The “craft” of writing a good business presentation is similar to writing a book:
The idea…the writing…the editing. Editing being 90% of the time !!
Once you’ve laid out the raw story, a loooooong time is needed to sit on it, chew it, spit it out again, build onto it, tweak, twist and turn. Call it the incubation period for your pitch. If you forget this piece, you’ll remain shallow and hollow.
How to go about it?
(learnings from writing and publishing books myself)
1- Write the ‘storyline’ on half a piece of paper first, as simple and slim as possible. Your grandmother should understand what you are saying. And … make it personal!
2- Start in time
3- Don’t get frustrated along the way
4- Kill your babies (see http://www.facebook.com/notes/the-red-hot-marketing-blender-powered-by-kurt-frenier/kill-your-babies-/192813804093514)
5- Mindset: editing is THE job! Re-write, sharpen, correct, restart, read it out loud, and write some more…
6- Close the loop; go back to point “0” and make sure the core message is (still) there!
If you think it’s about the pictures, you’re wrong. It is about content management, just as with writing a book: ask yourself as you lay out the words: does it add? does it distract? will the audience remain engaged? am i building up the story or destroying it?
There is one very important difference with a book: when you actually “present” to an audience, you can BRING your message TO LIFE. Here comes in the importance of font, but also body language, pitch, eye contact, pauses, … All of which are critical to amplify your message. And again, incorporating a “personal” touch does wonders:
And…practice makes perfect.
Write-on.
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