It’s presentation time!
A very important moment in the life of an entrepreneur or businessman.
First of all, make sure you don’t have more than 10 – 12 slides in your presentation.
Why?
Because in the end of the day it is about you, the presenter. When there are too many slides, your audience will be busier reading slide content than paying attention to you; there is something wrong in that picture!
Worse yet, you are reading out loud what’s on the presentation screen! This signifies a lack of preparation!
For your audience, you are the most important subject when it comes to trustworthiness, integrity, passion, and a gazillion other aspects they will pay attention to.
The presentation, whether Powerpoint or Prezi, must be transparent regarding your product/service.
You must be able to explain in a clear manner the uniqueness and advantage of what you have to offer.
This is a good example of what not to do!
Again, make sure it is in American English and avoid European values like “Euros”, “kilometers”, “liters”, “Celsius” and……well, you’ll get the picture.
Using numbers, and we’ll keep repeating this, the “decimal point is comma” rule comes in full swing.
Take note, in American values:
- This is one hundred-thousand: 100,000
- This is one hundred: 100.000
Why, because after the decimal point you get insignificant zeros! Sure, people can interpret correctly but the machines will not! More importantly, it looks sloppy and gives the impression you aren’t prepared.
Never say you don’t have competition, even though you feel there isn’t, they will not believe you. Make one up, there must be a company that comes somewhat close, as long as you are able to clearly state what your advantage is.
Make sure when there is a technical problem you are able to make a presentation without overhead projector help, etc.
Keep your presentation in front of you if you really need guidance for the flow of your presentation.
Finally, be prepared for the Q&A session, don’t let them throw you a curve ball.
Various tips:
- Dress for the occasion; when you are invited for a banker’s presentation, go business casual.
- When in Silicon Valley, don’t dress like Steve Jobs (‘cause you are not him) but dress casual.
- Golden rule: don’t overdress, don’t underdress.
- When you feel a joke is appropriate, it’d better be good!
- Make sure there is a good punch line and it is in line with what you are presenting.
If, in the meantime, you have questions regarding this blog, shoot me an e-mail at Peter@Laanen-theBrand.com