Steps To Plan An Effective Business Presentation English Language Essay

Business presentation is any presentation of factual information and its interpretation using the spoken word. By this definition, business presentations include much of the information and analyses exchanged daily in the conduct of business.

Business presentations may be primarily informative, offering data without recommendations; or may be analytical, offering investigation and recommendations for solving a problem. No matter what kind of presentation it is, the presenter is responsible for showing relationships between his research findings and management objectives. Whenever a person plans, prepares, and creates a message to deliver to others, he makes a presentation. During these presentations, speakers may often need to convince the listeners that their findings are pertinent, valid, reliable, and useful to the organization and to the people they serve.

Types of business presentations

Informative- In this type of presentation the main objective is to educate the audience for example some new plan, products, services etc.

Persuasive- These presentations are given to convince the people for a common viewpoint. These presentations are common to the various levels in the organizations. Motivational speeches or presentations in an organizations are also the example of this type.

Group- These are the presentations given by the groups or teams to disclose their findings and results.

Special occasion speech- This type of speech is given in honour or welcoming some special group or delegates or introducing another person to the audience.

Steps To Plan an Effective Business Presentation

Set Objectives

What do you want the end result of your presentation to be? Do you want to convince people to buy something? Do you want to instruct them? The objective of your presentation will determine most of your substance; the simple act of writing down your objectives will make it that much easier to organize what you’re going to say and when you’re going to say it.

Keep Audience in mind

The next step is to keep in mind that to which type of persons you are to give presentation. Presenter must prepare its presentation which is understandable by the audience. For example if a sales person is selling a product to a labor class then he must use words as simple as can

be used and avoid technical words if possible and also emphasize on demos and slides in layman language.

Note Key Points

The next step is to outline the main points of the presentation that you are going to present .

This will be helpful when sometimes we get blank in between of the presentation. These key points are important because all the presentation revolve around the main idea of the presentation.

Sequence Your Presentation

Once you have an outline of all of the topics that you want to cover in your presentation then you need to determine the sequence of your presentation. A good way to do that is to use a simple flowchart which lays out the order of the ideas that you’re going to present. Some people, usually hardcore PowerPoint users, prefer to use real storyboards where they produce mock-ups of each stage of the presentation.

Determine What Visuals You Will Need

The final step to preparing a presentation is to figure out what sort of visual aids you’re going to need. You probably won’t need a complicated visual for every single point of your presentation, but when it comes down to explaining something complicated, like how a business process works, then you’re going to want to support yourself with a good visual.

Importance of Business Presentation Planning

It helps to explain the idea you want to convey in an effective manner.

If presentation is good then it also acts as a tool of motivation.

Means to connect to the stakeholders i.e. to provide information about new products or services.

Means to share your business ideas.

Steve Jobs

Steve jobs is a great visionary and a great businessman or we can say a good dreamer. He is the co-founder of the well known brand APPLE INC. USA. He has developed products as Apple iphone, ipad, ipod, iMac etc.

Another attribute for which Steve jobs was well known is his presentation skills, he is a great presenter and it was said that “A Jobs’ presentation is like a carefully crafted, well-rehearsed performance that tells a story and shares a vision”. He very much focus on selling dream not the product or services.

 Steve Jobs’ Presentation Secrets

1. The Tagline. Steve Jobs positions every product with a Tag line that explains all the unique thing of the product. For example, Jobs described the Mac Book Air as “the world’s thinnest notebook.” This phrase appeared on his apple websites, presentations, and press releases of apple at the same time.

2. A villain. In every classic story, the hero fights the villain. In 1984, the villain, according to Apple, was IBM (IBM). Before Jobs introduced the famous 1984 television ad to the Apple sales team for the first time, he told a story of how IBM was bent on dominating the computer industry.

3. A simple slide. Apple products are easy to use because of the elimination of clutter. The same approach applies to the slides in a Steve Jobs presentation. Steve jobs believe in

making simple slides , he never used bullets or lots of words in his presentation slides instead he use more pictures and images that are self explanatory. For example when he launched apple macbook air he displays it in an envelope.

4. A demo. Neuroscientists have discovered that the brain gets bored easily. Steve Jobs doesn’t give you time to lose interest. Ten minutes into a presentation he’s often demonstrating a new product or feature and having fun doing it. When he introduced the iPhone at Macworld 2007, Jobs demonstrated how Google Maps (GOOG) worked on the device. He pulled up a list of Starbucks (SBUX) stores in the local area and said, “Let’s call one.” When someone answered, Jobs said: “I’d like to order 4,000 lattes to go, please. No, just kidding.”

5. An Emotional moment. Every Steve Jobs presentation has one moment that neuroscientists call an “emotionally charged event.” The emotionally charged event is the equivalent of a mental post-it note that tells the brain, Remember this! For example, at Macworld 2007, Jobs could have opened the presentation by telling the audience that Apple was unveiling a new mobile phone that also played music, games, and video. Instead he built up the drama. “Today, we are introducing three revolutionary products. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device…an iPod, a phone, an Internet communicator…an iPod, a phone, is you getting it? These are not three devices. This is one device!” The audience erupted in cheers because it was so unexpected, and very entertaining.

Humour and presentations

In the business presentations humour is necessary but it must be in good taste. An original joke is better which the audience has never heard before. The joke must be related to the subject of the speech.

If we take example of Steve jobs he uses humour in his presentations so that the audience may not get bored. This was his one of the skills in presentations that’s why he was very popular in giving good or we can say awesome presentations.

The 10 Presentation Tips of Steve Jobs

Plan presentations with pen and paper. Storyboard the presentation first. Jobs initially prepares by brainstorming and white boarding ideas.

Single sentence description for every service/idea. As an example, for the introduction of the Mac Book Air computer, Jobs said that it is simply, “The world’s thinnest notebook.”

Create a villain that allows the audience to rally around the hero-you and your product/service. A “villain” doesn’t necessarily have to be a direct competitor. It can be a problem in need of a solution.

Focus on benefits. Your audience only cares about how your product or service enhances their lives. Make that connection.

Stick to the rule of three. Almost every Jobs presentation is divided into three major parts. You might have 20 points to make in your presentation, but your audience will only remember three or four.

Sell dreams, not your products or services. Jobs doesn’t sell computers, he sells the promise of a better world. When he introduced the iPod, he said, “In our own small way we’re going to make the world a better place.”

Create visual slides. Jobs don’t use bullet points. Instead, he relies on photographs and images. When he unveiled the Mac Book Air, he showed an image of the computer fitting inside a manila inter-office envelope.

Make numbers meaningful. Jobs always put large numbers into a context to make them relevant to his audience. The bigger the number, the more important to find an analogy or comparison that adds clarity.

Use plain English. Steve jobs always uses simple English phrases in his presentations and rarely use jargon so it not create any confusion in the mind of audience.

Practice, practice, practice. Jobs used to spend hours rehearsing the presentation and do it like a theatre performance artist.

Conclusion

We must learn from Steve jobs style of presentation. His presentations are not only of informative style but there is a complete mix of presentation styles such as motivational, humor etc. Generally for example most of people get bored in the presentations but it is the Steve job`s presentations that are well designed, planned, well structured sand also well rehearsed.

One must fully take care when developing a business presentation because it is the presentation which tells about your dream, vision, product or services to the stakeholders and it is necessary to fully satisfy them to succeed in business.

Key points to remember regarding presentations

Be clear about your objectives

Always keep in mind your audience

Less is more.

Research.

Be concrete.

Use Visuals.