• Make the "big picture" clear. In the first few minutes your audience--even those that know nothing about your company or products--should have a very clear understanding of the big picture, especially “what’s in it for them”.
• Be prepared. Go through the whole talk and figure out how you're going to say what you need to say. It is helpful to practice in front of friends and co-workers.
• Avoid jargon. Remember that the audience may not have the background you do on the subject.
• Keep it brief. Listeners can easily get lost in a long list of features. Anyone who wants to know the details can ask. Focus your talk on clearly presenting a limited number of ideas that really make your point.
• Be persuasive. As you design your presentation, ask yourself what you want to convince your audience to understand, feel or believe.
• Know your topic. Engage your audience. Make eye contact and talk directly to them. Practice your talk until you know it well, so you won't stumble or wonder what slide is coming next.
• Notes are OK. There's nothing wrong with having some notes to refer to in case you get stuck, or a list of slides, etc. Just don't use them as a crutch.
• Be natural. The people in the audience are your colleagues, so talk to them as fellow businesspeople.
• Be enthusiastic. If you sound bored with your subject, your audience will be bored, too. Show them with your voice and manner how excited you are about the topic.
• Be heard. Breathing from your diaphragm and pitching your voice a little lower than normal can help.
• Keep the graphics simple. Use standard, simple fonts and plain backgrounds. Black or dark blue on white, light gray or light tan, or white on dark blue. Use animation only if needed for emphasis, not for entertainment.
• Minimize text. Your audience will spend its time reading lots of text instead of listening to what you're saying. Just a few key words will help your audience get the message. Text must be readable from the back of the room.
• Use pictures. Wouldn't it be easier to explain that complicated technology if you had a diagram? Plus, photos and drawings add life to your presentation.
• Proofread carefully. Use the spell checker built into PowerPoint, but also read through every slide carefully before the presentation.
• Make your visuals look professional. Hire a graphic designer if needed.
• Test your presentation in the seminar room on the equipment you’ll use at least the day before you give it. Be sure your images look right, your text shows up, any videos or animations work, your fonts look right.
• Keep your file size small. PowerPoint presentations with lots of images get big fast. To keep your file to a reasonable size (so it loads and saves quickly and can be e-mailed if necessary) reduce the size of your images.
• Be sure your movies will play. If you have a movie, video clip or animation inserted into your PowerPoint, keep it in the same folder as the presentation and move the whole folder at once.

For more information on how I can support you in giving successful seminars, call 717-368-5143.