Getting Results from a Presentation

All your attention and hard work to create the perfect slide show is bound to pay off. Or is it? Just how do you know whether your presentation is successful? If people avoid eye contact with you after the presentation, that's one clue. But even if people tell you how much they enjoyed the presentation, how do you know if it was effective?

One way to get good results from a presentation involves helping audience members know what it is that they've learned, in three phases:

1. At the beginning of the slide show, tell them what you're going to tell them. For example, using an introductory overview slide, you tell them "We're going to explore several methods that can improve cranberry crop production."

2. Tell them what you told them you would. Don't promise them one thing and give them another. You might find the side roads interesting, but keep your focus on the objectives.

3. Tell them what you've told them. A summary slide can help recap what they've learned.

Another way to assess effectiveness is to establish activities that let audience members tell you what they've learned. Review your objectives and determine how you can measure whether you've met them. You might have to rephrase your objectives so that you can assess observable behavior. Here are some examples:

• Avoid using immeasurable objectives. Understand, comprehend, appreciate, and know are difficult to assess without seeing something more observable.

• Try to establish measurable objectives. For example, "Audience members will write down two procedures they will use to enhance their cranberry crop this year." Or, "Given a case study, audience members will suggest ways a grower can improve yield."

Not all situations lend themselves to this kind of assessment. But often they do. If you never find out how well you've communicated with the audience, chances are the next time you make the presentation, you'll repeat the mistakes you make this time. On the other hand, if you're the kind of presenter that I suspect you are, you'll find a great deal of satisfaction in seeing action as a result of what you present.

In short, creating a successful presentation doesn't happen by accident. You start by assessing the audience and your objectives, and then you add content and other elements that meet those objectives (see Figure 16.9). Throughout this book you'll learn that there are lots of other things that can enhance your presentations, but with these basics, you'll be off to a good start.

Figure 16.9. Various key elements combine to make an effective presentation, but of these, the audience and your objectives are probably the most important.

The Absolute Minimum

In this chapter, you explored several key elements in effective slide show presentations:

• You found out ways to better understand to whom you're presenting.

• You learned how to organize and prepare content so that you work toward well-defined objectives.

• You explored ways to capture and maintain interest.

• You learned the importance of choosing color combinations that help communicate your message.

• You looked at how fonts and font styles can improve readability.

• You learned that it's important to build in assessment activities so that you know whether you've been effective.

Chapter 17, "Printing a Presentation," looks at a variety of ways to make a slide show available other than through a face-to-face presentation.