Business Talk with Martina: Presentation Leadership

Have you ever got lost in the presentations at work? You don’t know what to present, where to start, and how to organize your slide? The workshop of Ms.Martina Bayers will answer your question.

For over fifteen years, Martina has been a consultant, creative facilitator, and presentation designer. She guides executives and their teams through their creative thinking and the creation of original and persuasive visual presentations. She trains individuals in the art of delivering unforgettable TED talks. Her ‘Picasso Manager’ conference inspires directors and their managers to creativity in today’s business environment. She is the author of ‘Réussissez vos présentations PowerPoint (Successful PowerPoint Presentations) (2014).

What makes a presentation attractive?

1. Presentation design

Before designing a presentation, you should know your audience, understand the context, and be clear on your reason for presenting. This represents 3 questions: Who, What, and How?

• Who: they are the audience segment you want to reach. What is in it for them? What do they want to listen to? How can you solve their problem?
• What: if they could remember one thing, what would it be? This is how you define your key message. Encapsulate your core message in 1 sentence.
• How: Which data or information is available that will help make your point? What is your storyline? According to Martina, you should start your presentation “low-tech”, and write down your ideas on paper. Don’t start a presentation with a classic power point template, you narrow your thinking in a box!

2. Dress up your number

Data plays an important role, it helps to persuade and impress the audience. However, you should use figures wisely and explain clearly, otherwise, your audience will be lost in numbers! Dressing up your numbers means presenting important facts with smart figures in an elegant way.

3. TED-style

 Do you know that all TED talks are under 18 minutes? Why? Because “It is long enough to be serious and short enough to hold people’s attention”.

A great talk is storytelling. Forget about the concept of “Once upon a time and happily ever after”. A good storyline needs “a bad guy” to engage people. Transformation emerges after breaking roadblocks.

A presentation with good structure and visual information will recall memory better and speed-up the decision-making process. Use contract colors, limit bullet points, and focus attention where you want it. These are some practical tips that Martina gave the audience.

“A great presentation give smart ideas an advantage” – Nancy Duarte

 Doing a presentation is an art, but it’s not too hard as you think. The most important thing is your confidence and passion. “You are the presentation” – this is the message that Martina inspired the audience during the workshop.