Your presentation is technical. The topic is complex. You are afraid your audience will be confused or bored. Instead of barging ahead and getting it over with, take some time to figure out ways to make it more palatable. Clearer. More interesting. Here are some ideas to start with.
Know your audience. Are they technical experts who will understand the language and the nuances of your presentation? Piece of cake. Are they people who don’t deal with this technical information every day? More challenging. Are they a mixture of people who have different levels of understanding? Trickier yet. Knowing your audience should help you determine the amount of background, the language you use, and the level of detail you go into.
Don’t dumb it down; look at it from a wider lens. If your audience isn’t familiar with all the ins and outs of your technical material, you may have to adjust the level of detail you share with them. Set the context by sharing just a little background, then show them how your content fits into the big picture. Sometimes the big picture is all they want or need. Sometimes just a little bit of context lets people better understand the finer points.
KISS? Yes, keep it as short and sweet as possible, within limits. As technical experts we often want to tell our listeners “everything” we know about the subject. But do they need to know “everything?” Do they even want to know everything? You can provide just what you think they need to know, then use a lively Q&A session to go deeper if they are interested. Or leave handouts or references for deeper detail.
Use signposts to signal the way. Use connecting language that helps listeners know exactly where they are in the presentation. Lump your content into bigger chunks, like steps, or benefits, or challenges. Then, instead of numbering facts, use a phrase like “a challenge we had to overcome was…” and “another challenge we faced was…” so they know what to listen for and how it ties together. Use summaries the same way; “so we had many challenges to overcome, and…”
What about jargon? Often we have technical terms and specialized language that people in the same field know and use, but others do not. One organization I know keeps a dictionary of their special terms and acronyms! An easy way around this is to explain a term the first and maybe the second time you use it, so everyone knows. Another might be a glossary of terms, perhaps in a handout. Better yet, use everyday language as much as possible, saving the special terms for when you really need them.
Create just a few clean, simple slides. Slides can confuse as often as they clarify. Too much detail, too many items on a slide, and people become distracted and confused. Simplify whenever you can. Or, can you put those detailed slides in a handout? Can you use a story to get major ideas across? Can you (gasp!) present without slides? Can you turn the slides off and on as you need them? One approach is to use no slides at the beginning and end of your presentation, so that you have undivided attention of the listeners.
Tell stories. Stories stick in our minds better than tables and bullets, so give it a try. Before and after, problem/solution, lessons learned, etc. create easy ways to hook our audience, and give us permission to use colorful language and engaging body language.
It is not an easy task to simplify and streamline your content, but if you try some of these approaches, you may find your audience finds you brilliant and your technical content fascinating!