You are facing the decision-makers who can put a lucrative contract in your pocket. You are about to get your PowerPoint presentation rolling. It’s a make-or-break moment. They have been pitched to with PowerPoint from other companies with big reputations and experienced sales departments but they are interested in you and your company. Will the weeks you have put into your preparation pay off?
Let’s rewind a few days and look over your shoulder…
While we watch, you fire up PowerPoint and head for your previous best presentation. Skip to slide 2. It is headed: ‘We have the best solution for your needs’. Great start! But then you begin to think…they don’t know us yet, so I’d better tell them who we are and what we have done for other clients. You delete the out-of-date bullets and start typing. Bullet 1… Bullet 2… Ah! You hit Bullet 8, and the text shrinks so that it is too small to read. Easily solved! You start a new PowerPoint slide and carry on.
Three slides later and you’ve completed the list. What’s next? A diagram! You set to work on slide five…
Lets press ‘Stop’ on that scene and consider the slippery slope you are on.
PowerPoint’s slippery slope
You moved off down the slope by making the assumption that because bullet points are the default slide mode in PowerPoint, they are the way to go. A quick web search will find you lots of reasons for not using bullet lists (or PowerPoint at all) but the most important is that audiences have become ‘blind’ to bullet lists and switch off when they see one. Its not called ‘Death by PowerPoint’ for nothing!
You picked up speed with the second assumption, that PowerPoint is easy. It’s a common trap when people have had little or no training. And most of us haven’t.
You rushed towards the PowerPoint abyss when you went off the point of the objective and turned it into information about your company; not about your potential client’s needs.
PowerPoint success factors
Lets rewind to a different scenario…
Long before firing up PowerPoint you consulted colleagues. Together, you constructed a shortlist of reasons why the company you will be pitching to may be letting the contract. You’ve identified how your company can meet their objectives in a unique and advantageous way. Based on this, you’ve mapped out the structure of your PowerPoint presentation. Its also what you did to put your successful proposal together.
Yes! Your first PowerPoint success factor was the realization that your presentation does not need to tell them anything new. Its purpose is to remind them why they were interested enough in your proposal to ask to see you. Watching you manage your PowerPoint gives them an opportunity to assess you and to prepare questions. It’s a test masquerading as an information-giving session!
Your second PowerPoint success factor comes when you recognize that the people you are presenting to are not interested in what your company has done for other clients. They only care about whether you will solve their problem better than anyone else. So put your company information in a handout, not in your presentation.
Your third PowerPoint success factor is that your presentation is going to keep your audiences attention and focus them on your message with more impact than your competitors. To do this you have invested in some good PowerPoint training. It is not difficult to find, but be aware that the learning curve has only just started when you are taught how to apply PowerPoint animations!
Eight stages of personal PowerPoint development
There are at least eight stages of development people go through if they are persistent with PowerPoint:
1) Using Microsoft wizards and templates.
2) Introducing animations and graphic elements, such as clip art.
3) Discarding clip art in favor of photos.
4) Experimenting with PowerPoint’s more advanced features, such as multiple template masters.
5) Going minimalist or rejecting PowerPoint altogether for fear of getting it wrong.
6) Introducing storytelling techniques to structure presentations.
7) Developing new graphic approaches to the expression of ideas.
Getting right the balance between 5, 6 and 7.
If you can get to the sixth stage your confidence will be greatly increased and so will your chances of having ‘make’ rather than ‘break’ PowerPoint moments.
Get to the eighth stage and you will be head and shoulders above your competitors!