When I meet individually with clients in preparation for a high-stakes presentation, we usually begin with the Message–the content, its organization, its clarity, and flow–before we start work on the Messenger–the delivery, the manner in which the human element owns the message and presents it with confidence and comfort.

Often times, the presentation will also contain a Power Point slide show as part of the “staging” of the message.  I am usually surprised that the client has put together a very complete Power Point “show” before stategizing the purpose and plan of the message.  In other words, clients begin with a template, plug in the data in some sort of reasonable order, and then want to jump directly to the delivery part of the practice and preparation.

Then I tell them one of the most important principles of effective presentations:  Message Comes First; Message Drives the Power Point slides.  The Power Point slides do not drive the Message.  Almost 100% of the time clients do not abide by this principle.  Why?  Because it is easier than crafting a message first and then surrounding that message with a unique, supportive, visually appealing, surprising, “understated,” and persuasive Power Point.

So then we begin the hard and self-disciplined work of deciding the purpose of the presentation, its flow, its connections (transitions), it theme, its strategic examples, its analogies, its opening, its close, and everything else that creates a powerful, persuasive message.

Then and only then does the Power Point come into play.  The message drives the Power Point selection.  Adaptation to each individual audience helps us make template selections, graphic selections, prioritization of points, when and how to animate the bullets…..IF there needs to be bullets or does a simple, powerful, graphically arresting picture carry the entire meaning (with the leave-behind containing the statistical data).

So, next time you have a high-stakes presentation to prepare, don’t take the habitual, easy approach, i.e., letting the Power Point slides drive your message.  Take charge of the message first, and let the Power Point follow the flow of the message.  And, remember, make sure you differentiate between the Power Point “show” and leave-behind playbill.  When the message drives the production of the Power Point, your message will be hard hitting, persuasive, concise, and on target.  Be the driver; don’t be the passenger.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 4:37 pm and is filed under Presentation Skills. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.