Getting presentations right-something from my archives

n 2013, Prof. Chandradeep (CD) Mitra and I taught a course on innovative marketing theory and practice at IIMC. It was one of my early student experiences, and after listening to a group of student presentations, I sent out a set of feedback points to the whole class. While it is fairly basic, I can see that it is still quite relevant both in student and corporate settings. Re-sharing in case students, ex-students and others find it useful. (remember that this is for a physical setting-a few points may need to be tweaked for online presentations).

1. Overall, you did us proud. There was involvement and insight in most presentations, and quite a bit of fresh thinking. In many groups, the way you answered questions reveals that you had indeed thought about the question beforehand.

2. While content is a strength, form is often not. Form is as important as content and I will follow up with some specific suggestions on this.

3. A slide is a visual aid (not a textual aid). It is not written for the presenter to remember, but for the audience to reinforce the verbal with the visual. Many had slides which could not be seen at the back of the class. Whenever you make a ppt, go to the last row of your audience and check: can they see it. Also, even if you want to use your slide as a presenter cue, do not write large complex sentences, but five to seven word points. If you put up a lot of text on the slide, you will end up reading from the slide with your back to the audience. Spelling mistakes on a slide are a strict no-no.

4. A presentation which scores well with the core audience (the students) will always be rated well by evaluators. Too many presenters looked primarily at the first row when presenting. In preparing for any presentation, most people spend time thinking about content and structuring. You should then spend an equal amount of time thinking about how you make that content engaging to your audience. Most of you did content prep, but did not do audience prep.

5. Try to be conscious of your standing posture. If you stand sideways, looking half at the slide and half at the audience, you will cut off eye contact with one half of your audience. If your slide has a lot of text which you need to refer, better to stand behind the podium, take a visual glimpse from the screen, look up, make eye contact and then speak. Alternatively, know the content so well that you do not need to look at the slide.

6. If the presenter and the slide are saying the exact same thing, one of them is not needed. The presenter's job is to add value to what is on the slide.

7. If time is short simplify your content-explain one to two good insights really well and flesh out one strong idea(as some groups did). Adapting time to content by speaking faster is not a good idea.

8. When given one minute more, you should be good enough to summarize the essence of what you want to say and not rush through whatever was in your remaining slides.

9.Whenever you are asked a tough question(whether in an interview or a presentation) the follow up question often contains a hint. Have the presence of mind to recognize the hint and use it.

10. If you have made a mistake, admit it, with a quick apology. Many evaluators enjoy watching you dig yourself into a deeper hole before pinning you down.

11. Answering questions-dont answer too quickly- it is legitimate to repeat the question or ask a clarifying question to give yourself more time.

12. In a high stakes presentation, simulate the questions which would make you uncomfortable. Prepare a set of back up slides to answer some questions. It is impressive to suddenly pull out data from a slide in answer to a question.

13. Practice presentations and thinking on your feet under pressure. If you have the ability to be natural in front of an audience, half the job is done.

14. If you have a good sense of humour, bring it with you into the presentation .

15. If there is more than one presenter, transitions need to be planned , ideally with a crisp one line handover.

16. Nobody is born a presenter. It is a learnable skill. The critical ingredients are practice and lack of katagelophobia (fear of ridicule.) Nobody became a great presenter without a couple of public failures-willingness to fail in public is critical to grow this skill. Look actively for opportunities to present while still in campus.

Presentations are, unfortunately, more important to career success than they should be, Hopefully, some aspects of this long mail will be of use to help you make presentations an opportunity to differentiate yourself.

Take care and all the best!