“That was my presentation". Thank you for your time. Any questions?”
And breathe. Job done right? Wrong.
A brilliant presentation is actually the beginning. Remember, you’re Yoda not Luke. Your presentation is an iceberg not the whole. A presentation should inspire your audience to want to know more about your subject.
Your talk is the start of a journey.
Make them want to know more. Show them how to do it.
Have a blog, a podcast, an article, a document on Dropbox or Google Drive. Something for your audience to go to learn more about your message. Set up a Slideshare account. Get your talk on social media. Share.
The trouble with sharing links is that they are often unwieldy, something like https://mcdreeamiemusings.com/new-blog/2019/4/8/yxssy4hghadxdjtbs50gvil8duwhlb
If you have a link, make it snappy. There are a number of custom URL sites which give you a personalised link. I like TinyURL.com. Using them I was able to make the link https://cutt.ly/presentationalist to then share to make it easier to find this blog site.
slides ≠ presentation
audience, audience, audience
pick your message
be a storyteller
who, what, how
1 picture > 1000 words
dump the data, don’t data dump
stand on the shoulders of giants
don’t present, perform
the end is the beginning
There isn’t only one way to do a presentation. But what I hope is that through these principles, and an evidence based approach, we can all improve the way we present.
I hope this has inspired you. Please keep in touch @mcdreeamie on Twitter and use the hashtag #iamapresentationalist. Let’s keep this going. 300 million PowerPoint presentations a day are delivered. There’s a way to go but we can do it.
