Follow these ten tips to keep focus during your presentation. They can help you maintain your flow and exercise control over the audience. Try them out at your next team meeting or pitch event!
THE SHORT VERSION SUMMARY: Top Ten Elements to Help You Maintain Focus.
1.) Keep the presentation as minimal as necessary. Not as short as possible, just limited to what your time permits.
2.) Your presentation has to be easy to remember. Anything that is too complex or complicated, will be forgotten.
3.) Your audience has to understand what you are talking about. We’re not saying to dumb it down to the lowest common denominator… Just, keep it simple. Avoid terms or jargon that are unfamiliar to those not in your field.
4.). Your deck should be aesthetically pleasing. Your deck should be easy to read and look at. Symmetry, generous margins, and stress free for your audience to look at.
5.) Distractions can hurt you. Avoid rainbow of colors, or many spinning images and transitions. Remember, the focus should be on you as a speaker. If it’s not on you, then it should be on your deck…and only because you want them to look there. If it’s not on those, then you’re doing something wrong…
6.) Keep it legible. Avoid small fonts or overloading the audience with too much information.
7.) No mistakes! Keep those little red or blue squiggles out of your presentation!
8.) Balance images and text Rule of thumb: 70% pictures, 30% text.
9.) Watch your timing. There are three time slots you need to be very wary of:
I.) Right before lunch. (Be short)
II.) Right after lunch. (Be entertaining.)
III.) Right before everyone goes home. (Be short and entertaining.)
10.) Entertain the audience. Funny jokes or amusing stories break the ice or reset the audience’s attention span. Just, please keep in professional. Don’t risk isolating your audience with anything improper.
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