Could that presentation have been better?

People tell you that you did a good job, but you’re not sure you believe them. You covered all the points you wanted to, but it felt like there was something missing. But what? In our public speaking class, we cover ways to make presentations memorable, a few of which are the use of flip chart drawings, anecdotes, and quotes.

Use a visual aid other than PowerPoint. Speakers sometimes use flip chart drawings instead of a PowerPoint slide. So what? We have become so accustomed to PowerPoint and seeing a computer screen every day in our lives. But a flip chart drawing is unique. There’s always a very quiet stillness in the room when a speaker draws a quick flip chart diagram on the spot. It takes a leap of faith on the part of the presenter, but it’s amazing how captivating it can be for an audience to see a human hand creating an image in the moment, as opposed to clicking a button and seeing a computer generated image appear. One presenter I know will prepare his PowerPoint slide deck, and then take out of one his slides from his slide deck and turn it into a flip chart drawing, blacking out the projector screen and walking over to the flip chart on the other side of the room. It’s a nice change of pace and gets the attention of the audience.

Another way to add impact is by including anecdotes. An anecdote is a short story, usually for humorous effect. It doesn’t need to have an underlying meaning. It’s just something that can break up a presentation, especially one that is heavily technical. The saying for Ronald Regan was that he had an anecdote for everything, and he did pretty well for himself.

Quotes are another great way to spice up a presentation. I’ve seen a number of presentations from a woman who commands attention by having her first slide be a quote from a philosopher, or other well-respected famous person. She reads the quote, which is a great idea. I’ve seen countless presentations that have an excellent quote, but the presenter never references it, leaving the audience to interpret in on their own. This particular presenter gives the audience an overview of how the quote relates to her topic at the beginning of her presentation, references the quote in the middle, and then ties in how her main points related to it in her conclusion. This is a great example of how to utilize a quote so that it will make a lasting impression on the audience.

Flip chart drawings, anecdotes, and quotes are just a few ways to make presentations memorable. The Fearless Presentations® class not only covers how to make presentations memorable; it also takes the participant through various exercises to put participants at ease, while delivering presentations with the key ingredients to make them stand out. By practicing these techniques in front of the group, the skill sets become engrained by the end of the public speaking class.

To be a more effective presenter make your presentation about your audience. How can you create a presentation that is about your audience?

Know your audience

First, you need to understand their mindset, concerns, comprehension, interest, bias and motivation. I suggest that you list those six factors, then beside each write a few words describing your audience. That will help you develop a more relevant presentation. Most important among these are their mindset and motivation because these two factors will tell you how much you need to move them and how best to do that.

Restate your goal

Second, state your goal in terms of what you want your audience to do – not what you want to do.

This is a subtle but important mind shift for you. The effect on your audience is significant.

For example:

Your goal is not for you to sell – it is for them to buy.

Your goal is not for you to win the election – it is for them to vote for you.

Your goal is not for you to get approval – it is for them to give you approval.

This audience centered focus is an important mindset for you to adopt when developing and delivering your presentation. It will help you decide what to include and help you choose more powerful words.

With a clear goal and clear understanding of the gap you can then develop your presentation to help your audience give you what you want from them.

Remember you can’t make them do anything. You can only persuade them to act of their own free will in the direction that you want.

Your presentation is not about you. It’s about your audience.

We have developed many categories of folders for our daily uses. We utilize them in our schools, offices, businesses, universities, record rooms, hospitals, libraries and at many other places. They have helped us a lot in managing our documents in an easy and effective manner. One of the most widely used categories of folders is called the custom presentation folder.

The uses of a presentation folder are huge. They can be used for document management. They are of particular use for handling documents during the business activities, like a meeting, conference and seminar. They are specially designed to help in this kind of a task. They have pockets or slits on the inside of their covers to carry these documents.

In business setup, the documents are used according to their sizes. They may be in A4 size, legal size or letter size. There are other sizes as well. There are also folders corresponding to the respective documents designs. For example, we can easily find A4 presentation folders in any office. They help in managing the heaps of important letters, applications, sales reports, presentations and many other documents.

The customers can get their favorite presentation folders in any way they want. They can normally make changes to their products in a way so that they could get the product to respond to their needs positively. From colors to shapes, from concept to contents, and from printing material to print quality, all can be customized according to the customers’ wishes. It also provides an environment of competition in the market.

The use of high quality tools and technologies is a must for top class printing products. Full color CMYK printing process is one of the technologies that help in this regard. It helps in producing cheap presentation folders for the customers as it is a commercially viable option.