PRESENTATION CHECKLIST

Figure 11-1 contains the list of the most important points I made in this book. The checklist that follows covers these points in somewhat greater detail. Please read them carefully and make sure they are clear to you. If you are in doubt, go back to the corresponding chapter and review it. Every point in this list is crucial to the success of your presentation.

FIGURE 11-1: Presentation Secrets key points.

Story

Focus on the goal

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. What is the goal? What am I trying to achieve?
2. What does the audience need?
3. Find the intersection between what you want and what the audience needs. This is the end of your presentation; this is where you need to lead your listeners.

What's the conflict?

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. What does the audience want?
2. What prevents them from getting what they want?
3. Who will be fighting whom for what?

This is the second part of your presentation.

Organize the flow

1. Design the introduction. What does the audience need to know beforehand in order to understand and appreciate your presentation? This might include the ground rules, the personal story, and the good news.
2. State the goal and the problem.
3. Present the solution. If your solution is multi-step, unify it using L.A.T.C.H.: location (visual metaphor), acronym (alphabet), time-based narrative, categorization, or hierarchy. Remember that each step is a mini-story!
4. Conclude. Present a quick summary and a call for action, and talk about values.

Slides

Focus on the message

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. What is the goal of this slide?
2. Do I need to remind, impress, explain, or prove? Depending on the answer, choose the slide type: text, photograph, concept visualization, or data visualization.
3. What is the hierarchy of this slide? What's the key message and what are the supporting messages?

What's the comparison?

1. Make sure your text and figures are visible against the background.
2. Most effective slides compare. Ask yourself the following questions: What's the change? Where's the difference? Is it highlighted with size or color changes?
3. Make sure different hierarchical levels of information are clearly different in size or color.

Delete the unnecessary

1. Re-read your text and re-scan your visuals for anything you can safely remove. Make sure your text is concise. Don't use five colors if you need two. Watch out for chartjunk.
2. Is the visual metaphor of the slide consistent? If your slides were a physical object, what would it be made of? Paper? Plastic? Stone? Do they obey to the laws of physics?
3. Imagine yourself seeing the slide for the first time. How does your eye travel? Does it go from the most important point to the least important? From the beginning of the diagram to its end? If not, redesign accordingly.

Delivery

Focus on the audience

1. Practice your delivery so you can focus on the audience while you're presenting—don't focus on what to say next. Don't repeat the same words while practicing; you will sound canned.
2. Maintain eye contact. Scan the audience from one side to another, making sure you look in the eye everyone who is in the room.
3. Talk to the people, not just in their general direction.

What's the challenge?

1. Ask questions even if you don't expect an answer. Challenge them. Give them difficult choices.
2. Don't shy away from conflict, embrace it. If nobody's objecting that means you're not saying anything particularly interesting. Fear and resistance to change are perfectly natural. You need to address these concerns.
3. If somebody asks a question, make sure you still talk to the whole audience, not just to one person.

Admit mistakes

1. Switch from censoring to monitoring. Say what you think but listen to what you say.
2. When things go wrong, don't try to hide it. Mistakes create tension, which is best released with laughter.
3. Be your hero. Improvise.