How To Prepare For A WOW Presentation

01. Agenda

• What is your goal?

  What is the topic?

• Discuss it with a representative from the audience in advance.

• The following outline is the most common agenda in business presentations –

  1. Introductions

  2. Challenges (including some current news related to i

  3. Effect of these challenges on business

  4. Potential solutions

  5. Evidence ( a pre-recorded demo, video, success story with quotes)

  6. Benefits to business from these solutions (quantified ROI study results, TCO)

  7. Your personal real world experience

  8. Links to useful resources

  9. Summary

  10. Q/A

02. Audience

• Get the names & titles of the attendees and look up their profile on LinkedIn.

• What is their level of understanding based on their experience and profile.

• Do you expect a hostile participant? Is there someone who is your friendly champion?

• Does your audience have any specific areas of interest and questions. Request these details in advance saying that “it would help you to make the presentation to be relevant for them”.

• Will anybody participate in your presentation remotely – phone, webex or video conferencing?

  • If there are remote attendees then some visual elements may need to be reconsidered – showing video over webex does not work, you may need to practice whiteboarding using webex tools etc.

  • For remote attendees you may need to send them the presentation in advance since they may not be able to view your slides.

  • Include screenshots of your demo in case the remote attendees do not have internet connection and can not watch your live demo.

03. Alignment

• What are the titles and agenda of other other presenters before you (or after you)?

• Ask your contacts if there are some key messages which resonate most with the participants.

• Look up the company’s website and understand how the company positions its products and services. Use similar vocabulary and words in your presentation.

• Theme: What is the theme for your presentation? Some examples include globalisation, competition, innovation or operational excellence. If you make your theme memorable and simple – and your entire presentation consistent with your theme – your audience will rememeber you just as they remember brands, slogans, catch phrases and logos. Otherwise they will forget your presentation 2 minutes after you present.