7Steps

7 Steps To Making A Great Presentation

By Sebastian Sharp

Introduction, a presentation system

Method

When I was young I had a terrible experience presenting in front of an audience of peers. It was so bad it affected my ability to present for many years afterwards.
But I wanted to present & so I eventually recovered & ended up working as a professional presenter.
I did this by developing a system for making great presentations.

Point

This system is based on three core pillars.
The first is that you must have a single point which you want to get across to your audience.
This will help you to boost your confidence. It will help your audience by making it easier for them to remember. It will also help to ensure your presentation has a real impact.

Plan

The second pillar is that you need to make a plan.
Once you have decided what the point is, your plan will make sure you make thar point.
I often get asked to edit other’s work & when they haven’t made a plan before they started, it’s very hard to unravel it later. Avoid this by making the plan first.

Simple

The third pillar is to keep it simple.
You hear this often, so it’s clearly already widely understated that it’s important. But making things simple is not that simple… It requires work, it doesn’t just happen
Simple will help you to present, it will help your audience to understand your point & helps you get the impact you want after.

7 Steps

Most people when they give advice on making presentations focus on the idea of getting more confident. That’s because most people dread making presentations.
They tend to focus on the actions like speaking, gestures & audience interaction.
My method is completely different, it focuses only on the presentation itself & the 7 steps to making sure it’s a great one.

Chapter 1 definitions of present

Dictionary

I always think a great place to start is with a basic definition of what you’re trying to do. Even if you already think that you know the definition well.
The best way to do this is to use Google & look up the precise dictionary definition.
If you do this for ‘present’ you will find there are three definitions.

Gift

The first definition of “present’ is as in birthday or Christmas… a ‘present’ is a gift.
This is very appropriate for making a great presentation. You as a presenter know something well which your audience doesn’t. You know it will help them.
It’s your duty to pass on that information to them so they can use it for their benefit.

Here

The second definition of ‘present’ is to be present or to be here.
You need to make the effort to get in front of an audience in order to give them your gift.
This means you should always say yes when someone asks you to present & if they don’t ask, you have to create the opportunity yourself by asking.

Now

The third meaning of ‘present’ is as in the present tense or now!
This tells you that you need to make a presentation which gets the idea of your gift across to your audience with a sense of urgency.
The audience should be so excited about it they want to take action now, immediately. That’s how you will make an impact:

Everyone

Everyone I’ve ever met has something interesting which they know & which helps them & which would help others.
Often they don’t think they do but it only takes a few minutes of discussion to find out what it is.
You would be surprised what others don’t know. It’s your duty to gift it to them through a great presentation.

Chapter 2 types of presentation

Three

You might think of a presentation as one thing, but there are many different types of presentation which you could give depending on the different audiences & occasions.
It might be an audience which knows you well or one that needs a basic introduction.
It could be a longer presentation or a very short one. Here’s my three basic types.

Story

The first type is presenting a simple story & is going to be useful for a new audience, for example raising money from new investors.
I like to divide the story into five parts in chronological order.
First is the history, second introducing the people, third introducing the product, then telling the current situation & finishing with the exciting future.

List

The second type of presentation is a list.
This type can be very useful if you’re teaching your audience how to do something, like 7 steps to making a great presentation for example.
It could be a list of top ten reasons why they should buy your product or service. Try to match the number & point, ‘we’re number one’…

My personal favorite type of presentation is called 3.
You simply divide up the point of your presentation into 3 parts. You then add an introduction & conclusion for 5 parts. That’s how every chapter in this booklet is written.
For a longer presentation divide the three parts into three sub parts. For a short speech just have three points.

Unique

Different types of presentation allows you more choices & more creativity.
This is important because of the following rule. I always make a new presentation for each presentation event. I never present the same one again.
This helps to make you better at making presentations which will also help to keep things interesting for you & better serve your audience.

Chapter 3 present by numbers

A numbers game

I love numbers, I always have. As most of my presentations are finance-related I also spend a lot of time presenting numbers.
But in my opinion regardless of the topic, presenting is also a kind of numbers game.
Here is an explanation of what I consider to be the three most important numbers which help you in making great presentations.

The first number is of course, 7 (steps to making a great presentation).
7 is my favorite number because it’s my rugby playing position number. According to an internet study, 7 is also the world’s favorite number (Google it). If I make a list presentation I will always use 7.
7 is not too short, not too long, it’s just right.

The second key number is 3, which happens to be the world’s second favorite number.
The ‘rule of 3’ is a literary technique known & used throughout history.
3 is natural; morning, noon, night. It’s a story arc; beginning, middle, end. It’s been used by leaders for catch phrases; ‘veni, vidi, vici’. Use the ‘rule of three’ in your presentations.

But perhaps the most important number of all is the number 1.
You must have only one point to your presentation. You should have only one data on your charts. There should be only one focus of your photo or video. You should have only one subject on your slide if you’re using slides.
Best of all is one word/number.

Odd

As you can see, all of my key numbers for you to use in presentations are odd numbers.
No one seems to know why, but odd numbers just work better than even numbers. All but two of the world’s top ten favorite numbers are odd.
Whatever numbers you choose to use in your presentations, try to make them odd ones.

Chapter 4 make a plan

Don’t

Now for the 7 Steps To Making A Great Presentation themselves… Step one is the most difficult for most people…
Most people when asked to make a presentation will go to the computer, open the slide software & start to make the slides. Don’t do that!
Instead, your first step is to make & write down …a simple action plan.

Event

To start the plan focus in on the event you will present at. Ask a few simple questions about it.
Where is it, what kind of venue, who is going to attend & why are they attending. How long are you expected to present for?
Write down the answers somewhere; I normally use a notes app or a spreadsheet app.

Backwards

The event will help decide the point, type of presentation & how long it will be (choose an odd number of minutes).
Then you work backwards making a chronological allocation for each one of the 7 steps.
It could be two minutes, 2 hours or 2 days for each one, depending on how big of an ever the presentation is.

The plan does not need to be too complicated or detailed , you don’t need to spend too long over it.
The only thing which is important is that you make it & that you follow it & without changing the order at all.
Whenever things go wrong for me, it’s always because I didn’t make or follow the plan.

Last

Remember this is the golden rule. Never start your presentation with the slides. The last thing we do is going to be to make the slides, not the first.
To make a great presentation you must work backwards. This means that you must brainstorm, craft & edit your presentation before you make it in the form of slides.
Slides come last.

Chapter 5 have a point

What

The second step towards making a great presentation is to decide the point.
The point is what you are trying to get.
You might be trying to raise money from investors for you company. You might be trying to inspire people to buy your product. You might be trying to get someone to hire you for a new job.

Claim

Once you know what the point of the presentation is the next step is to make a giant claim.
Make it as big as you possibly can.
For example you can claim that following the 7 Steps will help you to make a great Presentation & that will then help you to feel much more confident about giving the presentation.

Belief

Next you need a villain. All great books, plays or movies have an evil villain which needs to be defeated.
This could be a competitor, it could be the way most people make presentations. This villain is what your audience currently believes to be true.
It’s something which they might doubt, but they haven’t found the alternative to it yet.

Break

You are going to provide the hero or the antidote or the alternative for them.
Show your audience a better way to do things or a better product or service or investment.
Your presentation is about changing minds & showing the auto a better way, like making the slides for your presentation at the end instead of at the beginning.

Money

You might have realized that one of the main reasons & points of presenting is to get money.
This might seem a contradiction to giving a gift to your audience but it’s not.
The money will help you & your organization or department to grow & the goods & services you get your audience to pay for will help them.

Chapter 6 write a script

Title

The point of your presentation will give you a title, for example ‘7 Steps To Making A Great Presentation: the secret to presenting with confidence’ point… buy the booklet!
Now you are going to write out the presentation as a script. All great performances like plays & movies have a script & your presentation must have one too.
You can read it if needed.

Outline

From the title you can then make an outline.
Take for example the first chapter of this very booklet. The title is ‘definitions of present’. Then there are the five parts paragraphs with the titles of ‘define’, ‘gift’,’ here’, ‘now’ & ‘everyone’.
I write the title & those paragraph titles in my notes app & I have my script outline.

Fill

Next, simply fill in each part with its own paragraph. I make each paragraph the same length of 60 words which is about the size of a tweet.
i used to write them out literally using Twitter & then in my own app for writing which counts the number of words.
Once it’s written I copy paste into the outline.

Numbers

Here again you can use numbers. If the time for the presentation is 10 minutes, I will cut it down to 7 to give a safe space.
I talk at about 100 words a minute which means 7 hundred words. That means 11 of the 60-word paragraphs.
That’s an introduction & conclusion plus three parts each with three sub parts.

A script is a must, it puts your ideas & your point into a logical order making it easy for you & your audience to follow.
A script is useful in other ways too. You can read it. You can share it to other people. It could become an article or content for your website.
It will give you confidence.

Chapter 7 make great charts

Visuals

The script just like a play or movie will lead on to the visual parts of your presentation, the charts, photos & videos.
Each paragraph of the script will give you an idea for a visual.
Once the script is finished, I put a note after each paragraph of the visual which matches with it. Let’s take the charts first.

Data

Great charts have three parts, the first is the data. I do research all the time, every day & from that research I get lots of data.
I keep the data in hundreds of small & simple spreadsheets .
Instead of using large & complicated excel I use Apple Numbers who’s spreadsheets are smaller & simple making them perfect for presentations.

One

The second key to a great chart is to use only one data set. You might be tempted to use two, three or four, but don’t.
The script paragraph will be only one point & the matching data will therefore be only one set.
I also only use a few data points from the data set. If possible only three.

Your points need to be bold & attention grabbing & the data charts which accompany them must be very exciting too.
Make charts that go up & exponentially. If they don’t go up exponentially…yet, add an arrow showing that they will go up exponentially soon.
Never use a down chart . If it points down turn it upside down.

Table

If you wanted to compare the same data but not in one series, like for example if you wanted to show how big your sales are compared to other companies’ sales you can use a simple table instead of a chart.
The principal is the same , only one data set.
Table is better than pie as there’s an up.

Chapter 8 add some media

Other visuals

While a chart (or table) is probably the best known form of visual which you can use in presentations, there are several other media which you can use to get your point across to audiences.
Here we will look at four of the other options which I use. They are photos, videos, maps..,
…& most exciting of all, live demonstrations.

Photos

They always say that a photo can tell a thousand words, meaning that a picture is a great way to get your point across.
Some simple rules for using photos in presentations. I always use my own photos taken with my own iPhone. I always use a photo with only a single subject.
I also make the photo full screen.

Videos

We are naturally attracted to movement, so a visual tool which is going to be more exciting than a photo is a video.
Again some basic rules for videos are to use your own (I take mine with my iPhone) & to make them about one subject.
Keep videos short, 7 seconds will feel a long time when you present.

Map

Photos & videos can help to emote your audience by bringing them into your world.
Another way is by using a map. With modern technology you can combine photo, video & map into one, using Google Earth.
Take the audience on a short flying journey from where they currently are to your business & show them what it looks like.

Demos

The best media of all is also the most risky, but worth it; live demos.
You can show the audience how your website works.
One easy live demo I use is to make a calculation. An example would be the 7 minute presentation. Open a calculator & make the calculation 7 x 100 = 700 / 60 = 11 parts.

Chapter 9 finally the slides

Finally

You’ve written your short plan. You’ve decided the point & title of your presentation.
You’ve made an outline & filled in the paragraphs to create a script. You noted visuals for each part & made some great charts & emotional media. You’ve crafted your presentation.
Now, finally, it’s time for what most people turn to first, making the great slides themselves.

One

Because everything is already done, the slides are the easiest part. But you still need to keep vigilant so here’s three simple rules for the slides.
First make the slide about only one thing. You see many slides with several topics on them. Don’t do that.
As you are following your script paragraphs for each slide this should happen naturally.

Titles

Second you can use the slide titles to help you present. Don’t waste the title by making it a bland description.
Make the title your point about that slide instead. You can even match the title exactly with what you will say from your script.
Use few words, capital letters & put the most important word in bright red color.

BIG

Make everything on your slide as big as you possibly can.
This means you should make any text you use big & bold capitals. Make the charts big & bright so they have a maximum impact. Make any photos or videos you use fill the whole of the screen with no edges showing.
Assume your audience is very far away.

Simple

The aim of the slides is to make everything as simple as possible.
That means it will be simple for you to remember & present. It will be simple for your audience to follow & understand & it will be easy for them to remember & take action on.
Don’t make the audience work hard with lots of small text.

Chapter 10 practice & prepare

Done

Now you have your great presentation & because of the way you methodically built it, you will already be a long way towards presenting it with some confidence.
But there are still a couple of other things to go through.
They are practicing, preparing for the event itself & what to do if things go wrong while you are presenting.

Practice

The first thing is to practice. The action of writing out the presentation & then matching the data & media to the script & making the slides will have helped you practice.
But in addition I normally do three extra timed run throughs.
You can do these in front of a mirror, recorded or present it to friends & family.

Prepare

Next is preparing for the event itself. I always go to the venue early so I can check everything. I do a live run through using the equipment like projector & microphone.
I always use a remote control (never have anyone else control your presentation).
I always have the screen to my left so the audience follows left to right.

Murphy’s

Lastly there is what we call Murphy’s Law. This states that whatever can go wrong will go wrong.
Microphones fail, projectors don’t work, live demos go wrong. This happens to everyone.
That you have a clear point & made a plan which you turned into a simple to understand presentation will give you the ability & confidence to keep going.

Dollars

The 7 Steps To Making A Great Presentation might be too different for you….
If so, try to use one of the steps like writing a script or making singular slides or larger text, first.
I promise you it will be worth it. I know because using this system as a professional presenter has already paid me millions of dollars.

Chapter 11 Study to learn

Watch

If you want to get really great at something you have to study constantly, even when you are already great.
Today this is easier than ever because with YouTube you can watch great presentations from the past & the present & learn from then.
You can learn presentation tips from other sources too like movies & speeches. Here’s some examples.

Lessons

In ‘Planes Trains & Automobiles’, Steve Martin tells John Candy, ‘when telling a story, have a point, it makes it so much more interesting for the audience’ (point).
Steve Jobs explained the success of Pixar was editing the films before making them (plan).
Denzel Washington in Philadelphia tells a client ‘explain it to me like I’m a four-year old’ (simple).

iPhone

Steve Jobs & Apple set the modern standard for corporate presentations which many follow today.
One iconic example is the launch of the first iPhone which uses the rule of three.
The iPhone is introduced as three devices, a touch screen iPod, a revolutionary mobile phone & a breakthrough internet device (repeated 3X) then they merge into one device, iPhone.

Oscar

Mathew McConaughey made a great, well-remembered Oscar speech which also uses the rule of three.
He talks of three things he needs for every day; someone to look up to, something to look forward to & someone to chase.
He ends it with the iconic phrase ‘alright, alright, alright!’. The best example of rule of three is the same word 3X.

Demo

My favorite presentation moment of all is also in the iPhone launch & it’s a live demo which goes perfectly.
Steve Jobs shows off the maps on the iPhone & looks up the nearest Starbucks. He then uses the accompanying phone number to call up & order lattes for the audience (before cutting off).
It makes you want an iPhone.

Chapter 12, a presentation device

Drean

When I first started doing a lot of presentations, I used a laptop or paper copies. But I dreamt of a special device which would help me to make great presentations.
When I saw the iPad, that was exactly the device which I had dreamt of.
I bought one & have made all of my presentations with it ever since.

Notes

Mow I make my plan, do all my research & write my script on a iPhone. Research is done using Twitter, Google, iBooks.
The plan & the script are written in the Apple notes app.
For the paragraphs I use an app called JotForm which allows for text writing with a word counter, then I copy paste it into notes.

Numbers

I keep all my data in lots of Numbers spreadsheets. Numbers is Apple’s simpler version of excel & there are special, even simpler versions, on the iPhone & iPad.
Numbers spreadsheets help you to simplify things because they are much smaller than excel or Google sheets.
They also make great simple charts which can be copied straight into the presentation.

Keynote

The presentation itself is made using the Apple version of PowerPoint, called Keynote.
Keynote was made for Apple’s own presentations & it is simple & again there’s an even simpler version for the iPhone & iPad.
You can give the presentation live via a link, you can share a video of it & you can make GIFs from it too.

Remote

When it comes time to make the presentation my iPhone can be plugged into the projector & the script & remote control can be on a lectern on the iPad.
I can plug the iPad in & walk around using the iPhone as my remote.
Or …I can connect the iPhone/iPad & use my Apple Watch as remote. It’s magic…

Congratulations you’ve finished! Now answer these ten simple questions…

The pillars of the 7 Steps To Making A Great Presentation are a p____, a p___ & keeping it s_____
A presentation is a g___ to your audience.
An ancient literary tool is the r___ of th___
Slides come l___
Have a v_____ & make the audience the h____
Write a s_____
Charts should always point __
The best media of all is a l___ d___
Only ___ thing on each slide
When you’re presenting always use a r_____

Contact me sebastian@sharpfokus.com