Do you use this one slide that can ruin your presentation?

At the end of every business presentation, be it a sales pitch or a pep talk, comes the question time. If you are ill-prepared, it can be your downfall, but if you are well-informed, it can be your time to shine.

But often when trying to share our knowledge, explain our ideas and reiterate the key messages of our presentation, the moment when you want to see your audience’s epiphanies may not happen how you want it to, especially without communication skills training.

So here’s is a quick fix that could help you and your audience get the most out of your presentation and question time.

Never leave your presentation on a question slide

One of the big mistakes many presenters make is to end their show with a slide dedicated to, either a “thank you” or “questions”. While it may seem slightly artistic and sweet to have a picture of an animated man sitting on a question mark, it’s of no use to your audience.

This will not help them reflect on what you have presented when it comes down to asking questions. In fact, most of your audience will need a little refresher.

So drop the question slide, and end on a summary slide instead. By doing this, you will do two things.

First, it will provide your audience with a condensed, bite-size snapshot of your presentation, easy to digest and easy to construct quality questions based on.

But it will also force you as the speaker to distill the most important parts of your presentation. What do you want to emphasise? What do you want to make sure they wont forget? What idea do you want to leave your audience with? A summary slide accompanied by an open floor is a great way to achieve these goals.

So next time you’re putting a presentation together, and you get that reflex to add this extra slide – stop. Put together a concise summary instead. You and your audience will be thankful for it.

For more techniques to make presentations that have impact, check out the courses offered by the Institute for Communication Management and Leadership.