Include a Case-study reference.
Please ensure if you are a vendor, that you deliver a joint presentation with a service provider whenever possible; at the very least, you must include at minimum one customer reference as a proof point of what you are talking about.
Make the structure of your presentation clear by using an agenda slide.
Your audience may be listening to a translation and their ability to follow your slides in English may be limited. Please ensure that have an agenda slide and make it clear as you progress through the presentation as to where you are on the agenda.
Reference the work of the TM Forum as appropriate.
Part of the purpose of the conference is to show how the work of the TM Forum is being used by vendors and customers alike to deliver real business value. Don’t assume that the audience automatically recognizes where the TM Forum work has supported business value.
Do not use a font size smaller than 18 points and do not cram a slide full of text.
Ensure people can read your slides from the back of the conference room and remember what you say and what you have written on your slides can be different levels of detail. Also, keep in mind that what you are saying may be translated, so leverage the text of your slides to stress key messages.
Do not over complicate slides with complex graphics.
They will be more difficult for the audience to follow as they will not easily know what part of the slide you are referring to. Use builds to make the story more progressive and easier to follow. There will be no handouts.
Do not make your presentation too long or too short.
To best leverage the time you are given, your presentation should be approximately 12 slides for a 25 minute presentation, plus questions. Ultimately the only way to tell is to practice the delivery.
Do not make the presentation a sales pitch.
It will not be well received by the audience and will reflect poorly on you and the TM Forum. It will also damage your chances of speaking at a future event. The best way to prove your company’s credentials is by reference to a customer site (and even better when the customer actually speaks positively about you).
Do not waste valuable time.
Do not start with a long company description and your past experience. Too many presentations we get take too long to get going and then end up having to skip over the really important part of the presentation.
What are the top 3 “take-aways”?
As you develop your presentation think of the top three things that you want people to take away. Make sure that your presentation clearly delivers these points. Given language issues, the clearer you are as to what these three things are the better.
Try to differentiate yourself.
What makes what you are saying any different to anyone else talking on the same subject? What makes what you are saying different for this audience than any other audience? What makes what you are saying any different now to 6 months ago or in 6 months time?
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