So, you’re giving a presentation. Before you can even think about its design (or hand it over to your trusty presentation design team), you need to plan your content. If you often find yourself staring at a blank screen when tasked with this, you’re not alone. We're here to help.
Initial questions to ask yourself
However you plan to approach your initial content plan (and we’ll dive into this later), it’s a good idea to start by asking yourself a few important questions:
Who am I talking to?
Who is your audience? What are their interests, concerns, and expectations? What knowledge can you safely assume they already have, and what will you need to explain, quantify, or clarify?
Tailoring your content to the specific needs of your audience ensures your message is both relevant and impactful. For example, a technical audience may appreciate detailed data, while a general audience might prefer simplified explanations.
What am I trying to communicate?
What exactly do you want to say to this audience? What is the story of your presentation? What are your key messages?
If you can succinctly distill what it is you want to communicate, you’ll be in a strong position to craft content that is concise, relevant, and engaging, avoiding the risk of getting lost in the details during the scripting process.
What do I hope to achieve?
Why are you giving this presentation in the first place? Is there an important piece (or pieces) of information you need your audience to understand and retain? Do you want them to take specific actions based on your talk, such as making a purchase or changing a particular behavior?
Answering these questions will help you choose the right tone and employ appropriate verbal and visual techniques to achieve your goals, whether you’re crafting a persuasive product marketing presentation or an informative educational talk.
How do you plan yours?
Different people prefer different methods when it comes to planning presentation content. Depending on your strengths and preferred communication style, one of the following approaches may suit you best:
The artist
Some people prefer the good old-fashioned pen and paper, finding the freedom and tactile nature of these physical media helpful for sparking ideas. Jotting down notes and sketching visuals can be particularly useful, as it's a quick, creative way to get your thoughts down. Sticky notes are another great physical tool, as they can be rearranged, chopped, and changed with ease.
After some exploratory play, the rough shape of the presentation will emerge and solidify. At this point, it’s a good idea to take things digital, creating a presentation storyboard or script and beginning to develop these initial ideas.
The writer
If you’re more of a verbal learner, you may prefer to open a blank word processing document and start with your script. Some people think best by starting out with a series of bullet points and headlines, grappling with bigger themes before drilling into finer details. Others may prefer to dive right in, writing in long form to get all their ideas down, then refining and fine-tuning later in the editing process.
Once you have a rough overview or complete script, you can turn it into a storyboard. Here, the content is broken up into natural chapters (slides), and key ideas can be highlighted to be illustrated with visuals.
The racticalist
Another method is to simply ‘start as you mean to go on,’ i.e., planning within the presentation design software you plan to use for your finished deck. For many, this feels like the most logical way to proceed and offers the flexibility of these design tools—such as the ability to insert images, charts, and content boxes. If you have an existing branded template you plan to use for your final presentation, it can be a good idea to use this for your initial planning document.
Whether you’re planning your content in PowerPoint, Keynote, or Google Slides, beginning with a rough storyboard or ‘skeleton’ deck is usually easier than attempting to design your slides all at once. As the skeleton takes shape, you can add more flesh to these bare bones in the form of visuals and script (the Presenter Notes section is a useful place to begin drafting your script as well).
Time to get cracking
Hopefully, this blog has given you some useful starting points for your presentation content planning. However, the best advice is to just get on with it. The only way to defeat the horrors of the blank white page is to write (or draw, or scribble) something—anything. Get your ideas down in whatever format works for you, and worry about editing and refining later.