How to Prepare a Presentation Overnight

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Here at Eyeful, we are a caring, sharing sort of presentation design company.

Only yesterday I was creating a whole bunch of tutorial videos for our cloud based presentation storage and distribution platform SlideBank. These being carefully created with the sole intention of making things easier for the administrators and end users of this powerful PowerPoint presentation design distribution system.

We also have a fantastic modular presentation training programme that regularly helps people learn all the aspects of presentation creation, from the beginning of the sales presentation design and messaging process, right through to our technical training packages such as advanced PowerPoint training.

If you need help, then we are the type of business to offer it.

And we’re now helping people with their presentations while they fly!

Eyeful’s very own expert presentation consultant Richard Tierney has had an article on “How To Prepare A Presentation Overnight” featured in British Airways’ in-flight magazine Business Life.

Now, whilst we are certainly not advocates of leaving your presentation preparation to the very last minute, we know it happens. Goodness knows how many times we’ve picked up the phone to a rather panicked presenter needing a minor miracle delivering to save their presentation life!

But if you’re on a long flight and calling the presentation experts simply isn’t an option, then, thanks to Richard, here are 10 sage tips to get you ready in the hotel, the night before the big event…

#1 BE IN THE RIGHT STATE
You’ve arrived at the hotel, the conference is tomorrow and you haven’t prepared your presentation. Call room service. No one does well in a stressful situation on an empty stomach.

#2 DEFINE THE KEY MESSAGE
Your success on stage tomorrow depends on this one thought. Write it down. Pin it up somewhere where you can see it; this is going to get messy.

#3 GATHER SUPPORTING FACTS
Write down all the things you can think of, each one on a separate piece of paper. Post-It notes work well; I find those little pads of hotel notepaper useful. Now, pick your top three.

#4 MAKE A STORY
How do these three facts tell the main message you have? Imagine this: You meet an old friend for a drink. This friend knows nothing, and casually asks: “What do you really mean by that?” Pay close attention to your answer.

#5 GET SPECIFIC
I highly recommend writing out your speech in full. If it works better for you just list topic headings on 3×5 cards, or scamp it out as a mind map. Whatever floats your boat. Read it through out loud a couple of times and see how long it takes. Adjust accordingly.

#6 MAKE A FEW SLIDES
You need five slides:

● Your name and the title of your talk
● Point One
● Point Two
● Point Three
● Your key message

Only add more if you have a really good reason.

#7 EDIT
Fact: We remember pictures, we do not remember text. Therefore: Show – don’t tell. If you already have a prepared slide deck you may like to use a little-known function: the delete button. Now you have a story to tell, and you have a memorable, terse, set of slides to help you tell that story.

#8 REHEARSE
Time to rehearse again, with slides this time. There’s a theory that one can over-rehearse; it’s true but you are nowhere near that point. Run through until it goes well, then go to bed. You need your sleep and the presentation will – magically – embed itself whilst you sleep.

#9 HYDRATE
Nerves are just nature’s way of saying we’re excited. By keeping your message simple, your objective clear and removing distracting slides, you have minimised this. A dry mouth helps no one. Keep a bottle (not a glass) of still water with you at the podium.

# 10 OBJECTIVE
Above all, remember where you are going. Then you won’t get lost. Stage fright can make you think the worst of people. Your audience has come to hear you because they believe you have something worthwhile to say. They want you to succeed. Enjoy.