Steps in Preparing A Presentation

Steps in Preparing a Presentation
Planning Your Presentation

Preparing a presentation can be an overwhelming experience if you allow it to be
one. The strategies and steps below are provided to help you break down what you
might view as a large job into smaller, more manageable tasks.
Step 1: Analyze your audience
The first step in preparing a presentation is to learn more about the audience to
whom you'll be speaking. It's a good idea to obtain some information on the
backgrounds, values, and interests of your audience so that you understand what
the audience members might expect from your presentation.
Step 2: Select a topic
Next, if possible select a topic that is of interest to the audience and to you. It will
be much easier to deliver a presentation that the audience finds relevant, and more
enjoyable to research a topic that is of interest to you.
Step 3: Define the objective of the presentation
Once you have selected a topic, write the objective of the presentation in a single
concise statement. The objective needs to specify exactly what you want your
audience to learn from your presentation. Base the objective and the level of the
content on the amount of time you have for the presentation and the background
knowledge of the audience. Use this statement to help keep you focused as you
research and develop the presentation.
Preparing the Content of Your Presentation
Step 4: Prepare the body of the presentation
After defining the objective of your presentation, determine how much information
you can present in the amount of time allowed. Also, use your knowledge about the
audience to prepare a presentation with the right level of detail. You don't want to
plan a presentation that is too basic or too advanced.
The body of the presentation is where you present your ideas. To present your
ideas convincingly, you will need to illustrate and support them. Strategies to help
you do this include the following:
 Present data and facts

 Read quotes from experts
 Relate personal experiences
 Provide vivid descriptions
And remember, as you plan the body of your presentation it's important to provide
variety. Listeners may quickly become bored by lots of facts or they may tire of
hearing story after story.
Step 5: Prepare the introduction and conclusion
Once you've prepared the body of the presentation, decide how you will begin and
end the talk. Make sure the introduction captures the attention of your audience
and the conclusion summarizes and reiterates your important points. In other
words, "Tell them what you're going to tell them. Tell them. Then, tell them what
you told them."
During the opening of your presentation, it's important to attract the audience's

attention and build their interest. If you don't, listeners will turn their attention
elsewhere and you'll have a difficult time getting it back. Strategies that you can
use include the following:
 Make the introduction relevant to the listeners' goals, values, and needs
 Ask questions to stimulate thinking
 Share a personal experience
 Begin with a joke or humorous story
 Project a cartoon or colorful visual
 Make a stimulating or inspirational statement
 Give a unique demonstration
During the opening you want to clearly present your topic and the purpose of your
presentation. Clearly articulating the topic and purpose will help the listeners focus
on and easily follow your main ideas.
During the conclusion of your presentation, reinforce the main ideas you

communicated. Remember that listeners won't remember your entire presentation,
only the main ideas. By reinforcing and reviewing the main ideas, you help the
audience remember them.
Practicing and Delivering
Step 6: Practice delivering the presentation
Most people spend hours preparing a presentation but very little time practicing it.
When you practice your presentation, you can reduce the number of times you
utter words and phrases like, "um," "well," and "you know." These habits can easily
diminish a speaker's credibility. You can also fine-tune your content to be sure you
make your most important points in the time alloted.
In addition to planning the content of your presentation, you need to give advanced
thought to how you want to deliver it. Do you want to commit your presentation to
memory, use cards to guide you, or read from a script? Or, you might want to use
a combination of methods. To help you decide, read the advantages and
disadvantages of the four delivery methods described below.

Speaking from Memory
A distinct advantage of speaking from memory is your ability to speak to the

audience without relying on notes or a script. This allows you the flexibility to move
away from the podium and to maintain eye contact with the audience. However,
speaking from memory has disadvantages, too. Presentations from memory often
sound rehearsed and the possibility exists that you'll forget an important point,
present information that's inaccurate, or completely lose your train of thought. If
you decide to deliver your presentation from memory, have notes handy to jog
your memory just in case!
Speaking from Notes
Many people like to speak from notes. Typically these notes are either on cards or
paper in outline form and contain key ideas and information. If you are using an
electronic presentation tool, you may be able to include your notes in the
presentation itself. The benefit of delivering a presentation from notes is that you
sound natural rather than rehearsed and you can still maintain relatively good eye
contact with the audience. The down side is that you might not express your key
ideas and thoughts as well as you may have liked had you planned your exact
words in advance.
Speaking from Text
Speaking from text involves writing your speech out, word for word, then basically
reading from the text. As with speaking from memory, an advantage of this method
is that you plan, in advance, exactly what you're going to say and how you're going
to say it. A disadvantage is that you might appear to the audience to be stiff or
rehearsed. You will need to make frequent eye contact and speak with expression
to maintain the audience's interest.
Using a Combination of Methods
You may find the best method to be a combination of all three. For instance,
experts suggest you memorize the first and last ten minutes of your talk so that
you can speak flawlessly and without notes. Notes may be suitable for segments of
your presentation that you know very well, for example, relating a personal story.
Finally, speaking from a text might be appropriate when you have quotes or other
important points that you want to make sure you communicate accurately and
completely. You can make a smooth segue to written text by saying something like:
"I want to read this quote to you verbatim, to ensure that I don't distort the original
intent."

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Steps in Preparing a Presentation

Planning Your Presentation

Step 1: Analyze your audience

Step 2: Select a topic

Step 3: Define the objective of the presentation

Preparing the Content of Your Presentation

Step 4: Prepare the body of the presentation

 Present data and facts

During the opening of your presentation, it's important to attract the audience's

During the conclusion of your presentation, reinforce the main ideas you

Practicing and Delivering

Step 6: Practice delivering the presentation

A distinct advantage of speaking from memory is your ability to speak to the

Speaking from Notes

Speaking from Text

Using a Combination of Methods

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