Once you’ve done a good job getting clear on who your audience is and what they care about, you’re ready to start setting some Communication Objectives and mapping out your Content.
OUTLINE YOUR OBJECTIVES
Before you even open PowerPoint, you have to get crystal clear on your Communication Objectives. What are you trying to accomplish with your presentation? These three questions will help you clarify your objectives before you start mapping out your content:
1. What do you want your audience to DO as a result of listening to you? What decision or change in thinking or behaviour do you want to affect?
2. What does your audience need to KNOW to be motivated to take these actions? What information do they need to make that decision or embrace that change?
3. How do you want your audience to FEEL as a result of your presentation? What emotions do you want to stir up over the course of your talk? For example, you might want to move them from uncertainty to anxiety to confidence and then clarity.
This “feelings” piece is often the hardest to reflect on and apply in the business context because business communication tends to be extremely rational. But if you want your content to connect, you have to dig into and design for emotional response. You can evoke relevant emotions through the examples you provide and the stories that you share.
And if you’re feeling some Communication Objectives shame because you rarely think about these questions before you start and/or during your presentation prep, you’re in good company. Many of my clients aren’t able to answer these questions either—even after they think they’re done mapping out their presentation content!
Taking a strategic approach to your content development requires that you think about your objectives up front, before you start mucking around in PowerPoint. I highly recommend that you do your presentation planning process in analogue mode, with pen and paper or Sharpie markers and Post-It notes. This approach encourages more divergent, generative thinking and curbs the temptation to dump list after long list of dry bullets into endless PowerPoint slides. It also disrupts the classic slide shuffling/editing trance.
(It’s important to note that this objective setting exercise will be frustrating and fruitless if you don’t know who your audience is and what they care about. If you haven’t done your Research Your Audience homework, do it now!)
STRUCTURE YOUR CONTENT
Once you’re clear on your Communication Objectives, you’re ready to frame your remarks and develop compelling support (examples and stories) to bring your ideas to life.
And lest you think you can skip this step, consider what it would be like to eat at a cafeteria without a tray, plates, glasses or food. You need something to hold everything together, containers to put things in and food to enjoy when you sit down. The same is true with a presentation: you need a primary promise that carries your content and makes it easy for your audience to stay with you, “containers” to put your content in and delicious examples and stories to make your presentation memorable.
Statement of Purpose
You will want to start with a Statement of Purpose that will outline what you’re going to talk about and why. A helpful way to find and articulate your Statement of Purpose is to answer the following question:
What is the most pressing question that your audience has, especially as it relates to your experience and expertise?
It’s usually a good idea to answer this question right up front, soon after you share your Statement of Purpose. Audiences are impatient and they’re eager to to know why they should listen. Don’t be afraid to show them the last page first as it will help them relax and enjoy your presentation. An exception to this guideline is if you find yourself speaking to an audience with a negative bias that doesn’t align with your purpose and promise. If that’s the case, you will want to save the conclusion until the end and build your argument so you can bring the audience along on the “I’m going to prove it to you” journey.
Three Essential Messages
When you’ve got your Statement of Purpose articulated ask HOW and WHY. The answers to HOW and WHY will provide the sub-structure to your presentation and help you establish your three Essential Messages. It’s important that you keep your Essential Messages to only three because research suggests that things that come in threes are inherently more satisfying and easier to understand and remember. Make sure your three Essential Messages are discrete from one another.
Support and Proof
Under each of your Essential Messages, you’ll then develop your Support and Proof, the evidence that makes each of your three Essential Messages clear and compelling. Be sure to use as many examples and stories as you can. It’s not enough to share data and knowledge. You want your audience to feel certain ways as you move through your Essential Messages so choose your anecdotes and examples accordingly. And be sure to share your most compelling Support and Proof first unless you need to build something that requires sequential logic to understand. The sooner you have your audience agreeing with you, the better!
Summary
Once you’ve moved through your Essential Messages and their related Support and Proof, you’ll be ready to craft your Summary. Your Summary is simply a collection of key reminder points from each of your Essential Messages so the audience can get that key content one last time before you move on to your closing.
Commanding Opening and Compelling Close
When you’ve worked out your primary presentation content, you’re ready to design your Commanding Opening and your Compelling Close. The Commanding Opening must be relevant to your audience and link to your Statement of Purpose. Your Compelling Close will tie back to the Commanding Opening and include a Call to Action—what is it you want the audience to do as a result of your presentation? Make sure the Call to Action is clear and that you outline any relevant next steps before you wrap up and thank your audience and host.
PLANNING WITH PURPOSE
When you take a structured approach to the design and development of your presentation content, you automatically compartmentalize your content in a way that makes it easy for your audience to understand and enjoy what you’re sharing. If you map out the journey for them—“we’re starting here, I’m setting out to answer this question by exploring these key themes, let’s get started with theme #1…”—and keep coming back to that framework your audience will not only stay with you, they will pick up what you’re putting down and take it home with them. This is the most important goal for presenters, one that so few achieve.
Yes, it does take time, patience and practice to effectively plan a presentation. But investing in planning will deliver huge returns in confidence, credibility and audience engagement. And it will help you stand out from the sea of planning-adverse presenters.
