PREPARING YOUR PRESENTATION

STEP ONE:

1) When creating a presentation, you need to keep in mind these three items:

1. MY PURPOSE: Is my purpose informing, persuading, or entertaining?
   
   
2. MY KEY MESSAGE: What do I want my audience to see, think, feel and believe once I have completed my presentation?
   
   
3. AUDIENCE PROFILE: What is the age, sex, occupation, political affiliation, prior knowledge, income level, interest, prejudice, need, language, and professional status of audience members?

STEP TWO:

When you are organizing your presentation, you have three parts to consider:

1. How will it begin
2. The body of the presentation
3. How will it end

1) HOW IT WILL BEGIN

INTRODUCTION/CONCLUSION Framing Your Story

Conceptualizing and framing what you want to say is vital in preparation.  

When creating your presentation, your most significant decision should be where you start and end. 

INTRODUCTION (HOW TO BEGIN) will depend on the knowledge level of your audience and how much they care about the subject. 

Note: If your audience is novices and you jump straight into technical jargon, you will lose them. If your audiences are experts and you start with the basics, they will be bored.   

1. Start with a grab A grab can be a startling statistic, a quote, a picture, or a personal story of your connection to what you are speaking about. 

The most engaging speakers do a superb job of quickly introducing the topic, explaining why they care so deeply about it, and convincing the audience that they should.

2. Spell out the importance of your subject. "Why should they listen?" The audience needs to understand why they should listen and why your topic is relevant to them. By highlighting the importance of your subject, you can capture the attention of your audience and keep them engaged throughout your presentation or content.

This can be achieved through statistics, anecdotes, or personal stories that demonstrate the impact of your subject matter on people's lives. e

3. Theme or Purpose: You will break down - What precisely will you explain or suggest that the audience do?

Combine all three "The Grab" and Why should they listen" and "The Purpose" to create a killer opening.

i.e. Have you ever sipped on a glass of Bourbon and wondered about the complexity of its flavor and history? Or maybe you're a seasoned Bourbon connoisseur interested in expanding your knowledge. Regardless of your experience level, today's presentation will take you on a journey through the fascinating world of Bourbon. By the end of this session, you'll have a newfound appreciation for the craft, as well as a deeper understanding of the artistry and history behind this beloved beverage."

2) THE BODY: Three main points

People tend to remember lists of three. For this reason, you should structure your presentation to focus on three core points. This will make it easy for the audience to grasp the big picture of the topic during the presentation and remember it afterward.

So the first thing you should do when it's time to plan your presentation is sketch out your three key points like this:

The points that you decide to include will depend on:

• The timeframe
• The audience and level of their expertise
• The goal of your presentation: Inspire, Inform, Take Action...

Once you've got your three key points, you can start to fill in the detail:

With each point, you need to provide supporting evidence.

• FIRST MAIN POINT: Illustrate and support with examples, and visual aids, along with evidence and or statistics or a combination
  
  
• SECOND MAIN POINT: Illustrate and support with examples, and visual aids, along with evidence and or statistics or a combination
  
  
• THIRD MAIN POINT: Illustrate and support with examples, and visual aids, along with evidence and or statistics or a combination

INSIDER TIPS- TO ORGANIZING THE THREE MAIN POINTS

Once you've got your structure clear, it should be easy to expand or contract your presentation to suit the time available:

• you could have a full 1-hour version (key points and all details);
• a 30-minute version (key points and some details);
• and a 10-minute version (key points only).

Use Post-Its as way to structure of your presentation.

• Use one post-it per point, with different colored post-its for your
  • title
  • three key points, and detail points.
• Move the post-its around until you are happy with the overall configuration and can survey your entire presentation at once.

If you're using slides for your presentation, you can create the slide deck from these post-its – each post-it corresponds to an individual slide, with only one point per slide.

3) CONCLUSION- HOW TO END

How you end your presentation is just as important as how to begin. A couple of great questions to ask yourself when creating your ending is:

• What core facts do I want them to remember?
• What do I want them to do?

A great way to achieve this is to:

1. Summarize the key points
2. Echo the core message
3. Use a powerful quote
4. Describe a visual image
5. Present a "Call to Action"

EXAMPLE CONCLUSION

During this presentation, we learned that bourbon is a unique type of whiskey that is distilled in America and made primarily from corn.

Three key takeaways that I would love for you to walk away from this presentation are:

• First, Bourbon must be made with at least 51% corn and aged in new, charred oak barrels.
• Second, there are different styles of bourbon, including
  
  
  • Straight Bourbon: This is a whiskey that has been aged in new, charred oak barrels for at least two years and contains at least 51% corn. It cannot contain any additives except water and has to be distilled to no more than 80% ABV (alcohol by volume) before being aged.
    
    
  • Bottled in Bond: This is a specific type of straight bourbon that has been distilled by one distiller, in one distilling season, aged for at least four years in a federally bonded warehouse, and bottled at 100 proof (50% ABV).
    
    
  • Single barrel bourbon is a type of bourbon whiskey that is bottled from an individual barrel, rather than being blended with whiskey from other barrels. This means that each bottle of single barrel bourbon has a unique flavor profile, depending on the characteristics of the barrel it was aged in. Single barrel bourbons are typically aged for at least four years and are bottled at barrel strength, which can range from 100 to 130 proof.
    
    
• Third - 2nd ingredient used in Bourbon is typically wheat or rye. The higher percentage of this grain used can have huge impact on the flavor profile of the final product.
  • • Rye brings out a spicier and slightly drier taste profile, where as
    • wheat brings out a sweeter and softer taste profile.

As Booker Noe, former Master Distiller of Jim Beam, once said, "Bourbon is America's native spirit." By understanding the different styles of bourbon and its unique production process, we can develop a greater appreciation for this fascinating spirit. So the next time you are having a Manhattan you need to decide do you want bolder, less sweet flavor profile and if so choose a high rye bourbon such as "insert brand name" . Or do you prefer a softer, sweeter Manhattan if so choose xxx.

Ending Slide: After you've concluded your final points, do not forget to

• Say "thank you" to your audience, sponsors, and organizers
• Be sure to include: Social media handles & contact details