Your Idea Doesn’t Suck, Your Presentation Missed the Mark

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Presentations can be tricky. Many of you have had this conversation before. Your co-worker comes to you with an idea. The kind of idea, they tell you, that is so good that it keeps them up at night. This is their ticket to finally get noticed and take the next step in their career. 

You recognize this kind of thinking, because you have done some of it yourself. If you could get someone to just listen, you would be flying rocket emojis to the moon in no time! Now you are getting excited about the possibilities with your own ideas and….

Record scratch….

Your co-worker, clearly disheveled, comes back into the room perplexed. “THEY HATED IT!” she exclaims. “I mean I think they did, it was like talking to a wall in there! Eyes glazed over, they just didn’t get it. I don’t understand, I worked so hard on this. I guess this one is going in the trash and I’ll be stuck here forever.”

Unfortunately that idea, which you thought sounded pretty good yourself, will now be buried under a mountain of self-doubt until it’s taken out and examined again. Almost all ideas need continual refining and that’s a story for another day, but that is just one side of the coin. 

In the case of our disheartened co-worker, she was further dismayed a month later when that nightmare, Kassandra, from across the hall must have heard the idea, presented it herself and was now being introduced as the next project manager. 

So what happened? 

If the idea is sound, which clearly it is since Kassandra is currently over there rolling it out (while smoking a cigarette from one of those long sticks that you see every villain using in animated films), then it’s likely your pitch missed the mark and that has much less to do with your idea and more to do with your presentation.

Ironically just thinking about a few key things help you learn how to improve your presentation skills and a lot of them occur before entering the room. Putting some thought into these areas before you enter the conference room won’t add that much work to your plate but can have some of the biggest returns on investment for your outcome.

Prerequisite Work

Who is your audience?

Maybe the most important way to improve your presentation skills is getting the right people in the room that need to hear it. There is a saying in the talk radio business that you just need to find your smallest viable audience. When pitching your idea, you probably don’t need to talk to the whole office. Why talk to 16 people when it’s really 3 or 4 who are going to make your idea take off?

Pitching to a smaller audience makes it both more comfortable to you, the presenter, and also more intimate for the audience. This lets them know that you care about them specifically, and it is their buy-in that you want. This does two things. First, they are more likely to pay attention if they are one of the few people in the room. Second, everyone likes to be included in a seemingly exclusive group. By limiting the audience, you are making your stakeholders feel more important and invested in the process. It’s them that you care about, and that matters.

Put Your Feet in the Water Ahead Of Time

It’s never a good idea to make a cold pitch without testing it out ahead of time. Usually people will do this by running it by a trusted friend, and that is a great first start. You need to build a little confidence and find someone who is likely to be an early adopter. The whole reason you are friends in the first place is they probably think a lot like you do. That’s great but that’s just the first step.

When thinking about how to sell your idea, you also should think about who might be a critic of your idea and get their take on it as well. This will help you in a number of ways. By opening yourself up to potential negative feedback, you are prepping yourself by catching potential blind spots in your work. You’re also preparing for real questions that your intended audience may have. A reality check early on is also easier to deal with and adjust to instead of putting on your blinders only to get slammed by your intended audience later on.

It Doesn’t Have To Be A Slide Deck

This is really something I would consider if you want to think about how to give better presentations. How many times do we sit down at the conference table or log into a Google Meet and we are met head on by the traditional slide deck, and immediately start thinking about what we can do to multitask during this time. We are at the point of exhaustion with PowerPoint overload. I know 99% of you will read this and do one anyway, but I would highly consider a different format.

Keeping it simple goes a long way in figuring out how to sell your idea. A few photo prompts or a prototype can keep attention better than something that people are deciding to tune out before you even start.

Some of my best presentations involved a podcast style format where an early adopter of my idea sits with me, acting as the host. Having a real conversation about how the idea has been helpful to them or makes a value proposition can be very engaging. A living, breathing, human testimonial is better than a quote from that same person on a screen any day.

Length

The subtitle being one word was incredibly intentional here. When I say length, what I really mean is: how can you simplify? You 100% want to have the shortest presentation possible that gets your idea across and gets your audience out of the room still saying yes on their way out. Nothing is worse than watching Todd nail it ten minutes in, he’s got the crowd engaged, and then 50 minutes later they are slumping in their chairs because he hit ‘em over the head with every, single, detail. He always does that! Wrap it up Todd!

Presentation Elements to Give Better Presentations

Okay, okay, I get it, you aren’t ready for an alternative format and you still want to do the slide deck. Fine, but it doesn’t have to be boring. Here are some ways to make your PowerPoint stand out from the crowd.

Give ‘em the Hook!

Just like when writing a cover letter, the most valuable real estate you have to grab attention is right up front at the beginning. One of the best ways to see this in action is to watch a few episodes of “Shark Tank.”  Yes, that “Shark Tank”, where start up companies pitch their ideas to a few investors in hopes of snagging money and mentorship in pursuit of the good old American Dream, or something like that.

They always start with a hook. The first thing they say is meant to grab your attention, identify a problem, or offer a value proposition. If the hook works, you will undoubtedly see one of the sharks lean forward. If not, they may relax in their chair more, make a funny face for the camera, or roll their eyes. They are doing it in part for TV so it’s easy to identify when watching the show.

Instead, what do you see most of the time in a PowerPoint presentation? 

“Here is a summary of what I am going to talk about today. We started with the title slide, now we are on the summary, I’ll state the idea, talk about the idea, we will discuss the idea, and I’ll take questions on the idea.”

Barf.

Okay, maybe it’s not that bad, but there is usually some flavor of that. Way to blow away your best opportunity to grab attention. Good luck pulling them out of that chasm. That’s why you need a hook! See what I did there?

Start With Why to Improve Your Public Speaking Skills

Simon Sinek wrote a whole book on starting with “why” and how our brains are more attuned to starting with why, but instead we usually work backwards starting with what we do and how we do it. Bottom line is you have to let the audience know why you are here. Combining that “why” statement with the hook will give you a really nice start to the presentation. You can add SOME of the details later but starting with “why” will get you on the right path.

Tell a Story

Telling a story instead of presenting facts is a much better way to engage the human mind and get them to understand your idea better. Notice this article started with a story and there are little anecdotes along the way that help get the points across. 

I could have started the article with “Here are ten ways to improve your PowerPoints” and posted something directly out of Chat-GPT, but instead I introduced you to a co-worker who was struggling with something that maybe you have struggled with too. This invokes a relatable feeling with the facts of the article now intended to help your new-found co-worker get out of this predicament. If you made it this far, it’s probably working.

Leave Them Wanting More

A lot of my audience are STEM field employees, and I think one of things we struggle most with as scientists is that we want to tell everyone everything about this thing we are working on all the time! Scientists and a lot of people in this world, regardless of profession, are detail-oriented people. That’s not a bad thing. It’s likely what got you to where you are today, but in the context of a presentation, for the love of God, you don’t have to give them every detail. 

I see this manifest in the number of slides, the amount of text on slides, and general wordiness during the presentation. I cannot tell you the number of times I have seen 60 minutes of material trying to be shoved into a ten-minute window. Instead of cutting out unnecessary bits, they stand up there like a 20-pound cat that’s trying to fit itself into a shoebox and ultimately, they end up popping the sides. 

It’s especially entertaining to watch someone get that 2-minute warning when they still have 30 slides to go. They take in a big breath and suddenly become an auctioneer selling a side of beef at the stockyards. Great entertainment value. Horrible for selling your idea.

The thing is, if you have given them enough to be intrigued but haven’t given them everything, it’s very likely you’ll get a follow up. Before you know it, you’re off and running.

Follow Up

The presentation never ends with your “Questions?” slide. That’s a terrible way to end the presentation anyway. Leave them a second hook instead that has them wanting more. When it is time to leave the room, there are things you can do afterwards to increase your chances of success.

Acknowledge Their Expertise 

Thank your audience for coming but also acknowledge how their expertise will help you to get where you want to go. Show them where they fit into the process. When people feel like they are needed, they are more likely to invest in the idea themselves and hopefully become an early adopter for you later on.

Request Feedback

Sending a follow-up email or asking casually asking for feedback a day later gives the audience time to process what you have talked about and think about it on their own without the pressure of having to provide instant feedback on site. This will help anyone who is more introverted or deliberate with their thinking feel more comfortable providing you with feedback, which will in turn make that information more valuable to you.

Refine and Evolve

Thinking about pitches and presentations on a continuum as opposed to a fixed point and time will help you to continually refine your idea. Utilize the feedback you receive to address pitfalls, answer concerns, and solidify the foundation of your idea. You may also need to think about changing the audience, format, or content. If you commit to making refinements whenever necessary, you are setting yourself up for success as you improve the chances of your proposal hitting the mark later on.

Time to Leave You Wanting More

When it comes to presentations, there are endless ways to make upgrades and these are just a few. The important part is laying out a process and a structure that naturally lends itself to continuous improvement. 

In addition to leveling up your presentation, you have to be able to sell and advertise your ideas to the right people. I know, I know. You said you never would get into sales, and you just aren’t good at it. I hate to tell you, but whether you like it or not, you are in sales! More on that later.

Not a fan of public speaking? I get it. If you want more resources geared towards how to improve your public speaking skills and how to improve your public speaking anxiety, there are a number of options. In this article, we referenced Simon Sinek’s “Start With Why” but I’m also a fan of Talk Like Ted by Carmine Gallo and Speak With No Fear, by Mike Acker.

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