4.4 Making a Presentation

The three-part architecture (the oldest and best rule):tell them what you will tell them; tellthem; tell them what you told them — orientation, body, recap.The craft checklist:1. Purpose and audience first (persuade or inform? bench, client, class, or public? — everything follows);2. Structure — a roadmap slide/sentence; 3–5 main points (memory's limit); logical order; explicit transitions ("That is the factual background; I turn to the law");3. Openings that work — a fact, a question, the point of it all; never "umm" and never apologize;4. Signposting language — "first… second… finally…" "the key point here is…" "let me turn to…"5. Visuals as support, not script — few slides, few words, readable fonts; the audience reads you, not the screen;6. Delivery — eye contact across the room; pace slow enough for note-takers; pauses before and after the important; hands visible and purposeful;7. Handling questions — listen fully; repeat/clarify; answer the question asked; admit the unknown ("I don't have that figure; I will send it") — credibility survives admitted ignorance, never bluff;8. Nerves — preparation is the cure; arrive early, test the tech, breathe low, begin to a memorised first minute;9. Practise with a clock — time discipline is professional respect;10. End deliberately — the last sentence prepared in advance: the conclusion, the ask, or the summary line. Never "…that's all."