Sales Manager Job Presentation

Dear All,

I have been asked to attend a second interview for a Sales Manager position, and I have been asked to present for 20 mins, they want me to discuss how I will continue to increase the turnover by 15-20% for the year 2009.

I know the basics of how to use powerpoint, but in my current role, have not had any formal presentation training.

I know that I need to keep to 3 main points, and I think I have chosen the points, the people I am presenting to I do not know.

Any advice on where to start would be welcome ie basic layout, making the presentation last the 20 mins etc.

Thanks All

The most important thing to do is keep it simple. As you're applying for a Sales Manager role and not a technical role, you want the interviewers to be focussing on you and the content of your presentation and not the flashing images of your powerpoint.

Therefore, write the whole speech/presentation first and then complete the powerpoint. When putting together the powerpoint, have a welcome/curtain slide, objectives, maybe one slide per main point discussed and a thank you/any questions slide.

Most importantly...keep it simple and make sure that the effort is put into the content of what you are saying, not what you are showing.

Good luck and let us know how you get on
Ed

But just to be clear, when he says that you should write your presentation before doing your PowerPoint, he doesn't necessarily mean to write it out word for word (and if you do, don't eve think about reading it verbatum!).... just that you should get your content sorted out before thinking about how to present it.

Too many people turn on PowerPoint before they know what they're going to say and end up giving presentations designed by the software!

It might be worthwhile thinking about removing your words altogether and replacing each of your three key points with one iconic image which sums up the idea visually. It's an unbelievably effective technique when you do it right - but make sure the pictures are genuinely iconic!

S