The conference has been long and somewhat tedious but at last here is the speaker with the topic that attracted you to the day.  He moves to the microphone and stiffly tells a bad joke.  Horrors!  OK, steady, anyone can be nervous.  Then he puts up his first slide.  It is a cut and paste from a word document onto PowerPoint.  There are about 12 bullets and the font so small it is impossible to read.  Not to worry.  He reads it for you.  And so begins an eternal, cerebral ramble in which the key points you came to hear are lost in wads of irrelevant detail, unconnected ideas and self-serving stories.  Classic presentation nightmare.  You look around.  Everyone has been struck by the dreaded MEGO*.  You are surrounded by the living dead:

The graphic comes from the Review Crew website and their review of the Top Ten Zombie Games.   I left a comment asking for permission to use the graphic.

If we are going to get anywhere in business and in corporate life we must present ourselves and our offer to our peers, our seniors and clients and make a case for our offer.  Your presentations should not be a data dump.  In presenting you are always trying to persuade someone of something.  Till you get that, your presentations will go wide of the mark.  It is about helping your audience connect the dots and experience the inspiration of their next illuminating moment.  It is your chance to make a call to action.

Here are five deadly sins of presentations offered by Jerry Weissman:

  • No clear point
  • No audience benefit
  • No clear flow
  • Too detailed
  • Too long

Your presentation should take your audience from a well understood starting point to a well defined destination.  At the start your audience may be uninformed, dubious and resistant.  You have one chance to make a sparkling first impression.  Then your story should take your audience on an interesting journey, discovering new understandings, through a place where the dubious believe, to a place (NOT Far Far Away) where the resistant Act!

So here is a checklist.  Does your presentation include:

  • A well defined and executed, arresting opening (please not “three men walk into a bar…).
  • Your unique selling proposition (why the audience should grant you their attention).
  • A short description of where this presentation will take them.
  • An outline what you will be covering in the presentation, highlighting the core attractions.
  • A forecast of the time the presentation will take?
  • A well-defined, meaningful flow structure.
  • Clear, uncluttered graphics.
  • Supporting documentation, preferably not just a printout of the slides.

How are your presentations going?  I have a group coaching process on presentations that can make a difference.  To find out more about StrategyWorks come and visit my home page.

* MEGO – Mine Eyes Glaze Over (Jerry Weissman)