When starting a presentation What is the first crucial step to take?

Making a presentation means actively participating in a project. During a presentation, different actors are involved. The construction of a presentation is therefore not to be taken lightly. You must be able to involve your colleagues and management, while conveying valuable information to them. Based on this observation, it is possible to establish a list of points to be respected in order to succeed in a presentation.

Here are the essential points to make a successful presentation:

• Clearly define your objectives before making a presentation
• Learning and mastering your subject
• Building the plan and thinking about storytelling
• Prepare and rehearse your oral presentation
• Be natural during the presentation

Clearly define your objectives before making a presentation

Defining your objectives comes down to asking yourself this question: Why am I making this presentation? This may seem trivial, but this question allows you to determine the limits of the subject being treated. You will thus clarify your ideas! If you do not know why you are making this presentation, then you can be sure that you will not interest your audience. Making a presentation just because you have been asked to do so and without really getting involved is counterproductive for you, as well as for your management and all the participants in the presentation.

Learning and mastering your subject

Making a good presentation means first of all mastering your subject! You are an expert in your profession and you know how your organization works. So you have the skills to make a presentation on a certain theme. However, this is not always enough. A successful presentation is one that is rich in relevant information! The data you have at your disposal tell a lot about the performance of your department (or even your company or association). Data has another advantage: they can express the maximum amount of information in a minimum amount of space. Also, using the day-ahead to prepare a presentation can be helpful in finding inspiration. You will have accumulated knowledge that will allow you to determine the proposal you will make at the end of your presentation.

Building the plan and thinking about storytelling

Your presentation is built around slides. These slides follow one another like movie shots. They are telling stories! Just like a movie scriptwriter, you wondered why you made this story and you documented yourself in order to have a relevant story. Now you need to structure your story. Again, think like a writer. A writer always has an idea about the end of his story before he even starts writing his script. The same goes for you. Think about the conclusion of your presentation first! Then you will organize your introduction and the different steps to reach your conclusion.

Also, do not load a slide with a lot of information. If a slide is too loaded, cut it into several slides. Also, do not make a presentation that contains endless slides. If this is the case, it means that your message is not clear to you and that it contains irrelevant information. In this case, you will lose your audience in this uninteresting content. Also keep in mind that your presentation accompanies your remarks, in other words, you are not there to read what is being projected!

With data you can enhance your data storytelling presentations. Data storytelling is effective in facilitating the understanding of your message while adding narrative elements through data. Especially since an interactive graphic will provide information on the past, present and future of the presented item!

The use of images also contributes to your storytelling. They must also be chosen carefully. An image is a visual element whose interpretation may be different depending on each person. Use images whose symbolism is easily understandable by everyone. If you want to go into more detail, Le Monde has published tips for analyzing images.

Prepare and rehearse your oral presentation

You have finished your layout and soon you will be giving your presentation. So it’s time to rehearse! You have to be efficient and keep to the time limit. When you rehearse, think about the pace at which you are going to make your presentation. Manage the flow of your speech. Don’t go fast, leave short silences, articulate… Be as understandable as possible! Furthermore, body language must also be taken into account. During your rehearsal, work on your gestures, posture and gaze. Always keep in mind that you are the narrator of the story you want to share! It is during your rehearsals that the strength of your words will emerge!

The narrative also goes through your rhetoric. By adding comparisons, metaphors and other figures of speech, you will gain the attention of your audience. For example, anaphora is a process that consists of repeating a term at the beginning of each sentence to emphasize it!

The anadiplosis is the process of using the last word of a sentence (or proposition) as the first word of the following sentence (or proposition). This figure of speech is particularly useful for understanding correlations and making transitions.

And to finish with the examples, there is of course the rhetorical question. It’s just asking a question that the audience knows the answer to or that you answer yourself. It is a matter of feigning questioning to maintain attention. Now, you have mastered your presentation.

Be natural during the presentation

It’s the big day. You’re standing in front of your hearing. Behind you, your beautiful presentation. You have rehearsed, so you have internalized your speech. To succeed in your oral presentation, you must make a good impression! So, dress accordingly and above all be comfortable in your clothes. Try to start your presentation in a relaxed way.

During a presentation, your first words are very important. You create the impression that your audience will have of you. If stress starts to fill you up, take a short break, breathe slowly, reduce the flow of your speech, spot the caring, smiling faces and address them. What’s more, tell yourself that you know each of your slides!

In a context where everything is accelerating, where it is necessary to know how to demand the best to succeed, many companies still juggle between Powerpoint and Excel to present their data! That’s why we created Powerslide, an interactive presentation solution that values your data! Powerslide allows you to create your graphics directly (and simply) and then present them interactively in the same application. You can also filter your data, generate maps, incorporate images, add effects directly to it, easily integrate your presentations to your website, get the best graphic for your needs... Take advantage of our trial version to discover even more features.