How to Design & Deliver High Impact Presentations: Before & After Examples

Leaders make presentations. Transformative leaders deliver inspirational, informative, and persuasive presentations.

Good presentations are hard to design and deliver, which is why we have suffered through so many poorly delivered seminars and workshops. Although I like to think of myself as a decent speaker and presenter, the truth is that I’ve given my share of poor keynotes and boring seminars.

Fortunately for those who must listen to me (my staff) and those who will do so voluntarily during conferences, graduate classes, and workshops, I’m improving. My growth in giving higher impact presentations is the result of reading articles and books, the critique of others, and trial and error. I offer the following tips with the hope that you can benefit from my reading and experience.

PREPARATION

Preparation Time

The amount of time that you spend on your presentation will vary based on the subject and context but in general, a 30-60 minute high impact presentation will require 36-90 hours of preparation. You read that right; a quality one hour presentation = 36-90 hours of preparation.

Presentation authority Nancy Duarte, author of the book Slideology and principal at Duarte Design (clients include Apple, Cisco, and Al Gore among many others), puts it this way; “The amount of time required to develop a presentation is directly proportional to how high the stakes are.” Duarte goes on to provide this guidance:

• 6-20 Hours Research and collect input from the web, colleagues, and the industry
• 1 hour Build an audience-needs map
• 2 hours Generate ideas via sticky notes
• 1 hour Organize the ideas
• 1 hour Have colleagues critique or collaborate around the impact the ideas will have on the audience
• 2 hours Sketch a structure and/or a storyboard
• 20-60 hours Build the slides in a presentation application
• 3 hours Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse (in the shower, on the treadmill, or during your commute)

Total Time: 36-90 hours

Is that accurate? Thirty six to ninety hours for a one hour presentation given all that I have to do? For what it is worth, that has been my experience lately. It takes a long time to prepare a good presentation. I have spent hours over several weeks preparing and designing presentations.

You are a steward not only of your time but of your audience’s time as well. Don’t waste your time or theirs by giving a poorly designed and delivered presentation. Don’t abuse your audience with a mediocre presentation.

I recommend that you schedule time throughout the week for several weeks to prepare your presentation. Your preparation time will be more efficient if you work on it in small, frequent chunks over an extended period of time.

Know your Audience

Your presentation is not about you; it is about your audience and what they need to hear, learn, and/or do. Your presentation is a service to them.

To serve your audience well you need to know them and their perceived as well as real needs. If I am speaking to an outside group I make it a habit to ask my host the following questions:

• How many will be in attendance?
• What is the average age?
• What is the average educational level?
• What will be the gender mix: balanced, mostly women, mostly men?
• If this is a school audience, are most in attendance teachers, administrators, board members? If all three, in what proportion?
• What are the primary areas of interest or concern of this audience regarding this topic? What are some of their likely questions?

Tailor your presentation to your audience. The stories you tell, the examples used, and the graphics employed should match the demographics and needs of your audience. Otherwise your presentation will be largely irrelevant.

Know the Venue

To prepare properly you need to know the venue and to request things that you may need. I typically ask:

• What type of room/auditorium will I be in?
• What type of sound and video equipment will be available?
• Will I be controlling my slides or will you have an AV tech. assisting?
• Will there be a podium mic? May I use a lapel mic.? (I prefer a lapel or head mic so that I am not restricted to standing behind a podium.)
• I am using a Mac/Windows PC, can I load my PowerPoint/Keynote presentation on the local computer or do I need to have my computer on the platform?

SLIDE DESIGN-Less is MORE!

Less is MUCH MORE! This is probably the most important lesson I have learned from my reading and my experience. Keep it simple, clean, and elegant. Remove everything that is not absolutely necessary on your slides and charts.

Less is more-fewer slides, fewer points, less text, and less time.

This is harder than it seems! We want to add information, not eliminate it. When designing your slides keep the following in mind:

• You want to talk to your audience and you want them to listen and watch you. You do not want them reading slides!
• Slides are NOT a teleprompter! Do not design and use slides as an outline of your talk.
• Slides are used to illustrate key points. They should be simple, clear, and uncluttered.
• Eliminate most transition effects--they distract from your presentation.
• Have few to no bullet points.
• You should seldom have more than six to eight words on a slide.
• Use large easy to read font.
• Use consistent font styles and colors.
• Do not use clip art! It is cheesy and unprofessional. Find good photographs or graphics.

You should seldom use template designs for the same reason--they are distracting. Here is an example of a distracting verses a good slide template:

Distracting Template:

Good, Clean Template:

Good and Bad Examples

Assuming that a “picture is worth a thousand words,” here are some examples of before and after designs. Many of these are slides that I have produced--both good and bad and a few are provided from other sources as examples. My slides are indicated by the initials BLM.

THE BAD

BLM (Cheesy clipart, poor color selection, distracting text)

BLM (Boring with no graphics or illustration, small font, too many bullet points)

BLM (This one is so bad it is just embarrassing. There is nothing good about this slide. The graphics are terrible. Too many bullet points. Font too small. Poor color selection.)

BLM (The slide has too much text, which is too small. The illustration is poorly done and the overall impact of the slide is boring and distracting.)

BLM (The slide has too much text and cheesy clip art.)

THE BETTER

Here is the same topic being covered with a redesigned slide from the one above.

BLM (This one has no clipart and no text. A high quality photo covering the entire slide is used. The photo speaks for itself. It is much more impactful than the one before with the same point to make.)

BLM (This title slide is affective because the professional photo reinforces the title, which is very short and to the point. The photo also matches the audience, this presentation was given in Canada in the winter.)

BLM (One word with a photo matching the key concept.)

BLM (Transition slide to next topic--simple text on solid background)

BLM (This is a playful slide using a professional photo but with a font matching the playful mood. This slide was designed to communicate with and encourage elementary teachers thus the colors and playfulness, which are characteristic of elementary programs.)

The following five slides tell a story and reinforce each other.

• Slide 1 acknowledges how many feel when faced with significant change.
• Slide 2 encourages the audience to laugh and relax because we will provide time and resources to ensure their success.
• Slide 3 reassures that we are confident that they will be successful as a team.
• Slide 4 reassures that we are confident of success because….
• Slide 5 communicates that we will deal with big change in small bites.
• Slide 6 illustrates why they will be successful--a slow, deliberate training and implementation cycle.

BLM Slide 1

BLM Slide 2

BLM Slide 3

BLM Slide 4

BLM Slide 5

BLM Slide 6 This slide has animations so that each date appears and disappears in sequence.

A Word About Charts and Numbers

Charts can be very helpful in a presentation but just like your slides they need to be simple with all distracting and unnecessary elements deleted.

Numbers are usually confusing to the audience. Use as few as possible and allow extra time for the audience to do the math. Numbers should never be ultra precise: “Anticipated revenues of $660,101.83” looks silly. Are your numbers that accurate? Just say $660 thousand.
This is a busy, hard to read and understand chart with too many words and numbers.

BLM This chart is much better. Easy to understand, clean with no distracting elements, e.g., grid lines, unnecessary numbers, and text.

DELIVERY

Arrive Early and Test Everything!

It is stressful and embarrassing to stand up to deliver a presentation only to discover that something is not working. Worse, it is distracting to your audience and immediately reduces your credibility and impact.

You only have about 1 minute to make a first impression. Don’t make it with you trying to get your computer to work or your slides to show up on the screen.

Plan for Murphy to show up. He always does. Plan for the worst case scenario. What will you do if the computer crashes and burns, the video system goes out, or the sound system does not work? Prepare for the unexpected. When you do, you can go with the flow and not skip a beat.

Have your presentation so well rehearsed that you do not need slides as prompts (more on this later). You should be able to speak spontaneously. If you can’t, you don’t know your subject well enough.

If you must have notes, have a printed copy readily available.

Have electronic backup copies of your slides on a thumb drive (for use on a local computer if yours crashes) and your online for immediate download if needed. I use an iPad for this purpose.

Have copies of your notes and slides available for distribution or access online.

Talk to Your Audience, Do Not Read!

Whatever you do do NOT look at your slides and read from them! Keep your eyes on your audience. Make eye contact with individual audience members.

Remember, your slides are to illustrate key ideas, concepts, trends, and facts. Do not use your PowerPoint or Keynote presentation as a teleprompter.

Presentation Style Tips

Remember, your audience will form a first impression within 60 seconds or less! Make that first minute count!

• Dress appropriately for your audience. It is best to “dress up” rather than “down” if in doubt.
• Tell real life stories that reinforce your topic.
• Turn off your cell phone.
• Jump right in and get to the point.
• Give your rehearsed opening statement; don't improvise at the last moment.
• Use the opening to catch the interest and attention of the audience.
• Briefly state the problem or topic you will be discussing.
• Talk at a natural, moderate rate of speech.
• Project your voice.
• Speak clearly and distinctly.
• Speak with enthusiasm.
• Use appropriate well timed humor but not jokes.
• Pause briefly to give your audience time to digest the information on each new slide.
  Keep your eyes on the audience.
• Use natural gestures.
• Don’t turn your back to the audience.
• Don’t hide behind the lectern. As much as possible don’t use a podium at all but if you must or the host site has it there for other speakers, move in front or to the side.
• Avoid looking at your notes. Only use them as reference points to keep you on track. Talk, don’t read.

Length

• To end on time, you must PRACTICE!
• The audience will love you if you end short of your time. Never go over! Remember, less is MORE.
• As a rule of thumb, plan to use 80% of your allotted time.

Demeanor

Show enthusiasm. Nobody wants to listen to a dull presentation. On the other hand, don’t overdo it. Nobody talks and gestures like a maniac in real life. How would you explain your ideas to a friend?

Recommended Reading

All truth is God’s truth. We can learn from unbelievers because by God’s common grace he reveals truth to believers and unbelievers alike. Although I do not endorse everything in the following books (e.g., some have Buddhist and Zen philosophy embedded in them), nevertheless, some of the principles are true and can help anyone design and deliver better presentations.

• Made to Stick
• Presentation Zen
• Slide:ology

Why Sweating the Small Stuff Makes a Big Difference

For years I have been taught not to “sweat the small stuff.” I warmly embraced this notion because it reinforced my natural inclination to focus on big strategic initiatives and to pay less attention to the small details, leaving those to others.

I have changed my mind. I have concluded that small stuff make a big difference.  Small stuff deserve a great deal of our attention!

What Convinced Me

God’s Care for Us and Creation:

If anyone was going to focus on big strategic plans it would be God. As the creator and governor of the physical universe and the affairs of heaven and earth, God certainly is focused on large scale objectives.

Yet, notice the incredible attention to detail exhibited by his rule:

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Mt 10:29–31)

Consider the remarkable detail in God’s creation. Look at how intricately God designed a flower. While God wrote our names in the Book of Life before he laid the foundations of the world and “made from one man every nation of mankind to live yon all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,” (Ac 17:26), he also designed the intricate details of flowers.

And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the‘ field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (Matt. 6:28-29)

Ugly can be beautiful. The head and eyes of a horse-fly may not be “beautiful” in the classical sense yet the incredible creativity, detail, and symmetry is a beautiful reflection of God’s attention to detail and a nearly incomprehensible marriage of function and form.

Few things are more ethereal and ephemeral than a snow flake-especially in the U.S. South! Yet, even with something so fragile and short-lived, the variety, symmetry and beauty of a snow flake is a testament to God “sweating the small stuff.”

Not only does God’s creation “work,” it is beautiful and awe inspiring—and to the attentive soul—soul ennobling. Who has not been in the mountains, on a prairie, a beach, or a lake--and not been enthralled and enriched by the beauty made possible by God’s attention to the smallest details of his creation?

Steve Jobs:

It may seem odd to include Steve Jobs in a list with God. I do so because as an image bearer of his creator Job’s attention to detail imaged that of his creator—whether he chose to acknowledge it or not.  Jobs was fanatical about every detail of Apple’s products--even the unseen innards:

From his father Jobs had learned that a hallmark of passionate craftsmanship is making sure that even the aspects that will remain hidden are done beautifully. One of the most extreme—and telling—implementations of that philosophy came when he scrutinized the printed circuit board that would hold the chips and other components deep inside the Macintosh.

No consumer would ever see it, but Jobs began critiquing it on aesthetic grounds. “That part’s really pretty,” he said. “But look at the memory chips. That’s ugly. The lines are too close together.” One of the new engineers interrupted and asked why it mattered. “The only thing that’s important is how well it works. Nobody is going to see the PC board.”

Jobs reacted typically. “I want it to be as beautiful as possible, even if it’s inside the box. A great carpenter isn’t going to use lousy wood for the back of a cabinet, even though nobody’s going to see it.”

For Jobs, designing and manufacturing electronics was craftsmanship, not merely an economic activity.  He was fanatical about design and detail, even in product packaging because he learned that people DO judge a book by its cover:

“You should never start a company with the goal of getting rich. Your goal should be making something you believe in and making a company that will last.” Markkula wrote his principles in a one-page paper titled “The Apple Marketing Philosophy” that stressed three points.

• The first was empathy, an intimate connection with the feelings of the customer: “We will truly understand their needs better than any other company.”
• The second was focus: “In order to do a good job of those things that we decide to do, we must eliminate all of the unimportant opportunities.”
• The third and equally important principle, awkwardly named, was impute. It emphasized that people form an opinion about a company or product based on the signals that it conveys. “People DO judge a book by its cover,” he wrote. “We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software etc.; if we present them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities.

Application to Our Leadership and Schools

Perception is important.  How we “present” our product is important.  We may have wonderful teachers and programs but unless we present them with excellence would-be and current parents may perceive our schools as second-rate.  The good news is that “good packaging” doesn’t have to be expensive, it just needs to reflect attention to detail.

Like the cover on a book or your first impression of someone you meet, perceptions are formed almost immediately.  The first impression that parents get is from a phone call to the school, the website, or a visit to the campus.

Facilities

It is easy to become “blind.”  We are like the proverbial frog in the kettle, we have grown so accustomed to our surroundings that we no longer see what a visitor sees.  Everything looks fine to us.

Take one hour and walk through your buildings with a notebook.  Write down everything that is not perfect.  Note every time you see chipped paint, scuff marks, dirty carpet, smudges on glass doors, paper/trash on the floor or in the parking lot, shrubs needing trimmed, bare patches in the grass, book bags lying around, handwritten student or school messages/signs/posters (I’m not reviewing to student projects-I’m referring to announcements, directions, etc.), messy offices and desks, stuff out of place, pictures ajar in the reception area, etc....  You may be surprised just how disheveled things can become.

Phone Calls

How are your phones answered?  Do people reach an electronic message system with a labyrinth of options or a warm professional receptionist?  I have been lobbied for years to install an automated answering system.  It is “more efficient” is the reason given.  I have refused because such a system, though more “efficient” does not reflect the warm nurturing culture of our school.  Besides, people hate electronic answering systems, don’t you?

I call a lot of schools.  I am often dismayed by the poor phone skills of those who answer the phones.  Too often I am greeted with a sweet but unprofessional receptionist (poor grammar or too casual), or a very professional but “cold” individual.  In contrast, whenever I have called Apple headquarters or Apple support, I am greeted by a cheery, pleasant professional who always proves helpful. I am always left with a good impression.

Try this.  Call your school with new ears.  Use a phone that cannot be identified as you.  Was the impression you received that of a well educated, professional, happy individual or one who was harried and poorly spoken?  If you were calling the school for the first time, what impression did you get within the first 30 seconds?

Website

Was your website custom designed by a professional or was it created using a template and/or by a volunteer?  If the latter, it will look like it and the first impressions, while perhaps not “bad,” will not be superb.  Following my own advice, we are completely redesigning our website (not yet up).

When you review your website, look for the following:

•    Simple design, uncluttered •    Easy to navigate •    Warm and friendly •    Professional (drop the apples, crayons, etc.)

Remember, people will not spend a great deal of time reading material on your website.  The website should be designed to give a positive impression of the school, highlight important information, and provide easy navigation on where to obtain more information.

I recommend that you not put the photographs of your staff on the website’s staff directory unless they are unusually and universally photogenic.  A few well chosen photographs of staff and students on your site is very effective, but a directory with staff photos is not.  Most of us are not particularly photogenic so there is little to be gained by plastering our faces on the school’s website.

Staff Appearance

The way you and your staff dress creates a powerful impression. Although dress should be appropriate for the job, overly casual attire or poorly worn clothing does not create an impression of quality.  Walk around your school; discretely notice how your teachers and staff are dressed.  Are men’s ties tied properly?  Are the collars on men’s shirts crisp or wrinkled?  Are shoes polished?  Do some of your staff look “frumpy?” Designer cloths are not necessary, but being professionally dressed in contemporary styles is.

Your Presentations

Your presentations communicate a lot about you and the school!  Every presentation you make is enhancing or diminishing the “customer’s” (students, current and prospective parents, staff) perception of the school.

Are your presentations professional and warm?  Just as being professionally “cold” is to be avoided, so too is overly folksy. Here are some “small things” to sweat about.

•    Start and end on time.  It is unprofessional and inconsiderate of those who arrived on time to start any meeting late.  Do so also “trains” people to come late, after all, the “meeting will not really start until 10 after...” •    Make sure the venue, including the stage area, is neat and clean. •    Less is more--too much information given for too long is counter-productive.  It is best to keep things simple and short and then to provide backup information.

Review your PowerPoint/Keynote slides.  Over the last several years I have read several books on presentation design.  I have radically changed how I design and use slides. I cringe when I review past presentations!

•    Your content should not be on the slides; slides are only used to illustrate or solicit interest. •    Speak as “spontaneously” as possible.  Know what you have to say well enough that you only occasionally glance at notes.  Steve Jobs famously quipped, “People who know what they’re talking about don’t need PowerPoint.” There is a place for slides, but they are never to be your notes! •    It is important to maintain eye contact with your audience--do not turn to look at slides. •    Less is more on slides--few words, large font, great photos and illustrations.  No clipart! Few if any bullet points. Here is an example of how I have changed my slides and presentations.

Old Style:

New Style:

There are many other areas of the school-especially in classrooms-where we need to be “sweating the small stuff.”  While we need to focus on long-term strategic initiatives, we must pull the clippers out to ensure that every “blade of grass” in the school reflects the quality that we assure parents is true of our schools.

“Small” stuff matters to God and it should matter to us.  Remember, Jesus said, “He who is faithful in little will be faithful in much.”

God is the master craftsman.  Steve Job insisted on craftsmanship in the products Apple designed.  Do our schools reflect craftsmanship?