Delivering a successful presentation is one of the hardest things that people will have to do in their careers. Whether you’re a business owner pitching to a potential investor or an employee sharing project ideas with your boss, creating a presentation that wins people over is tough. Not only do you have to capture people’s attention, but you also need to keep them engaged and present information in an informative, persuasive way. It only takes seconds to lose somebody’s interest and winning them back afterwards is very difficult. There are, however, some basic things you can do to instantly make your presentations more engaging. Here’s how you can deliver a winning business presentation.
Establish Credibility Right Away
Why should anybody listen to what you have to say in the first place? Are you an expert in your area, do you have a lot of experience working on similar projects? If you are pitching to investors, have you already created successful businesses in the past? You don’t need to give them a full resume, but when you are introducing yourself, give a few details about your experience to show people that you know what you’re talking about. This instantly gets people to sit up and listen because they expect you to give them something interesting.
Use Visual Aids
Visual aids make it so much easier for people to grasp concepts, and they make your presentation a lot more dynamic too. Using lots of visual aids is key, and if you can annotate them and point things out as you go through them, that’s even better. Touchscreen laptops (like the ones you can find at lenovo.com) are ideal for this because you can circle and underline important things, and guide your audience through the documents you are showing them. Without good visual aids, you will quickly lose the interest of most people.
Give a Clear Goal Early On
If people don’t know where you’re going, they may lose interest in the journey. So, to establish better flow in your presentation, give a clear goal early on. Are you asking people to invest in a business? Are you developing new ideas to help the company save money on a project? Whatever the goal is, let people know right away, then jump back to the beginning and tell them how you’re going to realize that goal. Knowing what you are aiming for gives the whole presentation more structure and if people are invested in the goal, they will be invested in what you have to say. If you are struggling, speakwithpersuasion.com has some great info on presentation goals.
Be Prepared for Hard Questions
You will always be challenged on the content of your presentation, and this is where a lot of people fall. It’s good to be confident, but don’t be so confident that you assume nobody will have any issues, because they will. Look through your presentation beforehand and work out which areas people are likely to ask questions about. Prepare your answers so you are ready for these tough challenges.
Most people have to give a presentation at some point, even if you hate the idea of public speaking. Make sure to follow these tips and you can make sure that it’s engaging.
