A Guide to Presentations for Sales Managers

A Guide to Presentations for Sales Managers

By Lyndon Nicholson

INTRODUCTION SECTION TITLE

About Lyndon Lyndon Nicholson is one of the UK’s leading experts on presentation design and public speaking. For almost 20 years he has worked with some of the world’s most influential companies, helping them to present new ideas and communicate more effectively. After building two successful presentation design and consultation agencies during that time, Lyndon now wants to share his wealth of knowledge and experience with those of us looking to improve our presenting skills.

Introduction from Lyndon for sales mangers

Thank you for downloading my free guide. This is an invaluable tool for people who need to make a presentation, and for those who present regularly and want to up their game. In creating this guide I’ve drawn upon my many years’ of experience working with leading brands like Facebook and Dell, as well as hundreds of professional speakers and presenters.

The guide is intended to be used as a quick reference document, aiding and inspiring you through the three main stages of making a killer presentation; structure, design, and finally the big one, presenting.

This is not run-of-the-mill advice, as I always encourage my clients to create a presentation that stands out from the crowd.

That means this is more than just help with PowerPoint: it is a guide that will allow you to think differently about your presentations and the way in which you present them.

As presentations are such an important part of the modern business world, the secrets you’re about to learn could be a game-changer for your career or business, improving your reputation and boosting revenue.

Structure Planning Every book, film, TV show, and theatre production has a structure.

Presentations are no different. Before you fire up your copy PowerPoint or decide what to wear on the day, you need to build your presentation’s structure. To do that, you need to start asking yourself some questions: Who is my audience?

What do I want from them?

What do I want them to take from the presentation?

Knowing your audience as best you can will help you shape the structure and tone of your presentation, increasing its effectiveness.

Research is key here, finding out beforehand who it is you will be presenting to and the core values of their organisation.

Consider then what the whole point of your presentation is: why are you presenting to them and what do you hope to achieve as a result? Is it a sale? Is it a new client, or a promotion? Realise your main goal and plan the structure of your presentation to point only to that. Information that deviates from that eventual goal should be booted out at the structuring phase, allowing you to keep your presentation simple and to the point.

Think then about what your audience will be thinking in the aftermath of your performance. Do you need them to do something? Do you need to change the way they think about something? Consider this when planning the presentation and be sure to include some form of engaging call to action.

The next important points to include in your presentation’s structure are: Being clear about who you are and why you’re here Developing a story that sees your audience’s opinion or thoughts transformed Highlight the ‘Killer Slide’, the piece of information that is most important 1

SECTION STRUCTURE TITLE

Smash the ice The beginning of your presentation is hugely important. Simply standing up and introducing yourself might seem like the most effective way of starting, but it will hardly grab the audience’s interest.

One famous public speaker who often nailed the start of speeches was Barack Obama. Even in serious surroundings with the eyes of the world’s media on him, Obama would often begin with a joke; one that immediately demanded attention and warmed the audience to him. It was also a great power move, as the president was pointing out that even in a pressured, demanding scenario he was able to be playful and witty.

You might not want to start with a joke, but giving an interesting statement, one designed to produce an emotional reaction in your audience, will work to get the ball rolling.

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

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SECTION STRUCTURE TITLE

The feels Obviously, the information you are there to communicate is very important to your presentation, but more important is the way you make your audience feel. Appealing to people’s emotions is the most effective way of capturing their attention and building their trust.

In structuring your presentation be sure to create a story for them to follow and be invested in; a journey with a beginning, middle and end. Begin by presenting a problem that they can relate to and show them how, with you or your company’s help, they can overcome it. Make them the hero of the tale.

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STRUCTURE

Rule of Three You want to create a memorable presentation, especially if your audience are sitting through several in one long go. To make your information easier for people to recall later, use the Rule of Three.

Neuroscientists know that humans have difficulty retaining multiple pieces of data in the short-term. Bombard your audience with too much information and their brains will literally shut down. Therefore be sure to organise your presentation into threes where possible.

Steve Jobs, who we’ll discuss later, used this technique when first introducing the iPhone in 2007. He distilled the phone’s functions into three (iPod, phone, internet device) and then based the whole keynote speech around those topics.

Consider how your presentation can be organised into thirds and how the data you include on your slides can also be arranged that way.

20/20 No, not how good your vision has to be to create an awesome presentation, but rather a very important rule to remember. 20/20 means you should: Keep your presentation under 20 minutes in length, and...

Practice it out loud at least 20 times before presenting

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Design Templates Open PowerPoint you’ll be presented with a blank white stock template. It might be tempting to start with that as a base, especially if you’re in a hurry to get the presentation built.

However, the vast majority of other presenters will be doing that, resulting in a lot of similar looking presentations.

That won’t do for you.

Instead, create your own template. That might sound complicated, but a bespoke PowerPoint template will make your slides really stand out from the crowd and draw in your audience's attention. Designing your own template may take more time, but it really will help, especially when tackling the next couple of points in this section.

Don’t fancy that? Fortunately templates can be downloaded from the internet if you prefer - some for free, others for a small price.

Just make sure that, if you are downloading one, you’re doing so from a trusted site. We definitely don’t need a virus and other nastiness infecting your computer at this stage in the process.

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DESIGN

Colour Once you have your template built or installed, let’s consider colour. A palette of about two or three colours will add a lot of consistency to your presentation, running across all of the slides. Make sure that the colours you choose compliment each other well and don’t distract your audience by contrasting.

For business people, your organisation should already have a colour palette they use for all marketing and advertising. Find out what those colours are and stick to them, using the correct hex code such as #FF0000.

Non business people: If you don’t already have a pallet of colours you regularly use, try the website Color Palettes to get some inspiration. They take the five main colours from different photographs to create varied palettes, supplying the hex codes for each, allowing you to replicate it. Be careful to ensure that the colours you choose have a good degree of contrast, so they don’t all blend in together and are lost on the slides.

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DESIGN

Text and fonts For your on-screen text it is important to use fonts that are neat and very simple. For all sorts of presentations we recommend employing no more than two different kinds, usually one font for titles and headers, and another similar style for the rest of your text.

We always prefer sans serif fonts as they are easy to read and appear soft and pleasing when projected on a large screen. Serif fonts are also good, but are best used for larger text such as the header of a slide. However, be sure to test different fonts and experiment to find the ones you prefer. Different fonts might suit different presentations depending on the topic you’re covering and on your audience.

Just remember: clean and simple will always be better than lavish and complicated.

Now that you have your font chosen, try to use as little on‑screen text as possible. We’ve sat through lots of bad presentations in the past where the speaker has put their entire script into their slides. Too much text is distracting, and takes the focus away from where it should be: on you.

To that end…

Limit text to no more than six lines per slide.

Sentences should be short and easy to take in.

Consider the age and ability of your audience when writing.

Sentence structure for a presentation to the director of a law firm should definitely be different to one you’re giving to school kids.

However, in both of those examples, it is you who is giving the presentation, not your slideshow.

The less your audience has to read, the more they’ll be listening to, and being impressed by, you. You legend.

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Mastering PowerPoint Like any piece of software, PowerPoint takes time to get used to and is filled with hidden helpful functions that aren’t obvious to the newbie user. Our creative team have been using PowerPoint as thier go‑to presentation building tool for 20 years as they find it the most capable and customisable, allowing those of us who wish to create something different the opportunity to do so.

Update We’d advise that you update to the latest version of the software, PowerPoint 2016. Although the basic framework of PowerPoint hasn’t changed much in over a decade, the 2016 version offers new features that you really need to take advantage of. Our favourites are:

Zoom. Allows you to remove the linear flow of your slideshow and ‘zoom’ to a different section immediately. This means that, should a member of your audience ask a question about something you’ve covered later in the presentation, you can move forward without having to show all the slides in between.

Morph. Essentially an animation tool that allows objects to transition between slides, morphing their shape. Objects will appear to grow, shrink, and move while your slide changes, resulting in an impressive transition.

Tell Me. In the toolbar, ‘Tell me what you want to do’ allows you to start typing a question and PowerPoint 2016 will automatically make suggestions to help. Want to add animation but not sure where to find those commands? Start typing ‘I want to add animation…’ and PowerPoint will open the right menu for you. Very handy.

Group collaboration. If you are part of a team all working on the same presentation, you can now edit and make changes together, just like an online Google document. Comments can be left by other users, changes made, and ideas shared. Teamwork makes the dream work.

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MASTERING POWERPOINT

PowerPoint Designer. This is a very handy new feature, especially for those people who don’t have any design ideas. By uploading an image, The PowerPoint Designer will suggest colours that compliment, allowing you build a consistent-looking theme around it.

Smart Lookup. You’re probably used to having to leave PowerPoint and visit your web browser to research definitions and check facts. Thanks to this new feature all you have to is right click on the word and tap Smart Lookup. A pane will open on the right displaying info from the likes of Bing and Wikipedia.

3D animation. This feature improves upon PowerPoint’s ‘3D’ text capabilities, taking the next step of fully rendered, moving objects.

You can create or download 3D assets into your presentation and have them move around.

History. PowerPoint 2016 allows you to look back to see what changes have been made to your presentation, and even restore earlier versions via OneDrive. Click File, then History, to see what you’ve been up to.

All of these new features will help you to create a presentation that stands out and impresses your audience.

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MASTERING POWERPOINT

Saving time Time is often of the essence, especially in the business world. If you need to build or edit your presentation quickly, the huge wealth of options in PowerPoint can be intimidating. Over the years we’ve identified a few shortcuts that help to speed things up.

Duplicate. If you need another slide that is similar to the one you’ve just created, select it in the left column and tap CTRL+D. This also works for individual objects within slides.

Animation Painter. If you need to animate lots of objects in the same way, apply the animation to one object then select it. Go to the Animations tab, then Advanced Animation group, and click Animation Painter. This lets you select all the objects you want to apply that same animation.

Find and replace text. You might use the feature in Word to edit documents, but you can also use it in PowerPoint. If names, figures, and data have changed, you can quickly find them all and replace with updated entries.

Smart guides. Consistency is key, so if your slides feature lots of images, charts, and text you’ll want to ensure they are all aligned correctly. Smart guides appear as lines, allowing you line everything up neatly. In the View tab click Show and in Guide Settings check ‘Display smart guides when shapes are aligned.’

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MASTERING POWERPOINT

Images It’s important to keep in mind that the majority of people can now spot a rubbish image a mile off. Low quality clip art, low resolution images you’ve found through Google, and dodgy smartphone photography will ruin your presentation, standing out like a sore thumb.

Using the right pictures and imagery is essential for snagging the attention and focus of your audience, perfectly setting the scene and mood while you present. Therefore, choose your images wisely and go for high quality. There are several sites that offer professional photos and images for free, but I suggest your first port of call should be Unsplash.

When picking images for your presentation, take your existing colour palette into consideration to ensure everything still looks cohesive.

You want the image to stand out for being a good image, not because it clashes so horrendously with the template’s background colour.

Images available on unsplash.com

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MASTERING POWERPOINT

Filters If you’re using several quite different images, one thing that will definitely help with consistency is applying a filter over all of them. Filters will give even the most dissimilar of photos a similar appearance, blending them all nicely together into your chosen theme. Software like Adobe’s Photoshop do this really well, but if you don’t have that, try downloading a free smartphone photo editing app to your phone and running them all through there.

Not every slide needs an image. If your text, icons, or chart is attention-grabbing enough, it’ll be enough.

Transitions PowerPoint comes pre-loaded with some great ways for one slide to change to the next. However, keep it simple as a different transition with each slide will, again, distract your audience from you and your content. Stick to one of two subtle styles or ditch them completely.

Making that decision will depend on your audience: would your potential client be impressed by your sales figures slide folding up into a paper aeroplane and flying off screen?

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MASTERING POWERPOINT

Adding video Video can be added to you PowerPoint presentation as easily as you can add an image, but it will have far more impact. So, ask yourself…

Do I really need video in my presentation?

Moving images snag attention in different ways than still images.

Therefore you need to consider if a video is the right way to get the message of your presentation across. Just like with too much text, a video will distract your audience's focus away from you. That’s fine if their focus should be on the video as it continues your story as intended, but not if you’re still trying to talk about something.

Video used as a looping, toned-down background image can be quite visually impressive and doesn’t demand too much attention from those viewing. However, be cautious and apply the same principles you did when selecting images, as…

Bad video makes you look bad.

If you don’t have professionally-produced video available to you, such as that made by your organisation’s marketing team, there are still options. Sites like Pexels offer free-to-use downloadable clips that make perfect looping backgrounds for presentations.

Be aware that adding video content will bloat your presentation’s overall size. A large PowerPoint file can be a problem for slowerrunning computers, causing lag, stutters and even crashes. Also, it might it difficult to email and share with colleagues and clients. If you’re a field salesperson who presents on your own powerful and reliable laptop, that shouldn’t be an issue. However, those presenting on someone else’s hardware need to be conscious of file sizes to ensure a smooth presentation.

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MASTERING POWERPOINT

Reducing file size It isn’t just video that can bloat a PowerPoint file. All those high‑res images you downloaded might be several megabytes in size and unnecessarily large. Keeping those images to no more than 1920 x 1080 pixels, and no more than 500kb in size, will help keep loading and transition issues at bay. Where possible use .jpeg files as these are usually the smallest in size.

To compress your images that are already in your presentation, select them and click on the Picture Format tab, moving to Compress Pictures. There you can select the level of compression, and we suggest you go for ‘Web (150ppi)’ as this saves a lot of space but still looks good on screen.

For video compression, in File tab, click Info, and then in the Media Size and Performance section, tap Compress Media. PowerPoint then finds all video content in your file and offers you the choice to compress them to Presentation Quality, Internet Quality or Low Quality. Go for Internet Quality as, again, it still looks clear on a screen.

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Presenting “There are only two types of speakers in the world: 1. The nervous, and 2. Liars.” – Mark Twain Everyone experiences stage fright before speaking publicly.

Seriously, everyone. But ask yourself: what are you really afraid of? Your answers might take the form of...

Fear of looking stupid Forgetting what you need to say Being unable to use your presentation technology Falling over To be fair, these are all legitimate fears, and no doubt someone somewhere has experienced one or all of those awful scenarios when trying to give a presentation.

But they are things you can control.

If you’re concerned about forgetting what you need to say, learn your speaker notes or script off by heart. Cram it all in there so you know it backwards. Memorise the words as you’d learn lines for a play. Make it second nature. Then…

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PRESENTING

Rehearse Good God, rehearse. Do it over and over again. Ask a friend or colleague to watch you practice, stand in front of a mirror, or even film yourself to watch it back and see what could be improved. The more you do it, the easier it will be to stand up and deliver it to an audience.

Remember the advice we gave you about 20/20 - rehearse your presentation at least 20 times.

If you’re using PowerPoint, apply the same approach there, too. Make sure what your screen is showing matches with what you are saying, and know the order of the slides like you know the order of the words.

Photo by Alex Litvin on Unsplash

You should be able to effortlessly cycle through your slides with no surprises, so ensure you take a decent knowledge of PowerPoint into the meeting with you. If you’re presenting on someone else’s machine and they haven’t set it up correctly, be sure to know how to do so yourself. That will alleviate a lot of the anxiety you’ll feel going into the presentation.

Be the total boss of all your tech. Make sure you know your laptop inside out, as well as whatever you’re using to present, such as a portable projector. Be sure you know what to do if something goes wrong, won’t work properly, or in case someone presses that strange little button on the side of the screen and everything turns upside down.

Master your tools and you’ll feel more confident in yourself.

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PRESENTING

Getting up there The time has come to sell your service, product, or idea to your audience. Regardless of the reason why you’re presenting to them, it’s important to immediately establish that this is your presentation and you are leading the meeting. To start…

Greet people as they enter and engage with them warmly.

If the audience is mostly colleagues, chat and joke with them as normal to put them at ease.

If it’s a group of strangers, talk to them to get an impression of what they actually want and need; it might flavour your following presentation. Plus, if you can casually segue from a chat directly into your presentation, you’ll seem as slick as an oil spill on a slip ’n’ slide.

When you do start speaking, sit or stand in a manner that screams confidence. People will trust you more if you appear to be happy and sure of what you’re saying, so keep your head held high and establish eye contact more frequently.

Don’t be tempted to turn from them to look at your slides too often. These people have come to see what you have to say…

…not to look at the back of your head as you point at a screen.

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PRESENTING

Pause for thought Your time in the spotlight is brief - less than 20 minutes ideally. You might think, therefore, that you’ll be speaking for a total of 20 minutes during your presentation. However, that isn’t really the case, and some of the most powerful speeches and presentations we’ve heard used silence and pauses just as effectively as they did words and images.

Again, that soulless, unfeeling laptop sitting on the conference table before you is not the one giving the presentation; an emotional, sensitive, and flawed human being is. Robotically churning out all those lines you learnt will do nothing to capture your audience’s imagination, nor will it make them like you.

Actors act; they pretend to feel emotions about certain situations because that is what their character would feel. Presenting is not acting, as the person standing up to ‘perform’ is very definitely you. Therefore the display of emotion should be genuine; the excitement of a new idea, the sadness of a personal story, and the joy of a funny incident - all real.

If your audience relate to you and your feelings, you will draw them in and gain their trust.

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PRESENTING

Body talk We’ve spoken to lots of public speakers and presenters who tell us that they’ve gone over their presentation “in their head” as a way to prepare. To us, that is just a waste of brain power as a great presentation cannot exist purely in someone’s head. Merely thinking through your performance is not enough: it needs to be ‘on its feet’ and physical.

So much of what we communicate comes from our bodies, so rehearsing your speech requires more than simply saying the lines out loud. Stand up, use your arms, your hands, be animated and be true. If you feel that you need to gesticulate when you drop a certain line, do it. Show the audience just how enthusiastic the subject of the presentation is making you. Sell it with you body.

Photo by Teemu Paananen on Unsplash

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TIPS FROM THE GREATS

Tips from the greats Researching the speeches given by famous and successful individuals can be exceptionally useful. Over the years we’ve heard many speakers talk on a wealth of subjects, but a few names come to mind as true greats of public speaking. Here we’ve identified the individual traits each of these five speakers demonstrate when delivering a speech.

Elon Musk The man behind innovative companies like SpaceX, Tesla, and The Boring Company is fast becoming a household name across the planet. Unlike many of the other names on this list, Musk’s public speaking style is less polished and often more emotional.

Notable traits:

Vision. Elon Musk tends to discuss what he wants to do, and what he believes to be possible, rather than what he’s done. This draws people in and fires imaginations.

Humour. Musk speeches feature lots of humour, and only some of it appears to be scripted. He’ll make ad-libs based on the venue, audience, host, and even himself in a self-deprecating manner. This puts everyone at ease, ups the entertainment value of the speeches, and allows people to relate to him.

Authenticity. Musk seems to always speak from the heart. When describing a new run of Tesla cars, he warmly thanked the people who bought one, appearing genuinely grateful. He also discusses failings and disappointments directly, showing true emotion.

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TIPS FROM THE GREATS

Steve Jobs The late, great Jobs is often first on any list of great public speakers, and the way in which he presented the first iPhone in 2007 completely changed the presentation industry, highlighting it as an art form in its own right.

Notable traits: Story telling. Jobs would grab attention by drawing his audience in with a story, delivered slowly and simply.

Before even revealing the new iPhone, he established the reason why Apple had been working on it, and how much love and attention he and his team had poured into it.

Rule of three. Jobs knew that information presented in groups of threes had more power than any other numbering. Therefore he would organise not only his presentations into thirds, but also describe new products in threes, helping the audience to retain the info.

Passion. When Steve Jobs introduced a new Apple product, it was easy to see that he believed it was the most exciting thing ever. That passion and enthusiasm was infectious, especially as Jobs presented new ideas as ‘this is cool’, rather than ‘look how awesome I am’.

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TIPS FROM THE GREATS

Oprah Winfrey The legendary TV host has built a great reputation for public speaking, both at award ceremonies and at dedicated events. She draws her audiences in with heartwarming tales of her life and inspirational stories about how she made it big.

Notable traits:

Emotion. Many of her speeches involve a story about her own difficult childhood, to which many people can relate. Often she highlights that it is in the most difficult of times that epiffanies can be reached.

C onnects with the audience. Working for 25 years with a live studio audience has clearly affected how she interacts with those watching. Winfrey engages with people, often directly with individuals, resulting in what feels like a more intimate situation.

Inspiration. By discussing a revelation or an improvement she has made to her own life, Winfrey encourages others to do the same, without asking for anything. By following her example of ‘giving back’, audience members have been inspired to make changes to their lives.

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TIPS FROM THE GREATS

Tony Robbins The world famous motivational speaker is a rock star of giving presentations, having helped to encourage celebrities and US presidents. Robbins has an infectious speaking style, filled with energy and enthusiasm.

Notable traits:

Knowing his audience. Robbins prides himself on adding lasting value to his speeches, so he works to ensure that as many people as possible in attendance will be helped. His speeches (and entire tours) have a very specific theme and aim, meaning he can better understand what people are hoping to learn.

Flexibility. Many of Robbins’ speeches are different from the next, even when a part of the same series. His on‑stage persona is fluid and changeable, allowing him to react and improvise quickly. Some elements are clearly rehearsed, while others appear ad-libbed.

Energy. By God, he’s energetic. Robbins’ presentations are designed to motivate an entire room of people, so it’s easy to see why he runs on stage, waving his arms. Although not appropriate for a business situation, the psyching up and confidence building that Robbins clearly does backstage could be employed before any kind of speech.

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TIPS FROM THE GREATS

Winston Churchill The war-time prime minister of the UK was known for making impassioned and patriotic speeches, both during the Second World War and at other times in his long career. Interestingly, Churchill did not consider himself a natural speaker, and worked long and hard to hone his talents.

Notable traits:

Romance. Churchill’s best speeches were appealing for creating a sense of romance in the listener; romance for one’s country, especially. Although viewed as jingoistic today, during wartime they proved very effective.

Imagery. Many of Churchill’s speeches use vivid imagery to tell a story, painting a clear picture in the audience’s minds. Describing how we might fight “on the beaches”, and “in the streets and the fields” forces the listener to imagine themselves as part of this idea.

Power. Churchill may have been a highly educated and privileged aristocrat, but his use of simple Anglo Saxon language was powerfully delivered. He understood the strength of simple words, not just to appeal to a wider audience, but to make his speeches sound punchier and dramatic.

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Hopefully that guide will help you in creating new and impactful presentations for your business, increasing engagement and boosting revenue. However, it’s important to remember that no matter how much time and energy you invest in your presentation slideshows and your sales team’s ability to present, there are experts out there who do nothing but that… and they’re ready to help you.

Here at F5 Presentations we live and breathe PowerPoint.

No one knows PowerPoint like we do and we smash expectations of what a presentation can be. Some the world’s biggest companies have put their faith in our consultants and designers over the past two decades, trusting them with their brands and messages. No matter the size of your project or business, we put all that knowledge and experience at your fingertips.

We don’t just get to know you, we get to know your audience. We fully invest in your presentation, understanding the who, what, why and where, then completely smashing the how. Your story is our passion.

If you’d like to find out how your current presentations could be easily improved, try our free potential missed sales calculator.

f5pres.outgrow.us/f5presprescalc It takes just a few minutes to complete, and could help you refine your presenting process and increase your sales.

For all other presentation design issues, visit www.f5.agency 25