【正文】 re saying in the middle of it. Finish early, follow up There have been no studies to determine what percentage of business audiences are left wishing a presentation had continued longer. Possibly this is because so many run long that there39。re looking at: Look here our software is more powerful. Instead, use that as your cue to explain why it39。t record it, or that adds too much to the file size for ing, create a second, similar presentation and use the speaker notes function. Then you can encourage your audience to print out the presentation with your speaker39。t Just Play It It39。t convey information, but rather present it in a visual way that makes understanding it easy. Still, your audience is going to have to extract the message of a chart by looking at it, by reading it, possibly with your assistance in pointing out its key aspects. The simpler a chart is, the more clear and direct its message will be. Complex charts of simple information are failures. Simple charts of plex information are achievements. ? When data demands plex charts, they are nearly always better presented on a printed handout. We will work around these limits as best we can, but you must be aware of them and strive for simplicity. ? In the hands of skilled people trained in presenting information visually, there are software tools capable of transforming plex data into elegant and effective charts. But these often require specialized skills. You39。t get carried away: you don39。t cram it onto this page unless it39。re saying as you explain the points. Of course, even when you reduce your message to a bulletpoint phrase, you can still defeat yourself by cramming too many onto a single page. That39。s relevance to your audience. A single, wellconstructed graphic, supported by your thoughtful explanation, is more effective than a series of charts that the audience must decipher. ? Projected visuals have severe limits. They are constrained by the resolution of a puter screen, which is far lower than the printed page. They are limited further by being projected onto a screen that people must read from a distance. For this reason, we want to keep visuals simple and bold. More plex graphics are better suited for inclusion in printed materials. Let39。s facetoface munications. The title slide is a straightforward element, and generally requires only that you include your name, IBM anization, and speaking topic in the places provided. However, the template allows for other elements that might be required, and it39。s corporate design style, which also influences our advertising and marketing materials. It is straightforward, clean, and simple. ? It39。re ready to start creating the materials you will actually show people: bullet points, charts, graphs. Instead of anizing onthefly, you39。s industry. This is the heart and framework of your pitch. Lay it out graphically. You now see that you39。t worry yet about the order in which you39。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 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。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。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。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。re going to open by stating your main point, and you39。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 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。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 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。s why you should limit any page of text to no more than five items (and even five is pushing it). You39。s a very simple graphic. Make another page, devoted to that. When you39。t need a line on the screen to summarize every single thing you39。ll find all sorts of examples of charts and graphs in the Infographics presentation templates. Once you39。s bee an accepted part of the