"A good speech has a good beginning and a good end - and both should be as close together as possible.” This quote from Mark Twain sums it up perfectly. This was even proven by research, showing that people remember the beginning and the end better than the middle part of a presentation (Serial-position effect). The structure of a successful presentation should therefore not be underestimated. How not to lose the red thread and which simple formulas and models can help to achieve individual presentation goals, we reveal now!
You can be the most sympathetic speaker with the most beautiful slides. If the sequence of your presentation is not clearly comprehensible, it will not achieve the desired success. For this reason, already have a look on your slides before designing them. Think about the structure, the presentation setup and the goal of the presentation.
The basic structure for presentations
Presentations can be structured differently depending on the situation and circumstances, but are usually based on the same basic structure. A clear presentation starts with an introduction, followed by the main part and the conclusion. The respective topic should be favourably embedded. In order to simplify the process of finding the structure and goals, it can help to orientate oneself on proven models and formulas. We have summarized four models for you!
#1 THE FORMULA
The SIE formula supports you in analysing your addressees and intentionally preparing your presentation for the respective audience. An exact, measurable formulation of objectives is a prerequisite for this. However, this is often neglected. The following key questions can help you to define a concrete goal:
- what should the result of the presentation look like?
- what should the audience think or do after the presentation?
- what should the audience be informed about?
- what benefits should be offered or communicated to the audience?
Once you have formulated your goal, you can use the "SIE formula" (Situation, Interest, Characteristics (german: Eigenschaften)) to analyse your audience.
Situation: How large will your audience be? What age will your audience be? What gender are your listeners?
Interest: What do your listeners expect? What attitudes do they bring with them? What commonalities and interests can be defined?
Characteristics (german: Eigenschaften): Think about the backgrounds of your listeners. For example, think about areas such as education, profession and previous knowledge.
The more you respond to your audience and their expectations, the greater the likelihood that your message will get through.
#2 SMART PRINCIPLE
Another way to formulate your presentation goal is the SMART principle, which combines the following characteristics: specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic, timebound.
Specific: Your goal should be exactly the point you are starting your presentation from. To achieve this, consider what your audience needs to know after your presentation.
Measurable: Use an evaluation sheet after the presentation and get feedback from different sources. Important: Make sure that success is measurable for both quantitative and qualitative goals.
Action-oriented: Create a plan of the steps to be taken to achieve your goals. For example, make a note of what literature you still need to obtain for your presentation.
Realistic: Your goal should be realistic. Think about what is actually feasible in the course of your presentation and mark less important sub-goals that you can omit, for example due to time pressure.
Timebound: Determine when you want to achieve which sub-goal and schedule the individual presentation steps accordingly.
#3 AIDA MODEL
If you want to sell something in the course of your presentation, the AIDA model is recommended. It is based on four stages that a prospective customer or customer goes through until he decides on a product or service: Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.
Attract Attention: Arouse curiosity with interesting questions, shock with exciting facts or tell a stirring story. Find out HERE how you can best use this to get your presentation off to a good start!
Maintain Interest: After you have caught the attention of the potential customer in the first presentation phase, you now want to arouse his interest in the product or service. We have collected six tips for interactive presentations so that you can keep your listeners interested.
Create Desire: If the interest in the product is waked and the desire for the product in the subconsciousness of the consumer embodied, it is now to wake the desire with the customer to possess this product. Supply descriptive examples for this with the advantages of the product or the service or arouse the desire to buy by specifically addressing the emotions of the customer.
Get Action: As soon as the desire to buy is aroused, this must be transformed into an action, i.e. the conclusion of the purchase.
#4 AHA EFFECT
Last but not least we come back to the organization of your presentation mentioned at the beginning. This can best be done according to the proven AHA principle. This means the dividing into beginning (german: Anfang), main part (german: Hauptteil) and conclusion (german: Abschluss).
Beginning: A good beginning provides information about the occasion, process and goal of the presentation and ideally arouses curiosity about the topic.
Main part: In the main part, a clearly structured, understandably formulated chain of argumentation is essential. The red thread not only allows the audience to follow the presentation, but also keeps you from digressing during your presentation.
Conclusion: Experience shows that the conclusion is best remembered. Therefore, please summarize the main findings of your presentation once again at the end. Take up your initial thesis or question again and answer it. In the process, you can also take a look into the future and outline future opportunities to stimulate discussion. Tip: If necessary, shorten the main part to generate enough time for a memorable conclusion.
We wish you every success in creating your next presentation!
PS: You can find helpful tips and tricks for extraordinary slides HERE!