Light Up Your Audience with Five main Components of Effective Business Presentation

All over the world thousands of business presentations are being given every minute of the day. Up and down the country, in offices, conference rooms and hotels, companies spend vast sums of money hiring rooms and projection equipment, employing staff, paying their expenses. The delegates spend their time and money attending these events. But how many of these presentations are effective? How many deliver the desired result? How many change the way people think?

While it is an absolute truth that you can't influence all of the people all of the time, the sad fact is, that for many presentations, the result is a complete waste of time or even worse they have a negative affect on the delegates.

So how do you give an Effective Presentation? What makes the difference between an average presentation and an Effective Presentation?

The Main Components

There are five main components of a presentation:

• The Objective

• The Speaker

• The Room

• The Audience

• The Material

Think OSRAM and consider each component in turn to maximise the effectiveness of your presentation.

The Objective

What do you want the audience to do as a result of your presentation? This should be quantifiable and measurable. Remember to use a call to action at the end of you presentation to reinforce your objective.

The Speaker

Like it or not, you will be judged on your performance. So overcome any fear/nervousness or turn it to your advantage by using the energy generated by the adrenaline to add more power to your presentation.

The Room

Ensure you make the most of the physical environment. Keep it tidy and make sure everyone can see you and the screen (assuming you are using one) and can hear you clearly. Make sure that you know how to operate any equipment. Don't forget to turn off your mobile and the screensaver on your laptop.

The Audience

Probably the most important part of any presentation. Without them you would be talking to yourself. You should know as much about them as possible: Who are they, how many of them are expected, what are they interested in, what do they want to hear, what is in it for them?

The Material

It is surprising how fast the time goes when you get up and start talking. In a 30 to 45 minute presentation you will only have the time to convey between three and five main points. So keep it simple! If you can't state your central message in one or two sentences, you probably haven't narrowed your topic enough, or clarified your thoughts enough.

1. Decide on three to five key points.

2. Develop supporting evidence for each key point. Include statistics, stories or examples.

3. Develop a strong introduction and powerful conclusion.

4. Use visual aids that help to communicate your message.

5. Perform the presentation with enthusiasm, variety and passion.

OSRAM (Objective - Speaker - Room - Audience - Message)

Put them together correctly and you will turn on a light in people heads. Brighten up their lives. Get your audience to see and understand things, about which they were previously in the dark.