Feedback for designing a professional presentation
As part of a learning process of Effective presentation, it is important to know the common mistakes in designing presentations. One of the processes we do in the presentation delivery course is to go over the drafts that the students prepare together and learn from the process.
Here is an example of the process done by a spokeswoman from the financial field who was required to present to her organization an analysis of the advertising budgets. She has very strong insights regarding the costs of advertising in old and new tools, and the presentation is designed to convey them in a concentrated manner within 5 minutes of discussion.
It is recommended for anyone who wants to make a presentation to first look at the attached presentation, make notes and suggestions for yourself and only then look at our comments. It is important to emphasize that the comments here are intended to raise the presentation on two levels: from a beginner to an effective presentation. To reach higher levels it will take another 2-4 rounds of feedback, but our rule at school is to build the process gradually. Even so, as you will see, there is a lot of work on the presentation. But you only learn from work!
Draft presentation - digital marketing
Advantages of the presentation: simplicity, consistency, size and visuality
Well done for the quick start, and as a first draft it's perfectly reasonable. There is of course a lot of work, though
Let's start with the good things in the presentation:
- Minimalistic text on most slides. It will be easy for the audience to follow the message and it will be easy for the speaker to use it to maintain the continuity of the presentation
- Consistency in design: the text is in a uniform font, a uniform design and in most slides also a uniform size. This prevents distraction and makes it easier for the eye and the audience to focus primarily on the content.
- There are large graphics in most of the slides - this means that they are interesting to the eye and the audience can enjoy them.
- Slide 5 includes important and relevant information that not only helps to understand the state of advertising in the market, but also proves that the speaker has practical knowledge from the real world.
The things in the presentation that need to be improved
The first and most important thing is that the purpose of the presentation is not clear, and from this it follows that it will not be very effective in achieving results. For example, at the moment the presentation ends with the words 'Thank you for listening' which of course are broadcast to the audience from whom nothing is required. Therefore, it is recommended to start by thinking about a call to action and create a closing slide that directs the audience to act. From that moment it will be easier to direct the rest of the presentation to understand the message.
The next step is to make sure the structure of the presentation supports the call to action. For example, if the goal is to convince listeners to advertise digitally through influencers then the topic should get more than a single slide. Alternatively, if the goal is to convince to lower investment in traditional advertising, then it is important that this be the message in the last slides and not to waste time on the issue of influencers.
Once we have the content organized, the graphics need to be upgraded to enhance the message. At the moment slide 5 is strong, slide 6 is cool and creates an atmosphere, but the other slides are very general and don't mean anything. You need graphics to convey the message because otherwise the speaker will have to explain everything herself (which will take time and attention. There aren't many of them!). For example, in order for the audience to understand what traditional digital advertising is, the speaker will be required to explain basic concepts such as banners and search results. It will take at least a minute and maybe two to explain these concepts, which will leave 2-3 minutes for the rest of the content. It is better to show these things on the screen instead of wasting words on them.
The last thing to do at this stage is to strengthen self-marketing: here are 4 questions that the last (and first) slide should answer:
- Who is the speaker?
- What is your connection to the subject?
- Why are we supposed to take your stuff seriously?
- what do you want from us
Once these things are closed, a second draft can be uploaded to arrive at a presentation that will produce a truly powerful talk.
