There comes a time in most PRINCE2 projects when you need to give a Presentation of some sort. This might be an update for your stakeholders or it might be a training session for end users in the business area.
Whatever it is about, for some project managers this will be the very worst part of the entire piece of work. There are lots of people who hate giving presentations and who will do just about anything to wriggle out of them. A PRINCE2 course won’t necessarily help with this, but it will enable you to get some pointers from your trainer on delivery.
Yet, the fact is that you can take some simple steps to ensure that this is no longer something to fear.
Spend More Time Preparing
The biggest mistake made in this situation is to go into it unprepared. Maybe it will be a lack of time that stops you from going through it thoroughly before the big day. Or perhaps you will feel over-confident since you are already the expert in this subject. In either case, spending some extra getting ready is going to be well worth it.
Whether you add in a few better images, make it more concise or carry out some other change, the preparation time you put in will allow you to make your presentation better in one way or another. You will be glad of the extra effort once you stand up in front of everything and get ready to start speaking.
Of course, you may be able to use the same presentation again in the future, so it is unlikely to be time wasted in this sense either. Do a great job and you might even be asked to roll it out to more people than you had planned for. It is a fantastic feeling when you are asked to present the same thing to more people.
Consider Your Audience
Another mistake to avoid is that of failing to take your Audience fully into account. As mentioned earlier, you can be asked to make presentations for a variety of different people. The exact way that you approach it will really depend upon the people sitting in front of you.
For example, if you are presenting to senior management then they will want to see the big picture with a high-level executive summary. On the other hand, if your audience is made up of end users then they will want to see the nitty-gritty of how it will affect their daily work. They will get bored and restless if you show them something that doesn’t suit their respective roles.
You might end up with more than one version of the same presentation, for different audiences. However you do it, it makes sense to take a step back first of all and ask yourself what the people there really want to see.
Practice Makes Perfect
Will the first time that you deliver a presentation go perfectly smoothly? There is a good chance that it won’t. Like most things in life, the more you practise it the better you will get. If you have recently completed your PRINCE2 Course then you might never have had made a project presentation before.
Getting some training presentation can be a good idea. This isn’t something that just comes naturally to everyone. Just about anyone who is good at presenting has worked hard at it and practised their skills. The more comfortable you are the more relaxed you will appear to be to others.
If you need to make a big presentation why not practise it with your team or even at home first? Just saying the words out loud can be a great way of working out what does and doesn’t work. Alternatively you can take a PRINCE2 course and learn some basics of presentation as part of the broader curriculum.
