Another messy presentation?

Creating and delivering effective presentations is a skill that you need to reach the executive level and for the executives to notice that you stand out.

Boy, where do I start? I have so much to say on this topic as I am passionate about creating high-quality executive presentations.

First, you need to know your audience and structure the key messages you want to tell. Structure and flow of the storyline is paramount. Your 1-3 key messages comes first (not as the last slides) followed by a decomposition of reasons and evidence supporting each key message. Combine the insights of Slide:ology with the "Pyramid Principle – Logic in Writing and Thinking" (by Barbara Minto) and you can master the art of great presentations. Logic will reveal if your thinking and messaging is structurally sound.

Second, you need to let go of your need to tell everything you know. Probably you feel that showing and telling as much as possible is positioning you the best. It isn’t! The Iceberg rule is to present the 10% above surface which matter the most. Leave the remaining 90% knowledge in appendices or omit it. If your audience asks about what lies below the surface you can navigate them to your additional wealth of knowledge. Executives will expect that your knowledge base is bigger than what you present, but also expect to hear only the key messages. 

Third, now that you have condensed your material down to 10-20 slides, you can afford time to craft each slide as a master piece.

A few tips:

• Keep to one key message per slide with a title statement, and not just one or two topical words. Read through all title statements to validate if your story flows.
• Use visuals (graphs, diagrams, pictures) to emphasize each message
• Highlight what is important; use colors, fade other elements, de-clutter graphs
• Understand how the information is consumed and optimize the flow and design of each slide (think as a designer, a news editor or photographer)
• Don’t be afraid to include fun aspects, yet keeping it professional. As presenter you are an ‘Edu-tainer’; Educator and Entertainer.

Let me stop here before I divulge my 90% knowledge.

Nancy Duarte (the author) has a subsequent book called ‘Resonance’ which focuses on how to deliver you Key Note presentation. I highly recommend both books.