If you're planning a new presentation which is just a bit too complex and you have many ideas in desperate need of structuring, then try this. Take a pile of PostIts, maybe in different colours. Get hold of a pen with a nice broad tip. Find a big whiteboard or a piece of paper from a flip chart. A big desk surface will also do the trick.
Write down all of your separate ideas on PostIts and for the time being just spread them out over a surface so you can see them all. Break up big ideas into smaller ones and add even more PostIts. When the ideas start drying up, group the PostIts together into categories or subjects or sections of the talk. Pick out the best ideas and throw away the rest. Think about how much time you have and whether you can get through all this material. When you have the categories sorted out you can start to convert them to messages or statements. Think in terms of slide headlines that describe the main points you are trying to make.
Then you can arrange these main points in order and start to add some supporting statements or sources of data. After this you need some transitions between the main points, which could be written on PostIts of a different colour. You may want to add notes about how certain points can be put across, also on PostIts. Somewhere here you can transfer the whole thing into PowerPoint and turn the words into pictures, videos diagrams and other illustrations. What you have to think about is only writing the point itself on the PostIts, not the actual words you will use to get the point across. Supporting statements/data should also be very brief; keywords and bullet points.
It might not work all the way for you but most help can probably be had in the early planning stage of presentations. I find that deciding the order of slides or sections of the presentation is a lot easier using PostIts on a whiteboard than working in PowerPoint.
Hopefully you'll find a little bit of inspiration in there somewhere. Have fun!
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