Studies have shown that audiences retain structured presentations 40% easier than unstructured presentations. And establishing structure should always begin with answering the following questions:
Who is your audience?
What is the purpose of your presentation?
What are the three main points you want your audience to take away from your talk?
Our Ethos3 presentation philosophy is to aptly answer the following questions any audience member might have through the structure of our content. Here’s the flow we honor:
Craft your message so that you are satisfying the WIIFM component for your audience members. A consistent, general structure can be used across the board in several different industries for various agencies, departments, and organizations. Creating a compelling presentation is mostly about the quality of the content you provide within the structure and the way your present it to your audience. Below is fleshed out version of a typical Ethos3 presentation flow, as well as several tips and tricks to improve your structuring skills.
1. Introduction
The way you approach your introduction or beginning slides can depend on the amount of time you have to present your information. For example, a sales pitch might require a rapid relaying of your presentation to a certain company CEO. Therefore, you – as the presenter – would probably most efficiently dispel your message with a deductive structure, according to Chris Lysy of FreshSpectrum. This means that your pitch will start with the conclusion, which will be followed up with supporting evidence. On the other hand, a presenter delivering a speech about how his or her idea will spark change would best serve the audience by beginning the presentation with a look at the evidence or the main points and concluding with a statement indicating what all of the evidence should mean for everyone listening.
2. Body
When structuring the body of your presentation, utilize the Mutually Exclusive Collectively Exhaustive (MECE) test. Pursuant to the McKinsey style of structuring, the MECE test ensures that ideas are not repeated unnecessarily throughout the presentation. It also helps you determine if the ideas contained within each main point are comprehensive and tell the entire story you are aiming to describe. This test is especially vital for those presentations that encompass a large amount of information. At Ethos3, we encourage presenters to limit their main points to 3 separate elements or concepts and only display one idea per slide to limit the cognitive load on an audience. A task that can seem daunting will be much more manageable to a presenter who employs the MECE test when grouping their content. Use the MECE test to break up the content you are planning to present into comprehensive and distinct points that will be easily digested by your audience.
3. Conclusion
You spent time and exerted effort applying the MECE test and editing the flow of your content into a logical format. Further support that structure by reviewing the points you presented throughout the body of your presentation before you close it. According to the primacy and recency effects, audiences will remember the first and last things you say to them – so it is worth taking a few extra seconds to introduce your ideas at the beginning and repeat them at the end. They are your main thoughts for a reason after all. Then, just to add a little cherry on top of your powerful presentation sundae, include one or a few call to actions to really get your audience involved in the success of your idea, product, etc. According to Hubspot, a personalized call to action will convert 42% more people than a generic and broad call to action.
Although the format outlined above is standard, lacking frills and fluff, it’s the most effective structure to use in any presentation. It’s straightforward enough for any presenter to follow and it’s universality makes it a perfect structure to aid any audience in comprehending your material. For more information about content structure, read the following articles:
Organization and Preparation Tips
