100 Great Presentation Ideas
Patrick Forsyth
ISBN: 978-981-4276-91-7

IDEA 1: The overall opportunity
As was said in the Introduction, presentations are important. To make no bones about it, they put you in an exposed position. You stand up, start talking and the next few minutes can have a profound effect on not only whatever outcome you are aiming at (will your audience agree with you, for instance), but on your job or even career. Effective presenting is a “career skill”* and also one that provides real opportunities; indeed a presentation has been described as the business equivalent of an open goal.

Being a good presenter can achieve things and take you places. But presenting is an activity that is also:
• Fragile
• Subject to detail

Small changes, maybe only a poorly chosen phrase, word or even emphasis, can make the difference between something going well or turning into a disaster. Similarly, small differences can boost a presentation, adding a stronger emphasis, an improved impression or real power that makes ultimate overall success more likely.

The idea
The first idea here, one linked to all the others and affecting
everything about how well your presentations will go across, is simply to resolve not to attempt to wing it. Study of the matter and preparation for individual presentations makes all the difference. And details matter.

In practice
• Take an interest in what makes presentations work (and fail).
• Remember that it is not a question of one single magic formula, but of letting effective details mount up.
• Always prepare and think through what you are going to do.
• Resolve to learn from experience – your own and that of others.

The 99 other great business ideas featured in this book:
2 Reading isn’t speaking
3 A final rehearsal?
4 Your “presenting profile”
5 Setting objectives
6 An overall structure
7 Provide your own experience
8 You and your shadow
9 May the best man win
10 It is not just nerves
11 The right sort of crib
12 Time well spent
13 A bear of very little brain
14 Putting your message together
15 Speaker’s notes: a suggested format
16 Maximizing the effectiveness of preparation
17 A guiding hand
18 I think, therefore I fail…
19 When the order of the day is mob handed
20 First impressions last
21 Getting off to a good start
22 You want me to do what?
23 Speaking in tongues
24 The merits of a third column
25 Again and again and…
26 Wired for sound
27 Organizing the environment
28 Many, many, many…
29 Clear intentions
30 A handy glass
31 The audience
32 Every audience is different
33 The wonders of “B”
34 Taking questions
35 With a song in your…
36 A little sunshine
37 Hello to you, and hello to you too
38 Two important rules
39 Breaking the ice
40 Selecting the words you use
41 Sex… and other unmentionables
42 Some putting power
43 Take heed of the movies
44 Putting across the main content
45 That’s funny, not
46 The sound of silence
47 Clear as a bell
48 The nature of numbers and number “blindness”
49 When people don’t agree
50 Combating objections
51 A simple idea
52 Gaining acceptance
53 An idea that’s what?
54 Engaging with the audience
55 I really must apologize…
56 Clear and memorable
57 On time
58 Some nifty footwork
59 Something unforeseen
60 Oops!
61 Are you standing comfortably?
62 Making a gesture
63 Using your voice
64 It’s all in the breathing
65 Can you hear me at the back?
66 Ready, steady, go
67 The eyes have it
68 Pointing the way
69 Here’s a funny thing
70 To, fro and back again
71 And fi nally, fi nally, fi nally...
72 A fi nal fl ourish
73 The last word
74 No thanks
75 Anyone have anything to say?
76 After the sigh of relief
77 Getting into the habit
78 First up
79 The blind leading the blind
80 Worth a thousand words
81 Anything and everything
82 Beware gremlins
83 Can you see from the back?
84 Not on screen
85 Write tight
86 Bite-sized and manageable
87 A gesture with knobs on
88 Single purpose, right purpose
89 Pictures, photos and cartoons
90 Picture this, not
91 You cannot know it all
92 It takes all sorts
93 Draw them a diagram
94 Crucial modern technology
95 When to picture what
96 Multipurpose, minimal effectiveness
97 With a little help from your friends
98 Shaping up for success
99 Seeing is believing
100 A final idea