Making a presentation? Don’t fall into these 3 common traps.

1. I’ll just start in PowerPoint.
The biggest trap of all.
PowerPoint is not a thinking tool, it’s a design tool. If you start there, you’ll be searching for looks before you’ve figured out meaning.

Smarter:

• Grab a notebook. Go for a walk. Think in concepts, not slides.
• What do you want your audience to feel, remember, do after your presentation?

2. I’ll reuse my old deck.
Familiar, fast, tempting… and often the quickest route to a messy story.
That old deck had holes back then. Why would it work now?

Smarter:

• Use it (at most) as raw input – not as your structure.
• Ask yourself: “What should they still remember tomorrow?”
  That’s your new starting point.

3. I need to tell them everything. So they really get it.
The classic. Give too much = nothing sticks. Your audience isn’t a hard drive – they’re human.
Listening, looking and remembering? That’s topsport.

Smarter:

• Choose your essence. Repeat it a few times.
• Use the golden rule:
  • Tell them what you’re going to tell them.
  • Tell it.
  • Tell them what you told them.

Works. Always. Steve Jobs nailed it.