Presentations design

1. MINDSET & MOOD (YOUR GENERAL CONDITION AND THE ONE AT THE TIME OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PRESENTATION) 

This process of creating a presentation, in fact, of trying to “bring light” to the mind and soul of each person in the chosen audience, is a very important activity, but also a very beautiful one. Enjoy it, fully understand its purpose and give it your best, creating the best presentation of your best version. In addition, when you start working, be positive, relaxed, and willing to give something, something valuable, that will generate change. Allocate enough time.

Remember – enjoy the process, give it importance and time – you are one step closer to creating the presentation that tells a story.

2. WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO? EMPATHIZE!

This presentation is a message that starts from one person (you) to another person (from a group of people). It starts from this premise, you communicate with a human. It is important to know him, it is important to understand him, and it is important to empathize with him. Otherwise, you will not be able to tell a story, you will communicate dryly, only some data.

Who are you addressing, who is the man in front of you? Create personas (name, surname, place of residence, education, age, gender, family, income, habits, behavior in a day, etc.) – it is good to use/create personas that are relevant for the purpose of your communication – i.e., if you aim at the professional side, try to cover as much of the office behavior as possible through personas. What needs do they have? What expectations do they have? How much time do they have, and how do they prefer to communicate? And so on

Seek (before building the presentation) to observe the audience, to interact with them, to discover them, to know them very well, to be able to understand them and empathize with each person, to be able to tell them the story.

3. WHAT COMMUNICATION GOALS DO YOU HAVE?

If the public could remember only one thing, what would it be? For example, from this presentation, we want you to stick with the idea that a presentation achieves its goal if it is a presentation that tells a story. So choose a central idea, just one.

You can establish 2 other ideas besides the main idea. But, never more, you will not be able to transmit them all in one presentation – maximum 1+2.

The main idea must be simple, represent a deep meaning, easy to understand. You will have to repeat it often, in as many slides as possible (whether it is written or you will present it). The other 2 must be connected with the main idea, and flow from it.

4. CONTEXT AND STRUCTURE

What is the communication context? How do you interact with the audience? Will the presentation be with a wide audience, with a narrow one, sent by email, held in a sales meeting, or in a pitch? This aspect is very important, depending on it, you will use a certain way of creation and presentation. For example, for pitches, we recommend printed infographics, for the general audience PPT sliders with little content, for presentations sent by email animated brochures that allow interaction.

5. TELL A STORY

You are in the following situation: you have an audience (and personas), you know their needs, expectations, behavior; you want them to remember a main idea (+2 derived ideas), you have the context (you know how you will communicate it) – now is the time to tell them a story. This is the only way you will capture their interest. What does it mean to tell them a story? It means to empathize with them and talk to them about real or imaginary experiences that are connected in a logical sequence, with exposition (characters, place, time), intrigue, conflict, unfolding action, and ending. They can be about you, about your experiences (but be careful, don’t turn into a hero, don’t forget humility). People open up to stories, they feel empathy when they hear stories and see people, and they experience emotion. Emotion, don’t forget it, a story has emotion, be authentic, live what you say!

6. INTERACTION

You are in the following situation: you communicate with him/her (the person in the audience) either directly or indirectly (through a presentation sent by email). It is important to generate interaction. This is a way in which you open new communication bridges or strengthen existing ones. Interaction is a method to generate/amplify empathy.

Interaction can be created today in any kind of communication, direct or indirect.

7. DESIGN

Pay attention to the design of the presentation. There must be harmony and, above all, there must be a lot of graphic content – photography, logical schemes. In the context of a presentation sent by email, more text can be used. A good design is a simple, clean design, where the elements are in harmony, and where the information is well-placed and presented in a carefully chosen order.

8. BRANDING

To what extent does the presentation correlate with the brand elements of the organization? Does it carry forward the vision, the values? Is it in harmony with the brand promise, with the character of the brand? To what extent is the style guide respected?

9. SIMPLIFY!

It starts from the premise that the truly valuable things are the truly simple things (less is more). Simplify! After the first draft, simplify! Seek at every moment to give up new meanings and ideas to focus on what is important, simplify!!

10. SWITCH THE ROLES

At each stage, put yourself in his/her “skin”, of the interlocutor. See to what extent there is empathy, relevance, valuable content in your behavior and presentation. Be critical and improve this aspect at each stage. Change the role!

11. BETTER, MORE SIMPLE

Take time and revise the presentation several times. Polish it, like a jeweler polishes a precious stone, to get the most out of it.

If the presentation will be held in front of a wide audience or a narrow one (not sent by email), practice, nothing will help you more than repetition. Be critical, is there empathy, relevance, valuable content in your behavior and presentation?