PREPARING A CONFERENCE PRESENTATION: Stage 1

For you CSI-NCIS-Law & Order fans out there, if you autopsy a conference presentation, you will discover 2 organs: (1) the content or WHAT is presented, and (2) the method/style or HOW it is presented. Both of these organs must be fully functional for a presentation to be successful. If you find any bodily fluids, you might want to consult your nearest physician for an anti-hallucinogen.


How does this lame metaphor translate into YOUR presentation?


1. WHAT: Prepare content that is understandable, meaningful, and useful to the target audience, and


2. HOW: Adopt an empathetic mindset on how the material will be delivered—imagine yourself sitting in your audience; what would you like to see and hear?


Think of these 2 components as stages in the preparation of your presentation. Let’s start with the 1st stage.


Stage 1


A few hints on preparation of the content:


1. Prepare the content that you want to present on your slides


2. Organize the content into sections or major heads


3. Type the head slides—they provide a structure for everything else


4. Type the content on each slide (You know the PowerPoint rules)


    a. Limit the amount of content per slide


    b. Emphasize main points, not lots of detail


    c. Use lists of up to 6 lines with numbers, letters, or bullets


    d. Use the largest font possible to fill the slide


5. Insert the content slides in their respective sections in order


6. Examine each slide for content to answer:


    a. What’s the point of this slide?


    b. Visually, do the important words pop off the slide at a glance?


    c. How quickly can you summarize the info on the slide without reading it?


    d. Make believe someone keeps screaming: Get to the point! Get to the Point!


    e. Will you get bogged down in details or distracted from content?


Those steps prepare you for a super-deadly presentation, but you have a draft of the substance. Now, how do you transform that boring content into something special that your audience will never forget or, at least, remember until they get in their cars?


That’s Stage 2, the fun stage that will set you apart from the rest of the pack. You don’t want to miss the next blogorino.



COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC