6 Printing Tips to Make Your Business Presentation Stand Out
After years of hard work, your boss finally trusts you to give a business presentation to your biggest client.
Don't panic! Instead, revel in the recognition. You worked hard for this and you deserve it.
But, don't rest on your laurels. It's not enough you're giving the presentation, you have to make sure it's effective and professional.
We're going to give you five tips on how you can give the best presentation possible.
1. Know Your Audience
This is Marketing 101, right? It's because knowing your audience is paramount to a successful business presentation.
Whether it's at a conference or in your company's boardroom, you need to tailor your presentation to the people who are listening. That said, you need to make sure they're listening from the start!
Research who you're presenting to. If your client is in the tech industry, make sure you're up to speed on the latest trends and terms.
If the client is younger, you're going to want to make your presentation hipper. But, don't come across like you're trying too hard.
If you're preparing for a stuffier audience, don't try and force humor into the situation. But, if you think there are some amusing industry antidote that will lighten the mood, give it a shot.
Ask your peers what they know about the client, especially if they've presented to them in the past. They may have some advice or insight on what worked or didn't work for them.
2. Establish Your Authority
You're going to be nervous and that's expected. But you also need to establish yourself as the authority.
That means, leave no stone unturned in your research. We've all sat through corporate presentations where we felt the speaker was in over their head. Don't allow the same to happen to you!
Place your business card and other printed material about your presentation at each seat. Do this before anyone arrives. This gives the impression that you have a keen attention to detail.
This may be difficult if you're giving your presentation at an auditorium. But if it's a smaller gathering, placing print collateral at each audience member's seat increases your authority.
Don't give away your entire presentation, though. You only want to highlight some of the points you'll speak about. Your audience will have the ability to follow along or reference back, if need be.
Now that you have their attention, you can give them a brief overview of who you are and why you're credible. But, don't go overboard. They're interested in your presentation, not that you won the spelling bee in third grade.
3. Put Your Goal in the Beginning
There was a time when people wanted to build up to the big reveal. They felt anticipation would keep the audience hanging on until the idea or goal was finally revealed.
This doesn't work anymore.
You have 60 seconds to grab their attention. Do it right. After your brief introduction, dive into your goal or big idea.
Then, spend the remainder of your presentation explaining how you'll achieve the goal or solve the client's issue.
On that note, have a clear goal or idea in mind. This comes during the preparation stages.
Make sure you've thought about what you want the audience's biggest takeaway to be. Then, build your presentation around that.
Don't focus as much on how you'll deliver your message at this point. That'll come next. But focus on why they're at your presentation and what you want your "big idea statement" to be.
4. Use Images
Whether you use PowerPoint or printed materials, make sure you use images to get your point across.
Don't go searching for standardized stock photos. Instead, use infographics or even video to present your ideas.
Human beings are visual creatures. As such, we process information better when we look at it. This is one of the reasons infographics have grown in popularity.
Use that in your presentation. Graphs and pie charts are still relevant and serve the same purpose. If you're not comfortable creating an infographic, use other forms of visual stimuli.
If possible, use images of your client's product or service. If you're concerned about image attribution or copyright infringement, steer clear. You want to impress them, not get yourself in any hot water!
5. Ask Questions and Prepare to Answer Them
Thought-provoking questions are a way to keep your audience engaged with you and your presentation.
For example, asking, "Have you ever wondered why..." or "How much longer..." are great ways to get your audience thinking. But it also solves another purpose.
While you hope your audience understands everything you're presenting, they may have questions. Put yourself in their shoes and come up with what you'd ask if you were them.
Answering these questions as you go through your presentation will keep them focused on what your solution will be. It's possible your questions prompt more from your audience.
Prepare yourself to answer the questions you pose as clear and concise as you can. Also, plan to answer questions from your audience. This involves researching every aspect of the presentation theme.
You should know trends, data, and statistics. But you don't have to put all of it into your presentation. Sometimes, too much information is distracting.
But jot down these notes in case you get asked about them. You won't fumble around with a bunch of filler words trying to buy yourself time to answer.
6. Be Clear in Your Communication
This doesn't only apply to your oral presentation. Make sure your font sizes are easy to read. This goes for the font style and size.
You want your visual materials to catch and hold the audience's attention but you don't want it to be confusing or off-putting. Once you have a general idea of how you want your presentation to look, research fonts that will add to it, not take away from it.
Make Your Business Presentation Stand Out
You want people to walk away from your business presentation with the belief you and your company will solve their problem. One of the easiest ways to do this is to make your presentation visually stimulating.
This includes the printed materials your audience will take away.
New Era Print Solutions can help. From presentation folders to luxury business cards, NEPS does it all.
Visit our collections page to learn more about our products. Contact us for a quote or for any inquiries.