At some point, as an entrepreneur, you’re going to have to make a business presentation. Whether you are sharing your vision with your employees, trying to sell an audience through a webinar, or looking for new investors, your presentation matters.
So, as you put together your business presentation, here are five tips to keep in mind.
1. Tell a Story
No, your business presentation doesn’t have to be a work of fiction. But you should try to connect with your audience — whoever that is.
Take your audience on a journey. When presenting to potential investors, help them see the story of success and what it will bring. Get your audience emotionally involved and you will be more likely to convince them.
2. Keep it Simple
Don’t overwhelm the audience with a lot of points. Try and keep your presentation to between three and five main points. When presenting to others, you don’t want to try to include everything. Instead, choose out powerful points that you want to make. Keep your business presentation as simple and straightforward as possible while still bring your audience with you on a journey.
3. Know Your Stuff
No, you don’t want to try to cram everything into a single presentation. However, that doesn’t excuse from knowing your stuff. There’s a good chance that you’ll need to answer questions at the end of your business presentation.
That means you need to know your stuff. You might not have every figure in a presentation, but you should be able to provide it — or at least have an idea of where to find it very quickly in your supplementary materials.
Review pertinent information beforehand until you know it very well. Not only will it help you answer questions later, but it will also give you more confidence during your presentation so you refer to your notes less and connect with your audience more.
4. Speak Naturally
Don’t try to sound smart during your business presentation. Instead, speak naturally as possible. Only make small tweaks to your normal conversational style. You want to sound approachable and competent. Avoid swearing and vulgarity (unless you know it fits the style you’re going for), and stay away from big or unusual words.
The idea with a presentation is to communicate clearly. Make sure you’re doing that without sounding like you’re talking down to your audience. It can take a little practice, but when you’re comfortable with the material and concepts, you should be able to explain them in a friendly and professional way.
5. Don’t Put Everything on the Slides
We’re all used to using slides and visuals in our presentations. However, you want to be careful. Don’t put everything on the slides. Display a few points and use the slides to show compelling images or figures, but don’t cram all the information on the slides. You should be telling the information, with the slides supporting you.
If all you’re doing is reading off the slides, it gets boring and it’s something that your audience could do themselves.
In the end, a business presentation is about ideas. Describe your ideas, and how you can turn them into reality, and you’re more likely to succeed.