How to Prepare and Deliver an Impactful Business Presentation

by | Last updated Apr 3, 2023 | Published on Dec 8, 2017 | Presentation Transcription

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Business PresentationPresentation transcription is one of the most common services provided by business transcription agencies. Business presentations are a powerful tool to secure new investments, attract big clients, deliver project updates, and generally inform, educate, inspire and influence their targeted audiences. However,pulling off a flawless, professional presentation requires practice and skill and knowledge about the tactics to impress your audience. Here are some tips to prepare and deliver a powerful business presentation.

Preparing Your Presentation

First, decide on your presentation tool. PowerPoint is the most popular presentation software, but there are several other resources that you can choose from to deliver your message effectively. These include digital whiteboards, cloud-based presentation maker Visme, Google slides, Projeqt, Apple’s presentation software Keynote, and much more. Choose the option that best meets your needs.

The next step is to make an outline of the concepts you want to cover. Organize your thoughts and make a rough draft of what you’re going to discuss.

Decide on the sequence of your presentation. This can be easily done when you have an outline of the topics you want to cover. You can use a simple flowchart or use real storyboards to define the order of the ideas you’re presenting.Ensure a logical order, with a clear introduction and conclusion.

Determine the type of visual aids you will need. Good visuals are important to explain your ideas. Used effectively, visual aids such as interactive whiteboards, flip charts, handouts, slides, moving pictures, and posters can add impact and enhance audience involvement. However, make sure that you use visual aids well or else they can ruin your presentation.

Delivering Your Presentation

A poor presentation is a waste of time, money and business opportunities. You need to develop good presentation skills to deliver an effective presentation and make an impression on your audience. Whether you are an experienced presenter or a beginner, these tips can help you improve:

  • Connect with your audience: For this, you need to be well prepared, so practice how you will deliver. Record your presentation and play it back. Look confident and pay attention to how your voice sounds. Make sure you don’t overcrowd your PowerPoint slides. Keep your audience on track and don’t let the discussion deviate from the main topic.
  • Ask your audience what they would like to learn/hear: If you are not giving a presentation on a specific topic, ask your audience what they would like to hear and which will make the best use of their time. This is not an easy thing to do as it could mean that you may have to deliver your presentation out of order. However, a recent Forbes article says that this technique would be ideal if you are addressing a small audience of 3 to 8 powerful people or when you’re in a boardroom.
  • Think strategically: Focus your presentation around what you want to happen when it’s over. Think about what you want your audience to remember afterwards and work on gaining their trust. Don’t let them lost track of the key message. Summarise the important information that you want them to remember. For instance, Steve Jobs may have used an Apple slide with quite a lot of text when presenting the iPod, but he would have used are vealing transition to begin, such as… “Now I’m going to tell you about some of the amazing features of the iPod” After this part of his talk, he summarized… “So that’s the iPod – it’s beautiful, it’s fast; it’s your whole music library in your pocket”.
  • Prepare well: Know your material. This means having a good idea about what you want to cover, statistics, goals, and questions that the audience may ask. Use simple stats that your audience can understand easily. Familiarize yourself with the visual aids you intend to use.
  • Capture your audience’s attention: Establish your credibility. Tell a short story about your background relevant to what you are going to tell them or narrate an experience that went into shaping the presentation or conclusion. You can also use other references that support your information and are directly related to the topic.
  • Business PresentationAsk thought-provoking questions: Before you start discussing the key topic, ask a thought-provoking question. This will make your audience think about the material in the right context and make it easier to convey your message.
  • Use a conversational tone: Business News Daily cites James Ontra, CEO of presentation software company Shufflrr as saying that presentations are corporate story-telling. To sound conversational, Ontra recommends visualizing your slides and creating an image in your mind for each one. This will help you talk about it in a natural way rather than read what’s written on the slides. Focusing on one friendly face in the audience will make your task easier.
  • End effectively: A lot depends on how you end your presentation. After the concluding Q&A, close effectively. You can use a powerful quote that people will remember or a compelling short story or case study that ties the main points back to the presentation and how the content presented affects others.Use the last few minutes of the presentation to emphasize the call to action you seek.

If you want your presentation to reach a wider audience, get it transcribed. Digital transcription companies can convert your audio into accurate text with high-quality captions, allowing people to watch and understand presentations even without sound.

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