5 Creative Presentation Ideas
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This is one of our most popular article of all times at Presentation-Process.com. A lot of business presenters find it useful. Hope it sets you thinking for your next presentation!
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Here are 5 creative presentation ideas that will make your audience sit up and listen to your presentation with attention. Let’s jump right in.
Presentation idea 1: Use a Metaphor
A good metaphor not only simplifies a concept, but leaves a lasting impression in your audience’s mind.
In one of the recent investor presentations, a budding internet entrepreneur used a memorable metaphor to start his presentation.He started his talk by slowly pulling out a pair of scissors, knife, bottle opener, nail filer etc. from his trouser pockets. When the audience grew restless with curiosity, he said, “This is how the various tools related to the industry are available on the internet.”
He then pulled out a neat little Swiss knife from his shirt pocket and said, “This is what we propose to do with our site. We wish to consolidate all the relevant tools in one convenient place and help our customers.”
This powerful metaphor helped the audience to get his idea instantly. What metaphor can you use?
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Presentation idea 2: Use a memory hook
We know of a restaurant owner who uses a four pronged fork as a memory hook when he presents to his staff. He points to the 4 prongs in the fork and says, “In restaurant business, our success depends on four factors. They are quality, hygiene, service and smile.”
The fork seems to be such an appropriate prop to serve as a memory hook for his industry. What memory hook can you use?
Presentation idea 3: Use an Excel sheet instead of PowerPoint
One of our clients, who sells bulk medicines to hospitals wanted to make a sales pitch to a large hospital. They showed us the elaborate presentation they planned to use.
The presentation started with company history and ended with a 73 page product catalog. What was interesting was, the hospital has been purchasing their drugs for a long time and they knew about all their drugs.
We suggested that they cut down all the routine information and get to the real point of the presentation, which was about discussing the price. We suggested that they use an excel sheet with simple formulas, to present the ‘if then’ scenarios when the hospital places bulk orders.
Our client took the idea and started an earnest conversation with the purchasing committee members. The excel sheet helped to showcase how the price reduced as the volume of the order increased.
After a number of permutations and combinations, the committee placed one of the biggest orders in the company history. Our client thanked us for saving a deal that might have gone to the competition had they bored the committee members with the ‘usual’ presentation. How can you use the power of excel in your next presentation?
Presentation idea 4: Use a demonstration
We know of a furniture dealer who used a simple demo to convince a large purchaser to choose his brand of sofas over the competition.
He bought a sofa from his competition and kept it right next to his own – in his showroom. He then asked one of his men to neatly cut open the sofas. With the insides of the sofas clearly visible, the dealer made a convincing presentation on the quality difference between his brand and the competition, to the large purchaser.
Wasn’t that a creative presentation idea? Needless to say, he got the bulk order, though he was priced slightly higher than the competition.What demonstration can you use?
Presentation idea 5: Use an activity
Last week, we met an insurance agent who created a major impact on our minds with a simple activity. The agent gave us a sheet of paper and asked us to write our names in the middle of the sheet. He circled our names and asked us to write down all the dreams we had for our 6 year old son, around the circle.
When we finished writing the dreams, he took the piece of paper and tore off our names from the middle of the sheet and asked, “God forbid, if this were to happen – who will fulfill your dreams for your son?”
The question made us think for a long time. We ended up buying a child plan. That’s the power of using creative presentation ideas.
What activity can you use in your next presentation?
Not all of us are blessed with creative abilities to come up with new presentation ideas all the time. But, we can always draw our inspiration from the events that happen around us to create more engaging presentations.
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5 Creative Presentation Ideas from Presentation Process from Presentation Process
The most common way of presenting - is still - using PowerPoint slides. This is where presenters get stuck with using the 'default' settings in PowerPoint. Audiences get so used to seeing the same themes, bulleted lists and Smartart. When they see you project the same old bullet list or 4 step process, they assume you are saying something they have heard before. They stop paying attention.
To attract and keep your audience attention, you definitely need to go beyond the usual. This involves making your slides different and creative. And face it...creating and presenting the same old slides is boring for you too as a presenter.
The natural question then is, where do you get creative inspiration from?
That is why we put together Success by PowerPoint - your weekly dose of Creative Presentation Ideas & PowerPoint Tutorials...