PREPARATION OF CONTENT
1. At the outset you need to answer some pertinent questions.
a. Why am I doing this presentation?
b. Who are the audience?
c. What is their level of knowledge?
2. Getting started - Establish what key points you want your audience to take away. One way to do this is to take a clean sheet of paper and give yourself 60 seconds to write down the three most important ideas that you want your listeners to remember. If you don't know what your key points are, you might brainstorm in a random fashion and then collate into a more logical order. From this process your key points should emerge.
3. Do you have a single central theme to provide a skeleton for the presentation?
4. Resist trying to cover too many points. Your audience won't remember them anyway. Stick to the essentials to control the time available.
5. Establish how you are going to get your audience to remember your key points:
Analogy, Anecdote, Vivid Example - they must be able to build mental pictures.
6. Think whether to use visual aids to assist in increasing memory retention of key points and/or to explain a point better. Consider using handouts to cover details that you don't wish to put over verbally.
7. Anticipate the tough but likely questions and decide whether or not to face them in your own presentation. Either way, rehearse presentation and Q&A at least once.
8. Start strong - it is your maximum point of impact. You need to put down some bait to arouse their curiosity and to get them to commit to listen with full attention.
Begin with a quote, anecdote or some striking fact - or your key point.
Avoid jokes - they often set the wrong tone and are distracting.
cont'd .....
9. Close of presentation.
Summary of key points.
End with your own personal conviction.
End on an upbeat note where appropriate.
Piggy-back previous vivid examples to sell some abstract point.
10. Conversational style (this section is primarily for written text)
Beware of written English designed for the reader, instead write short snappy sentences as they equate to short snappy thoughts. In literature, some words sound weak, others strong: eg. "however" vs "but". Saxon words usually beat Latinate words.
AVOID - Initiate, ascertain, envisage, terminate, with regard to, endeavour to commence, prior to, subsequent to .... at this moment in time!
USE - Start, find, see, stop, try to begin, before, after ...... now. These are the words of everyday conversation.
11. Language hierarchy - Avoid corporate language, use colloquial words. Remember, formal language will hide your personality and is more difficult to listen to.