What is the first thought that comes to your mind when you receive an invitation to attend a business presentation? I bet you imagine a dull and boring monologue of a financial manager revealing pure stats and financial results on dull and unattractive slides. Don't you think that the time for changes has come? There are plenty of ways to make your business presentation interesting and engaging. How? Start by looking through the tips and trick that are listed below.
Before we proceed to the tips and trick section, let's state it clearly that you need to establish your credibility as you start off. It's more likely that people will listen to you and follow your story is they know you and your business project are credible.
Beware of the best PowerPoint templates when you decide to create a usable business presentation.
How to establish credibility during your speech? We do not suggest that you need to begin your presentation with a long story about your company's establishment and development. It's not about lengthy texts featuring your major career highlights.
In order to look credible in front of your audience, begin your speed with a brief engaging story that's related to the topic. You can tell a few interesting facts about your background or the major experiences that established you as a person whom everyone knows and trusts. In order to sound more credible, you can support your speech with references that can support your information.
Don't Overload Your Audience
By removing unnecessary pieces of content from your speed you can automatically increase the audience's ability to follow your story, understand and remember your message. Pay attention to the pictures and pieces of text that you use in your presentation. Are they relevant to the focal point of your speech? Can you omit using any of them without affecting the general idea of your presentation? If your answer is "yes", then do not hesitate to remove unneeded pieces of data. Make it easier for your audience to get your objectives and apply the information efficiently.
Don't Use Script-Type Fonts
Similar to any other creative project, the proper choice of fonts plays great importance in the way your audience will engage with your content and follow your story. Instead of using bold fancy fonts, give preference to simple classic typefaces. Arial and Times New Roman are generally considered to be two of the most popular and readable typefaces.
Do not use more than 2 fonts in one design. Also, keep them large enough so that people will be able to follow your story from the first and last rows. It's advised to use at least 24-30 points fonts.
Use Contrasting Colors for Texts and Backgrounds
It's important to make all pieces of data on your slides easy to scan and read. The choice of colors for backgrounds and texts plays a major importance for this purpose. For example, you can make use of the classic black color for your texts that are placed over the fair-color beige background. Why don't is mention the classic black-and-white combination you ask? White backgrounds may look dull. So, you should better look for a different fair-colored alternative for the background of your slides.
You can also use dark-colored backgrounds with the purpose to show off your branded look and corporate colors. In this case, use fair-colored fonts for easy reading.
It's not recommended to use patterned or textured backgrounds either. This will only reduce the readability of your slides.
Keep the Number of Slides to a Minimum
Don't make the presentation too long. While limiting the number of slides to a minimum, you can stay focused on the essential pieces of data and keep the audience engaged as the story goes. This also frees you from the need to change slides too often during the presentation. It's generally considered that displaying one slide per one minute should be just fine.
Engage Audience with Visuals
No matter what topic you highlight in your presentation, by means of visual data you can make it more interactive and engaging. Do not focus on using photos only. By means of charts and graphs, you can present even the most complicated pieces of content in a clear and easy-to-follow manner. Don't use plenty of text-only slides.
Don't Make Heavy Use of Animation Effects
When used in web designs, animation effects and transitions can help you deliver a more engaging presentation of your data. However, the situation is different with the slides of business presentations. Too many "special effects" can distract your audience from the message that you want to deliver to them. A slideshow is just a visual aid, it's not the presentation of your PowerPoint expertise.
Select several animation effects and stick to using them throughout your presentation.
Is Your Goal Presented Clearly?
Make a clear statement about the purpose or goal of your presentation from the start. This will make it easier for your customers to follow your narration and remain involved as you keep on presenting your material.
A clearly defined goal of your business presentation brows the chances that you will get the expected actions of feedback from your audience. This can be literally everything that you have on your mind, including a better understanding of your venture, getting an agreement, evoking curiosity in your project, getting funds, etc.
Use Quotation to Boost Impact
Use a relevant quotation every time you present a new idea. You can also accompany it with a catching photo in order to boost the effect. It's also recommended to give preference to your own page-width visuals instead of stock images. By doing so, you can deliver a branded and personalized look to your presentation.
A strong quote gives more impact to your topic. Generally-recognized words or phrases can stick to the users' mind and let them better remember your data.
Speak Clear Language
What's the point to introduce your project in front of your audience is nobody understands you? Communicate your data using simple words and don't leave people wondering what you just said. Whenever you use any sort of terms of acronyms, take time to explain their meaning for everyone to get your message and follow your thought.
Create Simple yet Engaging Slides
Many experienced public speakers make use of pre-made templates when they need to achieve the best results in the shortest period of time. There are thousands of pre-made PowerPoint presentations available at your disposal. All of them come loaded with rich collections of topic-specific slides. Use any of them for your business presentation. Simply add your content and adjust the structure of ready-made layouts if needed.
Get Ready for the Q&A Part
This is an essential part of any business presentation. It's important for a public speaker to get feedback from the audience, listen to their reflections, and encourage them to pose questions.
You need to be always prepared for the Q&A blocks, as well as prepare to give answers to the most difficult questions. While you get ready for your business presentation, you need to know both the topic of your speech and the audience that will listen to it. Thus, you also need to suggest what sort of questions you listeners will have on their mind, as well as how to answer them.
Mid all objections and questions that may raise about your information. Include the most critical ones into your presentation or just be prepared to give answers when they come up.
Prepare Your Own Questions
Just in case nobody asks you a question after your presentation, prepare a couple of your own questions then you can then answer. This can cover literally anything that's somehow related to the topic of your speech. If your audience keeps silent you start off saying like "I'm usually asked....".
End up with a Short Closing Section after Q&A
Your presentation needs to have a logical ending. So, when you finish the Q&A section, you need to prepare a short closing that will briefly review the core ideas that you highlighted during your speech. If needed, you can also prepare a slide or this.
Final Words
You can realize whether or not your presentation was successful judging by the reflections of your audience and the ideas they have on their mind when they walk away in the end. Was your speech interesting and engaging? Did you manage to motivate anyone or encourage for further investigation of your subject matter?
Make use of these simple tricks when you work on a new business presentation. Watch an impressive boost of your listeners engagement!
