Image from DALL-E 2

I know the world doesn’t revolve around me, but if you want my honest feedback about doing a presentation, here it is: don’t begin with an overview of the sections of the presentation.

Overviews set a dull, unimportant tone that often lasts for the rest of the presentation. They contain no real content, so the audience is just left waiting for you to move on to the next slide. By placing something like that at the beginning of your talk, it impacts how I experience the entirety of the presentation, putting me in the mindset where I’m waiting for the presentation to end.

Instead, you should begin your presentation with something fun and casual to grab your audience’s attention and make them interested in what you’re talking about. You can follow that up with an explanation of how the fun stuff is actually important to the subject you will be discussing, allowing you to smoothly transition to the main portion of your presentation. This format makes me feel like I should value and appreciate what you’re talking about. Plus, it doesn’t interrupt my engagement like a summary does.

I’m also more likely to enjoy your presentation if I don’t know what you’re going to discuss next. If you begin your presentation with an overview, the audience has nothing left to look forward to except for the facts that matter to them or that answer their questions. So when you’re not addressing those concerns, people like me will feel bored. I might feel anxious for you to get to the part that matters to me.

I’d rather not know what you’re going to talk about next because it gives me a reason to stay engaged, even when you’re not discussing the things that are most important to me. If you don’t include an overview, then I know I better pay attention because there’s always the possibility that an important point is right around the corner.

By not starting with a summary, your presentation can go from being a chore to commanding the floor. Your first impressions can improve your entire presentation, but preview summaries turn off my interest immediately.

This article can also be read on https://medium.com/non-monetized-together/do-you-agree-that-presentations-shouldnt-start-with-overviews-f755ccadb164.

#PublicSpeaking #PresentationTips #Presentations #Speech #FirstImpressions

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