6 Tips for Better Creative Presentations

How to grab attention and motivate action

When you work at a creative agency you are, for better or worse, in the “presentation business.” It’s a big part of what we do every day, both internally and for our clients.

Here’s the cold hard fact: the better presenter you are, the further you’re going to go in your career.

People who can grab attention, deliver information, and motivate an action are the most valuable people in advertising. You might as well be one of them.

Here are six tips:

Tip #1: 95% of the presentation happens before the presentation

Don’t start your presentation in Slides. (Or Keynote. Or Powerpoint. Or whatever presentation software you’re using.)

Start every presentation with a piece of paper and pen. (“LOL. OK, Boomer.”)

And write down two things:

Who is your audience?

What do you want them to DO?

FULL STOP.

You should never start planning a presentation until you’re crystal clear about the answer to these two questions.

This focus on the audience should guide everything you do in a presentation, from what appears on the slides to the tone to the length to the content itself.

Also, clarity about your goal is going to make you more confident. When you walk into a presentation with a clear, focused agenda built around the needs of your audience, you know exactly what you’re trying to achieve.

You can focus on the stuff that matters and you don’t have to waste any time on the stuff that doesn’t. That will make your audience happy. And you will be more confident going in.

Write it down! Who is your audience? What do you want them to do?

Tip #2: Your audience is more important than you

It’s not about what you want to say. It’s about what your audience needs to hear. (That means thinking carefully about how they hear it.)

Humans can only digest so much information at once.

When you put up a slide that has a million words or microscopic numbers or too much detail on it and then you add your talk track over it, you aren’t putting your audience first.

You’re putting yourself first. You’re saying “this is all the information I want to give to you.” And you’re vomiting it up in a way that’s easy for YOU.

We’ve all been in those presentations where you, as an audience member, think, “What do you want me to do right now, read the slide or listen to you?”

If the answer is “read the slide” then, congratulations, that presentation could have been an email! If you need people to really read and digest detailed information and make a decision, that’s not going to happen real-time in a meeting.

The overall goal is EMPATHY.

Put yourself in your audience member’s shoes.

They’re almost certainly going to see multiple presentations that day. AND, they’re going to see it amidst hundreds of other emails and chat messages and meetings and deadlines and…you know, normal workday stuff.

That’s one reason I start most presentations with a quick recap of the assignment or where we last left the discussion.

Your audience has not been thinking about the details of the assignment to the same degree you have. They will be grateful for the quick reminder: what’s the assignment, where are we in the process, what they saw last, and what they need to do as a result of this meeting.

This last one is important! Tell them in advance what you want. “Today we’re showing you Round 2 creative. We’re going to walk you through three options and then give you time to digest and discuss them as a team. We’ll need a decision/feedback on these by Friday.”

Now your audience can relax. They know what’s expected of them. They can listen to the information with the goal in mind. You’ve set your audience (and yourself) up for success.

Tip #3: Make it easy for your audience to take action

Ultimately, we give presentations to get people to DO something. They are a means to an end.

(Yes, presentations should look good and be well-designed because that’s a way that you show respect for our audience and make sure that the information is easy to understand. But they are behind-the-scenes aids to get to a decision where we can then make REAL WORK — the actual ad or strategy or media buy. The deck doesn’t go on air.)

If presentations are a means to an end, you have to know “the end.”

Once you are clear about what you’re trying to get them to do, every presentation becomes a mini strategy assignment: how do you get your audience to DO that thing?

Pro Tip: Tell them what you want them to do at the start of the presentation. At the end, ask them to do the thing you want. Don’t hide the cookie!

Tip #4: Be a human

A lot of us get nervous about “performance skills” when presenting. But we should worry less about performing and focus on being a good HUMAN.

What do the other living, breathing animals in the room need right now?

What’s the mood? Tense? Happy? Has your audience had a good day or a shitty one? Have they been stuck on back-to-back calls for hours?

Again, it’s not about what you the presenter want to do or say…it’s about solving your audience’s problems.

Is there a way to solve one of their problems before you present?

Perhaps everybody needs a five minute bio break. Or you need to open the window and let some fresh air into the room. (Metaphorically AND literally!) Or maybe you should forgo the deck and just talk.

Same is true once you start presenting. If you know where your audience “is at,” you can adjust your technique to meet them there.

Maybe you need to ditch your script and just speak from your heart. Maybe you need to tell a story to illustrate a point. Maybe the moment needs a light, story moment from you to break the tension.

Which brings us to…

Tip #5: Great presenters are great listeners

You’re not giving a speech. In our day-to-day work presentations, we’re trying to get your audience to DO something.

And to do that, you have to listen.

Listening starts before the presentation. (Go back and look at the brief again and make sure you heard the real “ask” before you start crafting your presentation.)

But it’s especially critical when you’re presenting.

You have to “listen” to your audience when they’re not speaking. Look for the non-verbal clues. Are they engaged, leaning in, listening, nodding? Are they lost? Is it clear that they already understand your point and you’re simply beating a dead horse? Check in. Make sure they’re with you. (Yes, this is verrrrrry hard to do on video call presentations.)

And then, once you’ve presented…SHUT UP. Give them space to ask questions.

When they do ask something, really listen. Ask a clarifying question if you don’t understand.

Don’t be defensive. It won’t serve your ultimate goal. (Plus, it’s a service business, folks.) If your audience is confused, help bring clarity to the situation.

And if you don’t know the answer, don’t bullshit. “That’s a great question. I don’t have the answer right now, but I’ll get it for you immediately following this meeting.”

Tip #6: Name what makes you anxious

The top question I get asked: “How can I feel less anxious and more confident going into work presentations?”

Everybody gets pre-presentation jitters. Whether you’re just starting out in your career or if you’ve been doing it for many years.

There are as many different reasons for nervousness as there are people. I won’t pretend to know what makes YOU nervous. But it often comes down to fear.

“What if I mess up?”

“What are they going to think of me?”

“Is this presentation any good?”

“Do I know the answer to every question that’s going to be asked?”

My advice: write down what scares you.

There’s no wrong answers. “I don’t want to looks stupid.” “I don’t want to fail in front of my boss.” “If I mess up, I’m not going to get an opportunity like this again.” “Sometimes I say ‘um’ too much and I worry that it makes me look immature.”

What is it for you? Write it down. Articulate it as specifically as you can.

Anxiety is fear. Once you’ve named “your foe,” it’s often less scary. But even if it’s still spooky, once you identify it, you can start to deal with it. Come up with a strategy. Ask a mentor for help with that particular issue. You may even want to confess it as part of your presentation; vulnerability can be a way to establish a connection with your audience.

Your techniques for managing your particular brand of jitters will be as unique as you.

For me, preparation is peace of mind. Making sure that I’ve done my homework, crafted an entertaining story, and am focused on the needs of my audience gives me the confidence that even if I’m not on my A-game that day, the presentation will still be successful.

What is it for you?

That’s it! Six tips.

Nothing beats on-your-feet practice, but hopefully there are a few things here you can use.

Best of luck and happy presenting!

Click here if you want the 3,600-word, 16-minute-read, version of this article. It’s got more stories and GIFs and stuff, but you probably got the gist of it here, TBH.

John Kovacevich is a creative director and the founder of Agency SOS, an agency that helps people who build brands. SOS offers training for different aspects of the creative process, including how to give presentations that don’t suck.