Presentation Skills in 7 simple steps. James Schofield

you have to stand up and talk without any visual aids, you’ll want to make your key points visible to your audience. Here are three possibilities with their own pros and cons.

       Microsoft PowerPoint

      PowerPoint is the most commonly used presentation tool.

       Pros:

       It’s a powerful tool that allows you to organise your information into slides. These can be projected onto a screen with a multimedia projector, enabling large groups of people to see your presentation. You can use text, pictures, films and sounds, and vary the parameters so that each presentation appears unique.

       It’s installed on most business computers so you shouldn’t have a problem showing it on any computer.

       It is the standard software of a professional person.

       Cons:

       Your message can seem boring, especially when you’re presenting something that is innovative and creative.

       You can drown your message under the bells and whistles available in PowerPoint. Just because you can add the sound of machine gun fire as your bullet points appear on the screen, doesn’t mean you should. Your audience may become confused or more interested in the presentation technology than your message.

       Prezi

      Prezi (see www.prezi.com) is an interesting alternative to PowerPoint. It takes a different approach to presentations, which can be very stimulating. Essentially, you have a blank screen onto which you can stick text, pictures or other media, which allows you to build up an electronic collage or map. Once you have collected your material, you tell the program the sequence it should follow through your presentation.

       Pros:

       The presentation moves in and out of the material you want to show, giving the audience a more dynamic and involving experience of your topic.

       Unlike PowerPoint, there are no pre-set templates so you have a vast amount of freedom to decide what things should look like.

       Prezi is cloud-based, which means the software is hosted on the company’s server and you don’t have to download any software onto your computer. It also means several people can work on different parts of the presentation at the same time.

       Cons:

       The approach can be off-putting and confusing to an audience familiar with PowerPoint. As you move from one point to the next, the text and images zoom in and out and spin around so you can end up feeling as if you’re on a ride in a funfair.

      All in all, Prezi works best for presentations where you want to show a lot of pictures rather than text.

       Flipcharts

      Flipcharts are large sheets of paper prepared in advance of a presentation. Generally, they are colourful and eye-catching.

       Pros:

       Your audience will be surprised to see you steering clear of PowerPoint and this will encourage them to pay closer attention to what you have to say.

       Flipcharts are technology light. If there’s somewhere to hang your flipcharts, you don’t need to worry about equipment malfunctions.

       Cons:

       Flips need time and some artistic talent to prepare.

       Flips are not always as easily adaptable as computer-based presentations.

       Flips work best in small groups of not more than 20 people.

      Flips are best for informal workshops or training sessions.

      

      Whichever approach you adopt, there are two features of a presentation that you need to prepare carefully and get right: the introduction and the conclusion.

       Introductions

      The introduction is your bait and if you cast it right, you can catch your audience right at the start. Remember: they could be meeting you for the first time and research shows that we form a strong first impression of a person very quickly. What’s the best way to make sure they form a positive image of you? Here’s what you need to do.