10 top tips for preparing a professional presentation

Have you been asked to give a presentation?

Recently I was asked to give a presentation on the topic of ‘Thriving in Digital Tech’. Although I am well used to getting up in front of groups (to teach) I found myself a little out of my comfort zone!

Here I will share my process:

1. After seeing the invitation my first instinct was to decline or foist it onto a colleague! But, after some thought (and discussion with said colleague) I put my big girl pants on and said yes.

There then followed about 2 weeks of denial and procrastination! Despite having a plan in place to divide the tasks up over the coming weeks. This was devised with the help of my business coach, Lyndsey at Heads-up Coaching.

Schedule to prepare presentation

2. With my accountability session with Lyndsey looming, I decided I had to bite the bullet and get started. I had been given a brief by the organisers, so I set about planning my presentation. I sent this to Cath (Co-founder of digi) to get some feedback and ideas on some of the slides.

Presentation plan

3. The next stage was to create a template in PowerPoint in line with our branding. I did have one already but decided it needed a refresh.

Template for PowerPoint presentation

4. Adding the content was quite a speedy process as I had the plan, brief and ideas from Cath (as well as my own ideas). For any slides, I wasn’t sure about I skipped over adding a heading. It soon began to take shape.

Presentation slides

5. Over the next few days, I added content and image as they came to me until I was happy with them. I discussed it with Lyndsey, who advised me to cut down the text on the slides. The extra text I added to the notes section and changed a few headings. I also sent it to Cath, and we discussed it over a Zoom call.

Cath and Clare on Zoom

6. I then practised it using the timer feature in PowerPoint to make sure it was roughly the right length asked for in the brief. I wrote out my script long hand and then read it back into Word using the dictation option (tip! Game changer!). This was to practice and to have a digital copy of my talk.

Using the dictate tool in Word

7. The next stage was to practice with the coach in PowerPoint (without reading off the script). This is a great tool for giving you feedback on your use of filler words (um, I mean, like), pace and tone.

Speaker coach report in PowerPoint

8. Finally, I wrote bullet point headings onto cards as reminders to have to hand when I gave the presentation.

Cue cards for presentation

9. I also gave a lot of thought about what I would wear on the day – consulting with a friend on the shortlist of outfits. You want to feel confident and comfortable and also look good and professional. Luckily, I decided against the black spotty dress as it turned out the other speaker was wearing that!

The chosen outfit!

10. On the day I took my typed-out talk and bullet point cards with me, all the while telling myself: ‘You’re not going to read off that’. I even took it up to the lectern with me as a little comfort blanket!

On the day

Not going to lie, I was nervous on the day, but I was kept busy beforehand chatting to the organisers and the other speaker and once I got going, I was fine. The feedback from the audience was positive with many heads nodding at certain points and some great questions at the end.

Presentation top tips

• Follow the brief
• Create a plan
• Create a PowerPoint template
• Give yourself plenty of time
• Start with the easy slides
• Find your images
• Get feedback
• Use the tools within PowerPoint to practise
• Cut down the text
• Practise again
• Video yourself
• Write the script
• Ditch the script
• Use cards with bullet points or the notes section in PowerPoint

Have you had to give a presentation? What are your top tips?

Share in the comments below.

I recently trained someone about managing a presentation on Zoom, if you need help please get in touch.