The Ultimate Guide to Delivering Business Presentations

If you think delivering a powerful business presentation is about creating impressive PowerPoint slides, think again.

Your real work begins after you finish preparing your slides.

It doesn’t matter if you’re addressing your company’s senior management, a general audience or a team of venture capitalists; there’s a lot that goes into delivering an impactful business presentation.

Here are some crucial tips.

Don’t memorize

You’re delivering a presentation, not a recital.

Memorizing your content will rob your presentation of its authenticity, personality and the energy it needs to make an impact. It might even leave you helpless in case an unexpected question or an unforeseen event occurs.

You’ll be hard-pressed to adapt, which might throw you off your ”script.“ It’s best to rehearse your presentation but steer clear of memorizing it.

State the goal of your presentation at the start

When your audience understands the purpose of your business presentation from the start, they will pay more attention to what you have to say. This is because they can relate to your goal as you deliver your presentation.

There are two key advantages here. First, your listeners respond to the call to action more quickly. This could be getting them to approve your department’s budget or to give a go-ahead for a new initiative.

Second, stating your goal early on helps keep the presentation focused. You can address your goal rather than digressing from the core message.

Grab attention by mentioning startling facts

Start with little-known facts relevant to your topic. Back up your information with credible sources to drive the point home. It doesn’t matter if this statement is the main point of your message; it can act as a catalyst for your presentation.

Include powerful quotes when introducing a new idea

To maximize impact, add a quote or full-screen image before discussing a new topic. A strong quotation tends to stick in the minds of attendees. It also provides a powerful transition to possibly dry content like sales graphs.

Your choice of material should evoke the idea you want to introduce. If you want, include a few short phrases about the topic, but try to let the image or quotation do the talking.

Prepare your own questions for the end

Each business presentation needs to have a short, focused Q&A round at the end. Prepare a list of pertinent questions you can pose in case no queries come your way (it happens sometimes!).

Strategically incorporate them into your content. For example, you could say something along the lines of “You’re probably wondering …” or “What I usually get asked about is…”

Looking For More Tips?

Hall of Fame Speaker Steve Rizzo is a world-renowned motivational business speaker. His keynote inspirational speeches cover a wide range of topics relevant to corporate professionals from various industries.

Get in touch with Steve’s team to hire him for your next event.

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