Your presentation content is the core of your message, and can either be a delicious treat or an overcooked horror. It deserves all of the love and attention of a professional baker. Here are some content tips that will have your audience saying “yum!”
The Right Recipe
Your presentation should accomplish a singular goal. Will it educate? Change minds? Inspire? Before you begin to develop your work, ensure that the core recipe is sound. Have a single, clear message for your audience. Consider writing an outline as you would with an essay, but replace your main statement with the presentation content goal. Have a 30 minute brainstorming session where you think up all of the supporting facts/information to reach that goal, then place those facts appropriately within the outline/recipe.
Bake at 350
This is where the real work begins, where the batter becomes a cake. When you sit down to flesh out your outline, set a timer for hour-long increments to get started. Unplug from the internet and even music if possible; you will need to hear the rhythm of your words as you reread them. As you write, don’t bother editing any of the content for the first draft. Just start at the beginning, build a core argument, restate what you’ve said, and close the presentation powerfully with a call-to-action.
Cool Thoroughly
Before you begin editing your presentation, give yourself break so you can approach the content with fresh eyes. Spend some time reading a useful editing guide, or just getting your mind off the presentation. When you come back, embrace that your first, second, or third draft isn’t the final cake. Read your content aloud, ask for help from a friend, and ensure that the flow is correct and it didn’t flatten in the oven. Writing may be the “work” of content building, but editing is the art.
Frosting
Ensure that your content looks beautiful on the screen by following some of our design tips, which can be mastered even at a beginning level. The trick is minimal text on each slide, which you can achieve by getting rid of your bullet points, making the font larger, and putting fewer words on the screen. If you need to stretch out your deck with additional slides, it will look better overall. No cake is complete without a little frosting that beautifies, just as no presentation is complete without a bit of visual-minded content adjusting.
With the right foundation, your content can become the three-layer chocolate cake with sprinkles that your audience craves. All you have to do is work on some writing/baking basics.
Question: How can you strengthen your presentation content?
