It’s a shame that public speaking is one of the biggest fears people face, especially since it’s almost a requirement for many small business owners. Entrepreneurs need to make presentations from time to time and, when they do, they need to push beyond their fear and capture the audience’s attention: Presentations might be made to make sales, to acquire investors, to raise awareness, to position your brand, or to deliver your product or service to your customer.

I’ve sat through MANY presentations in my day, and only a few of them were really good. A few were really bad. Most of them were mediocre. Unfortunately, unless your presentation is good, you won’t engage your audience or compel them to act. In this blog, I’m going to show you how you can create compelling presentations.

Step 1: Decide on the main point and the action you want your audience to take as a result. Many presentations falter because the presenter tried to cram in too much information into a single presentation. Decide your main point and write it into a single “sound bite” that you can repeat again and again. Then, decide on the action you want your audience to take and write that into a single sound bite that you can repeat again and again. If your presentation is a sales presentation, then your main point might be: “XYZ software is the best software on the market to help you run your business.” And the action you want your audience to take might be, “Invest in your business by investing in XYZ software today.”

Step 2: Create a list of sub-points that support your main point and organize them into a coherent order. In the sales presentation example, the sub-points might include a review of the features and benefits, a survey of inferior competitive offerings, and series of customer testimonials. But the most important thing to remember is this: No matter what, all of the sub-points need to support your main point. If you’re creating that sales presentation and you find several customer testimonials that support some other point, DON’T put them in. They will only diminish your message.

Step 3: Write a simple, crisp speech, word for word. Yes, write it out word for word. You shouldn’t read your script to your audience but writing it out word for word will help you to think about what you want to say and will identify any weak spots.

Step 4: If you’re putting together a PowerPoint presentation, use one type of transition, one type of font, and keep the words on the screen to a minimum. Avoid multiple transitions with flashing, spinning text. It distracts from your message. Avoid multiple fonts. It’s too hard to read and distracts from your message. Avoid putting too many words on the screen because you want people to pay attention to you and look to the screen for reminders… NOT the other way around.

Step 5: Practice, practice, practice. Get comfortable with your presentation so that you don’t have to read your word for word script.

Presenting is a skill that should be honed. When you use these tips, you’ll deliver better presentations and get more results. What are some of your tips for a good presentation? Leave them in the comments.

photo credit: e_pics