Image Credit: James Duncan Davidson, Flickr

We’ve all been in a presentation that felt like it would never end. Many small business owners may not have experience giving presentations, but it’s an important skill to master. Whether you’re pitching an idea to an investor or selling your product to a room full of customers, it’s critical that you be able to give a memorable and effective presentation.

Earlier this fall, Dennis Belmont of Belmonster Creative conducted a workshop on giving good presentations. After the workshop, Dennis sent us a booklet that summarized all of his recommendations and tips. You can find a copy of this booklet in our Interactive Resource Library.

We have taken the summary of all of his points and posted it below, but we encourage you to check out the entire booklet. There’s a lot of good information there, and the summary will be more effective once you have read the rest of the booklet.

• If you’ve got stage fright:
  • Look yourself over thoroughly before getting on stage
  • Breathe deep
  • Know your material
  • Stand like a superhero
  • Make friends with the audience
• Understand your audience’s brains and include something for everyone
• Establish your credentials early
• Provide a basic agenda
• Be yourself
• Don’t just stand there
• Encourage audience participation
• In your on-screen presentation:
  • Don’t use bullets
  • Don’t use bullets
  • Don’t use bullets (that one is so important I said it three times)
  • Keep the amount of text on your slides to a bare minimum
  • Don’t worry about how many slides you have
  • Don’t show detailed charts and graphs
  • Include lots of visuals – photos, icons, graphics and color
• Regarding handouts:
  • Don’t distribute handouts until after your presentation (and let the audience know at the beginning that they’ll be receiving them)
  • My recommendation is to put your handouts into narrative form (like a whitepaper or booklet), rather than giving them a copy of your on-screen presentation
  • If you do go with the alternate deck, include all of the information you gave in person; this will probably mean creating many more slides
  • Include citations and source references as necessary