You have an idea. It sounds grand in your head and you have not been able to think about anything else for the past few days. The idea, if done correctly, is bound to shape the entire world. Well, “the entire world” might be a bit of a stretch but no idea is ever too small. In any way, you want to get it out and attract people who agree with you. So you go to your friend, with whom you have shared everything your whole life and tell her everything. All of a sudden, the idea doesn’t seem as significant. She is listening to you, but she doesn’t really want to.
“But..but it seemed perfect just a moment before.”

Sure, the things we think might be the best that there is and still the expression of it might make all the difference in making it work – the crux being presentation matters.

Presentation is all about bringing what you know to the plates of the ones before you. It is about letting them savour the taste that you have felt in your idea. It is about making yourself heard the way you want to be heard. Be it that term paper presentation that your IMBA class requires, or the project brief that you need to give your supervisor for your BSc CIT module.
In the light of the importance of planning a presentation, presentation planning is a helpful and essential ability whether you're trying to sell a product or just pass your class. The presentation has been a fundamental skill to have in your arsenal. With the consideration of it, AITM has been hosting Toastmaster’s International Sessions that help the inner leaders in our students find a way out. 

Effective presentation planning allows you to enforce your point and give weight to your idea. Sure, it is a complex and effort-rending process. It takes much of your time and demands a lot from you, however, the potential gains spread far and wide. This guide is here to help you make that process easier, and to guide you on how to prepare for a presentation step by step. 

The central idea here is to first consider your audience and the theme of your presentation as you determine the ideal approach to organising your material. Next, you need to work on creating your slides and materials. Put the material together in a way that best supports your argument. Once done with the slides, the key is to regularly practise them. This helps you in identifying any information that needs to be omitted or reorganised. Finally, with everything in order, the only thing remaining is to muster up that confidence and work your charm. While that is the basic idea, let's break things down and dive a little deeper and look at the stages of a presentation.

Stages in Planning a Presentation

1. Prepare the plan

A presentation has certain key factors that need to be considered while preparing it. If you have ever wondered, what is the first step in planning a presentation, then it sure isn’t opening PowerPoint in your computer. A presentation must be well thought out in terms of its objectives. You must keep in mind what you want to convey through your presentation to your audience. Your content should be easily processed by the ones who are watching you present. The venue is equally important in the planning. For example, if you are presenting a paper in front of a room full of science graduates and enthusiasts, using jargon might not be such a bad idea. In contrast, if you are presenting the same topic to a layman, phrasing your content in a generic manner would be the best option. 

Also, when I mention the venue, it is important to consider, what setting will you be presenting against. Having a proper idea of that will allow you to effectively use the resources you will be provided with. Once you tick all these checkboxes, you are now ready to dive into another step of planning which is basically determining the content of your presentation. 

2. Choose what is important

With the basic design of your presentation out of the way, you are now at the stage where you can think about what the main idea of your presentation is to be. In a ten-minute presentation, try to stick to three primary ideas. Always give yourself enough time to write a good introduction and conclusion. My teacher always used to say that in a presentation, the presenter needs to “say what they are going to say, say, and say what you have said.” 

Without significant assistance from the presenter, it is challenging for a crowd to understand a more complicated argument. A strong presentation builds on the prior point and avoids abrupt changes in the order of events to give information in a logical, organised manner. One thing that you need to be wary of is whether the points that you have made are coherent and align with the objective of your presentation that you determined in the step before. If everything is good in this stage, we are now fit to move on to the next one. 

3. Find the supporting ideas

The main idea is important, of course. However, as humans, we believe better in things that are backed by other ideas. Therefore, supporting points help groom your audience towards a believable conclusion. 

Your audience is better able to comprehend, accept, and agree with your key ideas if they are presented with appropriate supporting ideas. This proof could come in the form of factual information, minute details, or a procedure explanation. It could be presented in creative ways with the use of diagrams, images, or video clips. 

However, you do not want to end up making points in the name of supporting ideas that only bloat the presentation while not adding any value to it. So always be sure to ask yourself if the point actually helps enforce your main idea by accommodating the thing that you are about to do in your presentation. 

4. Make it flow

The placement of the ideas might have been haphazard in the previous steps. The main idea, supporting points and whatnot. Once they have been placed in your presentation, you need to breathe, take a step back and reorganize your presentation. 

Your presentation should catch a linear flow so that your audience does not have to spend their time and effort figuring out what the key point that you want them to take away is. 

One of the ways that you can achieve this is by linking the parts of your presentation. Linking statements like sending signals to your audience, highlighting the next point in your argument, linking to earlier ideas or clarifying the stage you have reached in your argument overall. This may be of particular importance in a lengthy presentation where even the most effective presenter has to work hard to keep an audience involved.

Similarly, another thing to keep in mind while developing a presentation is to announce when the parts of your presentation end and the next one begins. Announcing transitions can be done in a lot of ways, for example, by changing the tone of your presentation, changing your body language, or simply saying that you are going to “jump to the next part” of your presentation. Oftentimes, this little trick helps your audience connect better with your presentation by focusing on what parts they really want to focus on. For instance, someone who is willing to hear about the “solutions” that your presentation is about to give will be instantly dragged in when you give an indication that you are about to start talking about that particular portion.

5. The first…and the last impression

Your presentation's introduction is essential. It is your first opportunity to interact with your audience; in a matter of seconds, you may either pique their attention or lose it. And the last thing you want to do is make a dead audience listen to you. So make sure to lay a solid basis for the remainder of your presentation with your introduction. 

First things first, grab the attention of your audience. That might be done in various creative ways – I leave that to you. Whether you introduce yourself or ask a question about the topic, make sure to keep your audience’s gaze fixed on you. 

Then let your audience know about the structure of your presentation. Tell them what you will be telling them and what they should be able to tell once you are done. Bonus points if you are able to time your transitions in a way that your audience will be able to grasp that bit of information properly before you move on to the main idea.

Now, at the end of the presentation comes the time when you conclude. Your conclusion is another important stage in your presentation. You can use it to remind your audience of your main points, draw these points to a stimulating conclusion and leave your audience with a lasting impression of the quality of your presentation.

This can be a place where the audience is called to action through your presentation. Inclusion of the following points might help you plan your conclusion better: 

• a review of your title or subject area “In this presentation, I wanted to explore the relationship between X and Y.”
  
  
• a summary of your main points “We have discussed the following points…”
  
  
• a summary of the process you have been through “By looking at X we have found that Y …”
  
  
• a conclusion clearly drawn from your main points (this must be supported by the detail of your presentation)“It is clear that there can be no substantive relationship between X and Y”
  
  
• a parting statement to stimulate your audience’s thoughts (this might be a question or a bold comment).
  
  

6. Review and Practice

A review is due in any structured composition. More so when the said composition is the result of your thoughts, ideas, and research. Once all of the steps are completed, the presentation must be reviewed and thought upon the aspects of relevance, structure and other criteria. This is the final check to see if the content aligns with the objective of your presentation. This is where you make sure that your presentation is logically structured. This is the last time that you see if the audience will like what you say at your preferred time. Once all these points are checked and passed through, the moment of practice is nigh. 

The more you practice, the better you get at presentation. Planning and preparing the presentation might be a challenging task in itself, however, it is only half the work. Another half is achieved when you practice what you have prepared. The more you practice, the more comfortable and confident you will be when giving your talk.

Practice is not the same as memorization. Instead, it means that you understand your subject matter so well that you can naturally deliver it on your own terms. Use notecards to start your practice, but work toward eliminating them eventually. Practising by talking out loud is what I would suggest. That would make you wary of making mistakes from early on since when thinking in your head, there is no one to listen to you.

Practice the whole presentation at once. This will enable you to gauge how quickly everything goes, whether you have enough information, and how well everything fits together. Make an effort to foresee potential inquiries and prepare responses.

Also, make sure you practise using all of your visual aids if you are doing a demonstration or an illustrated talk. You must be able to coordinate your words and actions. Choose a location for everything and plan what you'll do with each item once you're done with it. You may make sure you are able to operate the equipment or exhibit objects professionally and that everything functions properly by practising with the actual visuals.

In the end, try not to overthink anything when it is the time of your presentation. I know that you will be tempted to be flooded with all the thoughts and points of your talk but let it rest, for when you start, everything will start falling into place and things will flow smoothly, just like you had planned. 

Still afraid of taking the stage? We can help you at AITM via our special Toastmasters and Leadership Development Sessions. Contact us at 9849449503.