How does it matter? It matters because a font serves the following purpose: 1. Makes the text easy to read, and 2. Differentiates your presentation from others (imparts style and appeal) In busine ss presentations you should not worry about differentiation much. Focus on your content and choose a good legible font. But there are many circumstances where you are presenting something entertaining or something creative. Having a not-so-common font will help. It will make your presentation stand out and you can use this font across all your non-formal presentations. Which font is better? Before you can answer that question you should know the difference between serif and sans-serif fonts. Have a look at the diagram below. Serif fonts have 'serifs' (those ticks on the edges). Sans-serif are sans (without) them. Serif font is easier to read in printed format whereas sans-serif is better to read on computer screens. That's why most books follow serif and most websites follo...

How do you change slides while delivering your presentation? Some people do it themselves and some get their subordinates or colleagues to do it. Is it professional? More importantly, is it convenient? Imagine you are walking around the room and presenting very animatedly and passionately. And you have to come back again and again to change slides. Why not get hold of a wireless presenter? There are plenty of them on offer and a simple search on the web or in a store will be enough. I have a HP Targus presenter (model AMP 0603AP). It's a very basic model which also has a laser pointer. It just cost around Rs. 1800 ($ 36 approx). Go wireless and you'll leave a better impression on your audience. More importantly you'll make your job a lot easier.

It makes a lot of sense to stop the projector and just talk. I attended a presentation this week where the presenter was addressing the business problem; 'Should we change the status quo?'. He was of the view that we should not. When he was almost nearing the end of his slides, the key decision maker intercepted him and started a discussion. Mr. Presenter made his case well and drove home the point as to why we should maintain status quo. As a result his slides which were going to come at the end were not needed any more (because in the discussion which ensued he made those verbally). The key decision maker accepted the argument and shook his head and said "Good, point taken'. This was a cue to Mr. Presenter to move to the next section of the presentation. But he did not catch the cue and kept presenting the last few slides. He just could not resist to skip them. He was just not aware of the verbal and non-verbal cues. After five minutes the key decision maker very unh...

I am a believer that you should design your own template. It makes your presentation unique and shows an extra level of effort and commitment. I wrote a post very recently on how you can do that. However, when Eric Vadeboncoeur asked me to review his website www.TemplatesWise.com I gladly accepted. Not everyone has an interest in designing and for these presenters there are wonderful resources on the web which offer pre-designed templates. TemplatesWise.com is one such site. It has a very clutter free nice feel to the website and its easy to navigate as well. The website has a clear focus. It mainly offers free Powerpoint templates. The other things on offer are: 1. Music loops, and 2. Business card & website templates . Music Loops Music loops are tracks which are small in duration but can play continuou sly in your presentation in loops. These can be used for presentations and also for making videos. They are ava ilable for free on the website. You have the option of hearing...

This is the second part in a three part series on “What makes a good consultancy presentation?”  As part of the series I am interviewing three consultants working with three consultancies and asking them what it takes to create and deliver a good presentation. Young consultants should find these posts really useful. In today’s post I interview Mr. Ankur Choudhary , an IIM Calcutta graduate who has spent six years in Deloitte & ECS. Let’s begin the interview. AAP: What is the most important thing in a consult presentation? Ankur: It is your content. What you say is far more important than how you say it. If I have to give a weightage it would be like this: 60% content, 20% design and 20% delivery. A client can put up with a bad presenter but not with a bad analysis & recommendation. AAP: Knowing what your client expects is very important. How do you find out what your client expects from your presentation? Ankur: You need to spend a lot of time understanding the key stakeh...

You make presentations to sell, share, convince or inform a group of people. In doing so eye contact becomes important. How are you going to convince if you are shying away from making eye contact? You need to make a personal connect. Many presenters just do not worry about these things. It's time they did. A lot has been written about the need for eye contact. Making eye contact will establish a rapport with the audience. It will tell you whether the audience is understanding or it's going over their head. Are you boring them by dragging things or are you too fast? You can also sense some anxiety in the audience and ask them to share what's bothering them. All of this will help ensure you take the audience along and achieve the objective of your presentation. So how do you make eye contact? I remember an old trick. Choose two people at two ends of the group (in case of a large group) and occasionally looking at them so that the audience 'feels' that you are looking...

This is the first part in a three part series on “What makes a good consultancy presentation?” As part of the series I am interviewing three consultants working with major consultancies and asking them what it takes to create and deliver a good presentation. Young consultants should find these posts really useful. In today’s post I interview Mr. Rangarajan V , an IIM Ahmedabad graduate and a consultant at A.T. Kearney, Mumbai. AAP: What is the most important thing in a consult presentation? Rangarajan: Just like in a movie a presentation has to have a solid storyline. It is very important to have the structure and the flow right. The main thoughts should be placed correctly and should be linked together so as to go on and prove your point (recommendation). This will only happen if you understand what your audience needs. Do not focus on peripheral issues, but try to zero in on the main problems at hand and focus your presentation on them. AAP: What are the mistakes one should avoi...

Every once in a while I take a break from serious business presentations and make something entertaining and funny. This is one such 'presentation' made in MS PowerPoint for one of my clients .We have later converted it to video for the purposes of uploading it on YouTube. But for all practical purposes it is a slideshow made in PowerPoint. Do you like this presentation? Leave a comment.

'How To Win A Pitch' is a book on sales presentations. Written by Joey Asher of Speechworks/Asher Communications Inc. this book is a great resource for people in sales especially if they deal in high involvement products and services. This book has a clear focus. It talks about five fundamentals that will distinguish your pitch from competition. The good thing is, the book stays true to its focus, from start to finish. The five fundamentals are no rocket science, absolutely basic. The five fundamentals emerge from a deeper understanding of business. Let me illustrate this with an example. What is the first thing you talk about in your sales pitch? About Us, Credentials, "Thanks for giving us the opportunity..." Joey argues very strongly to cut the nonsense and talk about the Business Problem facing the client. Grab the attention of the decision maker and be spot on from the very start. Why talk about yourself when the prospect should be the center of your prese...

Consultants make presentations all the time. They work on a project for months and at the end their output is just a presentation. It encapsulates their understanding, their analysis, their recommendation and implementation plans. It is a showcase of their work and their talent. Their job depends on it. Considering all of this, one thing is clear. No consultant can live without knowing how to present. When I say present it means understanding what to say (content), how to arrange it (design) and how to say it (delivery). So if you want to be a consultant or are already one, what I am going to do will definitely be of interest to you. I am coming up with a three part series on "How to make good consult presentations?" In the course of this three part series I would be interviewing three consultants from established consultancies in the world and presenting their thoughts on questions like: What's the most important thing in a consult presentation? What are the common mista...

Every presentation has three parts; Content, Design and Delivery. Content is what you want to say, Design is how you arrange it and Delivery is how you say it. That's the best way of defining these elements of a presentation. While making any presentation you should give equal emphasis to each element. Oliver Adria's recent blog post talks about Content Design Delivery in a new light. He has introduced an interesting concept. He calls it the 'Presentation Triangle'. Presentation traingle helps you analyze a presenter. It also helps you improve yourself as a presenter. Knowing where you stand in the traingle gives you a sense of what are your areas of improvement. The best place to be in the traingle is in the centre; a perfect balance between Content, Design and Delivery. When you give them equal emphasis and do not falter on any. How do I know where am I in the triangle? You cannot ask this to yourself. It's best if you ask your friends and colleagues who have see...

Everytime you open a powerpoint you need to change fonts, designs, play around with the layout, put the corporate logo, etc. Some people actually do all this formatting every time. They do not use what are called 'templates'. Presenters who do use templates source them in three ways: 1. Use a template available in MS PowerPoint (Design -> Themes): Most people do this. The result, every other ppt in office looks the same. Moreover, the templates are not very good. 2. Download a template from MS Office Online or hundreds of other websites: Some passionate people take the trouble and find out a good template online. There are lot of amazing templates in MS Office online . The problem, it is time taking to get a good one and these are not custom made to suit your needs. 3. Create your own template in PowerPoint: Why not add a bit of your own style to the presentations you make in the office or your club? Why not go ahead and design a template on your own? You don't ne...

This is a guest post by Joey Asher of Speechworks / Asher Communications Inc. He blogs at www.talkingpointsblog.com . This post is adapted from Joey Asher’s new book “How to Win a Pitch: The Five Fundamentals that Will Distinguish You from the Competition. It is available at www.howtowinapitch.com and on Amazon (pre-order until May 19). When I was in school, I attended many parties where there weren’t enough girls. Competition for dance partners was fierce. That’s what the marketplace looks like in today’s recession. New business is scarce. And competition is fierce. Just as when there aren’t enough dance partners, when business is scarce you need to hone your pitch. In your next sales presentation, focus on five fundamentals to separate yourself from your competition. Fundamental #1. Present a solution and nothing else. Many of your competitors start presentations by talking about themselves. “Before we start, let me tell you about how our company began . . .” Blah. B...

March has been an interesting month. It was a month wherein most of my posts drew their inspiration from real life problems and instances. I wrote on what's the ideal number of slides in a presentation after one of my clients insisted that 20-25 was the right number. Nothing more nothing less. I wrote 'An introduction SmartArt' after a very senior consultant shared with me that he had never used SmartArt. Not that he disliked it, he just never took the trouble of trying it out. My personal favorite from March is the interview of ex-VP of Dr. Reddy's. The topic: 'How to make business review presentations?' He shared with me the expectation which senior managers have from such monthly/quarterly business reviews and how should a manager prepare for these reviews. A must read post for all managers. Finally out of all the posts, the most popular posts of March were: March 10: How to make business review presentations? March 17: An introduction to SmartArt March 14: H...