CM April 2020

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Modern finance leaders take an active role in shaping their organizations’ growth initiatives. Is your organization armed with the best modern finance solutions to make data-driven decisions? Better Data. Better Insights. Better Performance. Learn more here: dnb.co.uk/modernfinance © Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. 2020 Advancing the credit profession / www.cicm.com / April 2020 / PAGE 34
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT STAND AND DELIVER How do you make your presentation stand out from the rest? AUTHOR – Clive Hawkins Clive Hawkins YOU have been invited to speak on a topic and now need to decide what you are going to say. Not always an easy task - how often have you sat through presentations and been bombarded with slides which are crammed with content and contain complex graphs or tables of data that don’t relate to your interests. This ‘death by powerpoint’ is not the experience you had hoped for! So, how do you avoid repeating this when crafting your own presentation? START FROM THE END Whether you are producing a presentation from scratch, adapting a previous version or using one that has already been prepared, you need to go through the same process – determine your audience’s needs, provide engaging content, use eye-catching imagery and link it with a compelling narrative. To help with this approach, think about how you read a book. You are introduced to the story at the start, discover more information in subsequent chapters and reach the end with a memorable finale; hopefully inspiring you to read the author’s other works. To achieve this experience, writers often know how they want the story to end from the outset, and then work backwards. This helps them structure their writing and ensure every part of their book is aligned to take the reader on a journey and deliver the perfect ending. This approach can equally work well for developing a presentation. THE WORDS YOU USE Once you have decided on your presentation structure, you need to consider content. Beware - this is where information overload can creep in! You need to reduce your subject knowledge into short, meaningful and memorable phrases. This can be difficult as there is a tendency to include vast amounts of information in a presentation ‘for completeness’, which can lead to an influx of additional content and data. In reality, it will be hard enough for an audience to retain more than a few key points from your presentation so don’t pad out your delivery unless it is absolutely necessary. PAINT A PICTURE The phrase, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ is never better exemplified than in a presentation. Powerful imagery can be emotive, thought-provoking and memorable. It can help convey information, enhance a key point and create an ambience in the room to support what you are saying. Yet, all too often images are used that are too complex, not relevant or are simply dull! Only show a picture if it is going to enhance what you are saying. Visual aids can be an alternative to showing images. A great example is shown in the masterclass TED Talk given by Bill Gates to raise awareness of malaria and public health in Africa: https:// www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_mosquitos_ malaria_and_education. STRUCTURED COMMUNICATION Once you have firmed up on the structure, words and imagery you wish to use, this needs to be pulled together into the presentation. This is where PowerPoint slides come into their own. They are an invaluable resource for presenters to show graphic or technical information and use the multi-media capabilities to bolster credibility and professionalism, as long as they are used correctly! Slides should complement - not consume - your presentation and only be used to accentuate what you are saying. The choice of font, type size and use of colour needs to be taken into account when designing slides to achieve maximum audience impact. Above all, be aware that whatever you show on a screen will distract your audience. This is fine if you want to show them something; if you don’t, quickly move on or blank out the slide whilst you are talking, to retain the audience’s attention on you. In summary, the more you focus on crafting a powerful presentation, the greater the likelihood you will satisfy an audience’s needs, communicate your memorable key points effectively, and provide an all-round enjoyable experience. Clive Hawkins is Senior Associate at Spoken Word Communications. clive@spokenwordgroup.co.uk spokenwordgroup.com Advancing the credit profession / www.cicm.com / April 2020 / PAGE 35
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CM April 2020

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