The key to making a powerful presentation lies in knowing your audience. The more that you know about them, the more easily you will connect with them and the easier it will be to move them to take action.

Most salespeople and business owners make the same presentations over and over irrespective of the seniority, knowledge, needs or interests of their audience. Start by asking yourself who your audience are – find out as much as you can about them. Once you fully understand this ask yourself why they are in your presentation, what will be of interest to them and what will add value for them.

You need to figure out not only the right material but the right level of detail too. Too much detail and you lose them, too little and you look a fool. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to sound intelligent – great presenters make complicated material sound easy not complicated. CEOs will not thank you for complicating their lives! The trick is to talk to them at the level that they talk to each other and with just the right level of detail and content.

Finally, think about how you can engage them and hold their interest, how to get them involved in your presentation and what you want them to do as a result of being in your presentation.

You might also want to check out this article on Perfect Presentations. I cover a lot of this stuff in my Powerful Presenting programmes. Good luck! I’m sure that it will go fantastically.

Gavin