I’m pulling together the presentation for an event I’m speaking at next week, and I’m starting to struggle, and so to keep myself amused, I put together this rather long and mixed-up list of golden rules for presentations:

1. PowerPoint is not a presentation

PowerPoint is a useful tool, but it is not the presentation itself.

It might form part of the presentation: showing visuals, capturing points, keeping the agenda clear etc. – but the presentation is, in approximate order of importance:

• Your objective(s) (what do you want the audience to do/think as a consequence of your presentation?)
• The audience (who are these people?)
• The content (what is the story you want to tell?)
• The presenter (who are you, what’s your style?)
• The environment (where will this happen, what are the pros and cons of that?)
• What tools can I use (not just PowerPoint, but anything else that would help me achieve my objective with this audience in this location …?)
• How can I amplify this by making noise on other channels (Social media etc.)

That puts PowerPoint – a tool – in second-to-last spot, although I just made that list up with minimal thought, so it could be in the wrong order.

Continue reading “Rather long mixed-up list of ten golden rules for presentations” →