Presentations can be enhanced or hurt by how the information in the presentation is shared. The more props you use to share that information, the more you divide the attention of your audience. Use the best tools to enhance your presentations to get more visibility out of them during and after the presentation.
Many presentations are accompanied by a Powerpoint presentation. If the Powerpoint is created to enhance the presenters material visually and with highlighted ideas then you can really hit a home run, but if there is too much information on the slides then you can confuse or divide your audience’s attention and they will not retain the information you shared. Add a handout to the mix and now your audience is trying to listen, look at a Powerpoint, and flip through your handout.
Everyday business owners and professionals give presentations, whether it is speaking one on one at a business or networking event, in a meeting with potential or existing clients, or to a group at a conference or event. Because we present our businesses every day we accumulate quite a bit of material that can be repurposed and shared on a larger scale with the use of technology.
What can we share in a presentation?
- Products and Services
- Company Philosophy
- Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
- Industry Information & Updates
- Statistical Data
- Informational / Educational Information
So first and foremost create your presentation material with the less is more attitude. Keep it simple, to the point, and add in visuals that grab the attention of your audience and bring an added dimension to your topic.
When you are getting started or revamping your business content pull in as much information as you can. If you have been in business for awhile collect old and new brochures, Powerpoint files, website content, training manuals, proposals, reports, etc. and start figuring out what can be kept and revamped and what is no longer worth keeping around. If you are starting a new company then you need to get out there and compile information to use in your presentation. Look at your competitors, industry leaders, current industry information, and the interests of your target audience – I would do this if I had been in business for years too as it gives you a current prospective.
Separate the information into groups to make it more manageable, the groups coincide with your topic categories like the ones listed above. Once you have your topics, then you pick one to work on at a time and put the others away.
Getting Started
- Start free writing – get everything out that you can, it doesn’t matter if makes sense or not.
- Find ways to group your thoughts – Your free written material will be lengthy to share the information we need to organize it and group into bite size chunks. Grouping can by category, question, demographic, chronologically, etc.
- Headings and bullet points – take your grouped material and condense it further by taking key points that can be turned into bold header and bullet points
- Start thinking about imagery – what images would best represent the material, graphs, pictures, caricatures, symbols, etc.
Presentation Platforms
[one_third] Powerpoint Brochure Report [/one_third] [one_third] Infographic Video Images [/one_third] [one_third_last] Audio Web Page Blog [/one_third_last]
With all of these presentation platforms you can then use social networks and online presentation tools to increase the reach of your content and increase targeted traffic to your website.
[one_third] Online Presentation Tools
Google Docs
Prezi [/one_third] [one_third] Online Presentation Tools for Video
Google Hangouts – stream to Youtube
Animoto [/one_third] [one_third_last] Online Presentation Tools for Infographics
Wordle [/one_third_last]
So now you have some new fun presentation tech tools to use to make your presentations pop and travel, the only thing you need to do is set aside some time to get it done! Good luck.
