How to give a memorable presentation

Have you ever sat in a talk or a presentation — whether it was at work, school, or a conference — and walked away at the end with absolutely no idea what it was really about? That is a presenter’s worst nightmare! The good news is that this is simple to avoid with a little bit of preparation. This blog will cover three techniques effective presenters use when delivering their talk to maximize your retention.

Today, we’ll be focusing more on the organization of the content rather than delivery or visuals. Both delivery and visuals come together to also help make a good presentation, but these should be secondary to the content and the message itself.

Tip 1: Set your context immediately

Your audience should know what problem you’re solving or what you’ll be showing them at the very start of the presentation. There will be time to tell jokes, build rapport, and riff on your ideas but first they need to understand how listening to you will help them. Why should they spend their time listening to you?

Tip 2: Share your call to action or take away at the start

Once you’ve laid out the problem statement or the amazing thing your audience is about to see, tell your audience what they’re going to learn. This is important because it is the lens through which they’re going to filter all of the information you are sharing. This should be your presentation described in a nutshell: a few sentences max.

Tip 3: Restate the essentials

Once you’ve delivered the main body of your content, it’s time to wrap up your presentation in a neat little bow! Remind your audience about the problem you just taught them to solve. Repeat your call to action or the big idea. Every single person listening should be able to walk away being able to say: “I learned more about [my particular problem]. I learned how to solve it. Here’s what I should do.”

Wrapping this up

Every person processes communication in their own way. How an individual perceives, retains, and acts on information is completely different from the next. You can help streamline this process by giving your audience hints as to what you'd like them to know, remember, and do. Get these ideas in their head early — before their mind starts to wander — and you’ll have a much better shot and delivering a memorable presentation.

Set your context and tell them the big idea right at the start. Restate the ideas and tell them what they should do at the end. This will wrap your content up in a neat little bow.

Give this a shot and let me know how it works! If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email or connect with me on social media @CountdownCommunication