolve the problem right away.

Typically, if you have been well informed about your audience's expectations, the audience will simply confirm that you are on target. However, be prepared to adjust your presentation if necessary. Great presenters can roll with the punches and adapt their material on the fly.

Communicating your purpose and getting audience buy-in at the beginning of your presentation does two things:

• It allows you to focus on your topic with laser-like precision.
• It shows the audience that you are listening to them and that you care about their concerns.

Limit Yourself to Three Main Points

Do the research and preparation that is necessary to develop your content. Once you have steeped yourself in the information, shape the material into a clear and concise message with no more than three main ideas.

This is incredibly challenging, but it must be done. You want your audience to absorb and retain your information. If you give them too much information, they will be overloaded and will not remember your main ideas. Less is more.

Put detailed, technical information into a handout. In an oral presentation, your listeners do not have the luxury of replaying your words. Restricting yourself to three main points allows you to emphasize and reinforce your key messages so that your audience will comprehend and retain them.

Connect with Your Audience

One of the most important things you can do as a presenter is to connect with your audience. This allows true communication to take place. Establish this connection through sustained eye contact with members of your audience. This is more than just a quick scan of the room.

Start by looking at a single person and speak to each one as if you were having a one-on-one conversation. Finish your thought with that person and then move your eyes to another person in another part of the room. In effect, deliver your presentation as a series of one-on-one conversations.

With a large group, you will only be able to do this with a representative sample, but it will still be effective as long as you connect with people in different parts of the room.

Use PowerPoint as a Backdrop

PowerPoint is powerful, but is over-used and often becomes the focus of the presentation, rather than an aid to it. (This is known as "death by PowerPoint.") Slides should serve as a backdrop or framework for your message, never as the main event. Sometimes you may even want to forego using PowerPoint altogether.

If you are going to use slides, use them primarily for visuals such as charts, graphs, and diagrams. Limit your text slides to key words and concepts that reinforce—not replace—your message.

Get to the Bottom Line

So what is the bottom line in delivering a successful presentation? Your audience's time, as well as yours, is valuable. They are looking for worthy subject matter that is presented in a powerful and engaging way. Give your audience what they want—a clear, concise, well-researched  presentation that will make an impact and keep their attention from beginning to end.

Carol Martin is a corporate trainer and communications coach who teaches people how  to speak with power and authenticity. Her company, POWER-UP Training & Consulting, Inc. (www.powerup-training.com) has been providing training and consulting services to Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits and individuals for 15 years. Carol reaches thousands of professionals a year through speaking, coaching, workshops, and online seminars for leading corporations and organizations. Her clients include the Art Docents of Los Gatos, Choices for Children, Movaris and Sun Microsystems.