The 3 P’s for Ditching PowerPoint For Your Next Presentation

No PowerPoint slides? No problem! Anyone can deliver a successful and engaging discussion without the use of presentation technology. Cut out the PowerPoint and let the audience see your passion and expertise front and center! These 4 P’s will help you thoughtfully create a presentation without PowerPoint.

Practice makes perfect

Flying solo without slides takes some planning but it is not insurmountable. You are the subject matter expert. Everyone has come to see so make sure you are as familiar with the material as possible. Start with an outline of the presentation. Divide the topic into three sections or buckets in an order that makes sense for you and the topic.

Don’t memorize the presentation but get familiar with the overall theme and sections. Creating cue cards or index cards to study the big points of the presentation is a helpful technique to master the material. Concentrate on letting your natural cadence and storytelling ability drive the discussion.

Perfect Presentation Tip

You are ready for your big presentation. You’ve planned and practiced and know this material better than anyone. Now it’s time to press play on your presentation.

  • Look your audience in the eye and get started!
  • Briefly introduce yourself, why you are an expert in your topic, and what’s in it for them if they stay attentive and listen.
  • Frame your talk. What should the audience expect or not expect to hear?
  • Relay the core message through an anecdote or engaging story.
  • Answer the “So what?” for the audience. They need YOU to convey what they should care about or take away from the presentation.
  • Repeat and/or rephrase your core message at least once throughout the presentation.
  • Read the audience and adjust accordingly. Don’t be afraid to improvise. Shorten or expand a section based on your audience’s reaction or feedback.

Use a whiteboard or flip board as an engagement technique. Writing things down for the audience piques their interest, draws them in, and keeps the main points top of mind throughout the presentation. But remember your audience is more interested in what you are saying than what they are reading

Participation makes perfect sense

Encourage questions and interaction from your audience. Try asking a direct question – “Show of hands of how many of you have ever….” Turn a lecture into a discussion with a few well-placed questions. It builds rapport with the audience, makes you more memorable, and connects with them. When it comes to audience questions, you can ask to save them until the end. However, if you are presenting a hot button topic, consider managing questions throughout the presentation to avoid piling up an avalanche of controversial questions until the end casting a negative tone over the presentation.

Your audience isn’t there to see a slide presentation but to hear you talk about a subject you feel passionate about. Connecting directly with an audience is the most exciting part for any speaker. Why put a barrier between you and your audience with a slide?

Want to learn more? Schedule a Discovery Session today!

Kristen White is a Content Catalyst and Powerful Interviewer. She can quickly add the crisp clarity, magic dust and unique brand elements to any message, book, product or campaign.

Through her award-winning interview skills, Kristen will excavate and synthesize a personal story and legacy into a magnetic brand and content strategy. Her strong intuitive insight, journalistic training and versatile wordsmithing, offer clients a wellspring of fingerprint language options to apply to all levels of their written, spoken and video communication. Kristen is a bestselling author, award-winning documentary film director and cast member, television series creator/writer, and television on-camera journalist. As the CEO of Rock the Stage, Page, and Screen™, a digital media and marketing company, Kristen supports clients with unique personal brand development, speech writing and performance, book concepts, titles, outlines and marketing, and online business consulting.

Rock the Stage, INC, offers professional video production for authors, speakers and coaches with a variety of speaking topics.  The company also offers speechwriting, broadcast-quality lifestyle video interviews and fast-track book publishing via an on-camera interview.