New Strategies Offered to Optimize Webinar Content, Online Presentations

Centered on key strategies to optimize Webinar content and execution, Scott Schwertly of presentation design firm Ethos3, recently shared tactics during last week’s webinar titled “Presentation Revolution: How to Build, Design and Deliver and Epic Online Presentation,” sponsored by Citrix Online.

“We really live in this culture that essentially abuses the art and science of public speaking,” says Schwertly. “It really feels like the time to change the way we tackle presentations on a day to day basis.”

Schwertly says marketers need to understand content, design and delivery to build a great presentation, and credibility is a key factor in maintaining the trust from your audience. Schwertly offers the “Six ‘I’s of credibility:”

• Ideation- Make sure you are bringing new ideas to the table that gives your audience the opportunity to pull creativity from the ideas you’re expressing.
• Information- Rather than stating the obvious, provide information that is outside what audience can find on their own.
• Influence- To really be a great presenter, you need to practice, which can create the confidence you need to be an influential speaker.
• Integrity- Find your own authentic voice and be yourself.
• Impact- Utimately, presentations are aimed at some sort of result, so you should structure content directed to achieve the impact you’re looking for.
• Ignition- Have a call to action that lets people know what they’re supposed to do.

Some of Schwertly’s tips included: “write like you speak; use the active voice, employ periods to break up content with multiple sentences; and don’t overburden audience with statistics.”

Lessons on Logistics
Schwertly offered several tips for the logistical elements of a presentation. Marketer should not overdo the text, but break it up with key points and/or multiple slides. When using charts, make sure you’re addressing the bottom line and eliminate any excess data from the slide to ensure a clear message.

Color usage should be limited to dark colors, which make for better visual impact, and marketer should step outside the Times New Roman box and establish a font that will resonate with the audience. The only purpose bullets serve, Schwertly says, is to kill your presentation, and they should be avoided.

Schwertly pointed to six different presentation styles and approaches:

1. Godin Method (Seth Godin)- Building on the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words,” this method harnesses the power of images to convey the message.
2. Takahashi Method (Masayoshi Takahashi)- Taking a simple approach, this method emphasizes messaging with large text on a simple, white backdrop.
3. Lessig Method (Larry Lessig)- Best known for its style of presentations typified by short phrases or pictures, this method focuses on having a slide for every keyword from the verbal presentation.
4. Kawasaki Method (Guy Kawasaki)- Taking a cue from the playbook of David Letterman, this venture capitalist focuses on a top 10 method when speaking in person or online, which is designed to allow the audience to track where you are in your presentation.
5. 10/20/30 Method- This method is focused on getting the message across with 10 slides, in 20 minutes with all text in a 30 pt font.
6. Pecha-Kucha Method- The 20/20 approach gets right to the point in 20 slides with 20 seconds per slides, allowing presenters to condense content into six minutes and 30 seconds. Similarly, the Ignite method gets the message across in 20 slides, with 15 seconds devoted to each slide.

Schwertly advised marketers to let the left, more analytical side of your brain do all the work, crafting your words and messaging from your research. “There is no overnight fix that will solve your presentation woes,” he says. “The only way to deliver a great online presentation, or any presentation for that matter, is practice, practice practice.”