Tips for Creating a Dynamic Keynote Presentation
Capturing an audience’s attention in this day in age can be challenging. You don’t need me to tell you this, but for a sign of the times, just have a look at the way we consume content. As someone who has worked in TV for 20 years-- I can tell you firsthand that today’s editing style is a perfect example of this. Many years ago, when we were editing behind the scenes, it was an unspoken industry rule of a “three second shot change”. Essentially, a camera angle should not be on screen for longer than three seconds. Basically, our brains get bored – we need stimulation. Now we are at about a second shot change. We desire constant action and movement. Am I saying this is good for our brains? Most likely absolutely not – but there is no going back to slow moving content if you want engagement. This is no different when creating a presentation. Keep things moving!
Presentation is everything. Because my background is in production, I am adamant about putting together top quality visuals with my keynote presentations or talks within my emcee work.
Here are three tips to create a visually captivating speech or presentation whether youre hosting a conference or presenting to your team:
1. Consider hiring someone to design your presentation
Use apps like Upwork for Fiverr to find a graphic designer
When designing your template consider customizing to the overall theme of the conference or show and tailor if possible
Make sure to ask for the aspect ratio and preferred export size before you start building out (most screens in a room are 16:9 standard high definition but I have worked on just about every custom size imaginable!)
If hiring a professional is outside the budget – there are great design platforms. PowerPoint now gives design templates that look incredibly professional. To kick things up a notch, Canva can build incredibly dynamic presentations and can export the format to PowerPoint seamlessly.
2. Break up your talk with short videos and content.
a. Introduce a relevant video or even a funny viral clip to make your point. Not only does this give you a chance to stop talking, take a breath and take a sip water but it also breaks up the flow in an engaging manner.
b. Don’t overdo it. I personally prefer to put a relevant video example after every five to seven minutes of talking.
c. If you are working with PowerPoint, you will want to make sure that you have your video set to “Play on Click” so you do not open in a new slide and the video automatically starts playing.
3. Important! Make sure you are rehearsing through your presentation with the crew.
Whether my keynote speech is in front of 100 C Suite executives or a Las Vegas ballroom I prefer to run through my audio visuals the day before to address any tech issues (not day of unless it’s the only option!!). Also make sure you are practicing your talk many times in advance to ensure you understand the flow with confidence!