That’s me, but those are not my Oscars. They belong to Jana Sue Memel, a producer, Oscar winner, and a presenter at the recent Digital Innovation in Pharma Conference in Boston.  She was terrific - did her homework, knew the audience and what they were facing, told wonderful stories, connected with listeners and gave great advice.

First thing: kill your Powerpoint slides. You be the expert, you be the focal point. If you can’t go that far, cut all the words and use visuals to help people remember what you are saying. Our memories are fragile containers – two hours after a talk people might remember forty percent of what you said, down to twenty percent the day after.  Memel advised connecting with your audience or client by making them see everything you say through the filter of “do I like this person?”   Connection is important.  Those first words are important.

It is always timely advice: know your audience, do your homework, tell a story, connect in a positive way.  But it was especially timely for me – in the last several weeks I saw a number of brilliant people (and brilliant presenters) at the Connected to Health Conference in Boston, assisted behind the scenes at a recent TEDMed talk, hosted an event with presentations at our agency, and was called on to assist another client for a keynote address.

I bring baggage to this: maybe 1,000 presentations, mostly for other CEOs, but also for scientists, for Intenet gurus, for myself.  I was once on a stage in front of 500 people and the symposium’s computer AV system died.  I did dance well.  For my clients – redundancy, two people clicking in concert, back-ups upon back-ups.  And way before that, in the pre-Internet dark ages – the 35mm slide, and slide production, and re-production. (Powerpoint didn’t invent the bulleted list; it just made it ubiquitous).

But back to the future.  And back to Jana, doing her homework.  Brilliance always breaks through.  Visual support may or may not be needed. I once saw Peter Drucker speak to forty colleagues in a small room at Princeton.  He spoke low, with no slides. You had to strain to hear.  But it was so brilliant, so precise, spoke completely with his own style.  He connected by sitting on a credenza and telling stories.  He did his homework and knew the company I worked for.

At the Connected to Health symposium, Atul Gawande was one of the keynote speakers. He wrote the Checklist Manifesto, How to Get Things Right. Again, no slides, just a string of stories and information and substance, targeted at the audience, all of them inspirational, humble, direct, connected.  I had to pick up his book afterwards, which was also brilliant.  Good writing is good thinking.

There was another presenter, Kate Pickett, who wrote the The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger. She had simple, clear graphs of data that made her point.  Worked perfectly, and I bought her book too. (She also broke the ice and made everyone like her with a self-deprecating comment at the beginning of her talk.  The New Statesmen listed her book as one of their top 10 for the decade.)

And one more presentation that resonated: Eileen Bartholomew, Senior Director, Life Sciences Prize Development from the X PRIZE Foundation.  She presented in a highly-impactful, Steve Jobs type of way.  Bold images.  Bold words.  Worked for me. Worked for the audience.

We put these “Oscar-ready” ideas in action for a new start-up, Atentiv.  One compelling story that resonated was the attention breadth of athletes, which served as an entryway to the attention-building system Attentiv has developed.  The story was backed up with simply presented data and bold imagery.

Visual speech support materials were created last year for the CEO of Life Technologies for his TedMed presentation. Take a look at the entire presentation.  Note the interplay of words and images. Note the strength of the imagery, the very simple text, and the molecular animation, all working together to support the speaker.

So how can you make your next major presentation Oscar-ready?  Here’s an Atul-like checklist that channels Jana, Gail, Jones, and Tom.

-Watch what the stars do.  You’ve seen a lot of presentations. What gets you excited about a speaker will get others excited about your speaking.  You can always learn, and always get better.

-Know your audience. Talk to them.  Google them.  Build a persona in your mind of who they are and what they know and what they can learn from you.

-Be the smartest woman or man in the room.  At least on your subject!  (If not, why are you speaking?).  Do your homework, thoroughly.  Check the latest information on the subject.

-Create your talking points.  What are the top three things you want your ideal personal to go away knowing (or doing)?

-Tell a story. This is the toughest part. Write out the talk, beginning, middle and end.  Tell it to yourself in the car. Collaborate (most Oscar-winners do).

-Visual support or no visual support? Your call. The key word is “support”. You are the focus, not the visuals in the background.

-If yes on the visuals, think of striking images, striking data (presented in a creative way).  Think of as few words as possible.  Kill the bullets.

-Practice. Practice again. Practice the beginning and ending again.

-Break the barrier. Get out from behind the lectern. Connect to the audience physically (by getting closer), emotionally (with a human, connective introduction), and intellectually (with the key message or messages you are delivering).

All easy to say, and all more work than creating a Powerpoint outline and unreadable words.  But, better presentations and better results await. More excitement, more learning. And the Oscar goes to…!