【正文】 s and graphs in the Infographics presentation templates. Once you39。t be obscured by this sort of distraction. If your information isn39。t need a line on the screen to summarize every single thing you39。re moving on to the second point, along with a reminder that a third one will follow. It39。s a very simple graphic. Make another page, devoted to that. When you39。d prepared your information carefully, according to the pyramid structure described in the 39。s why you should limit any page of text to no more than five items (and even five is pushing it). You39。t a badlooking page, and it isn39。s take a look at the main elements of the IBM Presentation Template that you might need to include. More possibilities and variations are available in the presentation templates themselves. But understanding which you need, and when, is the first step. Bulletpoint text Your audience is ready to listen and to look, but they don39。ve just turned some of it into a small reading assignment. Don39。s important to follow the guidelines if you will be using these. More text (if you must) The template also provides a format for longer blocks of text. You should use blocks of text very sparingly. Yes, once in a while there might be a longer passage that is relevant, and valuable. For instance, you might have a quote from an analyst or customer that is particularly striking: If you are going to make your audience read something, make sure it39。s ideas as they e up. Downsides: Avoid spending all your time with your back to the audience。s flexible enough to acmodate a variety of uses. Some may use it with little or no graphic elements, while others might need to convey far more plicated data. ? It39。t. By the time you have a presentation ready to show, the underlying anization will fade from view, leaving behind merely a framework that helps your audience focus more easily on your message, and enhances your own mastery of the material, since you understand thoroughly how it all fits together. Now, let39。ve anized first. Congratulations: you now have a clear picture literally of what information is relevant to your presentation, what points it supports, and where it should go. Unfortunately, many people don39。s most important. Take out things that, while you might think they39。re going to open by stating your main point, and you39。s solution is your best option, because its bination of products and services is integrated and flexible, and because we understand your business challenges. Now, put yourself in your audience39。ll actually present each item. Just get them all down on paper to look at. The Pyramid Principle book listed in our remended reading list is devoted to this method of anization, and it39。t going to be a chart you39。ll struggle the rest of the way. Get it right, and the pieces will begin falling naturally into place behind it. Build your case In her book Secrets of Power Presentations, Micki Holliday suggests answering the following questions as a first start to anizing your presentation: ? What does the audience need to know? ? What does the audience want to know? ? What are the possible benefits of a successful meeting for this audience? (What39。s working backwards. Instead, start with nothing... and work forward. Ask yourself this: What is my point? Every presentation is an attempt to municate something. It may be a plex topic, with lots of supporting data, but fundamentally there will always be something simple you want to say. It might be IBM understands your business, or This technology is the best for our requirements or We need more time to do this job right. Figure out what you39。t succumb to the temptation of collecting every apparently relevant item into a jumble and then trying to reshuffle them into a coherent order. (Jim has a nice chart on this, and Lisa has some good market data, I39。 There are three steps to making an IBM presentation: Plan It offers advice on anizing your message, sharpening your focus on what you want to say, and arranging it in a manner that audiences can follow. Prepare It is a resource for constructing graphic support materials in Freelance Graphics (PowerPoint is also supported). You will find instructions on how to include elements such as text, charts and graphs in a style that will be consistent to all our audiences an IBM look, in much the same way that our advertising and marketing materials have a distinct appearance. Present It offers tips on how to deliver what you39。s what you do first: Stop. Take some time. As Thomas Watson Sr. used to advise, famously: Think. You are about to mount an argument. What do you need? Don39。ve ever dozed through. That39。t really matter which. Just get it right. Without a clear point of view, you are navigating without direction. Get it wrong, and you39。s safe to assume that your audience is not prepared to accept your message on faith. After all, if everyone in the room already knew what you wanted to tell them, and agreed with it, there would be no point whatever to your standing up and talking. The purpose of your talk is to move your audience to your point of view. So you will have to build your case. You need to anize your argument. Make a rough flow chart of the information you are going to present. Just sketch it out on paper this isn39。t worry yet about the order in which you39。s assume your basic point is: IBM39。s industry. This is the heart and framework of your pitch. Lay it out graphically. You now see that you39。t need to bother creating all the pyramids that build downward, but you will want to do this for your entire presentation. Organize a