Making Your Business Presentation Work

How are your business presentation skills? This can be a difficult question to answer, because on the one hand you may think that you are one of the more skilled presenters on the circuit, but your clients may think otherwise. You might also be excellent at compiling a presentation but less than scintillating when it comes to its delivery, or the other way around.

Improve your presentation skills and the standard of your delivery is certain to rise. How do you go about doing this so that you can increase sales and number of clients?

One of the first things to be aware of is the fact that if you rely on a computer presentation, you should avoid the cliche's inherent in using software such as Microsoft PowerPoint. If your idea of a really excellent presentation is to fire up PowerPoint, select a highly colourful theme and then include reams of text interspersed with as much Clip Art as you can find, all finished off with a liberal helping of animations, transitions and sound effects, then step away from the keyboard now. Each of these is not just a cliche'; it's almost counted as a sin today.

Almost half a billion computers in the world today have PowerPoint. Are you going to simply melt into the background or stand out? Imagine it from your clients' point of view � they may well have sat through several presentations this week. If they see another PowerPoint presentation the first thing that they are likely to do is draw direct comparisons between your presentation and the other couple of dozen they have seen lately. The second thing they are likely to do is to switch off and start compiling shopping lists in their heads, or playing solitaire on their laptops. Either way, it's a waste of your time and theirs, and a waste of an opportunity.

There are companies who will make custom made presentations for you which do not fall into this trap. For example, presentations created using Macromedia Flash are very impressive, and the introduction of a range of media, such as video, will also make a big difference.

But then what would you do if the power failed, or the computer crashed? Perhaps you forgot the disk, or your password? Maybe your laptop's battery failed, or the file has been corrupted? The projector light bulb might fail, or there simply might not be a power socket anywhere nearby. These are the hazards and problems which have faced countless entrepreneurs when the time has come to give their presentation.

Not only does it frequently leave people flustered but all too often they find that they are simply unable to complete the presentation. Without their computer and their beloved PowerPoint slides, they cannot present their own product or service.

This reveals the computer presentation for what it is � a crutch! If your business presentation is a crutch on which you lean in order to help you get through an otherwise nervous or challenging ordeal, then it is being used in entirely the wrong way. Your computer slideshow or files should be a tool which you use as part of your presentation, not as a substitute for being able to present your product yourself.

Remember what the most important aspect of your business presentation is: the client. This should be about them, and about helping them to achieve a particular goal. Knowing what the client's needs are, and an understanding of how your business product or service can solve their problem or improve their performance is the central aspect of your time with them. It is not the cool animation on slide three or the nifty little bit of clipart jumping up and down on slide eight � it is the message which you need to get across to your clients.

A presentation is a communication of a single idea or message, and this should make it clear to the client how it will solve their problem, improve their performance or reduce their expenditure. Once this has been achieved, your job is virtually done. Use a computer by all means, but as a tool, not a crutch, and make sure that neither you nor your presentation stands between your client and the core message.

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