It's an oft repeated truism that many people would rather die than make a presentation! You have probably found a strategy that takes you beyond that extreme; but most of us still feel that presentation is not our strong point...

So here are some thoughts that might help.

Death by PowerPoint!

In his e-book 'Really Bad PowerPoint' Seth Godin says the magic word when presenting is 'communicating' and that PowerPoint is often used lazily for other purposes, none of which leads to a good presentation:

1. As a teleprompter - reading the slides out loud
2. To demonstrate what's been covered - acting as a sort of report
3. Providing a transcript to the audience - giving the security of handouts

Right and Left Brain

When you give a presentation, whether to a large or small group, your audience will use both sides of their brain - the emotional and the logical. As Godin says, you can wreck a presentation with poor logic or unsupported facts, but you can't achieve powerful communication without emotion.

Used well, PowerPoint allows you to use the screen to communicate emotionally to the audience's right brain while your words speak to their left brain.

Practical Tips

Godin offers several key tips for strong presentations:

• Use cue cards to ensure you stay on track and cover what you want to say.
• Create slides that reinforce your words rather than just repeating them. Create slides offering emotional proof that what you're saying is true and not merely accurate. For example, if your presentation is about pollution, instead of bullet points with environmental data, show a slide of dead birds or even a diseased lung for emotional impact.
• Make a written leave-behind, to be given out at the end, with lots of information. Tell the audience they will get all the detail so they don't need to write down what you're saying.

What's on Your Slides?

Godin has five rules for creating slides for a great PowerPoint presentation:

1. No more than six words on a slide. EVER.
2. No cheesy images. Use professional images from a legitimate image site instead.
3. No dissolves, spins or other transitional devices. None.
4. Sound effects can be used sparingly, but never from the built-in programme. Instead, rip sounds or music from CDs for optimum effect.
5. Don't give print-outs of your slides. They're emotional and won't work without you being there to deliver the communication.

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs

In researching this book, Carmine Gallo analysed hours of videoed presentations by the Apple co-founder and CEO to identify the key elements of his remarkably powerful impact on an audience:

1. A headline that briefly and accurately describes what you're talking about.
2. A villain - in every classic story the hero fights a villain. This engages the audience emotionally in the story you're telling. The villain may be real or metaphorical; e.g. a competitor or pollution. In Jobs's case, the villain is Microsoft.
3. Simple slides with striking images and few words.
4. A demo - the brain gets bored easily, so Jobs doesn't give his audience time to lose interest, offering practical demonstrations to engage people.
5. A 'holy smoke moment'! An emotionally charged event that acts as a mental post-it note to the brain to remember the key message.
6. Communicate dreams - Jobs has a mission to create new experiences for people. Passion, enthusiasm and emotion are powerful motivators.

"There are always three presentations for every one you actually give:
The one you practiced, the one you gave and the one you wish you gave."