The last few weeks I have been tasked with making a few presentations. I have been a little bit out of practice and I needed to re-learn and catch-up on the current development to delivering powerful presentations that starts and ends with a bang.
This process has not been easy. At the beginning the critic was too tough, but with time I have learnt to pick everything that is said as a learning point. See, I am very lucky I had a team working with me to ensure we deliver the said presentations once and while doing so close the deal. So we practiced until everything was perfect. Everyday changing someone in the critic audience. This has been one of the best learning experiences for me.
How do You structure Your Presentation
Today I will dwell with the beginning and the end. I am also attaching a few video links on youtube that aided us in a few decisions that we made. One thing to note is that when presenting you have to capture people's attention right at the beginning. If you are selling something to them ensure they can see the value right from the start.
That is how we came up with newspaper clippings with a futuristic approach. We were aiming to tell the story our solution would have accomplished in the future if it was adopted by the client. So the client had a story to relate with. starting with this saw us capture at least 80% of the audience. Most curious as to how we arrived at that headline. And that was a beginning with a bang.
The presenter should be able to articulate this story. It is not only enough that you are presenting a powerful beginning story. Make sure that it is well articulated. Keep your balance, exude confidence, maintain eye contact. More importantly show that you have already bought in to your solution. If you do not believe in it, other people will not believe in it too.
Remember: people can tell when you think what you are selling is total BS.
I liked how this video explains the opening and the end with real life examples.
This video was so informative we watched it around five times.
How Do you create Newspapers clippings
- Using a designer: If you have a designer who is apt they can create this for you
- Online free services or premium services: A free service will create a simple clipping while the premium service allows you to create a more customized clipping.
Example of online services can be found here here here
Using an online free service
Lets create a clipping using Free newspaper generator
The beginning page
Now we will create an interesting clipping with a picture and a few words, Including a photo that communicates and most likely to create a hook at the beginning of the presentation.
Fill the fields in the online form with the picture you want to use and click on make it. Note if you wanted to do more on your clipping you could go for a premium service. I haven't tried it yet.
And the outcome, this did not please me too much.
The winner Online service
Though a bit technical. makemynewspaper.com worn my heart. I am still learning how to use it . You can create big photos here. Create an account for more access. I have used it for five days so I do not know if you have to pay for it yet.
I enjoyed using this service and it provided us with very wonderful clippings that we included on the presentation.
As I keep learning I will keep sharing what I discover. I am still working to become good at this and I hope writing about it helps.
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