5 slides that are ignored by experienced presenters
A loud brand or a high-profile speaker name helps fill conference rooms. People are drawn to the “stars” to be in trend and learn about their mistakes and victories. Only here at the end of speeches participants put such speakers far from the highest marks.
In the studio of creating presentations and infographics, VisualMethod found out from entrepreneurs and corporate employees, which most disappointed them in conference reports. It turned out that when experienced speakers ignore organizational slides and go straight to the process or case description, confidence is lost. Some respondents even called this behavior of the speakers arrogant (“did not introduce himself at all”) and inconsiderate (“there is one thing in the subject and something else in the words”). We tell in detail about which slides it is important to remember.
Even if you spoke 1000 times, these 5 slides in your presentation should be required:
If the presentation involves a block of answers to questions, make a separate slide for this to focus the audience or use the slide with the results of the presentation.
')
Having accumulated the experience of speeches, the speakers concentrate more on the essence of the presentation, considering that only the results and the personal experience of the speaker are important to the audience. Of course, this is essential, but regardless of your status and the results of the work for the audience, it is valuable to get reinforcement of the importance of what is happening and a sense of belonging. Organizational slides help to tune in to your wave, immerse yourself in the topic and understand why your presentation should affect the professional life of students. Even if your speech is a monologue, organizational information creates the effect of interaction between the speaker and the audience in the hall.
Any presentation begins with a title page. Usually it says something in common, although initially the first slide was created to explain the relevance of the topic to the audience. Why it happens? Our clients, who often speak, admit that they receive the topic from the organizer or, if they formulate it themselves, this happens several months before the event and in the absence of time a theme appears. Over time, it appears on all posters, banners and mailing lists, and when it comes to preparation, it’s kind of like changing something late. VisualMethod suggests always formulating a topic with its benefit to the audience. Even if it will be slightly different from the announced. So you can from the first seconds to capture the attention of people.
Use the active voice to formulate the topic and be as specific as possible. For example, the wording “Commercial offer development” sounds weaker than “3 commercial offer templates that will help you sell consulting services”.
Find common interest with the listener. A good speaker before the presentation will ask the organizers who will be in the hall and what are the results of polls on topics relevant to visitors. Such a conversation takes five minutes, but it helps save preparation time, because you will know exactly the expectations of people and select interesting information for them. If you make a single presentation during the year, you can connect your subject and the interests of those present with just one offer.
Even when there is no information about those who will be in the hall, it is enough to ask 2-3 clarifying questions about the occupation of the audience and pick up an argument why your information will be useful for them.
After you have formulated the topic, people have the following question: why can you be an expert and why should you be trusted? This reaction occurs automatically and, without receiving a response, the listener can listen to everything with interest, however, he will have doubts that in this particular case the information is trustworthy and should be heard in practice. Therefore, we recommend even the “star” speakers to tell why they have the right to voice this or that information. How to do it naturally, without pulling out “I”?
Some event formats require the organizer to represent the speaker. In this case, it is important to give the presenter the correct information and link it to the topic of your presentation. For example, we advised one of our clients at a conference for entrepreneurs to talk not only about their last place of work in the largest company in the country, but also about previous experience in a small office. After the speech, the speaker received a comment that he understands the problems of small business, although earlier in the “questions and answers” block the question was often “well, does this methodology work in big business, and what about small?”. When you clearly understand who your audience is, you can pick up examples from your activities that will overlap with the interests of the audience.
If you imagine yourself, dedicate this to a separate slide. So you can voice only the connection of your experience and topics, and other facts will be read by people themselves - and you will not look boasting. There is such a thing as a “triangle of trust”. To inspire confidence, you need to relate three aspects: your experience, topic and audience interests.
The first option, how to do it, involves the use of stereotype. Looks like that:
My name is _______, I _______ (Position): stereotype _______________. If you are a commercial director, your presentation may look like this:
My name is Peter Brodsky (name), I am a typical commercial director (position), who approves several business proposals per month and receives feedback from customers (stereotype). Thus, you confirm that you have the right to talk about the drafting of commercial proposals and understand what people in the hall do if you speak to people with the same position.
The second option is previous experience. If you spoke to developers who, say, create services to automate the distribution of commercial offers, you could say the following:
My name is Peter Brodsky (name), and every day I spend 30% of my time in the development team, because I believe that the future is in process automation. If you have experience in the development, you can say even brighter: I am a developer and always was. The code is in my blood. But it so happened that I managed to build an algorithm for working with commercial offers and increase sales by 999%, and now I work as a head of the unit. This is also good, because I see both sides of the process.
If you have no relevant experience, you can go to the language of emotions and tell why the subject is important to you. It will sound something like this: I myself am a buyer every day and am ready to cry with happiness when the seller hears what I need, and does not try to sell by the template. But this is the essence of a good company pattern: to teach employees to take advantage of the humanity and technology of understanding a client.
As for the slide describing the experience, the following information can be put on it:
The main thing: just in time, remember that the audience did not come to hear your life story. Therefore, the purpose of the presentation is only to justify why it is important for people to hear exactly your presentation on this topic.
Here you told why the topic and your expertise deserve attention, now the audience wants to know how you will transfer knowledge, what the process will be. Specifying the content of the presentation on the slide and setting the agenda of the meeting is important in order to avoid disappointment of people after your presentation. When you do not warn about the structure of your speech, people themselves form an expectation and it rarely coincides with reality. From here, comments appear in the style of “not talking about it at all” or “I thought it would be better.” Help the audience with their desires and expectations - set the rules and tell them what to expect.
A good way to talk about the agenda, without naming the slide “Agenda”. Instead, you can make a timeline or infographic. Indicate how long each part will take: theoretical, practical, case, answers to questions, breaks, if provided. If you will send the presentation, the content is better done in the form of a menu with links - so you take care of the reader and save him time flipping through the slides.
VisualMethod recommends not only specifying the content of the speech, but to make it through the benefit for the audience. For example, on the slide there is an item “how to indicate the boundaries of the budget in a commercial offer”. When voicing this point, make a promise: “After my speech, you will know how to indicate the boundaries of the budget in a commercial offer”. Make sure people find your words helpful.
As Alexander Mitta notes in his book “Cinema between Hell and Paradise,” the first 20 minutes of the film spark an interest in the whole story. Professionals call this the Inciting event or, in an exemplary translation, the “encouraging event.” A similar approach is in the theater classics. Your introductory slides are tied up and give rise to interest in the entire story.
Remember the denouement at the end of the film or production: the moment when the viewer is illuminated and he receives universal knowledge. That moment in your presentation will be a final slide with brief conclusions. This may be one result, written in large, if you are talking about a truly new discovery, or 3 main rules or conclusions to summarize the whole statement.
Why sum up on a separate slide? First, you are helping to make an unambiguous and correct conclusion on the basis of your performance. Secondly, you prepare the audience for the final presentation and give the opportunity to prepare questions.
Thirdly, you can add value to your presentation. For this you need to focus on the fact that thanks to your performance the audience learned something, realized and understood. In general, create the effect of added value. For example, you list the names of the three templates on which a commercial proposal is based, and say: today you have learned these three models, and using them you will be able to more clearly show your customers the benefits of working with you and speeding up sales.
The final slide should be short and really final. It is not necessary after him to continue further immersion in the subject, even if you remembered some details. Use this moment to consolidate your expert status and final conclusion. What can be reached at this final point is the block of answers to the questions, although in most cases it is better to put it a little earlier and finish the presentation on the note that you need.
Any presentation has a goal. Going to the stage, the speaker sells the audience a product, company, its expertise or some kind of action. Today it is rare to find a direct sale through the presentation, except that in the network pyramids of cosmetics or magic pills. In most cases, the speaker collects contacts with the audience. This does not mean that he walks with the questionnaire around the hall, but he says where you can continue communication.
If you are not ready to give direct contacts, then indicate on the closing slide an e-mail of the company. For example, we use the general address hello@visualmethod.ru, or better yet give a link to a social network where you can communicate with your audience or where useful materials on your subject appear.
If you are an independent consultant, you can also give a general, personal address or specify a page on the social network through which you can be contacted.
To activate the audience, make a “call to action”. Ask for feedback on your topic, share links on the topic, or suggest how you can improve your presentation. As practice VisualMethod shows, about 10% of listeners are always responsive and active enough to leave a comment, and about 30% are ready to subscribe to the news of your group.
According to the “ancient” tradition, there should have been a mention of the phrase “Thank you for your attention!”. Saying “goodbye” is always difficult and I want to fill an awkward pause with a slide with such gratitude, but we urge you to stay on the slide with contacts. “Thank you slide” gives a signal to the audience that your relationship is complete, and the goal of any business is to expand and constantly maintain contact with your audience. Your contacts with this task will cope better.
In the studio of creating presentations and infographics, VisualMethod found out from entrepreneurs and corporate employees, which most disappointed them in conference reports. It turned out that when experienced speakers ignore organizational slides and go straight to the process or case description, confidence is lost. Some respondents even called this behavior of the speakers arrogant (“did not introduce himself at all”) and inconsiderate (“there is one thing in the subject and something else in the words”). We tell in detail about which slides it is important to remember.
Why is it important
Even if you spoke 1000 times, these 5 slides in your presentation should be required:
- the topic of the speech
- self image
- performance structure
- agenda
- presentation results and contacts
If the presentation involves a block of answers to questions, make a separate slide for this to focus the audience or use the slide with the results of the presentation.
')
Having accumulated the experience of speeches, the speakers concentrate more on the essence of the presentation, considering that only the results and the personal experience of the speaker are important to the audience. Of course, this is essential, but regardless of your status and the results of the work for the audience, it is valuable to get reinforcement of the importance of what is happening and a sense of belonging. Organizational slides help to tune in to your wave, immerse yourself in the topic and understand why your presentation should affect the professional life of students. Even if your speech is a monologue, organizational information creates the effect of interaction between the speaker and the audience in the hall.
Hook on the theme
Any presentation begins with a title page. Usually it says something in common, although initially the first slide was created to explain the relevance of the topic to the audience. Why it happens? Our clients, who often speak, admit that they receive the topic from the organizer or, if they formulate it themselves, this happens several months before the event and in the absence of time a theme appears. Over time, it appears on all posters, banners and mailing lists, and when it comes to preparation, it’s kind of like changing something late. VisualMethod suggests always formulating a topic with its benefit to the audience. Even if it will be slightly different from the announced. So you can from the first seconds to capture the attention of people.
Use the active voice to formulate the topic and be as specific as possible. For example, the wording “Commercial offer development” sounds weaker than “3 commercial offer templates that will help you sell consulting services”.
Find common interest with the listener. A good speaker before the presentation will ask the organizers who will be in the hall and what are the results of polls on topics relevant to visitors. Such a conversation takes five minutes, but it helps save preparation time, because you will know exactly the expectations of people and select interesting information for them. If you make a single presentation during the year, you can connect your subject and the interests of those present with just one offer.
Even when there is no information about those who will be in the hall, it is enough to ask 2-3 clarifying questions about the occupation of the audience and pick up an argument why your information will be useful for them.
Support your expertise
After you have formulated the topic, people have the following question: why can you be an expert and why should you be trusted? This reaction occurs automatically and, without receiving a response, the listener can listen to everything with interest, however, he will have doubts that in this particular case the information is trustworthy and should be heard in practice. Therefore, we recommend even the “star” speakers to tell why they have the right to voice this or that information. How to do it naturally, without pulling out “I”?
Some event formats require the organizer to represent the speaker. In this case, it is important to give the presenter the correct information and link it to the topic of your presentation. For example, we advised one of our clients at a conference for entrepreneurs to talk not only about their last place of work in the largest company in the country, but also about previous experience in a small office. After the speech, the speaker received a comment that he understands the problems of small business, although earlier in the “questions and answers” block the question was often “well, does this methodology work in big business, and what about small?”. When you clearly understand who your audience is, you can pick up examples from your activities that will overlap with the interests of the audience.
If you imagine yourself, dedicate this to a separate slide. So you can voice only the connection of your experience and topics, and other facts will be read by people themselves - and you will not look boasting. There is such a thing as a “triangle of trust”. To inspire confidence, you need to relate three aspects: your experience, topic and audience interests.
The first option, how to do it, involves the use of stereotype. Looks like that:
My name is _______, I _______ (Position): stereotype _______________. If you are a commercial director, your presentation may look like this:
My name is Peter Brodsky (name), I am a typical commercial director (position), who approves several business proposals per month and receives feedback from customers (stereotype). Thus, you confirm that you have the right to talk about the drafting of commercial proposals and understand what people in the hall do if you speak to people with the same position.
The second option is previous experience. If you spoke to developers who, say, create services to automate the distribution of commercial offers, you could say the following:
My name is Peter Brodsky (name), and every day I spend 30% of my time in the development team, because I believe that the future is in process automation. If you have experience in the development, you can say even brighter: I am a developer and always was. The code is in my blood. But it so happened that I managed to build an algorithm for working with commercial offers and increase sales by 999%, and now I work as a head of the unit. This is also good, because I see both sides of the process.
If you have no relevant experience, you can go to the language of emotions and tell why the subject is important to you. It will sound something like this: I myself am a buyer every day and am ready to cry with happiness when the seller hears what I need, and does not try to sell by the template. But this is the essence of a good company pattern: to teach employees to take advantage of the humanity and technology of understanding a client.
As for the slide describing the experience, the following information can be put on it:
- Position and names of companies in which you worked
- Your education or special courses that relate to the topic
- Degrees, awards and certifications
- Quantitative results. For example, how many commercial offers you have made in your life.
- Sometimes it is appropriate to mention clients or large projects.
The main thing: just in time, remember that the audience did not come to hear your life story. Therefore, the purpose of the presentation is only to justify why it is important for people to hear exactly your presentation on this topic.
Interest content
Here you told why the topic and your expertise deserve attention, now the audience wants to know how you will transfer knowledge, what the process will be. Specifying the content of the presentation on the slide and setting the agenda of the meeting is important in order to avoid disappointment of people after your presentation. When you do not warn about the structure of your speech, people themselves form an expectation and it rarely coincides with reality. From here, comments appear in the style of “not talking about it at all” or “I thought it would be better.” Help the audience with their desires and expectations - set the rules and tell them what to expect.
A good way to talk about the agenda, without naming the slide “Agenda”. Instead, you can make a timeline or infographic. Indicate how long each part will take: theoretical, practical, case, answers to questions, breaks, if provided. If you will send the presentation, the content is better done in the form of a menu with links - so you take care of the reader and save him time flipping through the slides.
VisualMethod recommends not only specifying the content of the speech, but to make it through the benefit for the audience. For example, on the slide there is an item “how to indicate the boundaries of the budget in a commercial offer”. When voicing this point, make a promise: “After my speech, you will know how to indicate the boundaries of the budget in a commercial offer”. Make sure people find your words helpful.
As Alexander Mitta notes in his book “Cinema between Hell and Paradise,” the first 20 minutes of the film spark an interest in the whole story. Professionals call this the Inciting event or, in an exemplary translation, the “encouraging event.” A similar approach is in the theater classics. Your introductory slides are tied up and give rise to interest in the entire story.
Sum up
Remember the denouement at the end of the film or production: the moment when the viewer is illuminated and he receives universal knowledge. That moment in your presentation will be a final slide with brief conclusions. This may be one result, written in large, if you are talking about a truly new discovery, or 3 main rules or conclusions to summarize the whole statement.
Why sum up on a separate slide? First, you are helping to make an unambiguous and correct conclusion on the basis of your performance. Secondly, you prepare the audience for the final presentation and give the opportunity to prepare questions.
Thirdly, you can add value to your presentation. For this you need to focus on the fact that thanks to your performance the audience learned something, realized and understood. In general, create the effect of added value. For example, you list the names of the three templates on which a commercial proposal is based, and say: today you have learned these three models, and using them you will be able to more clearly show your customers the benefits of working with you and speeding up sales.
The final slide should be short and really final. It is not necessary after him to continue further immersion in the subject, even if you remembered some details. Use this moment to consolidate your expert status and final conclusion. What can be reached at this final point is the block of answers to the questions, although in most cases it is better to put it a little earlier and finish the presentation on the note that you need.
Help to contact you
Any presentation has a goal. Going to the stage, the speaker sells the audience a product, company, its expertise or some kind of action. Today it is rare to find a direct sale through the presentation, except that in the network pyramids of cosmetics or magic pills. In most cases, the speaker collects contacts with the audience. This does not mean that he walks with the questionnaire around the hall, but he says where you can continue communication.
If you are not ready to give direct contacts, then indicate on the closing slide an e-mail of the company. For example, we use the general address hello@visualmethod.ru, or better yet give a link to a social network where you can communicate with your audience or where useful materials on your subject appear.
If you are an independent consultant, you can also give a general, personal address or specify a page on the social network through which you can be contacted.
To activate the audience, make a “call to action”. Ask for feedback on your topic, share links on the topic, or suggest how you can improve your presentation. As practice VisualMethod shows, about 10% of listeners are always responsive and active enough to leave a comment, and about 30% are ready to subscribe to the news of your group.
PS
According to the “ancient” tradition, there should have been a mention of the phrase “Thank you for your attention!”. Saying “goodbye” is always difficult and I want to fill an awkward pause with a slide with such gratitude, but we urge you to stay on the slide with contacts. “Thank you slide” gives a signal to the audience that your relationship is complete, and the goal of any business is to expand and constantly maintain contact with your audience. Your contacts with this task will cope better.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/459508/
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