It was almost 2am and Amar was still on his laptop. His wife was getting disturbed and told him to stop. I have a very important presentation and I have yet to make another 55 slides, he nervously whispered to her.

What!!!, she exclaimed, fifty five, that’s a lot!!!

Amar sat through the night and after creating the fifty fifth slide he heaved the biggest sigh of relief but was also quite stressed as it had taken him the whole night to get that done.

At nine am he was at his office, and was all set to start his presentation.

His boss along with the entire product development team seated themselves in the conference room.

And the presentation started. Amar began displaying the slides one after the other narrating everything that was there on it.

Half way through, he realized something was wrong!

Two people from the audience seemed to have fallen asleep, almost that is!!!

Their eyes were closed but their head kept moving as if to say ‘Yes’…we are still listening. He was not sure what to do.

So he continued and within no time one of the audience members actually yawned and that too with a very loud sound that may have awakened some others who were half asleep!!!

Amar was completely stunned by this reaction to his presentation.

He began to speed up and did that by galloping through every slide.

He was speaking very fast and without any enthusiasm in his voice or his body language.

His main aim was not to convince his audience but to complete his presentation in the fastest possible time.

For Amar, as he said thank you, that too through a slide, he felt his ordeal was over and left the conference room very upset.

As he was sipping coffee in his office his boss walked in. “What was that Amar, a presentation or a slide show?He firmly asked him.

And he continued…Listen Amar, the success of any presentation is not determined by the number of slides and its display, but by the effective way in which you communicate to the audience using a few slides but more of your own thoughts and words.

“In your entire one hour of presentation there was only a steady yet boring flow of slides and we were left feeling strained in our eyes.

“Though I know that two of your own juniors were sleeping in that presentation which was very ill mannered and disrespectful of them, I believe that you and your multitude of slides were the cause of it. “

The boss continued, it is more important that you or any presenter convince the audience with your words and your strong and positive body language and not by mere slides.

“Even when some of the audience members asked you questions you seemed very nervous and diffident in your answers.

“All you did was stand near the screen and read every slide. Amar, your presentation was extremely poor and without any conviction.

“I want you to improve yourself and make the same presentation in the next month’s senior management meeting. Saying this, the boss left, allowing Amar introspect upon what he was just told!”

Amar’s story is not unique. Many of the executives and managers think that making presentations is only about making beautiful looking slides.

But that is not so. So therefore let us find out what is the is the true definition of the term Presentation?

Definition of Presentation:

Presentation is the art and the ability of an individual to express his knowledge or content to his audience in the most structured and concise manner and with the highest levels of conviction, confidence, concern, calmness, control and courage; with or without the use of specific Visual aids such as Power point Slides; and with the ultimate goal of convincing the listeners.

Unfortunately, most of the executives or managers have developed a very narrow perspective regarding corporate presentations which is that every presentation must be flooded with numerous ‘slides’.

The belief within them is the effectiveness and impact of a presentation is determined by the number of slides that they show including the slide that says ‘THANK YOU’

Present day presentations:

It must be noted that presenters of the present times must change their attitude.

The attitude must be that of finding the right balance between slides and words along with body language.

A few yet Specific Points that every manager must remember while creating a SLIDES in a corporate presentation:

1. Use slides mainly to show or display Graphs; Statistical data; pictures of products, services etc. and for specific diagrammatical images as well as important subject matter too!
2. Only display the most important aspects of your presentation through the slides and leave the rest for verbal explanations.
3. Display all that you want to show through slides only through BULLET POINTS and not in PARAGRAPHS. Do not show slides in a way where three or four sentences are compounded together into one whole sentence thereby making it difficult for the audience to read it.
4. Always try your best to incorporate only three or four bullet points on each slide
5. Always ensure that every point upon the slide is elucidated or effectively narrated with proper VERBAL MODULATIONS and conviction in the tone.
6. Ensure that you are using the appropriate FONT SIZE and check it by walking up to the farthest seated listener and check the visibility of the slides from that distance.
7. Have the dual eye contact. This means that look at the slides while reading the points but also look at the audience while you elaborate or explain them as this will keep the audience connected to you and also the slides.
8. Try to have standard slide between two slides in case you may want to summarise the previous slide.
9. Always ensure that you do not obstruct the view of the audience towards the slide especially while you are narrating the points from the slide.
10. Avoid making your slides on AUTO-RUN. Always use your enter key button or the remote to move from one slide to the other.
11. Please avoid using fonts of different colours. The most appropriate is the standard BLACK colour.
12. Finally, see that you are in control of the slides and not the slides in control of you.

nMayur Kalbag is a Leadership Coach, Corporate Trainer & Author. He mainly focusses upon Training and Human Resource Development through ‘Specifically Designed Seminars and Conferences. He can be contacted via email: mayurkalbag@hotmail.com