Now that we have reached the second decade of the twenty-first century, it surely must be time to ditch the 1990s style of presenting and to embrace the whole new world of the twenty-first century presentation.

So here is a list of five things you can do this year to make the switch to a more interesting, entertaining and educational kind of presentation:

Stop putting more than one sentence on a slide.

The “Seven Seven” idea was developed in the 1990s and it should be left there. (seven points and seven words / sentences) One sentence per slide with as few words as possible – that is your goal. Think Twitter style and you have got it. No more than 148 words per slide (and in my humble opinion that is still too many – but lets make a start somewhere)

Use full slide images.

Rather than using small images that the audience at the back of the room cannot see, start finding and using full slide images (see example below)

Practice and rehearse

There is no more excuses for not practicing and rehearsing your presentation. The difference between a boring standard presentation and a great presentation that is remembered and acted upon is in the practice. Find the time to practice and rehearse. Make sure that your pronunciation and speed is perfect. – Even the great Steve Jobs rehearses and practices. Is that what makes him so great?

Start a stock photo folder on your computer

If you have not done so already, begin collecting images into a folder on your computer. Take you own photos, collect photos from your company and other sources. Save them – you never know when they will be useful in a presentation.

Remember: You are the presentation, not PowerPoint

When you do your next presentation, make sure that your audience can see you and hear your words. Do not turn off the lights or read your slides. When you do a presentation you are called “the presenter” and the reason for this is because you are the reason your audience is there, not your PowerPoint slides. Come out from behind the lectern (podium) and more around, look at your audience and be grateful they are there. Give them something special.

Bonus Resolution:

Go out and buy a copy of Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen and Nancy Duarte’s Slide:ology – read and learn them.

For English links see below:

Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen

Nancy Duarte’s Slide:ology

I have sat through so many company introductions and been bored almost to death by one hour presentations telling me about stuff I, and the the other audience members are really not interested in. As mentioned in my previous post on company introductions – a company introduction should only last around ten to fifteen minutes. Anything longer means you are putting in far too much information.

Below is a list of things to include and a list of things to take out immediately if they are in your company introduction.

1. Information about how your company was founded and by who
2. Any interesting stories about your founder (if you don’t know any – ask and find them!)
3. what were the first products or services your company sold
4. How your company got to where it is today
5. What you are doing today, how big you are (not factory size or the square meterage of your company’s offices – but how many employees you have and how many units you sell etc)
6. What are your company’s future plans.

That’s it. You do not need anything else.

What you should not put into your introduction:

1. Your company’s management structure – it means nothing to us!
2. All the different departments your company has – we do not care!
3. All the different products or services your company produces and sells – it’s too much information.
4. Line upon line of text – it really is very boring and you will read it making it even more boring!
5. Copied and pasted pictures of your Chairman opening a new factory. Seriously, it looks awful!

One of the most common presentations people do is presenting their company. Like most things there are some guidelines you should follow. Sadly, most companies prepare a 40 to 60 minute presentation detailing things such as company management structure, financial growth over the last few years and a detailed explanation of each individual factory and office. This is simply far too much information.

A company introduction should last between ten and fifteen minutes. Anything longer is too much detail. It should include four things. These are:

Brief history

What you make or do

Who are your customers

What makes you unique and or different

When you are talking about your company’s history, rather than put a bullet pointed list of important dates on a slide, your audience is far more interested in the stories. For example introducing Hyundai would be a dream because there are so many stories around the founding of Hyundai. For example selling rice on the streets of Seoul in the 1920′s and repairing cars in the 1930′s and 40′s.

By telling stories of your company’s foundation you immediately create an interest in the company. Apple and the early days in Steve Wozniak’s parent’s garage, Microsoft’s first meeting with IBM and Richard Branson selling second-hand records from the basement of his parent’s house. All these stories are fascinating and audiences love them.

When you come to talk about what you do and who you sell to, don’t go into detail about contract sizes or individual components. Talk about unique technology in your products, give a couple of examples of your customers and how they feel about you.

Finally, telling your audience what makes you unique and different from your competitors sets you apart from your competition. Remember, your audience might not be attending your presentation only, they may be going to see your competitor tomorrow. So you need to stand out and impress now.

Short, simple, story filled introductions will always beat long, detailed factually based introductions.

There is one exception to this rule.

If you are introducing your company to new employees – then you can put in more detail, but personally, I would stick to the simple version and create an interest and a pride in the new employee.

최근 참석했던 세미나에서 도통 요점을 알 수 없는 프레젠테이션들이 몇몇 있었습니다. 발표자가 말하고자 하는 의도를 모르겠고, 무엇 하나 배울 점도 없어 제 소중한 시간을 빼앗긴것 같은 기분이 들었습니다.

문제의 원인은 발표자가 너무 많은 정보들을 프레젠테이션에 담아내려다 보니 생긴것이었습니다. 이로 인해 청중들은 혼란스러워 지게 되고, 전체 프레젠테이션은 길고 지루하게 느껴져 요점을 잃어버리게 되었던 것입니다.

많은 세부설명이 필요한 프레젠테이션은 실제로 극히 드뭅니다. 예를 들어, 여러분의 잠재 고객에게 자신의 회사를 소개해야 할 때에는, 회사에서 판매하고 있는 상품 하나하나가 어떻게 만들어지고 통계수치는 어떠한지 등을 자세하게 설명할 필요가 없습니다. 이런 세부사항들은 나중에 고객과의 개별적 미팅시 다루어져야 하는 내용입니다. 여러분이 잠재고객에게 드려야 할 정보는 간단한 회사 연혁 ( 언제 회사가 설립되고, 몇명의 직원들로 구성이 되어 있는지, 회사의 위치 등등)과, 또 고객에게 도움이 될 상품과 서비스는 무엇이 있는지, 향후 어느 분야에 주력할 기획인지 등만으로도 충분합니다. 회사를 소개하는 자리라면, 이 모든것들을 10분에서 20분 소요의 프레젠테이션으로 마치는 것이 이상적입니다.

하지만 애석하게도, 많은 회사들이 아직도 회사소개 프레젠테이션에만 1시간 이상을 진행합니다. 부디 제 말을 믿어주시기 바랍니다. 만약 여러분이 1시간씩 회사 소개를 하신다면, 여러분의 잠재 고객은 정말 지루해 미치게 될 것입니다. 프레젠테이션을 이렇게 길게 할 필요가 전혀 없습니다. 행여 이런 분들이 계시면 도시락 싸들고 말리고 싶은게 저의 심정입니다, 제발 부탁드리오니, 이렇게 진행하지 마시기 바랍니다.

프레젠테이션을 기획하실 때에는, 반드시 핵심 요점을 찾으시기 바랍니다. 핵심 포인트를 정하셨다면, 그것을 위주로 프레젠테이션을 만드십시요. 청중이 여러분의 프레젠테이션으로부터 배웠으면 하는 부분이 무엇입니까?.  프레젠테이션에서 이 질문에 대해 간단하게, 그리고 너무 많은 기술적 설명이 필요하지 않게 답하시기 바랍니다.

상세한 기술적 부연 설명이나 자료들을 꼭 첨부하고자 하신다면, 프레젠테이션이 끝난 후 청중들에게 나누어 줄 수 있는 핸드카피를 고려해 보시기 바랍니다. (절대 프레젠테이션 시작 부분에 나누어 주지는 마시구요. ^^ 시작 부분에 나누어 주시면, 청중분들은 여러분의 프레젠테이션 내내 핸드카피만 뒤적거리실 겁니다). 이렇게 하시면 여러분의 섬세한 배려에 청중분들도 고마워하게 될 것입니다.

Recently I have seen a few presentations that do not appear to have a point. The purpose was missing and I felt that I had learned nothing new and that I had completely wasted my time.

The problem was caused by the presenter putting in far too much information, which caused the audience to become confused and the whole presentation feel long, boring and pointless.

Very few presentations require a lot of detail. For example, if you are introducing your company to a potential new client you do not need to go into fine detail about each individual product your sell, how they are made and what the statistics are. These details can be given when you sit down with the client to discuss the details later. All you need to do is to give a brief history (when the company was established, how many employees you have and where you have offices etc), what your product or service can do to help your potential customer and where you company plans to go in the future. All in all if you are just introducing your company, then a 10 to 20 minute presentation should be sufficient.

Sadly, a lot of of these company introduction presentations last for an hour! Trust me when I tell you this. If your company introduction presentation lasts for one hour, your potential customers are going to be bored rigid. There really is no need for it. So please, I beg you do not do it.

When you plan your presentation find the main point. What do you want your audience to learn? Once you have established that, build you presentation around that main point. Answer that question in your presentation – do it simply and without too much technical detail.

If you feel the need to include a lot of data and technical detail, consider using a handout sheet that you can give you audience at the end of your presentation. Never give a hand out at the beginning. Your audience will appreciate your kind consideration.

Recently, I have been working with a large industrial group that has many different departments working on different parts of their overall business strategy.

In an effort to present their company’s future strategies and goals, they have developed a 20 slide, sixty minute presentation that brings together all the different work that department does and how each department works together to achieve their future plans.

Unfortunately, the presentation does not work. Why?

Firstly, the writer of the presentation went round each department individually and asked them to prepare slides and a script for the part they each have in the overall strategy. This immediately caused a dysfunctional and disjointed set of slides that had no natural flow or logic. While the writer of the presentation did his or her best to bring each part together in a logical fashion, it failed because there was not a team of people working together to get the presentation right or logical, there was just one person who did not understand any of the work that each department did.

If you are preparing a presentation that focuses on the overall strategies or direction your company is going and there are a number of different departments involved, then the presentation needs to be built with a team of people, ideally one person from each department meeting together to put the presentation together. This way, each department representative can ensure that each point made in the presentation fits logically and seamlessly in the ‘big picture’, and where one person in the team does not understand something, it can be explained properly so that what goes in to the presentation is clear and easy to understand.

Another problem that has occurred, is that the script and the slides are not compatible. What is written on the slide, is not what is being spoken by the presenter. This causes great confusion with the audience.

Finally, the person responsible for the translation of the presentation into English was never involved in the original build of the presentation. This means that the English translation is even further away from the original presentation ‘script’. This essentially renders the whole presentation in English useless.

As a result of this lack of ‘togetherness’ the whole presentation fails. It is full of technical mumbo jumbo, that not even a senior professor at a top university understands and there is no point to the presentation.

To avoid this, it is essential that a team of people are given the responsibility to build the presentation. A representative from each department should be on the team, and if the presentation is to be translated into English, then the translator needs to be in the team. This way, any difficult technical language can be tested by different people to ensure understanding and a clear and consistent message.

Remember, a presentation is not something you build to impress your boss. A presentation is something you build to communicate a message. It is therefore important to make sure that your message is the most important goal, and not the number of slides or the how technical your slides are.

This week Garr Reynolds wrote about the importance of asking the question “Why?” and it got me thinking.

“Why is my message important?” This question over looked far too often.

What usually happens is that our boss comes along to our desk, and tells us (not asks!) to prepare a presentation for a sales meeting he or she has in a few days time (usually less than 2 days!) You, as a loyal company person obey the command.

What you do not do is ask the boss “why?” You just fill the slides with too much information and with over complex charts and graphs. You think about your boss and not the audience.

Please do not do this!

Firstly, a presentation prepared by someone else, without any input from the presenter is going to fail. It will fail because the presenter will read the slides. They will be no coherent message and there will be a lack of relationship between the visuals and the words the presenter speaks.

When you prepare your next presentation, the first question has to be “Why is my message important?” not “What will impress my boss?” or “How can I impress my boss?” Write the word “Why?” in big letters in the middle of the preparation sheet you are using. Then for every slide that you make, check that the question “why is this important?” is answered.

Please do this for the sake of the audience. They deserve to be treated with more respect than your boss. And remember, if your audience is impressed, they will tell your boss and then your boss will be really impressed with you!

Here’s a quick tip for those of you who have to regularly do presentations.

When we present, we usually have to introduce ourselves to our audience. Of course, there are times when we present to our coworkers and in this situation it would be impractical to do a personal introduction. But when we do need to do a personal introduction it is a good idea to have a pre-prepared opening ready.

The advantages of having an introduction pre-prepared is that it can give you the confidence boost you need to deliver a strong presentation, a presentation where your confidence is high all the way the through.

I was recently watching a couple of Guy Kawasaki presentations on YouTube, one was from 2006 and one from 2008. What I noticed was the Guy used the same opening to introduce himself in both presentations, even though they were two years apart. There were a few differences, but these were very small. The advantages of doing this for Guy was that it enabled him to begin his presentations with humour that worked, and it also allowed him to be confident.

So, if you do do presentations regularly, prepare an introduction now, practice it and get it right, because introducing yourself is something you are going to have to do 95% of the time you do a presentation. A strong beginning usually always leads to a strong middle and a strong ending.

Below are the two You Tube videos I saw:

It seems everyone loves lists, and so in that spirit here is my top five list of things you can do to improve your presentations instantly:

1. Move Around

This one I have mentioned before, but it is so important when you are presenting to an international audience. Staying behind the lectern tells your audience to are nervous and that you are not used to doing presentations. Essentially, you tell your audience that you are an amateur. To make yourself look more confident, come out from behind the lectern, walk around on stage. Now you do need to be careful. Walking up and down aimlessly can cause you to distract your audience, the way to do this is to move to the left of the stage and speak to the audience members on that side, then move to the right (or centre) and speak to the audience there. This shows confidence and also helps you to connect better with your audience because they feel that you are speaking directly to them, and not to the back wall of the room.

2. Ask Rhetorical Questions

A rhetorical question is a question you so not expect to be answered. For example:

” When we developed our new cell phone we came across the problem of consumer expectation. How did we overcome this problem?”

What you are doing here is asking your audience a question, and then answering the question yourself. In English a rhetorical question is not answered, and you need not worry about your audience shouting out an answer as the trick is to answer your question immediately after you ask it. If you pause too long, there may be some members of your audience who will answer the question. So be careful, ask the question and provide the answer immediately.

Asking rhetorical questions involve your audience, it makes your audience feel that they are part of your presentation, and this can only help you deliver an interesting and memorable presentation.

3. Use Relevant Images

I often talk about using images instead of bullet points on this blog, but there is an important warning here. If you use images that are not relevant to the word or words you are using then the impact of your image is lost. Make sure that the image you use is relevant to your subject or point.

4. Speak In A Conversational Style

Too often we make our presentations too formal, this perhaps is a consequence of the differences between English and Korean. English is a neutral language because it does not have a formal and informal style. If you meet meet President Barack Obama you can say “Hello Mr Obama”. If you meet a little child called Sarah, you can say “Hello Sarah”, there is little difference. However in Korean there are three distinct styles of language depending on who you are speaking to.

To be more engaging with your audience and for your audience to feel part of your presentation, you need to speak to them as if you were speaking with a friend. Always look at your audience as your friends, they want you to succeed, not fail. They are your friends. A simple way to do this is to use pronouns such as “I”, “you” and “we”. Using these words softens your speaking style and makes for a more conversational presentation.

5. Keep Your Presentation Short

Here is an endemic problem. When we are asked to do a presentation, one of the questions we ask is “how long do I have?” We then prepare a presentation that lasts as long as the time we are given. If we are given sixty minutes, for some strange reason we thing we should speak for sixty minutes. This is not true. What that sixty minutes means is that we can speak for up to sixty minutes. Therefore if you can communicate your message in thirty minutes, then fantastic! Either your audience can have an extra thirty minutes break (and they will love you for that) or you will have much more time to answer questions.

Either way, your presentation should only last as long as it takes for you to communicate your message, and not a minute more.

BONUS TIP

6. Keep Your Presentation Fresh

Quite often companies have a standard presentation that was created two or three years ago that they use time and time again to introduce their company. Usually this presentation was made by an employee that no longer works for the company and used an old version of PowerPoint. Not only does this presentation look dated, it also looks bad.

If you are asked to do a presentation, and are given a copy of the presentation to deliver, go through the presentation, update old images, upgrade it to the latest version of PowerPoint, or Keynote and check to see if it is as relevant today as it was two or three years ago. There is nothing worse for an audience to have to sit through a presentation that is clearly out of date.

Being aware of your audience’s needs is the single most important factor when it comes to presenting. Too many times a presenter is doing to impress their boss, and they do not care at all for their audience. Your audience can tell this very quickly, and are never impressed. So forget your boss, you are not presenting to them, and really think about what your audience want.

With the United Kingdom about to start it’s General Election campaign, and with the historic Party Leader debates expected to begin next week, I thought it would be a good time to introduce some lessons for all presenters that we can learn from the US Presidential debates.

On the BBC Today programme today, American political consultant, Frank Lunz, gave some tips on how to perform in a debate, and here are a few things we can learn from:

1. Have a soundbite. Soundbites are little phrases or words that stick in your audience’s mind after the event. In a presidential debate, these are the phrases that the radio shows and TV stations repeat over and over again. Remember George Bush Snr’s “Read my lips: no new taxes”? that’s the soundbite. When we present, we should always try and create a soundbite that our audience will always remember. Something that they will talk about long after our presentation has finished.
2. Look at ease. Essentially, this means look relaxed. Frank Lunz says in a debate “if you look nervous, you lose” and while it is not quite so dramatic in our presentations, it is still important to look relaxed. When we are relaxed, our audience relaxes with us. When we look nervous, our audience is nervous with us.
3. Finally, break the rules. Personally, I think this is the best advice. The rules of presenting, if such rules really exist, force you to present in a standard way. The standard way of presenting is boring. Break away from the rules, don’t give your name and position at the beginning, start with a dramatic statement, don’t use slides with your company logo on them or if you have 60 minutes to speak, stop after 30 minutes. When it comes to presenting, rules are made to be broken. So break them.

Learning from the experts is always a great way to improve our skills, and a presentation is not just about PowerPoint or Keynote. We also need to perform. So remember, have a soundbite or two, relax and break some rules.

Below is a great little video of Venture Capitalist, Guy Kawasaki, breaking the rules. Sit back and enjoy Guy at his brilliant best.