Presentations are a major part of life as an entrepreneur. According to CEO of Everest Business Funding, Scott Crockett, creating compelling presentations is a key to landing deals, partnerships, and making sales.
Presentations are an opportunity for entrepreneurs to show off the value and benefits of their startup to potential investors and others. The challenge is making presentations interesting enough to catch the attention of the audience — and keep it all the way until the end.
No matter your audience or goal, creating a compelling presentation is essential if you want to close the deal. Here are some helpful tips on how you can create more impactful presentations.
Be a Storyteller
Numbers, pictures, and charts are good to highlight points, but they don’t really provide intrinsic value to an audience. You need to bring a human aspect into the presentation; a great way to do that is to be a storyteller.
By telling a personal story about your company and connecting real-life stories to different parts of your presentation, you’ll draw your audience in and allow them to relate to the information you’re providing them.
In fact, every presentation you make should be a story in and of itself. It should include a hero — your customers or clients — who will use your product or service to overcome an obstacle they are facing to achieve their goal.
Bring in Examples
The human brain can find it difficult to draw direct comparisons if it’s presented with entirely new topics. As you present new information to your audience, it’s important to provide comparisons or metaphors so your audience can understand you better.
Remember that not everyone in your audience will know your company — and maybe even your industry — as much as you do. So, take some of the more complicated details in your presentation and make comparisons to other aspects of business or life that anyone could understand.
Don’t Overexplain
Most presentations will include a slideshow that provides information on a big screen as you describe that information in more detail. However, some entrepreneurs will rely too much on these slideshows instead of making the presentation themselves. This is a big mistake.
Try not to provide too much information on the slideshow itself. Instead, use it as a complementary piece to your presentation. The slideshow should highlight major points you are making with big, bold text, graphics, and pictures. It should not be paragraphs of text that you simply recite word for word.
Use Data to Your Advantage
Scott Crockett says that data is a great way to support the main points of your presentation. But, if you use too much data or the wrong data, it can also negatively impact your presentation.
When providing data in your presentation, simplify it as much as possible. Only provide data that is straightforward and easy to digest. Break out the most important pieces of data rather than showing an entire spreadsheet, for example.
Finally, make sure to cite all the sources of statistics that you provide. This will boost your creditability in the eyes of your audience.
About Scott Crockett
Scott Crockett is the founder and CEO of Everest Business Funding. He is a seasoned professional with 20 years of experience in the finance industry. Mr. Crockett’s track record includes raising more than $250 million in capital and creating thousands of jobs. Scott has founded, built, and managed several finance companies in the consumer and commercial finance sectors.
