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How to Design Your English Presentation

Part of any Business English Course that deals with presentations will look at how to design or develop your presentation. How do you start? What do you put into it? In a Business English course this is the method or process that I would advise my students to use when developing their presentation. The method that I suggest using is to start at the result that you want at the end of your presentation and work your way backwards to the introduction. This should help you to develop a concise and effective presentation that does not contain unnecessary information. This is not a new idea, but it is one that I taught my students before actually finding it in an English presentations text.

What result do you want from your Presentation?

At the same time as you decide on the result you want you should also decide on who your audience will be and what to write for them. As well, decide what you want them to know or do after participating in your presentation. After this start with what is the end result you want from your presentation. Is it just an information presentation where you want to impart data or knowledge, do you want them to make a particular decision, or do you want them to make a purchase from you. There are other results you may want, so start with the end result that you want from your presentation. As I mentioned and as you probably noticed we will be working backwards in designing the English presentation.

Key Points for Your Presentation Result

When you have determined the result that you want you then need to think about what are the 3 or 4 key things you want them to know or think about in order to get the result. The key points should come easily after you know what you want to happen after the end of the presentation. These will be the points you bring up in your summary so that they are fresh in the minds of your audience. By doing this you will limit the amount of information that you will need to add into the presentation. You don’t want to use the shotgun approach when designing an English presentation.

Information needed to Support Your Presentation’s Key Points?

After you have decided on the key point that you need it will be easy to decide or determine what information or data you need to support these key points. Because you know the data that you need to include, you will not need to include excess information, thereby shortening your presentation and making it more concise.

The Finish of Your Freshly Designed Presentation

You have designed most of your English presentation by deciding on your conclusion or result, determining your key points, and adding information to support your key points. Now you only need to work on the introduction to your presentation. You know the end result or conclusion, you have your key points, and your presentation now contains the data or information needed to support the key points. So you can use these to write your Outline and Introduction, which should now be a ‘piece of cake’ (easy).

I would advocate using the process outlined above because it should make designing your presentation easier. It may seem to be against common sense by starting at the end and working your way to the beginning, but the end result will be a more focused English presentation which gets to the point without all the fluffy padding. It will be less boring, and it will contain less useless information. I hope you enjoyed this brief look at how to design an English presentation.

I was recently the fly on the wall at a negotiation. The negotiation itself is a result of longterm planning in most cases. This article details what to do before entering a business negotiation.

Step One:

Do your homework. That means research anything that may come up in advance of the business negotiation. Absolutely, have a few notes there to back up your viewpoint. If you don’t have that research, you are at a disadvantage.

Step Two:

Consider jotting down notes of what you intend to get out of the negotiation. Include things like points that are absolute deal breakers. Include points that you are likely to compromise on.

Additionally, draw or sketch out what the final deal will look like. Include financial numbers to give you an idea of what ballpark you want to end up in as a result of this business negotiation. Ie. People who are successful at business can see into the future for longterm rewards as much as they can see into the future for shortterm rewards. But clearly, having a map drawn of where your headed is valid before entering negotiation. It will also help you to be firm in your negotiation, knowing what you may be foregoing.

Step Three:

Do some market research. I know that companies can charge you millions of dollars for a simple study of getting people’s opinion on something. If this business negotiation affects people, find out from people what they think. Don’t limit yourself to two or three of your closest managers or friends. Extend that. Show up at a mall. Ask if you can have a minute with people. Dress appropriately to break down the barriers. People are flattered when you are seeking their opinion so to be fair, treat them appropriately and explain how their opinion will have some affect.

I have a friend in the natural concoction business. Before working on a new product, she phones up a list of customers who are agreeable and asks them about the future product. It may be well into the future but she gets the goods on the interest long before she undertakes it. Such is the case with a negotiation.

Absolutely, do your market research. Some things look good on paper but never go anywhere in the real world. For example, if you’re the marketing guru behind The Clapper you would have researched this product in advance and how agreeable people would be to buying it. But say, you invented something similar like The Sneezer, then tried to market it without asking people how hard it would be, how useful it would be to them. You would undoubtedly lose your shirt.

Step Four:

Set down in advance what you as a company stand for and who you’re willing to negotiate with well in advance. For example, if you believe in only dealing with union shops, then make sure you write that down and stick to it before any negotiation. There’s a phrase that if you don’t stand for anything, you will fall for everything. By having principles, you are already on your way.

Step Five:

Enter the negotiation with a window of time that you will allow before making any final decisions. This prevents an emotional response to the negotiation.

I am often asked the question; “How important is a good 60 second presentation?” People sometimes gasp at my answer. They look at me as if I am a little crazy because my answer is simple and very straightforward. The value of a good 60-second presentation is only as high as the importance you place on it. However this does not show you’re the importance of this marketing tool.

I go on to say that, if people place little value on creating a good introduction for themselves, they will usually wing their 60-second presentations. By always winging their presentations, they lose their perspective. They will never know the value of a good 60-second presentation, and they will not reap the rewards associated with delivering them. The way I see it, three things create value in your 60-second presentations. Your efforts, (time spent on it), the feedback you receive from your trusted peers and the measured results.

To start with, good presentations are created, (i.e. thought out and written down), practiced and then refined. It does not matter if you are great at winging it, you will always present better if you have a focused clear message that is tested and practiced. A little hard work on your part will add value to your message by clarifying and focusing it.

Another way is to ask for feedback. Ask someone you trust to summarize what you said. This person should be skilled at doing 60 second commercials, (at least better than you do). Ask them for constructive criticism. If they can’t tell you what you said in two or three sentences you know message is not clear and it’s defiantly not focused.

The best way to see the value of a good 60-second presentation is to track the results. What should you track you ask? Well here is what I track; I always track the name of 60-second presentations, (yes you should give your 60 second commercials names), I always track the venue I attend, the venues date, the people I talk to, whether a person showed interest in my product/service and who I closed business with. Tracking your results is the only objective way of knowing whether your efforts are bearing fruit. What’s amazing about this is that most people never track their results.

Take the time to write out and practice your 60-second presentations. Ask trusted associates for feedback and finally track your results. Doing these three things will get you more referrals and make you more money. The value of a good 60-second presentation will become clear as fine crystal once you see the money coming in.

That’s my opinion, whats yours.