Steps to Prepare for a Presentation
"Being a successful presenter means learning how to edit, structure, and illustrate your concepts
in order to inform, influence – and entertain – your audience. You have to be part editor, part
director, and part showman."
- Luisa Simone
The purposes of a presentation include conveying a message, distilling information, motivating a
group, communicating a vision, and pointing the audience to additional learning resources. Here
are some steps to help you be a great presenter.
1. Know Yourself
Think about your presentation style and then test it against some things we know about
successful presenters. What are your strengths and how are you best using them? Where do you
have room for improvement and how are you improving? Think about these presenter
characteristics:
Good vs. poor presenter characteristics.
The Good Presenter
The Poor Presenter
Prepared
Starts preparing the night before
Authoritative
Apologetic
Has researched the audience’s needs
"Which town am I in?"
Respects the audience’s time and "cost" for
attending
"They’re privileged to hear me speak"
Gives 3-5 "take home" points
Encyclopedic
Involves and engages
"Lights down. First slide, please."
Tells stories
Lists facts
"I love interacting with this audience!"
"I could be playing golf!"
Neat clothing, appropriate colors
Fly is open, chive stuck between teeth
Neat, edited handout that parallels the spoken
message
Typos, misspellings, and piles of smudged article
photocopies destined never to be read
Computer projected slides reinforce the
spoken message
Overuse of computer slide builds and transitions
induce nausea, and make people feel ill
Rehearses opening, closing, slide transitions,
and pace
"Who has time to rehearse?"
Communicates and motivates
Lectures
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From: http://www.saem.org/publicat/chap8a.htm
2. Know the Audience & the Presentation Opportunity

Who will be in the audience? How many?

Why is the audience attending? Is attendance required? Is it a mandatory educational lecture?
Personal motivation?

Identify why the presentation is of value/important to the audience. Think about how you
would answer the question from an audience member when they ask “what’s in this for me?”

What is the knowledge level—novice, practitioner, expert? Will you be presenting new
concepts to this audience, or building upon their prior knowledge? Make sure you cover the
basics clearly, and early in the talk, to avoid loosing the audience.

How much time is available for your presentation (including Q&A)?


the longer the talk, the more freedom you will have to explore the topic

a short talk needs to be very clear and to address the topic directly

is question time included?

Are you the only speaker? Part of a panel? Part of a larger conference?
Will this be an informal chat, a seminar discussion, or a more formal presentation?
3. Designing the Presentation for the Audience
Content
Start with the final goal in mind – what 3-5 ideas or points do you want the audience to take
away? This is both the “bottom line” and the conclusion of your presentation. With this in mind
you can more easily develop the introduction and body to support the final goals.

What are you going to teach? List 3-5 main ideas. Describe the overall presentation in one
sentence. This helps FOCUS your presentation.

Consider using an outline, mind map or visual sketch to organize your ideas. This helps you
be clear on how all the ideas you are presenting fit together and relate to each other.

How will you support your information?

How much material? For a 50-minute talk, you should expect to cover only about 90
concepts. One way to facilitate the process is to develop visual aids that illustrate your points
clearly.
Structure – Beginning, Middle, End
Show ‘em, tell ‘em, tell ‘em again…

Introduction – define goals and get the audience’s attention. Develop rapport with them,
outline the structure of presentation, and any expectations you have of them. “Show 'em and
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tell 'em.” Define when they can ask questions – throughout or at the end. Avoid jargon and
tired phrases (‘thank you for having me here.’)

Body of presentation – Tell 'em again - should include both information, and sources of the
information. Offer a chance for the audience to apply/practice what they are learning.

Conclusion – Take advantage of the fact that audience attention tends to rise near the
conclusion of a presentation. Summarize your main points and the importance/relevance to
audience. Highlight any follow up action you want them to take or you are offering
(additional information, etc.).

Q&A - Offer structured time for Q&A.


Listen for the full question before you answer. Ask for clarifications as needed.

Repeat each question so the entire audience knows what you've been asked.

Reflect before you open your mouth, which allows you both time to compose your
response and acknowledge the contribution of the questioner.

Answer directly and avoid prolonged, complicated exchanges. If necessary, offer to
continue with an individual(s) after the conclusion of the presentation

If you don’t know the answer, don’t apologize. Instead…
o
Ask for any answers that may be available from the audience members
themselves.
o
Offer to find out and get back to the questioner.
o
Point the audience to other resources.
Evaluation – For both your quality improvement and any organizational evaluation
requirements, offer a short evaluation form.
4. Presentation Technique
It has been said that we remember approximately 25 percent of what we hear, 40 percent of what
we see and hear, and 75 percent of what we hear, see, and do. When learning becomes
participatory or interactive, learners remember more for a longer time in a shorter time and have
more fun.
What techniques will you use to engage the audience?
 Tell stories
 Use case studies
 Show pictures and images
 Engage the audience with discussions and exercises

Give a pre-presentation test where the audience must commit to an answer, then discuss the
answers as a group.

Instead of listing facts, tell stories. The human mind is particularly receptive to information
imparted through story telling. (Before the invention of communication technologies, human
knowledge and wisdom was transmitted stories, myths, and epic poetry.) Interject relevant
examples and anecdotes. Stimulate the audience’s imagination through imagery.
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
The presentation should promote long-term memory retention. Repetition of the 3-5 major
points is the key to retention. Some humorist once said that since the audience is paying
attention only 25% of the time, the presenter must repeat everything 4 times during a 1-hour
presentation.

Orlando Battista said, "The shortest distance between two jokes makes a perfect speech."
Humor delivered with finesse is a wonderful way to engage the audience and hold their
attention. But edit out anything that might be offensive. An offended, angry audience has
stopped paying attention.

One way to maintain interest is to organize and present the material in a an unusual or
unexpected manner. Using a non-standard ordering of material will help to keep the audience
interested. Similarly, organizing your material in a new way (rather than re-working an old
talk) will help to keep your own interest in the topic, and will result in a talk which is more
fresh and exciting.

Transitions: The link between successive elements of the talk should be planned carefully,
smooth, and logical. You should make the relation between successive elements clear to the
audience.
5. Supporting Materials and Technology

Use technology, visual aids and handouts to enhance rather than detract from the message

Know what equipment will be available (flip chart, computer, Zip drive, CD-ROM,
projector, laser pointer, etc.)
Slides
What slides or other visual aids do you need?

Any visual aids should be simple, clear and pertinent. Images can be helpful to
support your content.

Slides are not for us as a personal teleprompter!

Ask yourself if each slide helps achieve your presentation objective. Does this slide
add to my audience’s knowledge of the subject?

1 major idea per slide. Does this slide focus attention on one main idea? Is this idea
clear?

Have I presented the information in this slide in the most effective manner? Try to
limit yourself to 15-25 words per slide. Have I removed all unnecessary elements
without destroying the one main thought in this slide?

Formatting:
o
Are the titles legible and short enough to be read in the time they will be
shown?
o
The type should be readable from the back of room (typically at least 28
points in size). Stick to simple fonts such as Arial, Times New Roman, etc.
o
The most readable type is an initial capital letter followed by lower case.
AVOID ALL CAPS
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
o
Avoid red and green type as some people cannot distinguish these colors
(color blindness)
o
One of the most readable color combinations is yellow title, yellow bullets,
and white text on a blue background.
o
Flush left and ragged right alignment (not justified) is best for readability.
Is there good continuity between this slide and the next one?
Handouts

Handouts help promote long-term retention and provide a reference source for the audience.

What handouts would be appropriate? Local brochures and provider information, Project
Harmony materials or particular supporting handouts on the topic are appropriate. Make sure
all your handouts have your contact or other appropriate contact information for follow up.
6. Practicing the Presentation
If you do not regularly present, you may wish to practice your full presentation a number of
times. If you can, practice for a colleague or friend and get some feedback. Try doing your
presentation in the mirror!
If you are an experienced presenter, consider these practice tips.
 The most important parts to practice are the opening and closing of your presentation when
you have the highest level of audience attention.

Focus on the first 60-90 seconds of your presentation to get your audience’s attention.

Practice transitions between different parts of your presentation.

Know how to work your equipment! Practice speaking without facing your screen/slides.
 Imagine the worse case scenario and practice how you would respond (equipment failure, hot
hot room, smaller than anticipated audience, hostile audience member)
 If you’re practicing with slides, never rehearse by facing the screen—this is not how you will
be delivering the presentation. Instead, pretend you’re facing the audience and practice turning
your head to cue off the slides.
 Don’t rely on a “in my mind” practice. Say it out loud. "Everything becomes a little different
as soon as it is spoken out loud." - Hermann Hesse
7. Making the Presentation

Smile

Don’t fidget

Be positive, enthusiastic and never apologetic. A strong start engages the audience and the
rest is then easy. Remember, entertainment is one way to facilitate learning.
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
Don’t read your presentation. People will loose interest.

Make eye contact. Move your eyes over the audience, making individual eye contact across
the audience.

Watch the audience for cues on comprehension and interest. Adjust accordingly.

Ask frequent "thought-provoking" questions, even if they’re rhetorical.

Move around the room if you can. Don’t hide behind a podium. But don’t move so much you
give people whiplash or make them motion sick!

Keep the lights on/up unless absolutely necessary to view slides. Turn lights up when
darkness is not required. Keep people awake.

Be vigilant during snooze time – early mornings and after meals. If possible, ask for
refreshments such as coffee and soft drinks to be served.

Don’t go over your allocated time. And that does not mean talk faster – it means plan your
presentation to easily fit in the allocated time.

With microphones, remember every other sound you make will be picked up, including
setting things on the podium and, um, er, other sounds!
And for the faint of heart, we leave you with a quote from Mark Twain. "It usually takes me
more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech."
Sources
Cordell, W.H. Preparing a Presentation and Developing Speaking Skills
Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. Accessed April 2004.
http://www.saem.org/publicat/chap8.htm
Radel, J. (1999) Effective Presentations. Accessed April 2004.
http://www.kumc.edu/SAH/OTEd/jradel/Preparing_talks/103.html
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