Now you understand this is the most important part of your preparation. That is the task to spend the
most time on, not the PowerPoint preparation. For every slide, write down either an example, a story,
a question or some humor. I call them your pillars (I prefer that term to bullet). I would
even recommend to prepare at least two pillars per slide, even if you speak of one only. The
pillars come in addition to your slides contents. They are part of your speech. They help to
illustrate your explanation on the subject. You will realize soon that they are the most important part
of your speech. Why ? you certainly know the subject that you develop in your presentation. But
finding and memorizing examples, stories, questions to the audience or humor are the most
difficult tasks. At least from my experience. But as they are part of your speech, they can always
evolve! They are what makes your presentation entertaining.

The more you prepare your speech, the more confident you will be. Building your pillars is the most
important task to start with after writing your main ideas.  Work your PowerPoint slides design after.
Also write down when you will be using the flipchart. You may sketch your flipchart explanation ie
diagrams.  The idea is not to sketch second by second your presentation but to build a map of your
speech : simply find ideas and write key words.  One of the next step will be to rehearse : standing and
presenting loudly : develop your speech live on basis of your draft.

How to build a story ?

Call past experiences to develop stories to tell the audience. All audiences love stories. You will
realize that many of your experiences can be adjusted to fit a specific subject. You will be more confident in delivering stories that you have experienced. Give precision on space and time : where
and when it happened. Describe with details so that people can start visualizing, like at the theatre.  

You should know by heart the start and the end of the presentation. The start must create the interest
from the audience. You may start with a strong statement "Anyone can become a leader" and then
give a story.

Rehearse by presenting loudly few times. Even if I have given many presentations, I always rehearse
before the next presentation. I remind myself of the stories, jokes, examples that I shall give.


Know your audience

Who are they ? What can be their expectations ? How old are they ? What is the size of the audience ?
Do they know each other ? Get to know your audience before meeting them by getting information in
advance : name of the persons, job titles, companies. Google to get information on the companies
participating into the presentation. That will help you to develop rapport.

One of the failure from speakers is that they know their subjects but they don't know their audience. If a
presentation fails, it is not the audience being not responsive, it is the speaker fault. Successful
communication is a two way process. The best speakers are the one developing rapport with their
audience.

That reminds me a story of one teacher at school. His students had decided to play with him. While the
teacher was writing on the wall, the students dropped as a joke their books on the floor all together.
The teacher just turned and then took one book from his desk. After saying the following to the
student "sorry I was late",  he let his book drop to the floor. This classroom was at the end of the
year the one achieving the highest scores in that school.


Prepare note cards 

Note cards are useful. Don't be shy to use them if you lack time memorizing the presentation, or if you
will not be able to use or move to your computer to read your PowerPoint notes. The note cards
should only show the structure and key words of your presentation. Of course you should
never be reading. The audience will accept that you hold those note cards in your hands.


Prepare yourself mentally

Visualize yourself presenting with success, standing proudly in front of the audience, presenting clearly
the contents, smiling, keeping eye contact will all the participants. It is the same approach like anyone
who wants to be positive, putting away negative thoughts. "Our doubt are traitors, and make us lose
the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt" William Shakespeare. The first principle of success is
to know what you want. The second principal is to believe that you can succeed, the "Yes I can"
attitude. Visualize yourself few days before the presentation. A good time for visualization is when you
are getting asleep at night. Plan now on your agenda when you will rehearse, take the time to think of
the presentation.

Plan some physical exercices just before presenting

Even experienced speakers do get stress before a presentation. Being stressed is natural. That does not
mean that you should not take actions. Keep time to relax before the first participants arrive. Go for a
5 minute walk. Move your shoulders up and down and breathe deeply (the stress normally accumulates
at the top of your back). Simply stretch your body as you normally like doing. It will take the tense
away.  


The set-up of the room

Most of the meeting rooms are set with classroom and theater style. Depending of the number of participants and the size of the room, do not forget about other possibilities such as :

ü  Cabaret style (round tables) : useful for group exercises.

ü  U shape : for smaller committees but it works well up to 15 participants. It can help a lot the
interaction during the presentation. It helps to create a group spirit.

Class room style is to prefer to theater style as it allows the participants to take notes comfortably.

Make sure that the slide projects widely on the screen and that you can read your slide with numbers
from the last row. The coffee break and meals should be set up outside the meeting room. Refresh the
meeting room at those times.


Next article : The moment of truth : how to present

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