Do You Have a Plan B?

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This is it.  The most important presentation of your career.  You and your team have been preaparing for it for weeks. Your PowerPoint deck is optimised and ready to go.  
Your senior management is seated and waiting.


Just as you are about to begin, your laptop crashes.  
You smell smoke.  You start to sweat.
Everyone is staring at you, waiting...
What do you do?  What's your Plan B?  Can you deliver without your PowerPoint?


I hope this never happens to you, but it could.  If you are too reliant on your slides (and I've worked with a lot of managers who are), this is a nightmare scenario.  
For far too many corporate presenters, the presentation is all about PowerPoint, and they are lost without their slides.


This means the PowerPoint is the Master, and the presenter is the Servant.
If this is you, stop letting your slide deck dictate your presentation delivery.  
Create your message first, and then create slides to illustrate your message or cherry-pick appropriate slides from your pre-fab deck.


In any case, you need to be able to deliver your message without PowerPoint, in case the unthinkable happens.  Remember:  You are the message, not your slides.

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