How to Create the Perfect Recipe for Better Presentations

PowerPoint and other presentation tools are great tools when used well. It can be a challenging experience for the audience if they aren’t done well. Hope you’ve had the experience of seeing a really good one. If you’re lucky, you were the one who presented it. Why aren’t more of them better? In general, they don’t have a good reputation, which means we have a big chance.

We’ve all watched great TV, read a gripping novel, and enjoyed a captivating movie. Why should slide presentations be any different? The key to an effective slide deck for a great presentation lies in the basics of storytelling.

Whether you’re selling a product, educating a customer, or motivating employees, your presentation goes from standard to compelling when you focus on telling a story — and that’s no different from good cooking.

Also see: 6 Easy Ways to Inspire with Your Next Virtual Presentation

Read the recipe: storytelling defined

The classic line chart of storytelling may be unfamiliar to you if you’ve never taken a writing class. Still, it’s pretty simple: a horizontal line represents the initiation, which rises sharply with rising action, peaks at the climax, descends again with falling action, and then levels out again with resolution. This is a common format.

It can be helpful to have a defined beginning, middle, and end. The beginning is your agenda. Why are we here? What is the problem? Sometimes we even give away the punch line at the beginning to make sure we get the audience’s attention. Your center should address pain points or seek solutions. It’s also a place where you can introduce differentiators. An effective close should demonstrate a solution to the problem, provide next steps, or present a call to action. The ending should leave your audience satisfied.

Gathering the ingredients: convincing storytelling

A persuasive storytelling style aims to persuade the audience to agree with the narrator’s goal or point of view—that is, gain agreement—by inviting them into an experience. This experience can create empathy, create connections to the real world, and increase bonding by using emotion or imagination. Your goal might be to bridge the gap between what is and what could be.

See also: The Best Way to Respond to Post-Presentation or Meeting Questions

Preparing your side dishes: visual storytelling

An image is only as good as the work it does. For an internal, decision-oriented presentation, sometimes simpler is better — Avoid confusion and stay focused on the task at hand. Sometimes a visually bland slide deck can’t make the same impact even with the most compelling copy. If you’re uncomfortable writing, you can still tell a story mostly with pictures. As you rely more heavily on your visuals, you should understand what your visual storytelling needs to accomplish. It should involve visual perception; This is especially effective when presenting to visual learners.

Visuals can be more interpretive and make it easier to convey messages subliminally. Be careful though; Poorly made images can confuse your audience. Finally, visual storytelling evokes emotion, which is crucial to achieving the goal of your presentation.

Mixing everything together: the presentation process

As you prepare your storytelling presentation, you may find it easier to follow a process. First, capture the vision, challenges, goals, and objectives that you will outline in your presentation. if she I don’t know the story, it’s hard to tell someone else. Next, identify your target audience. Who are they, what interests them and how can you achieve your goal with this special group of people? Before creating your presentation, make sure you understand the practical limitations. When and where is the presentation? How many people will there be? Do you need to allocate time for Q&A etc.? Knowing the answers to these questions will give you a solid structure to build on.

Now it’s time for brainstorming. Think broadly and allow yourself to think anything; You can delete it later. Put your thoughts into an organized structure while reflecting on the topic. Balance your content so you don’t focus too much on one area of ​​the story, and make sure to connect the dots between problems and solutions/goals. Build the bones first and follow the story structure line from the start. Make a strong frame and then fill in the text and message.

Also see: Harness the power of storytelling to transform your business for the better

Top your meal

Now it’s time to design custom slides that fit your topic, audience, and outline. Just as your entire presentation should be a story, each slide should also contain storytelling elements. When designing, do you ask yourself what is the best layout, color and function to get your message across?

Each slide should contain concise content that summarizes your key points. You shouldn’t just read a block of text—although sometimes that might be the right format for the job. The visuals should complement and enhance the text, help clarify order, and present core concepts. Carefully curate your layout so it’s clean and logical. The layout is your tool to help your audience process the content. Carefully balance horizontal vs. vertical elements and your use of color, and be careful not to get too excited and overly busy.

Good Appetite

In my experience, employees and customers want to be energized by presentations and interpret the content clearly. They want to feel that they have gained knowledge, motivation or appreciation.

When you’re in leadership positions, you want your presentations to be effective. No one wants to waste time reviewing a slide deck that isn’t worth their attention. To sum up my cooking metaphor, when you serve something carefully thought out and expertly presented to your audience, they will be satisfied when they leave your table – or conference room.