Sleek graphics? They help. Animations? Sure! But the driver is about whether the story you tell resonates with your audience’s needs. 

I always believed PowerPoint to be a tool for college – Quick design, some fancy non-essential animations and transitions and you have a winner! Yet, that of course is not the case. Since I started my professional career in the corporate world, these presentations are, and will likely continue to be, a part of our professional life for the foreseeable future.

No no, there's no need to worry. Remember, PowerPoint is only the tool. Whether a presentation is bad, good, or great (wink wink) depends on the person creating the slides. Bad presentations are a user problem, and typically, the worst of them tend to make sense to the presenter, just not to the audience.

Creating a presentation that will succeed and resonate with your audience requires a dose of emotional intelligence–long before you actually start building your slides. Here are a few easy, low-tech steps to help you do that.

Step 1: Understand Your Audience Through Insight

Before you even open PowerPoint, your audience is coming to you for a reason. What are they expecting out of this? What are they hoping to latch onto? A lesson? An action plan? Motivating material or inspiring behavior changes?

Understanding your audience's pain points is key. Without it, you can wind up delivering a message that does your listeners no good–and might even be painful to sit through. We've all been there! So your starting point should be taking a moment to anticipate and understand your specific audience. Some questions to consider: what might be their fears and aspirations, thoughts and opinions? What do they know and not know? What are their pains? What makes them happy?

Answering these questions will help you build an audience profile consisting of the key decision-makers you’re trying to reach!

Step 2: Create a Story That Speaks to Your Listeners Concerns

The next step is using that audience profile to build an engaging narrative. If step one was about understanding the audience needs through pain points and emotion, step two would be about using those emotions to influence the audience.

How do you do this, and do it well you ask? Tell a story! People love stories and love to be entertained, and even more so when it's personal. Find narratives about things the audience cares about. Entwine them into your presentation. You’re more likely to succeed if you can hook listeners from the beginning, so put what matters to them early in your storyline.

Remember: humans are more likely to make emotional decisions rather than logical ones.

Step 3: Buildout Your Story Driven Slides

This is where an agency like ours (shameless plug!) can help you succeed. Images, words, data, font size, font type, color, animations.... these are all essential decisions! Working with a creative team will help these stories come to life, and more importantly, help take some weight off of your shoulders.

Another important tip here is to remember that regardless of who you are speaking to or who the style is catered for, always remember to be yourself while presenting. Being authentically you is what matters the most, and if your audience seeks out the thought of you being inauthentic, they may disconnect from your message.

Step 4: Measure Twice and Cut Once: Ask For Feedback

As always, measure twice, cut once. Go back through your PowerPoint Presentation and ask yourself if this drives home any key points/ Does it inspire, motivate or engage? Would you sit through the duration of the talk?

Having a seamless flow of copy and design are two cohesive ends that must connect perfectly to connect with your audience. Don't fill the PowerPoint with tons of text and bullet points. Instead, keep the main points on the screen and allow the speaker to handle the rest. The presentation should be an addition to the already polished topic on hand. 

The approach takes time, but the payoff will be met with applause, gratitude and engaging expressions. Until next time!

Blessings and blue skies,

Alexander Frank