Plan Your PowerPoint Preparation This Way

What’s the best way to prepare to rehearse for your PowerPoint presentation now.

What most people do is they spend all their time in the gathering information and the rearranging writing creating slides.

Now you had to do some of that.

But as we’ve discussed if that’s all you do you’re basically guaranteed complete utter failure when it comes to communication.

It might not be worse than anyone else but there’s a chance a danger you just sort of overwhelm people with a big data dump.

You may look professional sound professional but you didn’t really accomplish anything.

So my recommendation is you’ve got to rehearse.

You need to stand up if you’re going to be delivering the presentation standing you’ve got to get used to interacting with people your slides it in a way that isn’t just sitting down 18 inches typing and looking at everything in an ideal situation.

So you need to deliver your presentation captured on video.

Now when I started in this business way back in 1984 video cameras were rare and expensive and it was difficult to do.

You don’t have that excuse anymore.

Everyone’s got cell phones iPads laptops that all have video cameras.

Doesn’t matter the lighting quality the audio quality as long as you can see yourself and hear yourself.

T.J. I don’t like looking at myself.

Nobody cares what you like.

Your audience cares are you interesting or you boring.

No way you’re going to know if you’re interesting or boring unless you watch yourself what is simply on your screen.

This point is not 100 percent irrelevant but it’s almost irrelevant.

You’ve got to take it to the next level practice and see how you sound and look.

So you need to deliver your presentation.

Record it.

Look at it.

If you just record it once and say well that’s it I’ve rehearsed complete waste of time.

You might be awful.

You haven’t improved a lot.

If you record it once watch it figure out what you like don’t like almost a complete waste of time.

You haven’t made any refinement.

It’s like writing it wants it seeing all sorts of spelling errors and not correcting the spelling errors not adding incorrect punctuation.

What good would it be to review the document if you don’t then run it through spell check and make the corrections.

If you’re going to watch yourself make a powerpoint presentation you’ve got it recorded you’ve got N got to figure out what’s working what isn’t working and then you’ve got to do it again and make changes make improvements if you’re think you’re incredibly boring and dull and you’re doing a big boring data dump.

You probably are.

Take your presentation throw it away and start over.

So you need to keep doing this again and again and again until you can point to it and say wow I can be half as good as that guy half as good as she is.

I’m going to be the best presenter at this conference or this board meeting or this retreat.

Only then are you really prepared.

Now this might take time.

I’m sorry.

A lot of things in life take time.

It took time for you to get good at managing people or if you’re a lawyer.

Understanding the law.

If you’re a doctor knowing how to operate anything important usually takes some time being great at delivering PowerPoint presentations is no different.

So you need to keep doing it until you like exactly how you come across.

Then you’re ready for the next step.