Choosing what to use

DON'T BE A DUMB-ASS, ONLY PRESENT WHAT YOUR AUDIENCE NEEDS

Let's be clear about one thing: the people you're making the slides for aren't there to see, hear, or read about you. They just need to get information quickly and clearly. It doesn't really matter whether it's you delivering it or you've trained a talking donkey to do it.

If you take nothing else away from this book, take this: you must understand exactly what your audience needs to know and then let that be your guide in choosing what to include on your slides. If you find yourself thinking, "But I spent 50 hours analyzing the last three years of sales data and they should know how hard that was," then give yourself a shake and refocus. The only thing you're there to do is address what your audience needs. If that analysis is on target, that's great, it's in. If it doesn't help you deliver what your audience needs, then too bad, it's out. Creating a presentation is a bit like carving a stone sculpture. Try not to get too hung up on the big chunks of rock that are falling to the floor; just make sure the end result is great.

So, right off the bat, figure out why you're there. It could be for a number of reasons, such as:

• They need an update on the status of my project";

• We need to make a decision";

• I need to convince them to do something."

Consider starting your presentation by telling everyone exactly what you want them to walk away with. This will ground their thought processes so that, as you go through your material, you build toward an established goal. Here's a quick example:

If you were a sniper, the gray box at the bottom of this slide would be your crosshairs. Any material that doesn't directly help answer these questions should not appear in your presentation.

So how can you develop the crosshairs for your presentation? Start by asking yourself (and others) questions about who your audience is, what decisions your presentation might help them make, and what else they do when they're not taking in a riveting presentation by you. You can approach these questions in a similar way by asking yourself what you want people to think when they see your material, how you want them to feel about it, and what you want them to do once it's all over. Use your answers to come up with the two or three outcomes that your presentation needs to accomplish (i.e., your crosshairs). Since you're a clever person, you can probably come up with your own list of questions, but here are a few examples to get you started:

• Why does each person want to see/read my presentation?

• What decisions will my information help them make?

• What are some of my audience's preconceived notions, which I might need to overcome?

• Are audience members involved with other projects that might be affected by my project or knowledge?

• How does each person's job performance get measured at the end of the year? How can my presentation help others meet their performance targets?

• Who will be the most likely person to raise questions? Is there anything that I can include to help anticipate questions? Can I send this person anything beforehand to avoid being taken off track?

• What are the company's or team's biggest priorities? What parts of my initiative link to these?

There's a reason that everyone isn't the CEO

As you're plotting and scheming to de