One of the major tradeshows for our market is coming up next week. We have several presentations we will give. As I watch our people prepare, I have a few thoughts:
- Find balance in preparation. Do not over prepare. You have other work to do. If there are only going to be 5 people in the room, do not prepare much at all until the day of the conference. If there are going to be 500 people in the room, prepare well in advance and practice your talk thoroughly multiple times.
- Focus on providing value to the audience. Ask yourself what you would want to hear if you were in the shoes of the people in the audience.
- Start the talk with energy. “I am so excited to be here today. What a great conference this is and what a great time to participate with some much going on in our market. At ArrayFire, we are especially excited by __________ .”
- Always plan to speak for less than the allotted time. Always give more time for Q&A. It is more interesting for the audience, generally. No one has ever complained about being out early from a presentation.
- Make sure everything is smooth. No hiccups.
- Use simple slides. Do not make things cluttered.
- Speak loudly and clearly.
What are your tips in preparing for presentations?
Comments on this entry are closed.