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TOP TIPS

PowerPoint

Point & Turn Method
Presentation Tips

Style

Image
Mono & Multi Tones
Presenting Image
Style and Substance

Technique

Presenting: First Steps
Getting Organised
Knowing The Audience
Main Points
Office Party Speeches
Rehearsing
Presentation Relevance
Questioning Technique
Time Planning: Presenters
Top 10 Techniques

SPEAKER RESOURCES

Speaker Notes

Presentation Skills

Presentation Objectives

Audience Research

Audience Engagement

Confident Speaking

Telling it Straight - Tip: 06

ORGANISING A PRESENTATION effective presentations

Knowing your audience's frustrations is one of a presenter's key priorities, so an Opinion Research USA survey contains some key pointers for effective presentation. Sound structure and organisation are fundamental for successful presentations. In the same vein, we also have a very simple guide to laying out an effective presentation – either a business presentation or any form of public speaking.

Better Late Than Disorganised:

Disorganised and rambling meetings are the biggest frustration for employees surveyed by Opinion Research USA for their new "Ouch" series. The corollary is that the most productive meetings are those that are well structured and organised. According to Jeff Resnick, President of Opinion Research USA, disorganized equates to disengaged resulting in non-desired outcomes.

The survey also yielded a “top 10” business meeting Ouch Point list, as follows:

NEWS

Please turn off your phones. We've grown used to being asked to turn off our phones and it does seem to be a problem with many of us. But people don't have the same problem with colleagues using an email organiser.

As a presenter, however, it's not a good sign if your audience is more interested in their messages than you! Effective presentation skill is all important.

Disorganised, rambling meetings 27%
People who interrupt peers and try to dominate the meeting 17%
Cell phone interruptions 16%
People who fall asleep in meetings 9%
Meetings with no bathroom breaks 8%
Long meetings without refreshments 6%
People leaving early or arriving late 5%
People who check their Blackberries during meetings 5%
Meetings starting late 4%
No written recap of the meeting outcomes 4%

First Steps In Organising Your Presentation:

Getting started with a new presentation is always difficult. Whether you want to use a deck of slides or speak using notes then the organisation of your thoughts is however critically important.

One of my former managers showed me a genuinely simple yet effective approach to organising a presentation.

Take a piece of A4 or foolscap paper and fold in half along the long edge. Then fold in half again along the new long edge. And finally fold the paper in half again along the long edge. Now, unlike origami, you can unfold the paper which has the outline of 8 squares. Reading left to right and top to bottom you can manage your presentation.....just like this one.........

Title

Name, Job Title, Organisation

Date

Outline

Why This is Important

Findings and observations

Implications and Consequences

Suggested Approach or Option 1

Suggested Approach or Option 2

Recommendation and Reasons

Next Steps

Owners

It's not rocket science but it's useful for PowerPoint presentations!

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