Make your presentations worth

Yesterday I had the opportunity of attending a presentation at work. It was addressed to people who work in the field and on a daily basis has contact with our costumers (I work at NESTLÉ in El Salvador as a Trade Marketing Manager), and I believe that some of the basics of how a presentation should be handled were overlooked. Here is a brief list of some of the points you should never forget when addressing presentations with your colleagues and reports:

• Always be on time: I know this is a very obvious statement, but is more often than not overlooked
• Think about your audience: one of the most important aspects of doing a presentation is to know who you are talking to. The best way to do this is to have a little profile of the people you are speaking to in order to know what the best way to get your message through is. More information on this subject can be found in Nancy Duarte's book slide:ology.
• Keep it short and sweet: attention span from your audience is limited, so you should try to make your point as soon as possible. This doesn't mean low quality in your presentation because of lack of information, it means you have to be very specific about your message. Which brings me to the next point.
• Focus on one idea: clearly establish what the whole point of your meeting is. Again, you need to move your audience into action with your message. Give them one simple message that they have to recall and your chances of getting through to them are higher.
• Use handouts: if there is simply too much info that has to be shared, don't try to squeeze it in a 30 minute presentation, instead use handouts. Complex numbers and graphics show better in this format than on screen and your audiences has the opportunity to have a better look at them.

If you really need to get people to connect with you and move them to action, remember that your message has to be clear in order for them to remember it.

If you want more information on the subject go to Garr Reynolds Blog that has tons of info regarding presentation design, and from which some of these ideas come from.