You’ve identified an issue, done your research and developed your ideas. Now it’s time to bring your work to life and share it with your audience. Whether you’re presenting a business case, sharing research with industry experts, pitching for work or reporting results to investors, a compelling presentation can help you get your message across and achieve your goals.
Whatever the purpose, how you present your ideas matters. The quality of a presentation can make your message more credible and memorable. On the flipside, if your slide deck is hard to follow or riddled with errors, you may fail to make the impact you desire and deserve.
But how do you turn your analysis, insights and recommendations into a polished presentation? This is where professional editing can make a difference.
Editors are experts who can help you shape your ideas, convey them clearly and eliminate errors. They work on both your slides and the accompanying talk track to ensure the two complement each other and tell a cohesive story.
An editor will
… sharpen your core message
A common mistake people make when putting together a presentation is not being 110% clear about what they want to say and what outcome they are seeking.
What is the single central idea you want to communicate? What do you want the audience to understand or do? Being clear about these points avoids distracting your audience with interesting but peripheral information.
Through substantive editing, an editor can help you identify the central idea and ensure that every point in your presentation builds the case for it. They will also make sure the presentation flows logically and tells a clear, coherent story.
… focus on what the audience needs
If you’re presenting on a topic where you’re a subject-matter expert, it can be difficult to judge what an audience does and doesn’t need to know.
This is particularly important for thought-leadership presentations. The aim isn’t to demonstrate everything you know; it’s to select the ideas and evidence that will make your point persuasive and useful to the audience.
An editor will introduce an outside perspective on what the audience is likely to already know, what will be most interesting to them, and what you can safely leave out. They can also help you communicate complex ideas in plain English, making your presentation accessible without oversimplifying the subject matter.
The goal, as Bloomberg puts it in its advice to writers, is to deliver content that’s “written in a style that a dope can understand and a professional can appreciate”.
… help you create a clear narrative
A presentation should be more than just a collection of facts, charts and observations – it needs a coherent argument. A professional editor will test whether the narrative holds together, identify gaps in the logic and suggest ways to strengthen the argument.
Much of this work happens in the talk track, which often requires more editorial attention than the slides themselves. An editor can help structure and refine what you’ll say, ensuring the narrative flows logically, key messages are clear and transitions between slides feel natural. They’ll also identify where more explanation, context or emphasis is needed to make your argument compelling.
… make slides work harder
Slides don’t need to tell the entire story word for word. In fact, including your entire speech in the slides and then reading it out can be counterproductive. The slides should orient the audience, reinforce key messages and provide evidence or visual support, but it’s your job as the presenter to supply the explanation.
An editor can help ensure the slides:
- use short, active sentences
- avoid unnecessary detail, jargon or clunky phrasing
- include headings that advance the story.
They can also help you decide on what belongs on the slides and what is better communicated through the talk track. For example, a slide might highlight a 20% increase in customer satisfaction, while the talk track explains what drove the improvement and why it matters.
By considering both elements together, an editor can ensure that the slides and talk track complement each other, giving your audience the information they need without overwhelming them.
A presentation designed for live delivery can be spare with words. Some of the best presenters we’ve seen use only a few words per slide, or even none! However, if attendees will receive the slides afterwards or you need to circulate the deck independently, the slides may need to include enough context to remain intelligible without the presenter.
… ensure words work out loud
Some sentences that look fine on the page can be awkward to say, especially if they are long, contain complicated language or have an unnatural rhythm. An editor will ensure your copy sounds as natural when spoken as it looks on the page. They might even read the draft aloud to identify clumsy wording or tongue-twisting phrases where the speaker is likely to stumble.
… make the presentation word-perfect
Once the structure, argument and language have been refined, proofreading provides a final layer of quality control. It catches any spelling, grammar, punctuation, factual or formatting errors that distract your audience and undermine an otherwise polished presentation.
… turn your expertise into impact
Ultimately, an editor helps your expertise resonate with your audience. They clarify the central idea, shape the story for the audience, strip away unnecessary detail and ensure the slides support the points you’re trying to communicate.
If your organisation doesn’t have a dedicated communications team to help with your next presentation, working with a professional editor can ensure your message is clear and compelling.
Learn how Editor Group’s editors and proofreaders can help add polish to your important presentations. Or contact us to discuss your requirements.
Ylla Watkins