Avoiding the Cold Sweats When Farming Out Your Presentation

A too often business situation: you have an important upcoming meeting and need to give a presentation, but chances are you don’t have the supporting slides to help your audience follow along. You face the challenging dilemma to try and trudge through creating the presentation yourself in PowerPoint or Keynote for subpar results or hire a pro to take your story to the next level for a magnetic reaction. The logical solution is to avoid the stress and recruit a Presentation Specialist or an expert to help. If you’re on this efficient path, it’s important to understand what to look for when hiring for this role so you are completely satisfied and that your production is worth watching. During your search look for differentiation in your candidate that will benefit your needs. Besides the prerequisite assistance with formatting PowerPoint or Keynote, look for someone that can help push the boundaries of your content and graphics. Focus on a memorable presentation that in the end doesn’t put your audience asleep! Here are 5 essential tips to help you identify several fundamental traits that can be useful when choosing an effective Presentation Specialist: 1. Fresh Message Distinction Your #1 presentation priority should be to identify and display your unique selling proposition. With this in mind, it’s important to choose a Presentation Specialist that is in tuned with the sales process and knows how to articulate what your benefits are versus your features. Being able to lean on someone who has experience differentiating these traits into bold copy and compelling visuals will raise eyebrows with your audience. 2. Transmitting Emotional Effect What makes a convincing slide presentation is that it generates emotional responses and leaves lasting impressions with your audience. Esthetic content is subjective and secondary to this core intent when producing your slides. In the end, a powerful “ah-ha” moment is critical to your meeting’s success! Find a candidate that will strategize around your audiences’ emotions and harness their reactions to help their decision making. After all, over 90% of decisions are made by emotional responses! 3. Collaborative, Creative Trait When it comes to bringing your story to life, a beneficial Presentation Specialist recognizes the importance of including you in the creative process. They openly share their creative approach and welcome your input at every step in the process to ensure satisfaction. Developing an effective presentation isn’t as easy by just pushing buttons, but it shouldn’t be too complicated either. Having an upfront plan and allowing for creative intervention will be an excellent remedy. 4. Stretching Your Dollars Facing the actual cost to generate a killer presentation may have you concerned along side the realization, “you get what you pay for”. Recognize this to drive your focus on finding a pro who possesses creative versatility. This way, the value received overshadows any price concerns and stretches your dollars. Be conscious that not all Presentation Specialists have the skills to produce or evolve your message strategy, design layouts, infographic illustrations, animate slides or even manipulate photography. Comprehend what their actual skills are to save yourself the pain of obtaining buyers remorse. 5. Know the Fine Print Most of us like to receive pleasant surprises to make our day but not when it comes on a final invoice for additional charges. UGH! Find a Presentation Specialist that exposes their pricing structure or hourly calculation for any revisions, added slides, artwork development, special formatting or anything else that may jeopardize your budget. Presentation production can become expensive without control in this area, and needs to blend with open communication. Time should be set aside for walk-throughs, reviews, or anything else that avoids unwelcome surprises!