An explain article

Over 30 years ago

Developers at the company Forethought tinkered with a program called "Presenter," which was intended to replace the overhead projector forever. In April 1987, the first version hit the market. Not even three months later, Microsoft took notice and swiftly acquired Forethought. A year later, version 2.0 was already out, and for the first time, colors were supported. Today, the program is known worldwide and has fundamentally revolutionized corporate communication. The program I'm talking about is the famously notorious PowerPoint.

Even though there are now various presentation programs, the principle remains the same. A speaker's oral presentation is supplemented by visual elements. Images, graphics, diagrams – any elements can be shown or hidden at the push of a button. And this principle is precisely the problem.

The creation process begins and ends with the slides, while the speech, which should actually form the basis of a presentation, increasingly takes a backseat. Visually, one becomes increasingly lost in detailed work and elaborate designs.

In terms of content, more and more significance is lost or one remains stuck at the knowledge level of past decades. First an agenda, then all 20 locations, the company history, and afterward a comprehensive list of all services and products.

These presentations will no longer work in the future.

Especially in corporate communication, the content of a presentation determines success or failure. In extreme cases, even the existence of a company. And that's why the content of the presentation must be meaningful. Because without the right message, without arguments, a presentation has no impact. It's time to break away from entrenched clichés and establish a new school of presenting.

With Relevance to the Goal

So where do we find the right message or effective arguments? For this, we mostly consider the target audience of the presentation. Because they decide whether content is relevant. What emotional needs or rational requirements play a role? What is the audience afraid of? Or are there possibly prejudices to consider? It's also worthwhile to take a look at current trends, developments, and studies. By addressing topics from the world of our audience, we significantly increase relevance.

Let's just imagine the presentation is a gift that we want to present. Our counterpart decides whether the gift is accepted or mentally ends up in the trash. Hand on heart – do you want to be the one giving socks for Christmas? Banish information that only serves self-promotion, and check what really interests your audience.

Communicate tangibly

Congratulations! You have succeeded in making your gift perceived as relevant. Now it just needs to be understood. Not an easy exercise at all.

Language and its use is shaped by pride and prejudice. The German vocabulary consists of about 5.3 million words. A person's active vocabulary is only about 14,000 words. Nevertheless, pride forbids us to ask questions when we do not understand something. Who wants to seem uneducated? And on the other side are presenters who try to express themselves as technically correct and eloquently as possible. Otherwise, we might seem uneducated — so the prejudice goes.

It is not uncommon to find sentence constructs with 70 or more words in the speaker texts of German presentations. But no one is eager to battle through a nested sentence with cryptic technical terms. No one wants to receive unsolicited foreign word training as part of a sales presentation. Only if the audience can follow you, will they follow you. You decide whether your message is understood. So pay attention to short sentences, clear messages, and an active choice of words.

Only concise is memorable

How many presentations have we already experienced in our lives? And how many of them can we remember? Often, it is the bad presentations that leave a lasting impression. Adventurous thoughts of escape, continuous embarrassment or bursting laughter … All these traumatic events have one thing in common – they generate emotions that we otherwise only experience with great presentations. The solid mediocrity of presentations remains inconspicuous and is forgotten upon leaving the room.

With a presentation, we only have a single attempt to be remembered. That’s why we need to stand out from the standard. Do you know how your competitors present? Then consciously do it differently and play with your audience's expectations. For example, start the presentation with an unexpected thesis. Or use an extraordinary prop or metaphor. In the long run, it’s about imprinting a unique, unmistakable style of corporate communication in presentations as well.

And for that, you should see storytelling as a fixed component. Address your customers' dreams, talk about your personal mission, paint a vision with words, or describe your most exciting projects. The human brain loves stories and gladly frees up some memory space for them.

The New School of Presenting

For thirty years, humanity has been creating PowerPoint slides. During this time, there have been numerous software updates. Nevertheless, PowerPoint mostly remained a medium for mediocrity. Now, presentation habits need to be updated. The new school of presenting is relevant, comprehensible, and memorable. It is not oriented towards the mediocrity of German meeting rooms but always strives for excellence. After all, it’s about whether you achieve your goal.