This article covers the nitty-gritty of how to create, practice, and deliver excellent presentations.

What follows are practical processes for doing this you can implement immediately.

How to Create an Excellent Presentation

It’s not about you. It is about them. Before you create your presentation, you must know who your audience is. What does this mean?

This means that you must know at least three things about your audience: (1) What is their expertise in your presentation area? (2) Do they support your point of view? and (3) What are their wants and needs concerning your presentation area?

Creating a presentation without at least this information is like flying a plane without instruments. You can still make a presentation, but you’re flying blind.

Always start your presentation creation by finding information about your audience. You will miss the mark if you don’t.

Your next step is to construct the skeleton of your presentation.

Your presentation structure should follow the following format:

• Opening: (1) Relevant story, quote, statistic, etc., (2) Presentation purpose, (3) Your three main points

• Body: (1) Main Point #1, Sub-points #1, #2, #3, (2) Main Point #2, Sub-points #1, #2, #3, (3) Main Point #3, Sub-points #1, #2, #3

• Closing: (1) Restatement of three main points, (2) Restatement of presentation purpose, (3) Three Calls to Action, (4) Relevant story, quote, statistic, etc. to “get off the stage”

The body of your presentation can follow many formats: (1) past, present, future, (2) problem, solution, benefit, (3) what, so what, now what. This is not an all-inclusive list, but I think you understand.

In high school English class, when creating a composition, your teacher told you to start creating the body of the composition. What follows is how to create your presentation’s body

We will use two techniques to determine your presentation ideas and main points. Brian Tracy calls the first one Mind Storming. Mind Storming is similar to brainstorming only idea generation is not in a group; only you generate the ideas. The second technique, Cards on the Wall, will “ferret out” your main and sub-points.

• List twenty ideas in one minute on a blank sheet of paper or in a Word document

• Select one idea as your presentation subject

• List twenty ideas about your presentation subject in one minute on a separate blank sheet of paper or in a Word document

• Put each of the twenty ideas about your presentation subject on a separate Post-It note on a wall

• Rearrange Post-It notes into three groups (if possible) of related ideas – The titles of the three groups are your main points –ideas in each group are your sub-points

Your opening has three purposes:

• Gain your audience’s attention

• Present your presentation’s purpose

• Tell your audience what you will speak about (your presentation’s roadmap).

If you do not gain your audience’s attention from the beginning, it will be an uphill battle to achieve and maintain it during your presentation.

Some examples of attention steps are relevant stories (personal ones are the best), quotes, humor, rhetorical questions, and startling statistics. This is not an all-inclusive list. You will have to experiment with gaining your audience’s attention.

If you were traveling from Virginia to Florida, you wouldn’t just aim your car south and hope for the best. You would have a map or GPS to guide you on your journey.

In the same way, your presentation roadmap guides your audience on the journey you are taking with them. Your presentation roadmap is simply a listing of your main points.

Your closing has three purposes:

• Present a summary of your main points

• Provide a call to action so your audience knows how to implement what you have said

• Deliver a “Get off the stage” device

Make the summary of your main points brief. Use short transitions between main points. Do not add new information to your closing. The audience will not like this and wonder where the new information came from.

So now you know how to create an excellent presentation.

The next step, which is always not emphasized, is practicing your presentation.

How to Practice an Excellent Presentation

Practice your presentation sitting down, standing up, standing in front of a mirror, and, if possible, in the actual room for your presentation, all multiple times.

Sitting down—In this step, you are trying to get the “feel” of your presentation. You want to experience its flow and make notes about what to change.

Standing up—Something magical happens when you stand to deliver your presentation. It starts to feel like the real thing. You begin using gestures and body language to emphasize your points.

Standing in front of a mirror – This practice step is a shocker for most speakers. You see yourself as your audience sees you, warts and all.

In front of a practice audience – This is the “jewel” of the practice steps because it is the closest you will get to the conditions of the actual presentation. You get real-time feedback on your presentation, which is very valuable.

In the venue room. Visiting the venue room and practicing your presentation will increase your comfort level. When you deliver your presentation in the same room, you will already have experienced it.

Always practice your presentation to finish a minute or two before your allotted time. This is because when you deliver your presentation, your audience will react to it, and you will react to their reaction. However, these take time, which is included in your allotted time.

So now you know how to create and practice an excellent presentation.

The last step is how to deliver your excellent presentation.

How to Deliver an Excellent Presentation

What follows are fourteen (14) points to guide your presentation delivery.

1. You Are the Message – Remember, you are the message, not your slides. You want your audience to focus on you. Suppose your audience is paying more attention to your slides than you; you can toggle your slides on and off by striking the “b” key on your keyboard. During your presentation practice, stifle your distracting mannerisms and utterances.

2. Your Credibility – Your credibility with your audience is crucial. Know the level of your audience on your presentation topic. You can increase your influence with your audience through positive body language. Become an expert at answering audience questions.

3. “Apology Trap” – Speakers sometimes apologize for something they believe they did wrong in their presentation. In most situations, the audience will not notice your error until you announce it. Don’t. Every time you do, you lose a little more credibility with them. Also, by pointing out your mistakes, you will annoy some in your audience, because they don’t care about your errors.

4. Tell stories – Stories will grab your audience’s attention because everyone loves a good story. Stories give your audience “hooks” so they can remember your main points. Stories also tap into the emotions of your audience, which sustains engagement.

5. Gestures – Spontaneous gestures are trusted by your audience and draw the audience to you. Gestures enhance your words, giving the audience another way to remember what you are saying.

6. Eye Contact – Good eye contact builds trust with your audience. It also shows you have confidence in what you are saying. Good eye contact also shows respect to your audience.

7. Vocal Variety – Varying the pitch of your voice makes your presentation more interesting. Vocal variety also means varying the speed and volume of your words. You can use vocal variety to cause your audience to become excited, solemn, or more attentive.

8. Body Language —The majority of your communication is through your body language. You need to understand your body language and determine if it sends your intended message. Buy a good book on body language, read it, and implement what it says to ensure the message you are sending is the one you intended.

9. Pauses – Pauses bring attention to your speaking point at the time. It also gives your audience a break to digest what you have said. Pauses also increase your audience’s anticipation, increasing your engagement with them. Lastly, it gives you a chance to gather your thoughts.

10. Avoiding “ahs,” ums,” & Repeated Words – “Ahs,” “ums,” and repeated words are caused by our mouths being ahead of our minds. A fast cure for this is to give someone in your practice audience a New Year’s Eve clicker. Ask them to click the device whenever you have an “ah,” “um,” and repeated words. By the second click, you will pause before you speak to form the right words.

11. Humor – Like stories, everyone will like a little humor in your presentation. It is essential that you know that using humor in your presentation is not the same as telling jokes. You inject relevant humor in your presentation in measured amounts. The humor should never be a large part of your presentation. Never use humor at the expense of a group or person. Number one, it is the right thing to do, and number two, you will invariably insult someone in your audience. Poking humor at yourself is the best humor. However, you risk losing credibility if you go overboard with humor about yourself. Make sure humor in your presentation is relevant and rare.

12. Common Delivery Errors – Some common delivery errors are pointing out errors in your presentation, displaying annoying mannerisms like rocking back and forth and playing with something in your hands, repeating words, using bad grammar, and using verbal fillers. These delivery errors should be eliminated during your practice sessions.

13. When Things Go Wrong – Expect some things in your presentation to not go according to plan. The key is to remain calm. Again, the vast majority of what you believe is wrong with your presentation will not be noticed by your audience. Don’t tell them. In creating and practicing your presentation, be ready to invoke Plan B and Plan C if something does not go according to your plan. In the rare case your audience notices an error, inject some humor.

14. Q&A Period – Although some speakers don’t look forward to the Q&A period, it is a golden opportunity for you to determine if your points “hit home” with your audience. Hostile questions are rare, but they could happen. The best thing to do here is never to become hostile with the questioner. Always take the high road. The audience will eventually take care of the hostile questioner. If you don’t know the answer to a question, say so quickly, have the questioner give you their email address at the break, and say you will get the answer to the questioner within twenty-four hours. You may want to ask the audience the question.

This was a long section. However, it covers all the facets of presentation delivery.

So now you know how to create, practice, and deliver an excellent presentation.

Follow these steps, and your presentations will be excellent!

Call to Action

• Ensure your presentation has a distinct opening, body, and closing

• Ensure you practice your presentation sitting down, standing up, standing in front of a mirror, in front of a practice audience, and in the venue room if possible

• Follow the advice on this article’s fourteen (14) delivery points.

Being a confident, engaging, and effective technical speaker is a vital personal and professional asset. With more than 40 years of engineering experience and more than 30 years of award-winning public speaking experience, I can help you reduce your presentation preparatory time by 50%, overcome your fear of public speaking and be completely at ease, deliver your presentations effectively, develop your personal presence with your audience; and apply an innovative way to handle audience questions deftly.

Working closely with you, I provide a customized protocol employing the critical skills and tools you need to create, practice, and deliver excellent technical speeches and presentations. Let’s connect and explore how I can help you become the exceptional speaker you were meant to be. Please reach out to me at frank@speakleadandsucceed.com or 703-509-4424 for a complimentary consultation. Schedule a meeting with me at calendly.com/frankdibartolomeospeaks