How to Make Successful Business Presentations that are Effective

Do you have to deliver an important business presentation?

Without the right know-how, presentations can be nerve racking and stressful. Even worse it can go horribly wrong and not connect with the audience. Use the following techniques to make your business presentation a resounding success.

Preparation

Never underestimate the time it takes to prepare for a presentation. While content is important in a presentation, your delivery style is even more crucial. Spend around 20% of your time on the slide content itself. 80% of your preparation time should be focused on exactly how you’re going to deliver the slides.

Draw a rough outline of your presentation before you start using it. The key is to visualize the flow of presentation before going into the details. The actual presentation can be much more time consuming compared to a straightforward delivery. Take this into account when planning the presentation length.

Persuasion

Effective use of gestures helps get your point across to the audience. Use your hands to be more convincing. Approach the topic from your audience’s perspective. Consider how they think when deciding on the style of language, timing, visuals and attitude.

Make a good first impression. When you start your presentation, you have less than a minute to convince the audience you are worth listening to. Spend some extra time on the opening of your presentation.

Story Telling

Are you good at telling humorous anecdotes or stories? Use humor to your advantage. Humor is by far one of the best ways of grabbing the audience’s attention and keeping it.

Good story telling isn’t just the text on your slides and your delivery. Use striking and high quality images to get the imagination going.

Captivating Visuals

The visual elements in your presentation can greatly help in delivering your message effectively. Make use of custom designed templates and make your presentation look modern and professional.

Use colors in the correct way to get the type of reaction you want. Here’s a quick guide to what ideas and emotions different colors represent:

– Red – Excitement & alertness

– Orange – Action & optimism

– Yellow – Wisdom, confidence & warmth

– Green – Growth & calm

– Blue – Truth, justice & trust

– Purple – Dignity & sophisticated

– Brown – Friendliness & warmth

– Black – Strength & authority

– White – New & professional

– Grey – Maturity & integrity

 Keep it Simple

Sometimes less really is more. Keep the presentation focused, simple and to the point, to maximize its effectiveness.