To the point presentation
A good presentation is a well-reasoned answer to a question
We’ve all seen them. Endless presentations during tutorials. If at the end you would ask what the key points were, it would remain silent. Why is this? And what can you do to prevent this?
The main problem is the perception of the presentation assignment: You are supposed to tell ‘something’ about a subject or study. This results in a spoken version of a written article or story on everything there is to know about the subject. Result: You lose your audience’s attention, or at best they have trouble following and remembering your presentation very well.
As such, formulate a key message; a specific statement about the subject, and use this as a guiding principle when designing your presentation.
A clear key message is not: “I am now going to tell you something about the heart”
but: “Research has shown that the heart of long-distance runners can be up to 50% larger than that of someone who does not exercise.”
Subsequently, you can explain why this is.
To ensure your audience remembers the key message, you will have to refer to it often during your presentation. The rule-of-thumb below can help you with creating structure in your argumentation:
A good presentation is a well-reasoned answer to a question. If you have found that question or key message, you will be able to hold more convincing and interesting presentations!
See also our Dutch course: Zelfverzekerd presenteren (Presenting confidently).