Create a Winning Presentation

Note: this project plan was exported from Project KickStart directly to Word. Project KickStart is an easy-to-use project management software for small and medium sized business projects. A Free Trial is available at www.ProjectKickStart.com

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#
1

Tasks
Plan

Days
11

Start
3/29/2009

Finish
4/12/2009

%
100

Cost Assignments
$2,850

Notes
Created by Thomas Leech, presentations consultant, speaker and author of How To Prepare, Stage & Deliver Winning Presentations (AMACOM). I hope you find this sample project useful. If you do, please let me know: phone: 858 650-0810 fax: 858-650-0811 e-mail: winpres@aol.com For many presentations, audiences often state explicit instructions.

Determine requirements, guidelines, dictates, standard procedures Find out the 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why) Check available expertise

3/29/2009

3/29/2009

3 4

1 1

3/30/2009 4/2/2009

3/30/2009 4/2/2009

Speaker(s), Presentations advisor or coordinator, Marketing or project leader Speaker(s), Presentations advisor or coordinator Presentations advisor

Take advantage of in-house

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that can help you

or coordinator, Presentations coach or consultant (external), Speaker(s) 1 1 1 4/3/2009 4/4/2009 4/5/2009 4/3/2009 4/4/2009 4/5/2009

expertise, right from the start.

5 6 7

8 9 10 11

Write out your general objective Write out the specific objective - the end product List factors associated with meeting conditions that might influence presentation Identify and assess audience Develop your presentation strategy Identify resources needed for each task and determine availability Set a realistic schedule

Sell, tell, entertain, stir? A common deficiency. e.g., time of day, competing activities, etc. Particularly pay attention to key decision makers For example, how will you address the audiences major concerns?

1 1 1 1

4/6/2009 4/9/2009 4/10/2009 4/11/2009

4/6/2009 4/9/2009 4/10/2009 4/11/2009 Speaker(s), Presentations advisor or coordinator, Graphics/audio-visual specialist, Marketing or project leader Management or other decision makers, Reviewers/critiquers, Graphics/audio-visual specialist, Speaker(s), Presentations coach or consultant (external), Marketing or project leader, Presentations advisor or coordinator
90 $3,365

Reviewers/critiquers

Make sure the resources are there, plus get commitment from all involved.

12

Get colleague or management review before proceeding

4/12/2009

4/12/2009

This important step can ensure youre heading down the right road now, before you start spending time and money.

13 14

Organize Check how requirements

9 1

4/13/2009 4/13/2009

4/25/2009 4/13/2009

Speaker(s),

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affect organization

Presentations advisor or coordinator, Marketing or project leader 1 4/16/2009 4/16/2009 Brainstorm or mindmap here to produce a summary of your major points. Try to capture the essence of your story. Then, go into the details. Helpful are templates or wizards in graphics programs, e.g. Powerpoint. This is important! Dont get lazy about it! You can use graphics software or manual methods, but do it. An outline is the best tool for clarifying your ideas. Management or other decision makers, Speaker(s), Presentations advisor or coordinator, Presentations coach or consultant (external) Find a snappy hook to get their attention. Heres where that earlier summary chart is used. A particularly valuable exercise for message clarity and visual creativity. Reviewers/critiquers, Management or other decision makers, Another important check point.

15

Focus ideas and information

16 17

Choose best topic order Develop detailed outline

1 1

4/17/2009 4/18/2009

4/17/2009 4/18/2009

18

Assign times per section and speaker(s)

4/19/2009

4/19/2009

19 20 21

22

Develop introduction to get audience on board and focused Develop summary to reiterate main points and ask for the order Create story board integrating outline with visual aid support concepts Get management review of your organization

1 1 1

4/20/2009 4/23/2009 4/24/2009

4/20/2009 4/23/2009 4/24/2009

4/25/2009

4/25/2009

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Presentations coach or consultant (external), Marketing or project leader, Presentations advisor or coordinator 23 24 25 Support Again check how requirements dictate support Add to your outline the examples you will use to illustrate, substantiate or liven up. Develop details of examples, stories, statistical support, etc. Consider what other forms of support can add value Make sure you know what your graphics production capability is Make a test run to ensure graphics quality and capability Transform the concepts from your story board to complete graphics 12 1 1 4/26/2009 4/26/2009 4/27/2009 5/11/2009 4/26/2009 4/27/2009
75 $4,385

Presentations advisor or coordinator, Speaker(s) Key words are for example.

26 27 28 29 30

1 1 1 1 1

4/30/2009 5/1/2009 5/2/2009 5/3/2009 5/4/2009

4/30/2009 5/1/2009 5/2/2009 5/3/2009 5/4/2009 Graphics/audio-visual specialist, Presentations advisor or coordinator, Presentations coach or consultant (external) Graphics/audio-visual specialist, Speaker(s), Presentations advisor or coordinator

May need to gather more information to make sure its legit. Props, displays, hardware, video, multi-media, demos... Especially if youre using outside resources. This can keep you from a lot of re-work later. Put your right brain in gear to come up with some punchy, clear, convincing graphics.

31 32

Review/test visual aids Refine graphics to get best effectiveness Now complete your delivery script Develop backup charts

1 1

5/7/2009 5/8/2009

5/7/2009 5/8/2009

33 34

1 1

5/9/2009 5/10/2009

5/9/2009 5/10/2009

Match oral to visual. Just in case

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35 36 37 38 39 40

and plan Meet printing deadlines Stage Again determine what the requirements call for Track and control costs and schedule to ensure youre staying on course Check out the meeting facility Identify and list in detail all staging requirements Verify all audio-visual equipment will be available and working Make sure all presenters know how to use a/v equipment correctly Prepare for rehearsals Practice, practice, practice, each time getting helpful feedback and improving

1 11 1 1 1 1

5/11/2009 5/14/2009 5/14/2009 5/15/2009 5/16/2009 5/17/2009

5/11/2009 5/28/2009 5/14/2009 5/15/2009 5/16/2009 5/17/2009

45 $1,250

Graphics/audio-visual specialist Operations; Arrangements; Rehearsals. Presentations advisor or coordinator, Speaker(s) Presentations advisor or coordinator Graphics/audio-visual specialist Presentations advisor or coordinator, Graphics/audio-visual specialist Graphics/audio-visual specialist

You should be checking this all along.

The devils in the details.

41 42 43 44

1 1 1 1

5/18/2009 5/21/2009 5/22/2009 5/23/2009

5/18/2009 5/21/2009 5/22/2009 5/23/2009

Youve been warned. Like how to turn on the projector.

45

Use video and speaker coaching to polish your performance

5/24/2009

5/24/2009

Presentations advisor or coordinator Reviewers/critiquers, Presentations advisor or coordinator, Management or other decision makers, Marketing or project leader, Presentations coach or consultant (external), Graphics/audio-visual specialist Presentations advisor or coordinator, Presentations coach or consultant

Rehearsals can be big timewasters. Yet how many people skip this step, to their regret, and the audiences.

Video doesnt lie.

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(external) 46 47 48 49 Test all parts of the presentation Arrive at the meeting room enough in advance to check it out on-site Deliver Make sure your wardrobe and appearance are appropriate for the meeting Get mentally prepared Deliver with energy, conviction, credibility, personality. Respond to your audience Track the time and meet your target Follow-up Do a personal or team debriefing about how the presentation went 1 1 5 1 5/25/2009 5/28/2009 5/29/2009 5/29/2009 5/25/2009 5/28/2009 6/4/2009 5/29/2009
35 $1,250

e.g., audience questions and answers. Isnt most of this common sense?

50 51 52 53 54 55

1 1 1 1 4 1

5/30/2009 5/31/2009 6/1/2009 6/4/2009 6/5/2009 6/5/2009

5/30/2009 5/31/2009 6/1/2009 6/4/2009 6/8/2009 6/5/2009

20 $965

Visualize a successful meeting in detail. Do not read. And talk to audience, not screen. This may be what decides success. And its o.k. to end early, if youve done the job. Speaker(s), Presentations advisor or coordinator, Marketing or project leader, Presentations coach or consultant (external) Speaker(s), Marketing or project leader Speaker(s), Presentations advisor or coordinator, Graphics/audio-visual specialist, Marketing or project leader Speaker(s)

56 57

Assign action items and make sure they get completed Apply lessons-learned to future presentations

1 1

6/6/2009 6/7/2009

6/6/2009 6/7/2009

Critical - it aint over til... Learn from your hits and misses.

58

Make a commitment to sharpen your presentation skills to be better able to

6/8/2009

6/8/2009

Join Toastmasters, buy a good presentations book, speak more often.

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advance cause and career

Copyright 1997-2009 by Thomas Leech. Used by permission. You may use this for planning your own presentations. But, if used for training, you must retain the copyright notice and authorship attribution.

Next Steps
1. Download Free Trial 2. Buy Project KickStart 3. Project KickStart Product Page 4. Project KickStart Tour 5. Project KickStart Templates 6. Project KickStart Sales (800) 678-7008 www.ProjectKickStart.com

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