What do extraordinary presenters do differently?

Is your presentation software getting in the way of you growing into a great presenter???

We know that building presentation skills are crucial as we move up the career ladder but are you following the right process?

Unfortunately, most presenters immediately start thinking about bullets on a slide when they have to prepare a high-stakes presentation. And then these series of slides go from one person to the next with each adding their inputs.?

Where’s the scope of a great story in such a method of preparing your presentation??

All great presentations must tell a story with a central theme .. And just like a story, it should have three parts- 3Ss - A riveting beginning -Situation,??Disturbance in the situation- Storms,?Solving the disturbance- meaning your Solution (hero), peppered with attention-grabbing moments (human-centered data)!

?You need to analyse your audience! Build your presentation as a story - not as a set of bullets running into series of slides.        

So what is the best way to build such a story? Just as a director first finalizes his story- you also must do so before touching any presentation software.

Write down your story fully.?

Remember Bezos banning his executives from bringing PowerPoint presentations to meetings! Instead, he encouraged them to bring full documents - full sentences peppered with anecdotes, humanized data, and the works!

Choose the medium you want to write your story on!

And if you are too used to thinking in terms of slides, make ample use of yellow Post-it notes! Move them around, tear them, pick a new one, - do everything under the sun to form a coherent story!

It's so much easier to work with them when compared to building your ideas from scratch on a software tool!

When you need to look for some data, some stats,? just add Data on a sticky note and move forward but put your energy into building that storyline for your audience!?

Nice-looking slides can’t compensate for a poor story!

If you want to command the respect of the room this step is crucial!

Now the 2nd part of making great presentations - think visuals?

As you begin to shift your story onto the software tool, think in terms of pictures. Use videos, pictures, visuals, graphs (while adding context)...

Research shows that the human mind retains 65% more information when it is supported by a picture.

So great story tellers think in terms of pictures and not too much text!        

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I have kept the 2nd part brief as I'll write a separate article on it!

Final part - it's a Performance, so rehearse to put your best foot forward!

Great presenters know they are performing - the spotlight will be on them! So they practice a lot! They practice loudly, they practice in front of the mirror, and they practice with friends.

Ordinary presenters also go through their slides but perhaps go through their slides quietly!

A tip I want to share: Record yourself- There are wonderful apps and AI tools like #Yoodli to help you do that. It has coaches which will tell you where you're doing well and where you can do better! Because your intonation, and your pauses - both matter. And so do your expressions and gestures!        

So you need to practice in the best way that you can! Because great presentations are also performances!

To conclude, when you start to view presentation skills differently, adopt strategies that are proven, that work...you'll experience a shift in your audience too!

Get set go...