A day-by-day plan for preparing your first work presentation, from finding your main point to rehearsing and handling questions.
Your first presentation at work can feel bigger than it is. Usually the audience wants one thing: to understand your point quickly and know what to do with it. This five-day plan gets you there without late nights.
Day 1: Find your one sentence
Before slides, before notes, write the single sentence you want people to remember. If they forget everything else, what should stick? Then write down who is in the room and what they care about. A finance lead and a design lead will want different detail.
Day 2: Build the skeleton
Use a simple structure:
- Open with your one sentence.
- Support it with three reasons, examples or findings.
- Close with what you want: a decision, feedback or approval.
Three points is plenty. If you have seven, group them or cut them.
Day 3: Make the slides
One idea per slide. Few words. Use a headline that states the point of the slide rather than a label. A chart titled with what it shows beats a chart titled with what it measures. If you would read a slide aloud word for word, it has too much text.
Day 4: Rehearse out loud
Stand up and say it, start to finish, with a timer. Then do it again. You will find sentences that looked fine on paper but trip you up when spoken. Fix them. If you can, run it once for a friend or colleague and ask where they got lost.
Day 5: Prepare for questions
List the five questions you would least like to be asked. Draft a short answer to each. For anything you cannot answer, it is fine to say you will find out and follow up. Then do follow up.
On the day
- Arrive early and test the screen, sound and clicker.
- Start with your one sentence. Do not apologize or warm up.
- Slow down. Nerves make everyone talk fast.
- Pause after your close. Silence gives people time to respond.
Afterwards
Send a short follow-up with the key point, any decision made and the next steps. Then ask one person for feedback. Our guide to taking feedback well helps here.
Presentations are lesson three of the lessons. The follow-up email draws on writing clear work emails.