“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
Great advice from Albert Einstein. The ability to convey a viewpoint or new idea is critical for an entrepreneur. The success of their business depends on it.
In the startup phase, presentation skills are essential in landing investors and new customers. In the growth phase, they keep the vision alive and clients onboard. And when a business is more established, entrepreneurs start aiming for high-profile investors for future expansion of the business.
This is why their presentation skills need to be on par with the level of business they seek to gain.
So, let’s learn more about acquiring the presentation skills you’ll need to succeed:
What is a Presentation?
In today’s world, there are many ways to communicate and exchange ideas. Doing so with a PowerPoint presentation is an effective way to do so. It is a slide show designed to convey the presenter’s message in a way that helps people understand and make it easier for them to do so.
Creating a PowerPoint presentation can be a daunting task at first because you’re presented with just a blank presentation. But don’t worry! There are thousands of free slides which you can use to prepare an engaging presentation. With these templates, you’ll be able to save time and come up with an awesome-looking presentation in no time.
Be that as it may, an experienced presenter will know that they can’t let the slide deck do all the talking.
A presenter will need to be well-prepared and have in-depth knowledge of their topic of discussion. They must be able to answer any question posed by the audience to maintain credibility as an authority on the topic.
Acting as an interactive mediator between the audience and the presentation slideshow, the presenter can adeptly engage with and hold the attention of the audience.
Types of Presentations
Your intention and purpose for presenting will inform the type of presentation that will best convey your ideas. There are six general types of presentations, and once you identify your purpose, you can prepare and practice with this aim in mind.
Also, read: 7 Outstanding Tips To Promote Your Brand On Instagram And Generate Sales
Let’s now check out the six types of presentations:
- Instructive Presentation: If you aim to instruct the audience and give direction or specific orders, then this is the presentation type most suited to your purpose. People attend this type of presentation to gain practical knowledge and learn new skills. This presentation can run longer and may offer support materials such as manuals, guides, or workbooks.
- Motivational Presentation: The perfect example of a motivational presentation is TED Talks. Many speakers use this platform to inform, inspire, and motivate listeners to improve their lives. And for entrepreneurs, such a presentation can tell the story of the dream and hard work that led to their company’s success.
- Informative Presentation: An informative presentation is all about sharing relevant information. These can be project reports, research analysis, and technical product information that are often prepared by marketing, sales, and tech teams. The focus of these presentations is on providing concise, instructive information to an engaged audience.
- Persuasive Presentation: When the main goal of the presenter is to sell something or persuade the audience to a course of action, this is the most effective style of presentation. Entrepreneurs use it to launch new products or convince investors to back their projects. When done right, this can secure new business or funding to grow the company.
- Decision-making Presentation: Need a decision to be made? Well, this presentation style outlines the problems, available options for solutions, and possible outcomes. Generally found in business meetings or all-hands meetings, this presentation can efficiently and comprehensively address the issues and guide everyone involved to make informed decisions. Making use of the decision making templates for free can be another handy way of producing outstanding presentations.
- Progress Presentation: As the name suggests, this presentation style works to report the progress being made on any campaign or project. Entrepreneurs use this format to share status updates, collected data, deadlines, tasks on priority, and other relevant information. In short, it is a kind of team stand-up presentation where all members can discuss the agenda about the progress to move forward.
To figure out the right presentation style for you, ask yourself: Am I addressing friends, colleagues, or clients? Am I entertaining, or informing, or both? Answering these questions helps you choose the best type of presentation. From there, it’s all about using the right skill set to present the very best.
Also, read: This Himachali Woman Offers Sustainable Products Obtained Directly From The Mountains
5 Essential Presentation Skills for Entrepreneurs
Let’s now move on to the five essential presentation skills for entrepreneurs.
1. Know Your Audience
To be familiar with the target audience is of the utmost importance for a presenter – what are their questions and queries, what hits close to their heart, what makes them tick? If the presenter can cover these areas successfully, there is a better chance that their message will resonate with their audience.
To be successful and connect with customers, entrepreneurs will need to know their audience well. Knowing the target audience is one of the most important rules in the book. If you don’t know the market, how do you know what’s in demand, or what customers need? And if you don’t know this, how can you provide anything useful or valuable?
2. Establish Your Content Credibility
No matter how accomplished a speaker, or however well-known, presenters should never assume their audience finds them trustworthy. Every single presentation needs to be demonstratively credible. Present facts and figures; provide substantiation to any claims.
Know your agenda. Be prepared.
3. Inspire the Audience with Your Vision
Being able to share your achievements with the goal of inspiring people is an art form of its own. There is a very thin line between wanting to show people they can achieve more because you were able to do it and just plain bragging.
Aim to motivate and inspire your audience with some real tips that worked for you. Make sure that these tips are attainable and realistic. It’s also important to consider if the tips that you’ll be giving them are within their capabilities. Sometimes, some speakers tend to overlook the privilege they have when they give other people tips.
4. Use Stats and Facts to Address the Issue
In this new era, everyone wants to save time and resources and is open to seeing things in interesting new ways. If an entrepreneur’s presentation can tap into all these things, it will stand out and be a topic of discussion long after the presentation is over.
To achieve this satisfying goal, one needs to have a solid presentation based on facts and statistics. The audience should be able to see and get the hang of the data quickly.
This is where skills in making infographics come in handy. Infographics are a great way to summarize data and present them in a visually appealing way. You make it easier for people to digest information and make it interesting at the same time.
5. Adjust to Your Audience Accordingly
A good presenter needs to know how to interpret the non-verbal cues offered by the audience. As the presentation progresses, the presenter needs to read the audience, make adjustments, and reconnect on the spot.
Keep in mind your audience’s expectations. Since each audience is unique, each presentation will have its own flow.
Presentation settings, such as the setup of the conference room, will highly influence how well the audience hears you. Age, gender, religion, class, education, job type, etc., are major demographic factors that a presenter must factor in.
Takeaway
An entrepreneur’s presentation skills will determine their ability to lead and inspire others to share in their vision. The effectiveness of a presentation is directly proportional to the proficiency of the presenter.
You can work hard to prepare your presentation, but if your delivery is at all lacking, your message will miss the mark.
So, hone your skills and thoroughly familiarize yourself with the audience and topic of discussion. Everything else will fall into line.