by David Pitts

Created on: December 04, 2008   Last Updated: September 23, 2011

We've all had to sit through the torture of a poor, mistake-filled presentation, wishing we were somewhere else. Someone missed their chance to make some good points, impart valuable information, or convince the audience of something. If you want to avoid being that person, here are some guidelines based on four P's, Plan, Prepare, Practice and Present. These principles not only help avoid mistakes in professional presentations, but will increase the effectiveness of the briefing. The audience will be glad they were there and will leave with your intended message in their minds.

Plan. Establish who your audience is and what your objectives are. Decide what your story is. Build an outline to tell that story. Be sure you compile a set of slides or other media that matches your audience and meets your objectives. Determine how long the briefing should be and plan to that. Remember, briefings always take longer that you think they will.

Prepare. Prepare the presentation materials, designing your briefing package to meet your objectives. Here are ten principles that help avoid mistakes and yield effective briefing packages.

1. Organize your slides to tell the story.

2. Define a graphical style and maintain it throughout the slide package.

3. Don't steal slides from another briefing that don't match the style and level of detail of your briefing.

4. Be sure the font size is allows the audience to read the important information. Never say, "You probably can't read this."

5. Use pleasing color schemes. Avoid gaudy colors or backgrounds. Avoid poor contrasting colors where text is difficult to read.

6. Don't overuse animation. It can be irritating and distracting.

7. The main message of every slide should be obvious without you having to point it out.

8. Don't crowd too much information into a single slide. You probably aren't going to brief it, and the audience certainly will not read it. Slides should not be too detailed, too top-level or too abstract.

9. Each slide should be designed to be easy to brief. It should contain natural graphical flow to lead you through your verbal message. Slides should have natural cues that help you remember the transition to the next slide or topic.

10. Avoid overuse of pure bullet slides. Effective briefings use powerful graphics. (Hence the name PowerPoint.)

Practice. Practicing is the most effective way to avoid mistakes. The criticality of the presentation dictates how much you should practice. Practice will expose the rough spots

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