Having a briefing session? Develop seven habits to improve your professional presentation skills

This article is written by Liu Yiyou and is Presentation． Founder of Easy Presentation Workshop. He has more than ten years of experience in business presentations and is good at presentation structure, information visualization, strategic proposals and fundraising presentations. Thank you for authorizing “Content Hacker” to reprint. Thank you hereby.

We often hope to produce more professional and eye-catching briefings in a faster time. In addition to being proficient in operating presentation software and accumulating a lot of experience in presentation production, are there any tips to learn and refinement presentation skills more effectively?

Due to the nature of my past work in the workplace, I needed to produce a large number of presentations, such as research reports, sales presentations, meeting presentations, teaching presentations and progress presentations, etc. Many times, there is not enough time to prepare the presentation, and I often hand it over in a hurry before finishing it. This not only affects the progress of the work, but also affects my supervisor’s evaluation of me.

With the accumulation of experience in presentation production and the experience sharing of predecessors, I also read many books on presentation teaching and efficiency improvement, and gradually summarized a set of methods that can improve the efficiency of presentation production, which I will share with you here. Through the cultivation and practice of these seven habits, not only can the quality and professionalism of presentation design be improved, but the time of presentation production can also be shortened, and the purpose of workplace presentations can be more accurately achieved.

Habit #1 The application of thoughts of separation, equanimity and detachment

“Cut off unnecessary data, discard redundant materials, and break away from the obsession with collecting.” This is the first level of thinking, which is shown in the data organization of “Systematic”.

(1) Folder naming rules: Set [encoding rules] (https://www.playpcesor.com/2015/10/file-name-tips.html) for folders, file names, dates, etc. to improve indexing efficiency.

(2) Inspiration Library: There are no shortcuts in design, and professionalism lies in the handling of details. Inspiration does not come to you in a flash or when you think about it, and your talent will also get tired sometimes. It comes more from what you usually see, hear and think. Read a lot every day, collect what you like and need, and re-browse it every once in a while, and delete things (outdated, memorized or useless). When accumulated to a certain extent, these will enter the subconscious and turn into “intuition”.

(3) Think again: Write notes and explanations in your presentation work. After a while, look at what you have written in the past, and write new notes and explanations again. This is an arrangement of time, information and thinking.

“Cut off unnecessary elements, get rid of redundant information, and break away from the obsession with design.” This is the second level of thinking that I have experienced in the workplace in the past, and it is demonstrated in the “efficiency” of presentation production.

The Breakthrough of Briefing Design/Liu Yiyou

Briefing is a subtraction philosophy, which is learning how to express more connotation with fewer elements. When designing a brief, you can think like this: If you remove this element, will it have any impact on the expression? If it is better to express it in spoken language, then you can choose to remove it and cut off unnecessary elements that interfere with the audience’s attention.

When presenting information, you should think about which ones are necessary (must have) and which ones are used as auxiliary reference (nice to have). The presentation is not about how much time and effort it takes to present, but only the necessary information to help the audience understand it easily.

Ordinary people often have a misunderstanding when designing briefings: It’s not that they don’t want to be streamlined, but they are worried that if they condense the briefing into ten pages or less, will it make the other party feel that they haven’t spent too much time? But it was obvious that more than two weeks of time had been invested; but for the parts that were not put in, would it make people feel that they had not thought clearly? But I’ve obviously thought about it! As a result, many people mistakenly regard the number of pages and words in a presentation as the result of personal efforts.

And when we have some experience in Design Brief, we often start to care about “Design Sense”. Start trying to add something more to the slide to make it more designed and unique! However, this ignores the essence of a briefing: conveying information that is easy to understand.

Habit #2 Two solutions are not too many, three solutions are just right

There are three solutions in the mall that are absolutely helpful in convincing supervisors and customers. Single-choice “yes/no” questions can easily cause the other party to think “Is this the best solution?” This greatly reduces the effectiveness of the presentation and generates many unnecessary questions. This is because there is no benchmark for comparison.

If you provide “single-choice questions” or even “multiple-choice questions” with multiple options, it can often better highlight the advantages of the predetermined plan because there are plans to compare with each other. Not only is it easy to be adopted, but you can also feel your thoughtfulness and professionalism. If you adopt something other than the predetermined plan, you can further think about the other party’s considerations, which may make up for your own lack of thought.

Based on past experience, when preparing a plan, I will present it in a “situational” way, that is, first explain the pragmatic plan under existing constraints (Normal Case), and then emphasize the aggressive plan under the constraints (Aggressive Case), and the worst case scenario (Worst Case) under possible risks.

Usually it is difficult for supervisors or customers to make decisions due to two factors: the available information is insufficient to make a judgment, and the advantages and disadvantages are comparable and cannot be measured. Especially when the other party is asked to make a “yes or no” decision, they will face such a “[decision-making dilemma](http://mtmelove.pixnet.net/blog/post/33 6109601-%E5%9B%B0%E5%A2%83%E6%A1%88%E4%BE%8B%EF%BC%9A%E7%99%BE%E4%BA%8B%E7%89%B9%E7%AB%A5%E8%A3%9D%EF%BC%8D%EF%BC%92)”. Why is it so hard to make a decision? Because one must be responsible for decisions. But when you provide a situation and three options based on an assessment of possible risks, you not only increase the information for the other party’s judgment, but also give the decision-making flexibility, because you give the decision-making the concept of “risk and probability.”

Whether it is a briefing structure, a solution, or a slide design, force yourself to think more about whether there is a second possibility? The first thing that comes to mind is often what most people think of. Spend more time thinking of the second, third or even fourth way; of course, the first way may still be the best, but your output training will make you more exciting, and these efforts can also be used as a reference for the next briefing.

Why is the number “three”? /Liu Yiyou

Why is the number “three”?

In the eyes of Pythagoras (ancient Greek philosopher, mathematician and music theorist, he and his school proposed the Pythagorean Theorem and the Golden Ratio), “three” is a harmonious number. Aristotle (ancient Greek philosopher and student of Plato) believed that “three” represents completeness, because there is both a beginning and a tail, and a middle. Chinese Taoism also believes that “three” is a symbol of strength because it implies a central element.

In communication theory, “three” is the most powerful number, no more, no less, enough to support an argument, but not so many that it is difficult to remember. Three-dot bar, three options, three primary colors, three elements of slideshow (title, content, message) , Composition of thirds, Gold Principle of Three, in many applications, “three” is an ideal number.

Habit #3 Put yourself in someone else’s shoes

If you are a presentation designer, you must first consider the users of the briefing (it may be you or someone else) and speculate on the thoughts of the target audience. The concept of design is important, but the problem can often be seen better from the perspective of the audience.

Think from the perspective of the target audience, what kind of information do they want to see? Are there any difficulties in distinguishing colors? Where will this briefing be used? What medium is used to present it? How much time is available to listen to or watch this briefing?

Many people overlook this point: when you hope that the other party can fully understand the content of the briefing in a short period of time, have you ever thought about how much time you spend on collecting information, digesting information, and making briefings?

When you think from the perspective of your target audience, you will connect with them and the content of your briefing will resonate. When others say “It looks weird…” don’t reject it, try to accept it and then adjust.

Habit #4 Questions and Answers for Logical Thinking

Regarding the content, elements, colors, arrangement, etc. presented in the briefing, ask yourself why you do this? What effect can be achieved by doing this? Everything should not be based on feelings. Doing this will allow you to respond more clearly and think about more possibilities when facing the needs of supervisors and customers.

Used on Presentation Structure, you can check the logical rationality of the structure. For each slide, you should ask yourself “Why So?” and “So What?” The corresponding slides should be found in the entire presentation, and the order should be logical.

Habit #5 Thoughts on the nature of briefings

The purpose of a presentation is to convey information and prompt the audience to take action. The briefing itself is only an auxiliary. Don’t be obsessed with complex designs or exquisite illustrations. Especially presentations in shopping malls or workplaces are often a process of solving problems and reaching consensus. The content of the presentation will need to be changed based on the results of the discussion. Retaining the flexibility of easy modification is a necessary consideration during design.

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Enterprise’s definition of the value of presentations/Liu Yiyou

A good business briefing should “not say what you want to say, nor what the other party wants to hear, but say what you should say in a way that is easy for the other party to accept. It not only achieves the goal, but also saves time and effort.” Companies are looking at the [value of a briefing] (https://www.contenthacker.toda y/2018/02/the-skills-of-consensus-reaching.html), will take into account the perspectives of “cost, time, and efficiency” to achieve the goal correctly in less time and in an easier way. This is also the perspective from which companies measure the value of all business activities.

Habit #6 Basic skills of design: six principles and four manifestations

Six principles: alignment, contrast, intimacy, repetition, white space and noise reduction.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJBfaaemzsstn4Qqdg1Lwz9rvTXa7QlIJkoj4xgRhAEblmp2m2I9FCr -JJAGVD2REpcIWhmIOjOHhHpWpoUtk730c2mBIgXnS6vCz01b5IB3NKuZAU6k8JrO8yY8erqzv9dOjFaUamAwdj/s1600/1_R_9pupNGjNmb6wjMCkDBbg.jpeg)

The six design principles are actually derived from Gestalt Theory／Liu Yiyou

Gestalt Principle(Gestalt) is also called the “Gestalt Principle”. If the various elements in the picture are arranged properly, then the gestalt (wholeness) of the design as a whole will be very clear. Most of the current design principles are derived from this.

Four expressions: text, images, charts, illustrations

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Four basic performances of slides/Liu Yiyou

The design of a slide film is nothing more than these four basic performances and the effects of their combination. Whether it is your own works or those obtained from observation, you can organize them into categories to form your own database. When designing presentations in the future, what kind of presentation method should you first locate the slides? By referring to the corresponding database, you can save time on searching again, allowing you to focus on the conception of the content.

Habit #7 There is no best, only better

Stay humble and always embrace the unknown possibilities. This is just the best “so far”, not that it can never be better.

The above seven habits to improve the professionalism of presentations are the author’s experience over the past ten years. I still continue to practice them and have benefited a lot from them. I hope to take this opportunity to share it with you.

★ Recommended reading:

• Hidden rules of presentations that your boss didn’t tell you: The point is not whether they look good or not, but…
• Six major trends in business presentation design in 2018: from storytelling, negative space to design intelligence
• Master the five questions and the three mores to make an eye-catching annual plan presentation
• Top ten trends in presentation design in 2018: The era of reading presentations on mobile phones is here
• Become your boss’s right-hand man: Five tips for preparing meeting presentations for senior executives

★This article is written by Liu Yiyou, for Presentation. Founder of Easy Presentation Workshop. With more than ten years of in-depth experience in business presentations, he is good at presentation structure, information visualization, strategic proposals and fundraising presentations, etc. Thank you for the permission to reprint, hereby thank you.

★ Content Hacking Lecture Series (CHL4): Create a call to action for your content [Open for registration]

★ Content Hacker Book Club: The power of content: don’t sell products! Use “content marketing” to let customers come to you! [Registration now]

★ Picture source: Presentation． Easy Presentation

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Further reading

• “Slow Reading to Understand in Seconds: Vista’s Digital Good Copy Analysis Time” New Book Launch Briefing: An Essential Guide to Appreciating the Essence of Text Communication 2.0
• Hidden rules of presentations that your boss didn’t tell you: The point is not whether they look good or not, but…
• Become your boss’ right-hand man: Five tips for preparing meeting presentations for senior executives

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