Have you been tasked with putting together your first presentation in the office? Are you feeling the pressure start to mount on your shoulders? Sure, it needs to be packed full of all the most important information, stats, and ideas, but at the same time, it needs to be engaging so that your co-workers give you their undivided attention. That can be easier said than done.
Before you start spiraling and questioning your own confidence and abilities, here are some top tips that will help you put together a killer presentation.
Use Multi-Media for Your Presentation
One of the best tips is to take advantage of technology and use a variety of media during the presentation. Rather than just standing there talking to attendees, you can use such things as PowerPoint, videos, images, and even guest speakers to help drive home your points. Just remember that you want to use variety and change things up every 20 minutes or so. This will help to keep the attention of your attendees.
Provide Takeaway Materials for Attendees
Ideally, you will want to have information packets to hand out to attendees. This gives them something to read over, make notes on, and provide them with a little more material regarding the topic. It also acts as a takeaway that they can refer to after the presentation concludes.
Now rather than just hand people a stack of papers, you want to take the time to put them together in a professional-looking manner. Make copies that include graphs and charts in various colors to make the content pop. All material can then be stored in a presentation folder for each of the attendees. Folders that have pockets on each side, such as these presentation folders from Company Folders, are often perfect. You can then place them at each person’s seat before they walk into the room.
Get Your Attendees Involved
Instead of your presentation coming across as a monologue, it’s also a good idea to get your attendees involved. You can do this by asking them questions, asking for their thought and input, and basically just keeping them engaged.
Don’t Over-Do It on Statistics and Facts
A common mistake that people make when putting together their presentations is to pack it too full of statistics and facts. While this information is certainly important, when you give too much your attendees will start to zone out as they just can’t absorb that much at once.
This also holds true when you are creating slides. Rather than packing multiple statistics and thoughts on one slide, break it up and keep it as one slide per statistic. This will help emphasize your point better and make the content easier to absorb.
Include Stories and Anecdotes
The final tip is to include stories and anecdotes throughout the presentation just to change up the pace, tone, and engagement level.
All of these tips will help you to create an incredible first presentation that is bound to get you noticed by your boss.