One of the toughest things about presentations is choosing a topic. Lately, I’ve received quite a few comments and questions about choosing a presentation topic. So, in this week’s video I’ll show you a simple 3 step process to choose presentation topics that rock! (Or that aren’t boring)
You can watch the video to learn the process or just continue reading below the video.
If YouTube is unavailable in your area, click the following link to download or view the video: How To Choose Presentation Topics That Rock (Length 4:33)
Don’t worry
I realize you’re worried about choosing the right presentation topics. It’s probably just about as stressful as introducing yourself and starting your presentation. You don’t want to make a mistake in selecting your presentation topic. The reason is the wrong topic could get you a bad grade in school, you could look stupid in front of other people, you might lose your job, or you might not get that big sale. All legitimate concerns.
What you can do about it
To help you stop worrying about how to choose a presentation topic, I’ve come up with a simple 3 step process that’ll make selecting a topic relatively quick and painless… But you’ll have to use your brain and that sometimes hurts, at least for me 🙂
The steps are really simple and are: Who, What, Why
Let’s have a look at each…
Step 1 – Who: Audience Demographics
You need to find out 7 things about your audience. Once you know these things, you will have a clearer picture of who your audience is. This will help you narrow down your choice of topics. The 7 things are:
- Age
- Occupation
- Gender
- Where they’re from
- Education
- Income
- Ethnic background
This is an important first step because you don’t want to talk about something your audience doesn’t care about or doesn’t know anything about. If you do, you lose their attention before you even get started.
Step 2 – What: Situation/Problems/Challenges/Pains
Now you need to do a bit of thinking and research because you have to get an idea about the audience is going through in their lives. Why?
You need to do this because you have to understand what they are dealing with, either internally or externally, so you can choose a topic that will resonate with them. You see, people generally only think about themselves. That’s just human nature and psychology… therefore, you need to understand the audience’s current situation to trigger an emotional response from the audience.
Once you tap into their emotional needs, you have their attention. So think about what the audience is dealing with in terms of their situation, problems, challenges, or pains. Then you can further narrow down an appropriate topic.
Step 3 – Why: They Should Listen Because…
Finally, we want to determine why the audience should listen to your presentation. You do this by looking at your answers in Step 2, then figuring out some relevant consequences the audience may experience.
This can be very powerful if you think in terms of what your audience wants to avoid happening. This can be something that is happening to them now, or that may happen if they don’t resolve their situation, challenge, problem, or pain. Nobody wants to continue his or her suffering if they don’t need to.
One key here is to provide a simple, step-by-step solution to the audience’s situation…Kind of like what I’m doing here. This makes it easier for the audience to comprehend and implement what you will talk about.
Recap: How to choose presentation topics that rock
That’s it! Here are the steps for Who, What, and Why once again:
Step 1 – Who: Audience Demographics
Step 2 – What: Situation/Problems/Challenges/Pains
Step 3 – Why: They Should Listen Because…
As always, if you have any questions or comments, it’d be great to hear from you. Leave your questions or comments below this video or use the Contact page to get in touch and we’ll help you out as much as possible.
If you liked this presentation tip, please remember to share it by clicking the Facebook, Tweet, or other sharing options below.
Thank you.
Carl
Hey Carl,
Great tips! I saw your response on Pat Flynn’s post on DIY videoscribing. I wanted to thank you for the great tip in using the iphone as a DSLR Digital Camera. I would love to signup for your email list, but I had problems submitting my name for your ebook.
Thanks for all you do
Hey Cornelius,
Thanks for taking the time to comment! Really appreciate the cool feedback. Yea, that TiltShift Video app is awesome!
Sorry you had problems signing up. What happened when you tried? In any case, I’ll email you the ebook.
Great to get your message and be sure to let me know if you ever have any other video or presentations related questions.
All the best.
Carl
Hey Carl,
Thanks for the informations you provided about choosing a topic. Here is my concern, I have a presentation and I would appreciate your tips or advice to help me succeed this powerpoint presentation.
Assignment: you will prepare and deliver an informative presentation that includes a career you are interested in pursuing after graduation. Presentation contents includes (duties and responsibilities, qualifications, advancement, earning..)
My topic: Accounting Intern
Sincerely, Jean
Hey Jean,
Thank you for your comments and question. I think the best thing you can do in this kind of situation, is to tell a story that covers all of the requirements of your presentation. So for example, you could talk about the future life that you are living as a result of getting this job. Your story could be “a day in the life of” type of story. But you have to make it interesting so be sure to include some kind of problem or difficult situation that must be overcome and use the job, or something that you’re doing on the job to help you overcome the situation. That would be far more interesting than just talking about, “Okay, my duties as an accounting intern are whatever.” That would be really boring.
Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. And be sure to let me know how the presentation goes.
All the best.
Carl
thanking you for giving valuable information what the people want and i had one question how to avoided fear while giving presentation
Thank you! Avoiding fear while presenting is something I should talk about soon!
Hey carl,
Thank you for these tips it’s very helpful
sir i need ur help… em from pak …. studyng mechatronics engg.
i have been given a topic “golobalization and its effects on indidinious culture ” plz help me how to start my presentation…. we are allowed to use slides and vedios
thanks so much carl you are the best
i will take this into consideration in my next presentation
actually my next presentation is gonna be about ” how to choose the right topic for your next presentation”
Hi Taoufik,
Thank YOU! Good luck with your presentation! Let me know how it goes!
Carl
Sir I Am Student Of BBA 1st Semester And I Am Going To Present My First Presentation In University To Students .
Do You Help Me How To Select A Easy Topic To Presnt And How To Present It .!
Thanks for the question, Ahmed. Try to think of a topic that your audience would like, or find interesting. That’s the best way to find a topic. And I have many videos about how to present, so please watch those and you should be ok. Good luck.
Carl