7 Tips on Preparing and Presenting a Branding talk

It’s one of the biggest phobias out there for small businesses -?glossophobia, or the fear of public speaking. To stand up and present in front of a room full?of people and do it well is difficult, but with some?preparation and practice you will start to enjoy it.

This article will walk you through how I put together a presentation on branding for a recent event, some advice on presenting and finally the full presentation to view or download at the end.

Overcome your fear – just do it

The first time I stood up and presented a talk?was at a local network meeting in front of a group of?business?people. I was a bag of nerves?- fearful but excited. I was stepping out of my comfort zone – but I knew I had to do it to overcome my fear.

As part of the networking group, I had been given some training on how to present. That helped. But as?a?designer, my?presentation had to be designed and look perfect, so preparing?and tweaking it took longer than most presentations.

Now, after a few talks under my belt, I still get the nerves but I am more confident and now enjoy talking about a subject I’m passionate about.

Death by Powerpoint

The reality is?that beautifully designed slides are only really half the presentation. It’s all about how you engage with the audience on the day and not just repeat every word on the Powerpoint. If?you’ve ever sat through a ‘Death by Powerpoint’ presentation, you’ll understand what I mean? The slides?are really there as?a helpful visual?cue to guide you,?and the audience as you talk.

So to make?your audience?feel at ease and relaxed you also have to?relax (or look relaxed!), prepare your presentation well, and?practice the timings, and your presentation will go more smoothly and you will start to enjoy it.

Tips?to prepare your presentation talk

As a designer that specialises in branding and logo identity design I?regularly write articles around branding?and I also send out regular, monthly newsletters. Through these newsletters,?I was invited by the marketing manager of a local school to talk at one of their?small business breakfast events. There were around 35 people invited ? from small business owners, organisations, a few councillors and?even the Mayor of Bath, (who was?an ex-designer).

The presentation?had to be simple, easy to digest and?be around 20 minutes in length. So I decided to base the presentation talk on a few of the blog?articles I had written recently on branding and identity, What is a Brand?,?Is your brand identity working as hard as you are?,?and?Creating a Brand Story in Design.

In essence, my talk was about?what a brand is,?what makes a great brand identity?(triumphs and disasters) a few branding do?s and don?ts as well as?showing some examples of logo designs and brand guidelines.

Even though I had the content, I still had to do some further research and tie it all together. I also?regularly watch online videos of great speakers for inspiration. TED talks are one?valuable source to watch the professionals do it – and are completely free.

Also, have a look at?other presentations based around your subject matter. Slideshare is a great resource – and you can download some as templates for your own to try out.

1. Keep it simple

When it comes to preparing and presenting a branding talk, you may think as I’m a designer that it should be easy to create??But that’s not the case. For any?subject matter you base your presentation talk on, it’s all around making the complicated simple. Breaking the information down into easily digestible chunks and still get the message across. Keeping it simple.

And this can?take more time than you first realise. It took me a full two days in total preparing, sketching?and designing my presentation talk, then another few hours practicing and refining it the night before the talk.

2. Sketch it out

talksketch — Sketch out your presentation slide ideas first

Before you dive?onto your computer, sketch out the thumbnails of each slide to give an idea how the presentation content looks overall. This makes it easier to play around with the format of your presentation?and get a rough feel of a beginning, middle and an end.

3. Designing the layout

If you’re an expert at?PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezi or any other presentation software, then putting together your content into these should be easy for you. If you don’t do many?presentations, then you may?spend an enormous amount of time learning or ‘wasting time’ with them. I’m OK at putting together presentation designs for clients in?PowerPoint, Keynote?and?Prezi – with animations and whizzy stuff – but I wanted to focus on the content with the short time I had.

For this brand presentation, I used Adobe InDesign. It’s a programme I work with?on a daily basis and?I know it so well, which makes it much easier to tweak and refine pages. I can also quickly print out pages as thumbnails and see how the presentation looks overall.

It has no animations, music or video?-?tempting as it may have been, as I could have used some of these ‘shiny things’ – but this presentation and each slide needed to be simple.

Guide_to_branding_presentation_slides — My thumbnail presentation designs. Let the content for each slide be clear and easy to read,?while you focus on the talking.

4.?Practice what you preach…

This is essential in getting it right on the night?(or day). Once you’re happy with your presentation design, it’s time to?practice. Do it on your own first with a timer. Then in front of your pet cat – or?your partner or friend if possible. ?This will iron-out any faux pas’ in your delivery.

You’ll find some slides may need editing, moving around, taking away or even adding to. I presented?on my laptop directly through?InDesign (Shift W)?so it made editing on the fly quicker.

5. Be prepared – always have a back-up plan

Don’t assume that the event will have the latest tech, ready for you to plugin your laptop and away you go. I brought along my own projector, my laptop and connectors as a back up in case of any ‘IT’ issues. Most of the time, this won’t be an issue, but it happened to me at a previous talk. They had a projector – but the connections to the laptop were at the back! I assumed I would have my laptop in front of me with my notes on screen. Luckily the venue printed out my notes at the last minute.

6.?Don’t be afraid to add or change things on the day.

stmarks_networking — My branding?talk was at a school breakfast event, as part of their connecting with local businesses theme.

From listening to people before at the networking slot and the introduction talks by their head teacher and marketing manager, I weaved into my talk?a couple?of examples that related to the audience that day. There were mainly small business owners so, as I’m a small business owner, I talked about how hard it is running and marketing my business.

whatisabrand_leaflet — I provided free ‘What is a brand’ leaflet handouts at the event

As a visual aid for the audience, I had brought along printed?hand-outs with my infographic?What is a Brand??printed on them. I handed them out with their packs?and were a useful reference for them to take away after the event.

7.?Prepare for audience hecklers

Finally, always prepare?for audience interjections ? or?hecklers. Everyone has their own?opinions, (some like to speak their mind!) but keep a brave face and answer honestly, with a smile. If it starts to take too long, politely ask that you continue?discussing it after the talk ends. It makes you comes across as a professional and keeps you in control of your talk. End your talk?by?thanking the organiser, then provide an opportunity for?any further questions?from the audience.

I hope you found this useful? Have you any interesting tips or advice? I’d love to hear them so feel free to add your?comments at the end.

You can also download my?full branding presentation PDF by clicking the button below.

Download and view the full PDF presentation