“When do you start working on your presentation?” When we ask this in workshops, we often hear the same answer: “The presentation is the last thing.”
That doesn’t mean the presentation is unimportant. It means it’s created at the very end of a project. Often the evening before, sometimes in the middle of the night. A year of work, and the presentation that’s supposed to sell the result gets put together in three hours.
Why last-minute presentations don’t convince
The reason for late preparation is almost always the same: people believe the data and facts speak for themselves. They don’t.
Under time pressure, what always happens happens. PowerPoint open, content copied in from various documents, bullet point after bullet point. There’s no time left for the questions that make a presentation really good: What’s the one message? What does this audience care about? What story do the numbers tell?
The result is text-heavy slides. And text-heavy slides lose attention, because nobody can read and listen at the same time. By the third or fourth slide at the latest, the audience switches off. More on this in bullet points in presentations.
How to prepare a presentation in 7 steps
1. Clarify your goal and audience
Before you create a single slide, write down the answers to two questions:
- Who’s in the audience? What do they already know, what’s on their mind, what do they expect?
- What should be different afterwards? A decision, an approval, a contract, an understanding?
These two answers shape everything that follows.
2. Write your key message
Put into one sentence what your audience should take away. Not the topic, but the point. How to do that is explained in the key message of a presentation.
3. Build the storyline
Collect everything you could say, then cut everything that doesn’t support the key message. Arrange the rest into a story: starting point, problem, solution, next step. Plan your opening and closing deliberately. This works best on paper or with sticky notes, not in the software.
4. Only now design the slides
Now you open PowerPoint or Prezi. Every slide gets one statement, images instead of blocks of text, big numbers instead of tables. The design follows the story, not the other way around. For help, see good presentation design.
5. Keep presentation and handout separate
What you present isn’t the same as what your audience gets to read afterwards. Details, tables and longer texts belong in a separate handout. That keeps the presentation clear, and nobody loses any information.
6. Rehearse out loud
A presentation you’ve only gone through in your head isn’t rehearsed. Say it out loud from start to finish at least once, ideally in front of someone who’ll be honest with you. You’ll notice right away where transitions are bumpy, where you take too long and which slide isn’t needed.
7. Do a dress rehearsal with the tech
Test laptop, projector, adapters, clicker, sound and internet where you’ll be presenting, or as close to it as possible. In Prezi, that also means downloading the presentation for offline use just in case, which you can do with a paid plan. Most mishaps don’t happen with the content, but with the cable.
How much time should you plan?
More than you think. A commonly quoted rule of thumb is one hour of preparation per minute of presentation. That sounds excessive at first. But if you take the seven steps seriously, you quickly realize that the goal, message and story take more time than the slides themselves.
A realistic timeline for an important presentation:
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 2 to 3 weeks before | clarify goal, audience and key message |
| 2 weeks before | build the storyline, plan opening and closing |
| 1 to 2 weeks before | design the slides, create the handout |
| a few days before | rehearse out loud, get feedback, sharpen |
| the day before | dress rehearsal with the tech |
How much time you need depends on your experience and the occasion. But one thing always applies: one or two days beforehand is too late.
When time is tight anyway
Sometimes the date comes up at short notice. Then the rule is: save on the slides, not on the message. A clear key message with five simple slides convinces more than 40 rushed ones. When a lot is at stake and time is short, MCPREZI can build presentations in just a few days in urgent cases.
Conclusion
The presentation mustn’t be the last thing. It’s the moment that decides whether all the work before it has any impact. Start early, begin with the goal and key message instead of slides, and rehearse out loud. Then your data and facts don’t speak for themselves. You speak for them.
Frequently asked questions
How do I prepare a presentation properly?
In this order: clarify the goal and audience, write the key message, build the storyline, design the slides, keep the handout separate, rehearse out loud and do a dress rehearsal with the actual tech. The most common mistake is starting with the slides.
How long does it take to prepare a presentation?
Much longer than most people plan for. A commonly quoted rule of thumb is one hour of preparation per minute of presentation. For an important 20-minute presentation, several days spread over one to two weeks is realistic. One or two days beforehand is definitely too late.
Where do I start when preparing a presentation?
Not in PowerPoint or Prezi. Start with paper and two questions: who's in the audience, and what should be different afterwards? The key message follows from that, and the slides follow from the key message.
How often should I rehearse a presentation?
At least once in full and out loud, several times for important presentations. Your opening and closing should be so familiar that you can deliver them without notes.
