How to Prepare a Great Presentation

Preparing for any public speaking engagement, whether a teaching situation or as part of a business meeting, is the most important step to effective presentations. Without preparation you will struggle to get your point across.

Here are some tips, techniques and suggestions to consider when preparing for a presentation.

Decide what Type of Presentation you are Giving.

There are two main types of speeches; an informative speech or a persuasive speech. An informative speech is what I would give if I wanted to inform my audience of the benefits of using a specially trained doula as labor support during births. A persuasive speech however, is what I would give to convince my audience that they should use a doula as a labor support person at their birth. Certainly there will be information conveyed during a persuasive speech because my presentation will have supporting facts and data, but the goal of a persuasive speech is to change someone's mind about something. The main thing to remember is that you need to decide what type of presentation you are giving and keep that focus consistent throughout the speech without changing course half-way through.

Clarify the Main Point of Your Presentation.

This main point would be the two or three sentence summary of the entire presentation that you would tell someone in 20 or 30 seconds if they asked you what your speech was about. Put the main point of your speech down in writing and make sure all the content in your presentation is consistent with that main point. If you cannot state your main point in a single breath you need to work on polishing it more. All the material for your presentation will center around your main point and it will probably be stated both in your opening and closing portions so make it good!

Know the Audience Attending Your Presentation.

My sample presentation about the benefits of having a doula present for labor support would be vastly different if I were speaking to a room full of doctors persuading them to hire full-time doulas than if I were speaking with first time parents as part of a childbirth education class. You should evaluate the audience ahead of time if at all possible.

When evaluating the audience of your presentation consider some of the following questions: Who is my audience? How many are there? What do they want to get out of my presentation? When is the benefit for them to listen to me? What is their knowledge level on this topic already?

Define Your Presentation Objectives.

What will your audience be able to do after your presentation? These objectives should be concrete and measurable. For example, for my sample doula presentation my objectives might include having class participants be able:

To list the benefits of having a doula at the birth.

To create a list of questions to ask a doula during the initial interview.

Having a set list of objectives will solidify and clarify the material for you and help you organize your thoughts in a clear way.

Practice Your Presentation!

Practice giving your speech from the outline. Practice your presentation in front of a mirror, video tape or group of friends. Tape record the presentation and listen to it. Be sure to time the presentation as well so you know whether you are working well in the time frame allotted for your speech. I cannot emphasize to you enough the importance of practicing your presentation ahead of time.

The parts of the presentation that you should be practicing extra on are the opening, the closing, the visual aids and the transitions. See the article about creating a presentation outline and using visual aids effectively for more details. You could go through these crucial parts of the presentation dozens of times and only run through the entire speech once or twice. Often, the main body of the speech is the easy part and it is the presentation opener, the transitions and the closing portion that give public speakers the most difficulties.

Anytime you have to speak in front of an audience, whether it's teaching a small informal group or lecturing in front of a group of peers, preparation will make the task easier for you as well as making for a better overall presentation.

This article is part of a four part series on speech making and effective presentations: How to Prepare a Great Presentation, How to Create an Effective Presentation Outline, How to Use Effective Visual Aids and How to Deliver a Great Presentation.