Five ways to make your presentation better
Originally published on seths.blog by Seth Godin
- Make it shorter. No extra points for filling your time.
- Be really clear about what it’s for. If the presentation works, what will change? Who will be changed? Will people take a different course of action because of your work? If not, then why do you do a presentation?
- Don’t use slides as a teleprompter. If you have details, write them up in a short memo and give it to us after the presentation.
- Don’t sing, don’t dance, don’t tell jokes. If those three skills are foreign to you, this is not a good time to try them out.
- Be here now. The reason you’re giving a presentation and not sending us a memo is that your personal presence, your energy and your humanity add value. Don’t hide them. Don’t use a prescribed format if that format doesn’t match the best version of you.
And a bonus: the best presentation is one you actually give. Don’t hide. Don’t postpone it. We need to hear from you.
A presentation is expensive. It’s many of us, in real time, in sync, all watching you do your thing. If you’re going to do it live, make it worth it. For us and for you.
