8 Tips for Meeting Deadlines on Your Business PowerPoint Presentation

The holidays are fast approaching and that means you’re probably drowning in a cocktail of end-of-year reports and mandatory office parties (hopefully without the novelty reindeer sweater). And you still have an important business PowerPoint presentation to deliver before your boss starts talking about new initiatives for 2015.

How do you stay focused and make sure you deliver your business PowerPoint presentation on time, holidays or not? Here are eSlide’s eight quick tips to keep you on track:

1. Talk It Up

Communicate problems immediately to your event manager, boss or client. If you aren’t going to be able to meet a deadline, don’t be quiet about it. Sticking your head in the sand never helps. Tell the people who need to know so you can agree on alternative arrangements.

2. Start At The End

Make sure you agree on the outcome before you start creating your business PowerPoint presentation. What does your event manager, boss or client expect? Is there a template, design, logo, color scheme, etc. that you should be using? If you haven’t been given any instructions, ask for them. This way you’ll know if everyone is on the same page, preventing potential problems down the line.

3. Joy To The Calendar

You’ll likely receive a deadline or, if you’ve got a particularly switched-on event manager, a calendar of them. Use it. First, break down the deadline(s) to fit in with your total workload. Add a first step to get you started. Second, superimpose your own deadlines on top of those you’ve been given. These should be slightly ahead of the official ones. From now on, use your deadlines. This will help you stay one step ahead and ensure that you always deliver on time – even if something unexpected occurs. Final Presentation deadlines are usually hard to or impossible to change, so keep up with the schedule and if you find you are falling behind, get help to avoid the “night before” nightmare.

4. Call For Backup

Ask a colleague if you can update them regularly on your progress. Engaging others will motivate you to stay on track, and they may provide valuable insight or feedback on your work. Remember, having a colleague put fresh eyes on your presentation is a great way to keep your content focused.

5. Learn From The Past

Be honest with yourself. Have you missed deadlines on business PowerPoint presentations before? If so, it may be time to reassess your approach. What are your sticking points? Do you have trouble getting started? Or are you a late finisher? Knowing your own weaknesses will help you head them off by seeking help in advance. Is there someone in the office who is a good starter? Find out what their secret is.

6. Self-Gifting

Give yourself little rewards along the way when you meet deadlines. It’ll motivate you to press on to the finish line.

7. Eyes On The Prize

Once you’ve committed, you have to do whatever it takes. If you procrastinate, it’s your problem. If other work overwhelms you, you still have to deliver. Presentation deadlines don’t go away, but can sneak up on presenters that don’t have some kind of system for managing them. The good news… you can always catch up on sleep over the holidays!

8. An Application A Day

There are a lot of helpful apps to help you schedule work and stick to deadlines. ComputerWorld names 10 deadline apps for Android and iOS and their virtues (and pitfalls).