Create a presentation: Flipchart, whiteboard and co.

Presenting in the office is not for everyone. Most people are fine with discussing a new workflow, the current status of a project or the various options for the trade fair stand with one or even two colleagues. However, if the number of people in the audience increases and the boss is sitting among them, the stress level also rises. For the less spontaneous among us, good preparation is the be-all and end-all. But there are certain traps lurking here:

Flipchart vs. PowerPoint

You have probably been an audience member at such a presentation often enough: The (presumably nervous) presenter clicks through a series of very elaborately designed PowerPoint slides, reading out what is there word for word in the worst case. Yawn. What you see is a vast amount of data that is already ready and waiting to be called up, so the presentation is a purely passive affair, eat or die, listener!

It’s quite different when you get the feeling that you are witnessing – or perhaps even participating in – the creation of a new and unique idea. A speaker who involves you, who may even graphically incorporate ideas from the audience into his presentation, using a rather simple tool after all:

The flipchart! It has a slightly backward, somewhat chaotic reputation, the flipchart. For brainstorming processes in smaller circles, yes, but for presentations? Absolutely, think many communication trainers, including Andreas Konzack. On his website, he explains the advantages of a flipchart presentation over a digital presentation:

Disadvantages of a purely digital presentation

• Dumbing down: We are completely saturated by the constant use of digital media
• Speaker in focus? The beamer’s sprinkling does not allow for any interaction.
• Brain in sleep mode: attention span drops drastically. Projector on, eyes closed
• Canned food: Instinctively, the audience knows that the presentation is standard fare for many
• Click and go: With the next mouse click, the information disappears into nirvana, it is no longer present

Advantages of a flipchart presentation

• Excitement: What is he doing? We break the visual habit
• Appreciation: You are doing something for your audience, exclusively in the here and now. This feeling of “he did that for me ” creates a bond.
• Perfect thought support, always present: What you need in the course of the presentation is also always visible to you
• Individual: You can meet the needs of your audience completely individually

So leave everything to chance? Be spontaneous?

No. While a brainstorming session actually involves jotting down ideas and bullet points on a flipchart or whiteboard, still in a richly disorganised and spontaneous manner, a planned presentation can be just as well prepared with a flipchart as a digital presentation. Start with a cover sheet, present your outline to the audience and simply practise the flow and drawings in advance. Consider, possibly with a “test audience”, what questions you can ask your audience. If you are clever, you can “provoke” exactly the desired objections and contributions by asking the right questions. Don’t be afraid of a few seconds of silence, they are difficult to endure, but they also build up tension. And if there is really no answer, give it yourself: “Let’s assume that it behaves like this…”.

The hardware: What materials do I need?

Good preparation also includes having all materials ready and checking them for functionality:

The flipchart pad

Do you have enough pages in the flipchart pad? To be on the safe side, take a pad with you as a spare. Perhaps you would like to prepare flipchart pages to refer back to during the presentation (and develop them further in front of the audience if necessary)? If so, it is better to reinforce the hanging holes and the edges of the paper with invisible tape beforehand. When presenting with the whiteboard, make sure you have a clean sponge to hand in advance, there is nothing more annoying than a smeared board!

Schreibmaterial

Which pens do you want to work with? High-visibility markers such as Edding, highlighters and the like are indispensable! But also pay attention to the paper quality of the flipchart sheets, because if the writing bleeds through onto the next page, it is unattractive! A soft pencil prevents the paper from tearing and allows for thicker lines. Be sure to take along an eraser and a correction pencil: Eraser and correction pencil or correction roller. When working with the whiteboard, make sure that you use the appropriate pens, which can then be wiped clean with the sponge.

Marking

You will probably also want to refer back to already painted pages during the presentation. Ideally, you will be able to hang up the written sheets in the room (using masking tape, for example). If this is not possible, mark the sheets in the pad with coloured Post-its. This makes it easier to find them again in the pad. Post-its are also very suitable for presentation on the whiteboard for marking and highlighting. Magnets are also helpful when working with the whiteboard, as they are great for pinning prepared materials to the board.

Archiving flipchart sheets

A weak point of the flipchart presentation compared to the PowerPoint method is archiving and making the presentation available to the participants. Photograph the flipchart pages after the presentation, present on the whiteboard, ideally have a “photographer” in the audience to photograph the boards. Then combine the individual image files into a pdf file that you can send to the participants.

Detach the used flipchart sheets from the pad and roll them up. In a mailing tube, visibly labelled from the outside, a real archive is gradually created.

Prepare a good handout that the participants can take with them after the presentation. The handout can also be “scribbled” by hand and scanned if they need the presentation digitally.

In a presentation, the handout is basically a business card. It is taken to one’s desk after the presentation, it serves as a guide in meetings with colleagues or the boss. However, you should resist the temptation to simply print out the PowerPoint slides. Have you put a lot of effort into working out the relevant idea? Then a good handout must also work “on its own”, it must be able to convey your idea to third parties. Therefore, use complete sentences and (concise) flowing text. For the actual presentation, whether digital or on the flipchart, key points are recommended. The handout can even help here: It is easier to keep the presentation clear and free of text when you know that you can give the audience the contents of the presentation in writing in the handout.

What makes a good handout?

Of course, it is also the eye that makes the difference. So, in addition to preparing your presentation, you should also think about what you want to give your audience. A good and visually appealing cover sheet is as essential as good product packaging in the supermarket.

• The cover sheet: What is the focus of the presentation? What is the question? Little text: Perhaps you can find pictures that visualise the idea, the project or the topic on the cover sheet?

• The outline: Give a brief insight into the structure. In a multifaceted document, the outline with page references helps you to find your way around quickly.

• Main body: In the execution of your solution elaboration, subdivide into intermediate captions. This makes reading easier and helps you find your way around the document. If possible, present figures that support your thesis in charts, graphs or diagrams.
• Conclusion: Summarise your proposal for a solution, your recommendation for action or your view of the problem. If in doubt, one sentence is enough!

Bundle, staple, tack?

How do you turn a loose-leaf collection into a compact and presentable document? You should pay some attention to this point. The way you present your handout draws attention and appreciation to it. Sure, there are contents and occasions when stapling or stapling the sheets is quite sufficient. However, your documents are much more durable and of higher quality if you bind them, for example with a spiral binding. Binding spines give your documents a professional look and are easy to attach yourself with the help of a binding tool that allows you to both punch and bind. Use high-quality paper throughout the document and consider a cover sheet and spine with a high grammage (e.g. 250g/m²).

Handout before or after the presentation?

The question of whether you want to distribute the handout to the participants before the presentation or whether it should be given to them afterwards as a summary and memory aid is a controversial one. Of course, if the audience already has the handout in front of them during your presentation, he or she will leaf through the documents and “read along”. This distracts from the actual lecture. A study* on this question, however, showed that listeners with a handout and those who received the handout only after the presentation remembered the content equally well. In addition, many find it pleasant to be able to make their own notes and additions in the handout during the lecture. So it is an individual decision when to hand out the handout

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Service title

Presentation on the flipchart
Hand out the handout after the presentation
Hand out the handout before the presentation
English-language study on the topic of handing out handouts

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