This simple diagram will help you avoid giving terrible presentations
We meet, we give presentations, we take minutes, we follow up. We are robots. Just stop. Stop for one second the next time you hurtle towards a presentation and ask yourself the simple question: Is it even time to present?
To be ready to present, you need to do three things:
- Make a point
- Make people care about your point
- Ask for something
If you don’t have a point, don’t present.
If you have a point, but don’t know why anyone else would care, you’ve just entertained yourself with your neurons. This is a great hobby and yours to enjoy in your own company.
If you have a point and get people to care, but don’t suggest a clear action, you’ve riled them up and then left them bathing in their own feelings.
Only present once you have a point, know why other people will care, and can suggest a clear action.
This article is part of a Quartz series on how to make “pointy” presentations.
Mark Pollard is the CEO at Mighty Jungle, a brand strategy agency in New York.