Great news—you are invited to speak at your dream event! After the excitement fades, you realize: now you have to build out a whole new presentation. Where to start?
Most solo presentations consist of two key parts: a talk and a slide deck. Many consider the talk and verbal content the most important part—but you can not underestimate the power of visual aids.
Strong presentations have a balance between both elements. So, how does this all come together? We’re sharing a few best practices on what to include in your next speaking presentation.
Your Talk
Start strong.
Make your introduction memorable. Put yourself in the audience’s shoes. What captures your attention better: when a speaker opens with the usual rundown of name, title, and summary of the topic, or when the speaker opens with an engaging question, interesting anecdote, or a thought-provoking quotation or statistic?
Show them your cred. Once you’ve hooked your audience, give a brief introduction of yourself and why you’re a credible source on this topic.
Build a clear, consistent message throughout.
Stay focused. Stay narrow, tie your points back to an overarching theme, and be realistic about how much information you can share in the allotted time. In most cases, less is more. Introducing too many topics will make it harder for the audience to understand your key message.
Include takeaways. A great way to help your audience tie everything together is to include key takeaways at the end of your presentation. This is also a great way to keep yourself on track— as you’re writing the bulk of the content, make sure everything ties back to one of the takeaways.
Include clear transitions.
Use your words. To help give your presentation structure, build clear transitions into your talk. This helps audiences gear up to hear a new point, and helps speakers move from one idea to the next. For example, when you’re ending one point and moving on to the next, set it up by saying something as simple as, “Next, let's look at XYZ.”
Use your actions. If the format allows, non-verbal transitions are another great way to break up your talk: utilize the entire stage—start in the center of the stage, move to the left for your first main point, right for your second, and end in the center.
Tell a story—not a sales pitch.
Be a thought leader. Unless you’re in a sales meeting, overly promotional content will make people lose interest fast. Take a thought leadership approach—talk about broader trends and industry implications. Step into the role of the teacher rather than the salesperson, and share practical takeaways that the audience can learn from.
Share examples. People connect with stories, so be sure to include examples or case studies in your presentation. Don’t tell people why something is important; show them and drive your point home.
Your Slides
Don’t forget your title page.
Make sure your title stands out. Include a visually engaging title slide, that will catch your audience’s attention and get them excited to listen before you even start.
Make it personal. For virtual events, consider including a slide with a headshot and key background details after the title slide. Your video is only a small portion of the screen compared to the slide presentation; this will give it a more personal touch.
Be smart about imagery.
Be memorable. Approximately 65% of the global population are visual learners. Our ability to remember images is one of our greatest strengths: hear a piece of information, and three days later you’ll remember only 10% of it, add a picture, and you’ll remember 65%.
Visualize data. Graphs help highlight important trends within data sets and are a great way to show complex information in understandable ways.
Let the pictures do the talking. Not every slide needs text—or even many spoken words. Sometimes an image will highlight your point more than anything else.
Use video. Videos are another helpful tool in your toolbox, but they come with some precautions. Keep clips short and explain what you’re showing beforehand, so the audience knows what to listen for. Always be prepared for technical difficulties—how often have you attended a session with slow video or broken audio? Consider using GIFs instead.
Remove distractions.
Say more with less. Too much text on a slide will pull focus away from you; people will read ahead and stop paying attention, or get overwhelmed and zone out. Keep it to one to three main ideas per slide.
Stay organized with formatting. Use short, concise bullet points to show the main point of the slide, then expand on that information verbally. One helpful tip: increase the font size to help reduce the amount of information you can add. For text-heavy slides, consider revealing portions of the text as they become relevant.
Utilize negative space. If you use multiple images on a single slide, or text and images, make sure to organize them cleanly, with negative space around them.
Create the correct number of slides.
Find the right approach for you. There are many different “best practices” when it comes to how many slides should be in a standard deck. Some recommend more slides, with fewer words, changing slides every 60-90 seconds. At McKinsey, one partner instructs his new hires to shorten their decks, by replacing every 20 slides with only two slides. So, what is the right approach?
Tell your story. The length of the presentation should match the story you’re telling, the complexity of the content, and the audience you’re telling it to. If you’re explaining a technical concept in front of a technical audience, two slides will likely not be enough. The most important rule: be sure every slide has a purpose and connects to the broader message.
Share contact information.
End with where to find you. Give people a way to get in touch with you after you leave the stage—add your contact information on the final slide. With the increase in virtual and hybrid events, post-talk networking isn’t always as easy, so many attendees will reach out to connect via email, LinkedIn or on Twitter—add all of those handles or details. Phone numbers aren’t typical but might make sense at smaller, more intimate events.
More Tips
Here are a few more ideas to make your next presentation the best one yet:
Make sure your slides look clean and uniform. Avoid adding unnecessary elements to blank spaces. Use high-quality graphics. Include contrasting colors to improve readability and harmonious colors to improve uniformity.
Build your message and talk outline first, then design your slides. Remember, the slides' purpose is to enhance the overall experience, not drive the entire conversation.
Be prepared for anything. Ensure the presentation still flows if a specific image, slide, or even the whole presentation isn’t working, if you have to move locations, etc.
Know where you can find your speaker notes. Will you be able to see your notes if you share your screen and are in present mode? Always check the interface, to know if you’ll need your notes up on another screen.
With these tips, your next presentation will no doubt be a success. Want to discuss more must-know lessons for speakers? Get in touch!
