A presentation can sneak up on you, especially if you are the type of person who likes to wait until the last minute to tackle a project. It’s understandable that you might be busy with life and don’t always have time to start work on your speech right away, but that isn’t an excuse for giving a presentation that looks thrown together.
Here are a couple of shortcuts for the slackers out there that will cut down on your preparation time.
Roughing It
Tackle a presentation like you would any other written project and make a rough draft first. Knowing what you want to say and how you want to present it before you even fire up your computer will make the actual production much easier. Rough out your slides on index cards or a basic storyboard so you can write your first draft of your speech out on the back. This way you can get what you want to say and what you want to show worked out before committing them to slides.
Templates
You may want to think about keeping a template slideshow on your flash drive at all times. You can also go back and edit previous slideshows, changing information and images to create entirely new material. This can save you a lot of time, especially if you have a hard time grasping the technical aspects of setting up a presentation.
But if you do go the template route, you should spend some time and make your own templates instead of using the examples that come with PowerPoint or Keynote. Your audience has seen these pre-loaded templates countless times. Designing your own blank slideshow will allow any last-minute presentations to still have your own personal flair. You might want to invest in making a few different styled templates to have on hand so things don’t get stale quickly.
Time Management
The best way to save on time is to divide up your tasks and do a little each day. There are two advantages to doing it this way. Number one, you don’t have to worry about doing everything last minute. Number two, you are actively thinking about your presentation for longer, which makes it much easier for you to rehearse your speech and familiarize yourself with key concepts. Set aside twenty minutes a day and tackle your presentation one thing at a time and you will find the process much less demanding.
Staying organized while preparing for a speech will give you the appearance of having spent countless hours slaving over your presentation. Your audience will be impressed and you will be cool as a cucumber, having gotten everything done in a timely manner.
