Last week, we explored Act 1 of how to present like Steve Jobs, based on an article by Carmine Gallo titled “The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience”. Act 1 explored the act of creating the story. This week, in Act 2, we will learn how to deliver the experience.

Act 2—Deliver the Experience. Once the proper planning has taken place, the actual creation of the presentation comes next. It is essential to create a project that is both visually appealing and makes sense to look at and follow—if it doesn’t, you will quickly lose the interest of your audience. These steps make it easier to create a presentation that will “Wow” your spectators and captivate their attention:

Don’t Overdo It—it may be tempting to make every slide or template complex, diverse, and fancy, but trying too hard to dress it up will only alienate the audience and make it hard to follow. Keep your slides short, simple, and to-the-point as much as possible to convey ideas in an easily understandable way.

Image Is Everything—hardly anyone enjoys staring at black-and white graphs and grids while being lectured on a series of numbers that make their head spin. Dress up your graphs with some color and describe numbers in a way the audience can relate with to make it fun and hold their attention.

Zingers Are Worth It—varied diction is key to making a presentation memorable and creating a lively communication. Spice up the vocabulary with diverse and uncommon phrases to leave a more lasting impression.

Share the Spotlight—try not to make your presentation all about you. Instead of risking coming off as self-centered or obsessed, give credit for ideas and contributions where credit is due.

Utilize Your Surroundings—a great presentation will stand out through its use of props and additional supporting devices. Liven up your communication skills with a demonstration or some tools that may be unexpected or new.

Include a Climax—the traditional story arch had a progression from the beginning, up to a height in the action, that then trailed down to a resolution.

Build your presentation along this line to create a moment of surprise to really impress your audience. Try to craft your project to build for that instance for maximum effect.

End scene.

The last Act of this series, “Refine and Rehearse” will be posted next week.

If you’re in healthcare, insurance, technology or other professional services industries, and need help with public relations, marketing or crisis communications, contact Scott Public Relations.

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