1. Presentation Basics

2. Comedian's Take On "How NOT To Use Powerpoint"

3. Strong Opener You can use: Short Story Questions Quotes (short ones)
Statistics (dramatic)
Humor (appropriate )
Always introduce yourself (& your team)!
Grab them with something that will peak their interest.
Tell stories.
Your audience will remember stories before they remember anything else
Stories make for great openers, closers, and illustrations of points you want to make
Stories connect you to your audience
If you’re not funny, don’t try to be.
Don’t open with a joke because if bombs you may never recover
Don’t tell jokes unless you are naturally funny
Don’t ever tell off-color jokes

4. Know Your Audience Who are you presenting to?
What do they want to know?
Tailor the presentation accordingly.
What’s their demographic make up?
What information is most important to them?
What motivates them?
Are most of them happy to be there?
Are they likely to be skeptical about you and what you have to say?
What do they want to take away from your presentation?
Tailor your presentation to all of the above.

5. Have A Clear Plan Strong opener
Tell them what you are going to tell them.
(objectives)
Big opening that engages everyone–and gets them out of their bored/skeptical state
Communicate exactly what you will be covering, why they should care, and what they will take away

6. Have A Clear Plan Tell them (content) Tell them what you told them
(summary)
What is their current state of understanding and acceptance about the topic of your presentation?
Where do you want them to be when you finish?
What action do you want them to take?

7. Have a Logical Flow Stick to your points Only one concept per slide
Logical sequence
Have a logical path from concept to concept–and/or from slide to slide
One concept per slide
Summarize often
Limit your take-aways to 3 or 4–or they won’t take away anything
Big finish with call to action

8. Big Finish! You can use: Short Story Questions Quotes (short ones)
Summarize with most important points
Call to action
Thank your audience
This is what they will remember most. What do you want them to walk away with?
You can use:
Short Story
Questions
Quotes (short ones)
Statistics (dramatic)
Humor (appropriate )
Wrap up your 3 or 4 most important points
Ask them to take action steps!

9. Presentation Do’s & Don’ts

10. DO… Convey Professionalism
Professional dress
Good eye contact
Proper posture
Smile 
Shake hands with your audience, if appropriate. Make your first impression count. Involve the audience in the first 30 seconds and also in the last 30 seconds. Use a short, simple anecdote that humanizes and dramatizes your main point.

11. DON’T… Let Them See You Sweat!
Don’t tell the audience that you are nervous!
Don’t use filler words like “um”.
Avoid fidgeting.
Do not begin speaking until you appear confident. Plant your feet, stand or sit up straight, if speaking in front of an audience, adjust the microphone (if applicable), and scan the entire audience before you begin.

12. DO… Project Clearly & Audibly
Enunciate
Project with a natural volume
Maintain an appropriate pace & voice inflection

13. DO… Know Your Material Comfort level builds credibility!
Allows you to focus on audience
PRACTICE!
Rehearse until you have it cold
Your comfort level will convey your credibility
You can concentrate on your audience rather than notes or bullet points

14. DON’T… Crowd Slides Avoid too much text on each slide.
Don’t over use bullets
Use highlights (or speaking points only).

15. DO… Face Your Audience
Use note cards or an outline to avoid “reading” from your powerpoint.

16. DON’T…Talk Over Each Other!
Know who will cover what & when.
Work as a team!

17. DO…Use appropriate font
Font must be BIG enough for your audience to see.
Font must be professional.

18. DO…Utilize graphics!
Relevant pictures, charts and graphs help to support points.
Pictures should enhance, not detract
Communicate visually
If you are using slides, make sure they are primarily visual with few or no words
If you aren’t using slides paint verbal pictures

19. DON’T… Misrepresent! Do your research.
Inaccurate information or miscalculations can destroy credibility.

20. DO… Engage Your Audience
Use questions or informal polls to draw audience in.
Welcome feedback.
Ask frequent questions to gauge audience interests/concerns
Have them add to your points by sharing their experience
Do informal polling to take their topic temperature
Get feedback: If you don't, and the audience has objections, you could get dismissed without the opportunity to disprove them.