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Rules for making a good presentation

Steve Jobs once said, «Design is not how a product looks and feels. Design is how it works.» And we at 3owls agree 100% with that statement.
2020.06.04
Technology
Rules for making a good presentation

Each time we sit down to prepare a new presentation, our specialist looks at this graph:

This is the so-called «attention curve», prepared on the basis of numerous psychological studies. It shows that in the first 10 minutes a person's attention decreases rather slowly, and in the period from 15 to 30 minutes the speed is significantly then the level of attention begins to rise again.

What can you learn from this?If your presentation is short, try to keep it under 10 minutes. Speech in segments of 15-20 minutes.Some important thoughts that you want to convey to the audience should fall at the end of these intervals (kind of «checkpoints»).

It makes sense to let listeners «rest» between «breakpoints». How? For example, make a joke, move on to a new topic, ask a question, or otherwise allow them to digress from the main idea and relax a bit.

But not a single “attention curve”…

At 3owls, we adhere to a certain list of recommendations that allow us to prepare effective presentations for any projects and are ready to share our experience with you.

В in general, take it and do it.

Presentation structure is everything

No matter what expert you ask, anyone will answer that the structure of the presentation includes 4 main elements:

  • Introduction. It is also an introduction.
  • The main part. It is also the designation of the problem or issues relevant to the presentation.
  • The culmination or solution of the problem.
  • The final part and conclusions.

How to distribute information between parts of the presentation?

Here, too, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. There are specific recommendations that have been tested on more than one project.

One of the most common (and most effective) approaches is to use the law of composition. According to it, The distribution of time between parts of the presentation looks like this: 20% for the introduction, 60% for the main part and the climax, and 20% for the conclusion. It all depends on the goals of the presentation, the product (service) being described, the audience and a number of other factors.

Here are a few ideas for each of the parts:

Introduction

The “presentation presentation” is often placed here (briefly, what it will be about, what are the regulations , duration, etc.) Also in the introduction there may be information about the speaker (who, what is related to the product or service, why exactly).This part often includes some interesting facts and events related to the topic of the report. does not prohibit starting a presentation with a joke, a compliment to the audience, or some kind of quote related to the topic - it all depends on the specifics of the audience.

The main part

It is dedicated to the problem that is being solved with the help of the presented product or service.Here you can give research results, observations, statistics and other information on the topic.

Solving the problem

Here a proposal is already being formed, a product or service is being presented that solves the problem voiced in the previous part. Often an appeal is placed here to action.

Conclusion

This part is dedicated to conclusions. It can also briefly retell the main idea of ​​the presentation. And yes, a call to action is also often placed here.

We figured out the structure. But that's not all. To make a good presentation, you need to know a few more «tricks».

About the audience, its «pains» and CJM

Before preparing a presentation, we at 3owls must conduct audience research (which we advise you to do as well). Based on its results, we get answers to the following questions:

  • How is the audience related to the topic presented by the service or product and what experience does she have on the topic of the presentation?
  • How “in the subject” are the listeners, how deeply do they understand the issues under consideration?
  • Which of the listeners and in which degree influences decision-making?
  • Under what circumstances will the presentation be shown?
  • Get comprehensive answers to these questions and you will have a serious “reserve” for creating a good and interesting presentation for the audience.< /p>

CJM can help you

To determine the needs, «pains», expectations of the audience and find the right approach to it when compiling a presentation, a tool such as CJM (Customer Journey Map or user journey map) will help. This is a generalized visualized user experience, communication history with the company, taking into account thoughts, emotions, goals, motives.A properly composed CJM will help you identify the needs of the target audience, find effective points of interaction with it, identify and remove «barriers».After studying the user in depth, you can prepare a good presentation that will hit exactly the right target (or in «pain»).

Now for technical questions and good practices

Working with the audience and a competent presentation structure is about 50% of success. Technical aspects are no less important, and there are many of them.

Format screen and resolution

Be sure to specify which screen the presentation will be shown on. As for the format, 2 options are common: 16:9 and 4:3.

The first is considered widescreen.It is worth choosing for displaying files on laptops and LCD screens.If the presentation will be broadcast using a projector, it is most likely a 4:3 format.

The right choice of format ensures efficient use of the entire screen area.Slides look harmonious, the surface used rationally.

If you don’t know how the broadcast will be organized, it makes sense to think about preparing 2 versions of the presentation.

You also need to take into account the resolution of the slide. graphic materials.The most common are 2 options: HD (1280 × 720 p mudflows) and Full HD (1920 × 1080 pixels). The resolution depends on the presentation program you are using. For example, Power Point has a base value of HD, while Keynote has a Full HD. Pictures and other graphics need to be selected taking into account these indicators so that they can be stretched to the desired resolution.

Programs and services for creating presentations

Choosing a medium for creating a presentation is a matter of taste and skill level of the specialist preparing it.

We recommend that you consider the following options:

Microsoft PowerPoint.

One of the most common tools. You can show a presentation made in PP almost anywhere (with rare exceptions). Even a beginner.Another plus is the ability to run on rather weak computers.The size of a PPT or PPTX file can be reduced dozens of times using special services.

Keynote in combined with Pages.

Convenient and understandable tools for users of devices from Apple.One of the pluses is the ability to use all the advantages of the «apple infrastructure» that integrates various devices.

< p class="p --xl">Figma.

A powerful service for creating online presentations. Its possibilities are almost endless. session level, it will help you create cool presentations faster than any other program.

And finally some advice from the US military

Knowing how much the United States spends on defense and related areas, we can say that experts in this area will not give bad advice. For example, the US Air Force has a whole communications guide. practical tips for preparing presentations, and many of them are quite suitable for commercial purposes.

Here are some useful points from this document:

Color matters.

Experts advise limiting your presentation to 4-5 colors. A set of colors for everyone slides of the document should be the same.It is recommended to avoid combinations of red + green and blue + red. In general, it would be useful to study the semantics of different colors and their perception on a subconscious level (this is a tip from 3owls).

Pictures, graphs and tables.

It is recommended to avoid tables on slides. If information can be presented in another form (graph, diagram, etc.) - present . Images are not needed for the sake of images. Pictures are recommended to be used as supplements to important textual information.

Rule 7 * 7 and other text recommendations.

The guideline advises placing on a slide no more than 7 lines containing up to 7 (inclusive) words.Adjusted for the fact that words in Russian are longer, for Russian-language presentations their number per line can be reduced to 5. A single font must be used throughout the presentation. Left-aligned text is well perceived. It's best to avoid word wrapping.

Speech rate.

It doesn't have to be constant. It is recommended to change the tempo during the presentation.

It can be seen that creating a presentation is not about «throw text and pictures on slides». Some work must be done with the involvement of marketers and other specialists. It is important to correctly plan the structure, choose the appropriate tool (service), design slides. And of course, a lot depends on the speaker. But that's a slightly different story.