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Presentations - 20% content, 80% theatre

Memorable presentations.


Okay, maybe the proportions are a little exaggerated, but I'm trying to make an important point: a great deal of what makes a presentation memorable is the 'theatre' of it. The staging of the presentation is often the part that receives the least attention. You spend hours working on the content, sweating over PowerPoint, checking figures, loading up the laptop. But what about the staging? How will you begin the presentation - how will you enter - and as important, how will you end it, and how will you get 'off stage'? When and how will you present your visual aids? What is the killer element of your presentation, and how will you reveal it and when?

Try to remember a really great presentation you saw, and what made it special? A good presenter is a performer - and it is not a talent, it is a skill that can be learned. Consider the anatomy of a good standup - he or she starts with a great entrance, captures you straight away. The act is paced: some slow bits some high energy bits. Never bore the audience with a single speed presentation. The good stand up builds to their best material - ends with the killer item and leaves the stage professionally with the audience begging for more.

Why is theatre important? Not just for it's own sake - to make a professional presentation - but to make it memorable! If you leave your audience and the quickly forget you, chances are you've wasted your time - but like good theatre you want your audience talking about you for days after.
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