This One Easy Tip Will Instantly Improve Your Presentation

Delivering an effective presentation involves several different moving parts. It can sometimes feel overwhelming pulling everything together, so I’d like to give you just one simple thing you can do to improve your presentation instantly.

So what is it?

Remove your agenda slide.

Here’s why I recommend ditching the agenda slide and diving right into your presentation instead.

Why Agendas Are Overrated

In the critical opening minutes of a presentation, you need to hook your audience and give them a reason to listen to you.

You want to grab them with a story — a headline that captures their attention and makes them anticipate what’s next. An agenda does the opposite.

Without a “hook,” your audience will likely tune out and forget everything you say after “Good morning.” Some people may also focus on the content of your agenda slide instead of you, essentially stealing the show and giving away your story before you can even tell it.

As noted by Allan and Barbara Pease, authors of The Definitive Book of Body Language, your audience will form 60% to 80% of its impression of you as the speaker within the first four minutes of a speech. Arguably, it may be even quicker than that in today’s perpetually distracted society.

Rather than helping to convey a positive impression to your audience, an agenda slide could actually suck the life out of your presentation before you even attempt to achieve your goals.

What to Do Instead

In place of an agenda slide, use a black screen as your first slide. Peter Coughter, author of The Art of the Pitch, notes that using a black screen in this way makes you the star of the show and not your presentation deck. “That way the audience is focused on you and not on some distracting information that isn’t that interesting in the first place,” Coughter writes.

With a black screen as your background, simply start talking — just like you’d share an exciting story with a friend. Don’t tell your audience what you intend to talk about; just tell your story from beginning to end, with plenty of color and flavor in between.

When an Agenda Works

There are a few instances where an agenda is OK, so you don’t need to ban them entirely. Such instances might include:

• When you’re conducting a full-day workshop. Email the agenda beforehand so people know what to expect and can plan their day but keep it out of your actual presentation.
• When your deck needs to travel on its own. If you aren’t able to deliver a live presentation or you’re emailing your deck afterward, an agenda can be your table of contents. This will help people quickly skim what you’re covering in the deck and come back to it later as needed.

Don’t Kill the Vibe With an Agenda

Many people spend more time preparing their agenda than they do prepping their presentation. This is a mistake. Developing the story you want to tell is actually the most important thing to focus on when building any presentation.

Slides are simply there to support what you’re saying. So if you don’t have a solid idea of what it is you want to get across, it will be nearly impossible to write effective supporting slides.

Ultimately, including an agenda is like a narrator describing a movie, scene by scene, before it begins. Who cares about the movie after you’ve told people what to expect?

Instead of creating an agenda, use that time to focus on developing the story behind your presentation. Then craft a deck that supports your story and deliver a memorable presentation that keeps people wanting more.