Presenting is something that most people have to do at least once or twice in their career; often it is something that most have to do in one way or another on a regular basis. I am regularly asked to run some form of programme that will help develop or improve their presentation skills. Each programme I run always have the same key message – tell your story.
We are all natural communicators, we have done it all our lives and we do it in more and more different and innovative ways. Yet somehow when we are asked to present we panic. Why do we panic? We do it because we make things hard, we complicate things.
Think of the last time you made a presentation, what did you do? What tools did you use? Probably PowerPoint or Keynote was involved, maybe you created a slide deck and agonised over fonts, colours and builds. Perhaps you prepared some flipcharts and graphics. Maybe you prepared some handouts to give out at some point during the presentation. All of these are good but ultimately they add complexity to your presentation.
The more complexity you add then less memorable you will be.
Let’s start again. When was the last time you told a friend or family member about something that you did, that you saw, or something you experienced? Did you roll out your laptop, hook up a projector and close the curtains? Did you prepare handouts? Of course you didn’t. But if you didn’t so this what did you do?
You communicated by telling a story.
Stories are how we communicate. Stories are how we pass on key snippets of information. Listening and telling stories are how we learn from a very young age.
Think about an upcoming presentation you may have or look at the last presentation you made – does it read or sound like a story? I would guess not. How many times do you start a story with a title page and an agenda? We start stories by getting the other person or peoples attention. We ask for permission to talk and then we talk. We highlight what might be coming, “I saw something really strange today”, “I heard something interesting…”, “we had a great win today”. Do this in your presentation – “I have a great sales tool to show you”, “I have a way we can increase employee morale that I want to share with you”.
Once you’ve started it gets easier. All you are going to do is tell your story.
The key to any successful presentation is to start with your story. Don’t start with PowerPoint, start with a piece of paper and write your story. Don’t use business speak, write it as if you were writing a letter to a friend or speaking to a family member.
It’s your story that is going to make your presentation memorable.
