The Five-Minute Presentation

Guidelines for Your Five-Minute Presentation

Organize your information and be prepared.

It may sound easy to give a five-minute presentation, but this condensed format requires more organization and care than a longer format. If you aren’t well-prepared, your entire five minutes can go by before you even get started. Practice your presentation aloud, and use a timer. You may find you have to cut out some of the things you’d like to talk about, so make sure your planned presentation fits into your allotted time.

Stick to your time.

The number one way to disappoint your audience during a 5-minute presentation is to run long. When you are given 5 minutes, an expectation is set. Your audience expects that at 4 minutes and 59 seconds, you will be done and they will be enriched by what you shared. In a way, you have entered in to an unofficial contract with your audience. Keep an eye on a timer as you present: you may have to skip a less important point to have time to conclude your presentation.  If you exceed your time limit, you will be cut off without finishing, which is frustrating for both you and your audience!

Share the most important thing first.

Five minutes goes quickly, and as a presenter, it can feel like warp speed. Knowing the importance of hitting your time limit, you should always start by sharing the most important information first. There is not a lot of time to build a story arc or work your way toward a big close. Instead, consider opening with a quick introduction and then get right to the meat of your presentation. When you start with the important stuff, you are sure to share everything you need, even if you run out of time.

Cut the fluff.

In a one-hour presentation, there is room for throwing in extraneous details. In a five-minute presentation, there is no time for that: you need to make every sentence count. 

OPTIONAL: Consider creating an infographic.

Infographics are a great tool to use when time is limited and a powerful tool to bring your content to life visually. They take boring statistics and turn them into a beautiful visual that sticks with your audience far better than anything you will say during your quick presentation. In fact, visual information increases retention by a whopping 42%, so use those visuals to your advantage.

Here are some free tools to use, if you want to create an infographic:  click here to gain some tips on how to use Powerpoint to create an infographic. Or use the dedicated infographic creator Easel.ly (free version) or try Google charts.

OPTIONAL: Share a sticky statistic.

When presenting in a short window of time, think about what you want your audience to take away from your presentation. A memorable statistic is often a great takeaway. However, it is vital that you select a sticky statistic. That means making sure your statistic is easily remembered and will continue to pop up in the minds of your audience long after your 5 minutes are over.

Sticky statistics should get your audience thinking. They should be easy to remember, and they should spark further conversation between you and audience members after the presentation is over. You know a statistic has been sticky when you hear it being discussed around the water cooler.

Remember:

Short and concise presentations can be more effective than much longer ones, and they are something every presenter will be called upon to do at one point or another. While they seem like they could be the easiest type of presentation you deliver, the fact is they can easily become ineffective and distracting without planning and preparation. With these guidelines, you have everything you need to knock your next 5-minute presentation out of the park!

Adapted from:

https://ethos3.com/mastering-the-art-the-5-minute-presentation/