MY OBSERVATIONS OF PRESENTATIONS – Page 2

Your dilemma…thinking like a template.

June 10, 2020Joe Pops

I was recently working with a client and asked her to write out the structure for her presentation. This included her main message, her content and content chunks. She sent me a good initial outline as to what she wanted to say, but it’s how she organized it that was most fascinating to me. She organized it as slides, even though her presentation outline was all text in an email. The outline was what she thought should be on each slide. The title for each section started with Slide #1, Slide #2 etc. Under each slide number was a topic title and some bullet points. Dam you Microsoft! Her default… Read More

So…what’s your point?

April 2, 2020Joe Pops

Think about the last presentation (or webinar) you attended; what was the presenter’s point? Designing a presentation around the most important point (a single message) greatly increases the chances that the audience will remember that message over time. Therefore, presentation design starts with crafting a clear concise message. One mistake presenters often make is to assume an audience can remember multiple “takeaways”. The old saying is true; if everything is important then nothing is important. I follow a message crafting method that I learned from Dcode Communications several years ago. The method is based on the statement What I really want you to understand is _______ . The you is… Read More

A 3-step process to avoid a presentation rabbit hole

February 17, 2020Joe Pops

PowerPoint is not your friend! (not yet anyway) Here is a simple 3 step process to help you design an impactful presentation. It’s based on the fact that, early in the design process, PowerPoint is not your friend. It’s the proverbial rabbit hole. 1st – Craft your message The message is the thing you want your audience to remember for a long time. It’s a single sentence that contains the words, you and/or your. It’s spoken by you very early in the presentation and it is the presentation’s destination. You know you have a solid message when the word “how?” pops into your audience’s head after you say it. Write… Read More