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| My Presentation Creation Process Posted: 19 Jan 2011 04:06 PM PST Posted by randfish Last year, I created 44 unique presentations, delivered via a variety of mediums - webinars, keynotes, private presentations and conference panels. It's certainly not a skill I've perfect, but it is something I've been asked about quite a bit, so I thought I'd share my methodology and some examples in the hopes that it can help those of you who've learned to love (or at least live with) Powerpoint. Step 1: Understanding the Presentation's Goals & the AudienceBefore I start a deck, I try to learn as much about the audience attending the event/presentation as possible. When it comes to our PRO member webinars, we have lots of survey data and direct feedback, but for outside events, it's critical to connect with the organizers. Here are 5 questions I like to ask:
If you forget #5, you can often run into lots of trouble - make sure to get that one :-) Step 2: Build an Outline in EmailIt might seem like an odd way to craft a presentation outline, but I love to use my Google mail account. It autosaves, it can be accessed on my mobile if I want to add/edit/review and I don't need to worry about which computer (home/work/laptop) it's on. A sample outline might look like:
The outline above comes from a presentation I gave in November to the Social Media Breakfast Club in Seattle (at the kind request of Kristy Bolsinger). The outline accomplishes several key goals:
Step 3: Create a Presentation ShellNext, I build an "empty shell" presentation in Powerpoint using a template. Most often, that's the SEOmoz template, featuring lots of Roger and a consistent color scheme, but some events have their own requirements around templates and in those instances, I'll build the shell from their example.
The shell is especially easy to build because I can put it alongside the email with my outline and simply work from that spec, massaging slide titles, etc. One piece that's key for me is the segmentation of themes/topics. Whenever I move from a topic/discussion point to a whole new area, I use transitional slides that signal to the audience we're moving on. These slides in the SEOmoz template are blue and contain only a headline + Roger mozBot and his word bubble. I typically fill these with something relevant or fun.
In the transitional slide example above, the section covers inclusion in vertical/universal-style listings. Hence, Roger's alluding to Google's left-hand search menu. Step 4: Add Pictures, Screenshots and GraphicsThe next step is typically the most time-consuming and challenging. My goal is to have as few words and bullet points in slides as possible (using them only where necessary). Thus, 90%+ of my slides are usually graphics, screenshots, diagrams, charts or drawings that represent the tactic or idea I'm attempting to convey. As you might imagine, this gets hard (which is why many presenters use the simpler bullet point/text format). Below are a few examples of the types of slides I like to create:
I worry less about making beautiful, aesthetically-pleasing slides and more about graphics that help tell the story effectively. That said, I'm insanely jealous of those who manage to mix both phenomenal design/layout and powerful storytelling into their slide art. In the future, it's possible I might hire help specifically to help create those stunning, well-designed types of slide decks (currently, I make all my own decks). NOTE: SEOmoz uses Shutterstock's stock photography, but I also will sometimes using Creative Commons licensed photos from Flickr (and/or anything my wife takes). Step 5: Insert Highlights, Arrows & EffectsOnce the graphics are in, I'm in polishing mode. Oftentimes, that means adding effects to the deck, though I try to be very minimalist with these. You can see a few examples below:
I almost never use visual effects like fade-in/out, motion, sound, video, etc. Not only are there occasional (and painful) compatability problems with these features, but I haven't found them useful 90%+ of the time I see them or have tried to apply them. Step 6: Run it By My Team / the Organizer(s)Last, but not least, I send the slide deck out for feedback, either to SEOmoz's marketing team and/or to the organizers of the event. In the example below, Jen Lopez's feedback was invaluable. I added 4 additional slides covering the concepts she mentioned and it seriously improved the webinar we gave.
Even if I'm creating ~4 slide decks each month, the opinions and insight of others is invaluable to making every presentation better. When I don't have this luxury (up late the night before a presentation making something), it's never as good. Below are a few embedded finished products:
10 SEO Lessons from 2010 View more presentations from randfish.
Search + Social: Webit Expo by Rand Fishkin View more presentations from randfish.
Some Caveats to this ProcessThe methodology I described won't work well for everyone, and I should make some more things clear:
Hopefully, you can put this methodology (or portions of it) to good use and crank out some awesome presentations of your own! p.s. If you want to see some of the best in action, join me (and the Distilled team) in London on March 18th and/or New Orleans on March 28th for the first ever Link Building Conference. I expect it to be phenomenal. p.p.s. One important note (from my personal experiences) - when giving presentations in the US/Canada, Q+A is often a big part of the event and very important to attendees. In the UK, Australia, New Zealand + Germany, it's slightly lower. In other countries Q+A can be very, very dead, (even if private Q+A after the session is very lively) so make sure to plan accordingly. |
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