#3: Under the Microscope

“THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS” certainly applies to presentations. Unfortunately, too many presenters take this the wrong way...

- “Oh, I’d better think about where I’m going to stand.”

- “I’ve got to show them all these features, otherwise they’ll think it’s not robust enough.”

- “Hmm, I think I’ll go with a more ‘power’ font.”

There are a BILLION things you could think about — and many of them are important. But the most significant details are the ones which will be meaningful for your audience. Things like:

- No jargon (unless it’s their jargon)

- No jarring colors or wacky designs (unless you’re Tom Peters?)

- No lists of Features & Benefits (unless they ask for one)

I could go on & on, but this is supposed to be exercise #3 in the list of 10 exercises to help you be more compelling and effective with your presentations. So it’s time for you to join the fray. Here’s today’s task:

[1] Read The You-Me Principle post (if you haven’t already).
This will give you a grounding in our application of the words “You” and “Me”.

[2] Print out a copy of your presentation.
Do this as “Handouts”, with either 3, 4, or 6 slides per page.

[3] Mark up each slide with “You” or “Me”.
Look at every element — headlines, text, graphics, word choices, type styles, and so on. For each element, write “You” or “Me” next to it, as a way of labeling the focus of that element. Drill down as far as you can. (If you’re not sure whether something is about “You” or “Me”, put a “Me” next to it. That’s likely what your audience will think.)

When you’re done, you’ll have a good indication (by the volume of “You”s and “Me”s) of where the focus of your presentation is. If you have more “Me”s than “You”s, especially at the beginning, then your presentation is probably working against you, not for you.

But don’t try to tweak every little element right now. Go back to exercise #2 and work on the big picture first. Then, as you turn your attention to specific slides, review this exercise.

For related posts, check out What’s in a Name? (which includes a makeover of the slide in the picture above) and Jargon-B-Gone.

<note>
To see the other parts of this series, find the heading EXERCISES in right column of The YouBlog. It’s between “Recent Posts” and “Categories”. You can do them in any order you like.