Presentation Organization & Preparation Tips
组织与筹备演示文稿的技巧
By Garr Reynolds
For professionals today, presentation and public-speaking skills are more important than ever. Management guru Tom Peters for example, says that "presentation skills are worthy of extreme obsessive study." Strong presentation skills and the ability to engage and connect can truly set you apart from the crowd. Here's a list of 10 tips to help you prepare and organize your next presentation.
对于今天的专业人士而言，演示文稿和公开演说技能比以往更重要。管理学大师皮同曾说过，“演讲技巧，是值得全身心投入的去研究的。”强大的演示技巧和参与与联系的能力才能真正令你卓尔不群。这里列出了十个技巧，帮助你筹备和组织你的演示文稿。
1. Start with the end in mind
1、在头脑中开始与结束
Before you even open up PowerPoint, sit down and really think about the day of your presentation. What is the real purpose of your talk? Why is it that you were ask to speak? What does the audience expect? In your opinion, what are the most important parts of your topic for the audience to take away from your, say, 50-minute presentation? Remember, even if you've been asked to share information, rarely is the mere transfer of information a satisfactory objective from the point of view of the audience. After all, the audience could always just read your book (or article, handout, etc.) if information transfer were the only purpose of the meeting, seminar, or formal presentation.在你打开PowerPoint之前，坐下来，认真思考这份演示文稿的工作。你这次演示的真实目的是什么？为什么要求你谈这个主题？观众期望些什么？以你看来，观众从你五十分钟的演示文稿的主题中得到的最重要的部分是什么？记住，即使你被要求分享信息，从观众的视角看来，纯粹的信息传递也很少是一个令人满意的目标。毕竟，如果传递信息是会议、研讨班或者报告会的唯一目的的话，观众永远都可以随时阅读你的书籍（或者文章、散发材料等）。
2. Know your audience as well as possible
2、尽可能了解你的观众
Before you begin to formulate the content of your presentation, you need to ask yourself many basic questions with an eye to becoming the best possible presenter for that particular audience. At the very least, you need to answer the basic "W questions."
在你开始制定演示文稿的内容之前，你需要以最适合特定观众的报告人的眼光，问自己一些基本问题。最起码，你需要回答基本的“五何问题”。
Who is the audience?What are their backgrounds? How much background information about your topic can you assume they bring to the presentation?何人是观众？他们的背景如何？你可以假定他们为演示会带来多少有关你的主题的背景信息？
What is the purpose of the event? Is it to inspire? Are they looking for concrete practical information? Do they want more concepts and theory rather than advice?活动的目的为何？激励？他们在寻找具体实在的信息？他们想要更多概念和理论，还是建议？
Why were you asked to speak?What are their expectations of you?为何是你被要求发言？他们对你有何期望？
Where is it?Find out everything you can about the location and logistics of the venue.在何地演示？找出有关地点和场地准备的所有资料。
When is it? Do you have enough time to prepare? What time of the day? If there are other presenters, what is the order (always volunteer to go first or last, by the way). What day of the week? All of this matters.何时演讲？你是否有足够时间进行准备？当天的什么时候进行演讲？如果还有另一个演说者，顺序如何（顺便说一句，义工永远是第一个或最后一个）？星期几？所有一切事宜。
3. Content, content, content
3、内容，内容，内容
No matter how great your delivery, or how professional and beautiful your supporting visuals, if your presentation is not based on solid content, you can not succeed. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that great content alone will carry the day. It almost never does. Great content is a necessary condition, but not a sufficient one. But your presentation preparation starts with solid content (appropriate for your audience) which you then build into a winning story that you'll use to connect with your audience.不管你的演讲多么出色，你的视觉效果多么专业多么漂亮，只要你的演示文稿没有扎实的内容，你就不会成功。不要误会我的意思，我并不是说，只要有好的内容就能成功。肯定不行。好的内容是必要条件，但不是充分条件。你准备演示文稿应当从适合观众的扎实内容开始，然后再将其融入到一个用来联系观众的优秀故事当中。
A word of caution: Though I am emphasizing how important content is, I also am begging you to spare your audience a "data dump." A data dump — all too common unfortunately — is when a presenter crams too much information into the talk without making the effort to make the information or data applicable to the members of the audience. A data dump also occurs when data and information do not seem to build on the information that came earlier in the presentation. Sometimes it almost seems that the presenter is either showing off, or more likely, is simply afraid that if he does not tell the "whole story" by giving reams of data, the audience will not understand his message.
警告：虽然我在强调内容有多重要，但是我也请求你少对观众进行“数据转储”。数据转储——太常见的不幸——就是报告人在演讲中塞进了太多的信息，而不关心观众能否接受这些信息或者数据。数据转储也发生在演示文稿中前后信息或数据脱节的情况下。有时候，似乎根本就是报告人在卖弄，更甚者，是报告人以为他如果不用大量数据说清整件事，观众就听不懂他的意思。
Do not fall into the trap of thinking that in order for your audience to understand anything, you must tell them everything. Which brings us to the idea of simplicity.
你必须告诉观众所有东西，但不要掉进想要让你的观众听懂所有东西的陷阱。这会让我们的思路变简单。
4. Keep it simple
4、保持简单
Simple does not mean stupid. Frankly, thinking that the notion of simplifying is stupid is just plain, well, "stupid." Simple can be hard for the presenter, but it will be appreciated by the audience. Simplicity takes more forethought and planning on your part because you have to think very hard about what to include and what can be left out. What is the essence of your message? This is the ultimate question you need to ask yourself during the preparation of your presentation. Here's a simple exercise:
简单并不意味着幼稚。坦白的说，认为简单就是幼稚的观念就非常……“幼稚”。对于报告人而言，简单很难，但是对于观众，却很适合。简单，需要你对工作做更多考虑和规划，因为你必须非常努力的去思考，哪些必须包含进来，哪些必须去掉。你信息的核心是什么？这是在整个准备过程你都需要问自己的终极问题。这里有一个简单的练习：
EXERCISE:练习：
If your audience could remember only three things about your presentation,what would you want it to be?
如果你的观众只能记住你演示文稿中的三样东西，你希望是哪三样？
(1)__________
(2)__________
(3)__________
5. Outlining your content
5、概述你的内容
I suggest you start your planning in "analog mode." That is, rather than diving right into PowerPoint (or Keynote), the best presenters often scratch out their ideas and objectives with a pen and paper. Personally, I use a large whiteboard in my office to sketch out my ideas (when I was at Apple, I had one entire wall turned into a whiteboard!). The whiteboard works for me as I feel uninhibited and freer to be creative. I can also step back (literally) from what I have sketched out and imagine how it might flow logically when PowerPoint is added later. Also, as I write down key points and assemble an outline and structure, I can draw quick ideas for visuals such as charts or photos that will later appear in the PowerPoint. Though you may be using digital technology when you deliver your presentation, the act of speaking and connecting to an audience — to persuade, sell, or inform — is very much analog.我建议你以“传统模式”开始你的规划。也就是，不要一头扎进PowerPoint（或者KeyNote），好的报告人往往用笔和纸画出他们的想法和目标。就我个人而言，我在办公室使用一块很大的白板来勾画我的思路（我在苹果公司的时候，我有一整堵墙可以用作白板！）。在白板上工作，让我感觉无拘无束，可以自由创作。我也可以在面对自己所勾画的东西时，退后一步（就是退后一步），想像在加入PowerPoint之后它的逻辑流向。此外，因为我写下了重点，汇编出了大纲和结构，所以我可以很快画出思路的视觉效果，比如随后显示在PowerPoint中的图表或相片。虽然你可以在演示你的演示文稿的时候使用数码技术，但是演说和与观众联系的活动——说服、销售或告知——是非常传统的。
Cliff Atkinson in his 2005 book,"Beyond Bullet Points," smartly states that starting to create your presentation in PowerPoint before you have your key points and logical flow first worked out (on paper or a white board in my case) is like a movie director hiring actors and starting to film before there is a script in hand.
某人在其2005年的书《超越列表》中智慧的指出，在拥有重点和逻辑流向产生（在我的例子中就是纸张或者白板）之前，利用PowerPoint开始创建演示文稿，就像电影导演在拿到剧本之前就开始招募演员开始开拍。
More on "planning analog"
有关更多“规划模拟”
I usually use a legal pad and pen (or a whiteboard if there is enough space) to create a rough kind of storyboard. I find the analog approach stimulates my creativity a bit more as I said. No software to get in my way and I can easily see how the flow will go. I draw sample images that I can use to support a particular point, say, a pie chart here, a photo there, perhaps a line graph in this section and so on. You may be thinking that this is a waste of time: why not just go into PowerPoint and create your images there so you do not have to do it twice? Well, the fact is, if I tried to create a storyboard in PowerPoint, it would actually take longer as I would constantly have to go from normal view to slide sorter view to see the "whole picture." The analog approach (paper or whiteboard) to sketch out my ideas and create a rough storyboard really helps solidify and simplify my message in my own head. I then have a far easier time laying out those ideas in PowerPoint. I usually do not even have to look at the whiteboard or legal pad when I am in PowerPoint, because the analog process alone gave a clear visual image of how I want the content to flow. I glance at my notes to remind me of what visuals I thought of using at certain points and then go to iStockphoto.com or to my own extensive library of high-quality stock images to find the perfect image.
我通常使用便笺簿和钢笔（如果有足够空间的话就是白板）来创建一个粗略的情节连环画。我发现传统方法比我所说的更能激发我的创造力。没有软件适合我的方法，我能轻易看出逻辑流向。为支持某一特定论点，我可以画一些简单的图像，比如这里一幅饼图，那里一张相片，或许在这一节还需要一幅线图等等。你可能会认为这是在浪费时间：为什么不直接用PowerPoint创建这些图像，这样就不必再重复一次？事实是，如果我在PowerPoint尝试创建情节连环画，会花费更长时间，因为我会不断从普通视图跑到幻灯片侧栏查看“整幅图片”。用传统方法（纸张和白板）勾画我的思路，创建粗略情节连环画，真的有利于巩固和简化我头脑中的信息。接下来我就有充足的时间在PowerPoint展开这些想法。当我开始使用PowerPoint的时候我甚至都不用看白板或便笺簿，因为传统过程能够让我就内容的流向建立清晰的直观印象。我看笔记是为了提醒自己哪些视觉效果用在哪些论点上，然后去某网站或者我自己庞大的高质量商业图片库中寻找最完美的图像。
6. Have a sound, clear structure
6、拥有健全的、清晰的结构
Take a page out out the McKinsey presentation handbook:
presentation structure is paramount. Without it, your wonderful style, delivery and great supporting visuals will fall flat. If you took the time in the first step to outline your ideas and set them up in a logical fashion, then your thinking should be very clear. You can visualize the logic of your content and the flow of the presentation. If your ideas are not clear first, it will be impossible to design the proper structure later when you create visuals and/or supporting documents. Your audience needs to see where you are going. And it is not enough to simply have an "agenda" or "road map" slide in the beginning that illustrates the organization of your talk. If you do not actually have a solid road of logic and structure, then an outline slide will be of no use. In fact, the audience may become even more irritated since you made the promise of organization in the beginning, but then failed to deliver the promise with a presentation which is muddled and lacks focus.这是从《麦肯锡演示文稿手册：演示文稿结构至关重要》中摘取的一页。没有了结构，美好的样式、演说、出色的视觉效果都不能挽救失败。如果你在第一步的时候肯花时间整理出你想法的大纲，并以逻辑的形式建立起来，那么你的思路将会非常清晰。你可以使内容的逻辑以及演示文稿的流向视觉化。如果一开始你的想法并不清晰，当你创建视觉效果或者支持文档的时候，根本不可能设计出正确的结构。你的观众需要看清楚你的方向。在演示文稿最开始用一份简单的“流程表”或“路线图”幻灯片解释你话题的结构，这并不够。如果你其实并没有一分具体的逻辑或结构图，那么大纲幻灯片就没有用。事实上，观众甚至会因为你在一开始在组织图中做出的承诺，后面却在一份混乱且没有重点的演示文稿中没有践诺而恼火。
7. Dakara nani? (so what?)
7、那又如何？
In Japanese I often say to myself, "dakara nani?" or "sore de...?"
which translate roughly as "so what?!" or "your point being...?" I say this often while I am preparing my material. When building the content of your presentation always put yourself in the shoes of the audience and ask "so what?" Really ask yourself the tough questions throughout the planning process. For example, is your point relevant? It may be cool, but is it important or help your story in a very important way...or is it fluff? Surely you have been in an audience and wondered how what the presenter was talking about was relevant or supported his point. "So what?" you probably said to yourself. "So what?" — always be asking yourself this very important, simple question. If you can't really answer that question, then cut that bit of content out of your talk.在日本，我经常对自己说：“那又如何？！”或者“你的论点是……”我往往在准备素材的时候这样说。在为演示文稿制作内容的时候，请始终以观众的角度看待，问自己“那又如何？”在整个规划过程中，严厉考问自己。比如，跟你的论点相关么？这很酷，但是它重要么？或者对你的故事有很大的帮助么？还是，它其实无足轻重？确保你以观众的角度考虑报告人谈论的与他的观点有多少关联或支持。“那又如何？”你可能会问自己。“那又如何？”请不断问自己这个很重要、很简单的问题。如果你不能真正回答这个问题，那么，从你的演讲中砍掉这段内容。
8. Can you pass the "elevator test"?
8、你能否通过“电梯测试”？
Check the clarity of your message with the elevator test. This exercise forces you to "sell" your message in 30-45 seconds. Imagine this is the situation: You have been scheduled to pitch a new idea to the head of product marketing at your company, one of the leading technology manufactures in the world. Both schedules and budgets are tight; this is an extremely important opportunity for you if you are to succeed at getting the OK from the executive team. When you arrive at the Admin desk outside the vice-president's office, suddenly she comes out with her coat and briefcase in hand and barks, "...sorry, something's come up, give me your pitch as we go down to the lobby..." Imagine such a scenario. Could you sell your idea in the elevator ride and a walk to the parking lot? Sure, the scenario is unlikely, but possible. What is very possible, however, is for you to be asked without notice to shorten your talk down, from, say, 20 minutes, to 10 minutes (or from a scheduled one hour to 30 minutes), could you do it? True, you may never have to, but practicing what you might do in such a case forces you to get your message down and make your overall content tighter and clearer.用电梯测试来检查的信息是否清晰。该项测试强迫你在30到45秒之内推销出你的信息。想象成这样一种情况：你被安排向公司产品营销的头头、世界上技术产品领军人物之一兜售一种新的理念，双方的时间都很紧。对你而言，如果能得到执行团队的认可，是一个非常重要的机会。当你到达副总经理办公室门口的时候，他突然带着大衣和皮包走出来，“……抱歉，有些事情，我们一边去大厅你一边说……”想想发生这种情况。你能在电梯下降和走到停车场的这段时间推销出你的理念？当然，情况可能不同，但都有可能发生。最有可能发生的事什么？不过是临时通知你缩短谈话，有二十分钟缩短到十分钟（或者有计划好的一个钟头缩到半个小时），你做得到么？诚然，你可能从未经历过，但联系在这种情况下你如何反应，会强迫你压缩信息，让你的整体内容更紧凑更清晰。
Author, Ron Hoff ("I Can See You Naked") reminds us that your presentation should be able to pass the David Belasco test while you're in the planning stages. David Belasco was a producer who insisted that the core idea for every successful play he produced could be written as a simple sentence on the back of a business card. Try it. Can you crystallize the essence of your presentation content and write it on the back of a business card? If the task is impossible for you, then you may want to think again and get your message down pat in your mind. This too is certainly something you do before you ever begin to open up PowerPoint (Keynote).
作家霍荣（《我能看见真实的你》）提醒我们，在你的规划阶段，你的演示文稿就应该能够通过贝氏测试。贝氏是一名制片人，他在其生产的每一部成功影片中都坚持其核心理念，他将核心理念浓缩成简单的一句话，写在名片的背面。试一试。你能否将演示文稿内容的精髓提炼出来，写在一张名片的背面？如果你做不到，那么你应该重新考虑，直至你完全理解这些信息。这也是你在打开PowerPoint之前必须要做的事情。
9. The art of story telling
9、叙事的艺术
Good presentations include stories. The best presenters illustrate their points
with the use of stories, most often personal ones. The easiest way to explain complicated ideas is through examples or by sharing a story that underscores the point. Stories are easy to remember for your audience. If you want your audience to remember your content, then find a way to make it relevant and memorable to them. You should try to come up with good, short, interesting stories or examples to support your major points.好的演示文稿包含有故事。最好的报告人利用故事来说明他们的观点，多数使用亲身经历的故事。解释复杂理念最简单的办法，就是通过例子或者分享能强调论点的故事。故事非常容易让观众记住。如果你想让观众记住你的内容，想个办法让内容和观众联系起来，这样才值得去记忆。你应该想出一个良好的、短小的、有趣的故事或者例子来支持你的主要观点。
In addition, it is useful to think of your entire 30 minute presentation as an opportunity to "tell a story." Good stories have interesting, clear beginnings, provocative, engaging content in the middle, and a clear, logical conclusion. I have seen pretty good (though not great) presentations that had very average delivery and average graphics, but were relatively effective because the speaker told relevant stories in a clear, concise manner to support his points. Rambling streams of consciousness will not get it done; audiences need to hear (and see) your points illustrated.
另外，把你整个三十分钟的演示文稿当作一次讲故事的机会，很有用处。良好的故事具有趣味性，清晰的开场白，煽动性的、迷人的内容，和一个清晰的、合乎逻辑的结论。我看到过相当好（不是非常好）的演示文稿，都有相当普通的演讲姿态、相当普通的图片，但是比较有效是因为演说者以清晰、简明的方式讲述了相关的故事，来支持他的观点。随性所至、东拉西扯，是达不到这种效果的。观众需要听到（以及看到）对你观点的解释。
10. Confidence — How to get it
10、如何获得信心
The more you are on top of your material the less nervous you will be. If you have taken the time to build the logical flow of your presentation, designed supporting materials that are professional and appropriate, there is much less to be nervous about. And, if you have then actually rehearsed with an actual computer and projector (assuming you are using slideware) several times, your nervousness will all but melt away. We fear what we do not know. If we know our material well and have rehearsed the flow, know what slide is next in the deck, and have anticipated questions, then we have eliminated much (but not all) of the unknown. When you remove the unknown and reduce anxiety and nervousness, then confidence is something that will naturally take the place of your anxiety.你的素材越好你就越不会紧张。如果你花时间构建演示文稿的逻辑流向，所涉及的支持材料都是专业的、适当的，也就更不容易紧张。并且，如果你接下来真的用计算机和投影机排练过（假设你使用的是幻灯软件）数次，你所有的焦虑都将消散。我们害怕我们未知的。如果我们知道我们的素材很好，并且排练过，知道接下来会是哪一张幻灯片，并预先考虑了各种问题，那么，我们已经消除了大部分（但不是全部）未知。当你消除未知、减少焦虑和不安，那么信心自然会取代你的焦虑。
Garr Reynolds is the editor of www.presentationzen.com , an online guide to effective presentations. He can be reached at info@garrreynolds.com
作者是某在线有效演示文稿向导网站的编辑。
http://www.presentationteam.com/News/Tips/PresStrategies/Reynolds/OrganizationTips/index.php
A Creativity Block?