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Key Elements of Presentation to Make it Impactful

Explore the essentials of crafting an impactful presentation in our comprehensive discussion on the Key Elements of Presentation to Make it Impactful. Discover the significance of a good presentation and how it can influence your message. Dive into the key elements that contribute to a captivating presentation, such as understanding your audience, creating an engaging introduction, and more.

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If you wish to learn the fundamental components that contribute to crafting an impactful delivery, engaging your audience effectively and making your presentations memorable, this blog is what you need. Keep reading this blog to learn about the Elements of Presentation that make it impactful and memorable to the audience. 

Table of Contents  

1) Importance of a good presentation   

2) Key elements of a captivating presentation 

     a) Understanding your audience 

     b) Crafting a compelling introduction 

     c) Developing a well-structured main content   

    d) Maintaining an engaging delivery   

    e) Handling Q&A sessions 

3) Conclusion 

Importance of a good presentation  

A good presentation holds immense importance in various aspects of life, ranging from academics and business to personal interactions. Delivering a compelling presentation is a valuable skill that can lead to numerous benefits in professional settings. 

Firstly, a well-crafted presentation has the power to captivate and engage the audience. By using effective storytelling techniques, visual aids, and clear organisation, presenters can maintain the attention of their listeners throughout the presentation. 

Secondly, a good presentation enhances credibility and professionalism. When a presenter delivers their content with confidence and clarity, it leaves a positive impression on the audience. This enhances the presenter's reputation and fosters trust in their expertise. 

Moreover, a successful presentation can influence decision-making processes. Whether it's persuading stakeholders to support a project, convincing potential investors to fund a venture, or inspiring people to take action, a well-presented message has the potential to drive positive outcomes.  Advantages and disadvantages of presentation must be taken into consideration while understanding the importance of presentation.

Furthermore, a compelling presentation creates a memorable experience for the audience. When a presenter effectively uses the Principles of Presentation to convey their message with passion and enthusiasm, it leaves a lasting impact on the listeners, making the content more memorable and impactful. You can also understand elements of presentation by comprehensively reading through presentation skills interview questions and answers . This will allow you to prepare for presentation more effectively.

Learn to engage with your audience with our Presentation Skills Courses!   

Key elements of a captivating presentation  

Delivering a captivating presentation goes beyond merely sharing information; it involves planning meticulously various components such as Starting a presentation engage, inform, and inspire your audience. From understanding your listeners to crafting a compelling introduction, here are some elements that can make your presentation a memorable one. To prepare a presentation effectively, consider the following key steps

Understanding your audience  

Before embarking on the creation of any presentation, it is of utmost importance to gain a profound understanding of your audience. Take the time to conduct thorough research, delving into their interests, knowledge levels, and expectations. Knowing your audience and their preferences allows you to tailor your content in a way that resonates with them on a deeper level.   

A personalised approach ensures that your presentation is not only engaging but also highly relevant to their needs and desires. Remember, a presentation that speaks directly to your audience's interests has the power to captivate and leave a lasting impact on their minds. 

Crafting a compelling introduction  

The significance of a well-crafted introduction cannot be overstated. It serves as the gateway to your entire presentation, setting the tone for what lies ahead. To immediately capture your audience's attention, kick off with a powerful hook or an enthralling anecdote that piques their curiosity. This initial engagement is crucial for holding their interest throughout the presentation.  

In addition to the hook, clearly state the purpose of your presentation. Let your audience know what they can expect to learn, gain, or experience by investing their time in your talk. By setting clear expectations, you not only keep them focused but also instil a sense of anticipation.  

Remember, an impactful introduction is a bridge that connects you to your audience and creates an atmosphere of receptivity. Take the time to craft it thoughtfully, and you'll lay the foundation for a successful and captivating presentation. 

Learn to create mesmerising presentations with our course in Presentation Skills Training !  

Developing a well-structured main content  

Crafting compelling main content is the backbone of an impactful presentation. To achieve this, follow these key steps: 

1) Create clear sections and subheadings: Divide your main content into distinct sections, each dedicated to addressing a specific point related to your topic. Within these sections, utilise different headings, such as H2 and H3, to separate the main topic from the subtopics. It will let you break down complex information into digestible portions. This structuring technique allows your audience to follow the flow of your presentation seamlessly, enhancing their understanding and retention of the content.  

2) Use visuals effectively: Visual aids play a vital role in enhancing your presentation's effectiveness. Incorporate relevant images, charts, and graphs that complement your narrative and support your key points. Visuals not only add clarity to your message but also make your presentation visually appealing, capturing your audience's attention and reinforcing their engagement.  

3) Tell stories and use real-life examples: Human beings are naturally drawn to stories. Incorporate anecdotes and real-life examples that resonate with your message. Personal experiences and relatable scenarios create a powerful emotional connection with your audience, making your content more memorable and impactful.  

4) Data and statistics: Credibility is crucial in any presentation. Back up your points with credible data and statistics from reliable sources. This adds an element of authority to your presentation skills , strengthening your arguments and supporting your key messages.

Maintaining an engaging delivery  

An engaging delivery is a bridge that connects you with your audience, ensuring your message resonates powerfully. To achieve this, focus on the following aspects: 

1) Speak confidently and clearly: Confidence is contagious, and it begins with practice. Rehearse your presentation multiple times to boost your confidence in delivering the content. When on stage, speak clearly and enunciate each word, ensuring that everyone in the audience can understand you. Avoid rushing through your words; instead, maintain an appropriate pace that allows your audience to absorb the information. 

2) Maintain eye contact: Engage your audience by making direct eye contact. This simple act promotes a sense of intimacy and involvement, making your audience feel acknowledged and valued. Regular eye contact also keeps their attention focused on you, preventing distractions and ensuring that your message reaches them effectively. 

3) Use gestures and body language: Nonverbal communication is a potent tool for emphasising key points and adding dynamism to your presentation. Incorporate appropriate gestures that align with your content, reinforcing your words. Expressive body language conveys enthusiasm and passion, making your delivery more compelling and captivating for your audience. 

Handling Q&A sessions  

Query sessions are an invaluable element of any presentation, providing an opportunity for interactive engagement with your audience. To navigate these sessions effectively, consider the following tips: 

1) Prepare for potential questions: Anticipate the type of questions your audience may ask based on your presentation's content. Take the time to research and rehearse possible responses, ensuring you are well-equipped to address various inquiries. 

2) Address with confidence: When the questions start pouring in, respond with confidence and composure. If you know the answer, provide it succinctly. If you are unsure, be honest about not having an immediate answer. 

Conclusion  

Incorporating the Key Elements of Presentation can transform your communication skills and leave a lasting impact on your audience. Choices like understanding your audience, crafting a compelling introduction, delivering engaging content and gracefully handling Q&A sessions can Improve Your Presentation Skills empower you to deliver a presentation that truly resonates.

Learn to deliver impactful presentations with our Presenting With Impact Training !  

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What Are Effective Presentation Skills (and How to Improve Them)

Presentation skills are essential for your personal and professional life. Learn about effective presentations and how to boost your presenting techniques.

At least seven out of 10 Americans agree that presentation skills are essential for a successful career [ 1 ]. Although it might be tempting to think that these are skills reserved for people interested in public speaking roles, they're critical in a diverse range of jobs. For example, you might need to brief your supervisor on research results.

Presentation skills are also essential in other scenarios, including working with a team and explaining your thought process, walking clients through project ideas and timelines, and highlighting your strengths and achievements to your manager during performance reviews.

Whatever the scenario, you have very little time to capture your audience’s attention and get your point across when presenting information—about three seconds, according to research [ 2 ]. Effective presentation skills help you get your point across and connect with the people you’re communicating with, which is why nearly every employer requires them.

Understanding what presentation skills are is only half the battle. Honing your presenting techniques is essential for mastering presentations of all kinds and in all settings.

What are presentation skills?

Presentation skills are the abilities and qualities necessary for creating and delivering a compelling presentation that effectively communicates information and ideas. They encompass what you say, how you structure it, and the materials you include to support what you say, such as slides, videos, or images.

You'll make presentations at various times in your life. Examples include:

Making speeches at a wedding, conference, or another event

Making a toast at a dinner or event

Explaining projects to a team 

Delivering results and findings to management teams

Teaching people specific methods or information

Proposing a vote at community group meetings

Pitching a new idea or business to potential partners or investors

Why are presentation skills important? 

Delivering effective presentations is critical in your professional and personal life. You’ll need to hone your presentation skills in various areas, such as when giving a speech, convincing your partner to make a substantial purchase, and talking to friends and family about an important situation.

No matter if you’re using them in a personal or professional setting, these are the skills that make it easier and more effective to convey your ideas, convince or persuade others, and experience success. A few of the benefits that often accompany improving your presentation skills include:

Enriched written and verbal communication skills

Enhanced confidence and self-image

Boosted critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities

Better motivational techniques

Increased leadership skills

Expanded time management, negotiation, and creativity

The better your presenting techniques, the more engaging your presentations will be. You could also have greater opportunities to make positive impacts in business and other areas of your life.

Effective presentation skills

Imagine yourself in the audience at a TED Talk or sitting with your coworkers at a big meeting held by your employer. What would you be looking for in how they deliver their message? What would make you feel engaged?

These are a few questions to ask yourself as you review this list of some of the most effective presentation skills.

Verbal communication

How you use language and deliver messages play essential roles in how your audience will receive your presentation. Speak clearly and confidently, projecting your voice enough to ensure everyone can hear. Think before you speak, pausing when necessary and tailoring the way you talk to resonate with your particular audience.

Body language

Body language combines various critical elements, including posture, gestures, eye contact, expressions, and position in front of the audience. Body language is one of the elements that can instantly transform a presentation that would otherwise be dull into one that's dynamic and interesting.

Voice projection

The ability to project your voice improves your presentation by allowing your audience to hear what you're saying. It also increases your confidence to help settle any lingering nerves while also making your message more engaging. To project your voice, stand comfortably with your shoulders back. Take deep breaths to power your speaking voice and ensure you enunciate every syllable you speak.

How you present yourself plays a role in your body language and ability to project your voice. It also sets the tone for the presentation. Avoid slouching or looking overly tense. Instead, remain open, upright, and adaptable while taking the formality of the occasion into account.

Storytelling

Incorporating storytelling into a presentation is an effective strategy used by many powerful public speakers. It has the power to bring your subject to life and pique the audience’s curiosity. Don’t be afraid to tell a personal story, slowly building up suspense or adding a dramatic moment. And, of course, be sure to end with a positive takeaway to drive your point home.

Active listening

Active listening is a valuable skill all on its own. When you understand and thoughtfully respond to what you hear—whether it's in a conversation or during a presentation—you’ll likely deepen your personal relationships and actively engage audiences during a presentation. As part of your presentation skill set, it helps catch and maintain the audience’s attention, helping them remain focused while minimizing passive response, ensuring the message is delivered correctly, and encouraging a call to action.

Stage presence

During a presentation, projecting confidence can help keep your audience engaged. Stage presence can help you connect with your audience and encourage them to want to watch you. To improve your presence, try amping up your normal demeanor by infusing it with a bit of enthusiasm. Project confidence and keep your information interesting.

Watch your audience as you’re presenting. If you’re holding their attention, it likely means you’re connecting well with them.

Self-awareness

Monitoring your own emotions and reactions will allow you to react well in various situations. It helps you remain personable throughout your presentation and handle feedback well. Self-awareness can help soothe nervousness during presentations, allowing you to perform more effectively.

Writing skills

Writing is a form of presentation. Sharp writing skills can help you master your presentation’s outline to ensure you stay on message and remain clear about your objectives from the beginning until the end. It’s also helpful to have strong writing abilities for creating compelling slides and other visual aids.

Understanding an audience

When you understand your audience's needs and interests, you can design your presentation around them. In turn, you'll deliver maximum value to them and enhance your ability to make your message easy to understand.

Learn more about presentation skills from industry experts at SAP:

How to improve presentation skills

There’s an art to public speaking. Just like any other type of art, this is one that requires practice. Improving your presentation skills will help reduce miscommunications, enhance your time management capabilities, and boost your leadership skills. Here are some ways you can improve these skills:

Work on self-confidence.

When you’re confident, you naturally speak more clearly and with more authority. Taking the time to prepare your presentation with a strong opening and compelling visual aids can help you feel more confident. Other ways to improve your self-confidence include practicing positive self-talk, surrounding yourself with positive people, and avoiding comparing yourself (or your presentation) to others.

Develop strategies for overcoming fear.

Many people are nervous or fearful before giving a presentation. A bad memory of a past performance or insufficient self-confidence can contribute to fear and anxiety. Having a few go-to strategies like deep breathing, practicing your presentation, and grounding can help you transform that fear into extra energy to put into your stage presence.

Learn grounding techniques.

Grounding is any type of technique that helps you steer your focus away from distressing thoughts and keeps you connected with your present self. To ground yourself, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and imagine you’re a large, mature tree with roots extending deep into the earth—like the tree, you can become unshakable.

Learn how to use presentation tools.

Visual aids and other technical support can transform an otherwise good presentation into a wow-worthy one. A few popular presentation tools include:

Canva: Provides easy-to-design templates you can customize

Powtoon: Animation software that makes video creation fast and easy

PowerPoint: Microsoft's iconic program popular for dynamic marketing and sales presentations

Practice breathing techniques.

Breathing techniques can help quell anxiety, making it easier to shake off pre-presentation jitters and nerves. It also helps relax your muscles and get more oxygen to your brain.  For some pre-presentation calmness, you can take deep breaths, slowly inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth.

While presenting, breathe in through your mouth with the back of your tongue relaxed so your audience doesn't hear a gasping sound. Speak on your exhalation, maintaining a smooth voice.

Gain experience.

The more you practice, the better you’ll become. The more you doanything, the more comfortable you’ll feel engaging in that activity. Presentations are no different. Repeatedly practicing your own presentation also offers the opportunity to get feedback from other people and tweak your style and content as needed.

Tips to help you ace your presentation

Your presentation isn’t about you; it’s about the material you’re presenting. Sometimes, reminding yourself of this ahead of taking center stage can help take you out of your head, allowing you to connect effectively with your audience. The following are some of the many actions you can take on the day of your presentation.

Arrive early.

Since you may have a bit of presentation-related anxiety, it’s important to avoid adding travel stress. Give yourself an abundance of time to arrive at your destination, and take into account heavy traffic and other unforeseen events. By arriving early, you also give yourself time to meet with any on-site technicians, test your equipment, and connect with people ahead of the presentation.

Become familiar with the layout of the room.

Arriving early also gives you time to assess the room and figure out where you want to stand. Experiment with the acoustics to determine how loudly you need to project your voice, and test your equipment to make sure everything connects and appears properly with the available setup. This is an excellent opportunity to work out any last-minute concerns and move around to familiarize yourself with the setting for improved stage presence.

Listen to presenters ahead of you.

When you watch others present, you'll get a feel for the room's acoustics and lighting. You can also listen for any data that’s relevant to your presentation and revisit it during your presentation—this can make the presentation more interactive and engaging.

Use note cards.

Writing yourself a script could provide you with more comfort. To prevent sounding too robotic or disengaged, only include talking points in your note cards in case you get off track. Using note cards can help keep your presentation organized while sounding more authentic to your audience.

Learn to deliver clear and confident presentations with Dynamic Public Speaking from the University of Washington. Build confidence, develop new delivery techniques, and practice strategies for crafting compelling presentations for different purposes, occasions, and audiences.

Article sources

Forbes. “ New Survey: 70% Say Presentation Skills are Critical for Career Success , https://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2014/09/25/new-survey-70-percent-say-presentation-skills-critical-for-career-success/?sh=619f3ff78890.” Accessed December 7, 2022.

Beautiful.ai. “ 15 Presentation and Public Speaking Stats You Need to Know , https://www.beautiful.ai/blog/15-presentation-and-public-speaking-stats-you-need-to-know. Accessed December 7, 2022.

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How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

• Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

• Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
• Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
• Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
• Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

• Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

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The 10 Key Elements of a Great Presentation Explained

Whether we’re at a team meeting or making a presentation for an audience, we all have to speak in public once in a while. 

We can do it well, or we can do it badly, but one thing is sure: the result will affect what other people will think about us.

That’s why public speaking causes so much anxiety and worry; the good news is that with preparation, practice, and other techniques, you will overcome your nervousness and perform exceptionally well! In this article, you will learn which elements make an excellent presentation.

The 10 Key Elements of a Great Presentation

The question that arises then is…

The 10 key elements of a GREAT presentation a 1. PREPARATION AND PLANNING 

Before getting into a strong presentation opening, the overall delivery techniques to keep the audience engaged and so on, we have got to talk about Planning. In order for a Great presentation to come to be, there needs to be serious planning for it (like many things in life).  

Unless, of course, you’re making an impromptu speech , then that is a different story, and you can learn more about how to successfully deliver those here .

What are the key aspects of Planning a Great Presentation?

• Get to know Your Audience
• Select a Relatable Topic
• Plan the Delivery from Beginning to the End
• Write down a simple speech outline
• Get some interesting Quotes and Stories ready
• Rehearse and Rehearse some more!
• Finish under 10% below the Real Presentation allotted time
• Familiarize with the venue
• Arrive early and test all the tech before starting the delivery

2. THE DEBUT AND OPENING

A successful entry will give you energy, a good connection with the audience, and establish your presence on stage.

Most presentations are often determined by the quality of how they begin; hardly an audience will be interested in what you have to say if a negative image is already created in their head.

Start big and make your mark! Before entering the stage, you will be backstage, seated in the back of the stage or at the foot of it.

As soon as your turn arrives, enter the stage by walking with a determined step, neither too soft nor too fast, make eye contact with the audience as soon as possible ( keep on reading, and we will explain to you why this is crucial ).

To deliver the presentation, we advise you to move to the center of the stage, take your support and count to three before you start talking.

3. SHARE VALUABLE INFORMATION

To prepare your presentation, make a list of some ideas; they must be in a few words and be logically linked: it is the structure of your outline that you must know by heart.

Each of these points must be simple enough to be dealt with in less than ten minutes; too long a development would make you lose attention.

When you hold your structure, you can work on transitions. These are key moments where you release the audience and mobilize their attention again for the next part.

4. PRESENTATION STYLE

There are many ways to tell your story. Some people, primarily if they are not used to speaking in public, prefer to write a text and read it aloud; others prefer to make a list of things they want to talk about.

Finally, some people who speak in public do not need notes to make their presentations. 

Choose the style that suits you best, and you will probably notice that your presentation style will change over time or depending on the audience you are speaking to.

If you want to learn more, we have an interesting piece on the different methods of speech delivery . Check it out, it should prove helpful in deciding your approach.

5. GOOD ARTICULATION OF IDEAS

Being an excellent speaker requires having some degree of knowledge of the topic of discussion, it is not helpful to not have anything to say; this is why we always advise starting by identifying the key message.

Be aware of the words you use and make sure they are appropriate for your audience. For example, if you talk to young people, use words they understand.

Use terms that will attract their attention based on their interests; whatever you say, be yourself, and don’t use slang or jargon if you don’t know the meaning. 

6. ENGAGE THE AUDIENCE WITH COMPELLING STORYTELLING 

Telling a story is much catchier and can be very visual and engaging to the audience when it comes to delivering the message and engaging the audience.

There are several ways to do this, but none draws so much attention to the public and creates future memories, such as using a good story. 

Inserting experiences, facts, and anecdotes will make the whole thing more personal, appeal to each listener, and make it easier to remember your message more.

According to the book “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive, and Others Die,” in a speech, only one in ten students counts one.

It is curious to note that after the end of the speech, about 63% of the public say they remember the stories told. It seems so obvious this is a great way to create an impactful presentation.

7. CONTENT OF THE PRESENTATION 

Be sure to highlight the three key ideas you want to share; these ideas will be the thread of your presentation and will prevent you from getting lost along the way.

The simpler and clearer they are, the better. The same goes for the visual support, and we hope it is user-friendly without it becoming a distraction to what you have to say. Less is more; that is the rule.

In video conferencing, the same approach applies; opt for a simple presentation, with moments for your audience to ask questions. 

If you need to submit complex charts, you can also send them in advance to avoid losing your audience’s attention.

8. VISUAL CONTACT

One of the most common mistakes is to address everyone as a group; the best way to hook an audience is to look at people individually and face-to-face, and spend 3-5 seconds talking to each one of them, as you shift to a different sentence or idea.

If you have a videoconference, choose to look at the virtual eyes and try to look at the camera rather than yourself; this way, you will not give the impression of looking elsewhere.

If it intimidates you, we look for an open and benevolent gaze in the audience to which we can return whenever the nervousness takes over.

In a video conference, you can hang a picture of a person you are comfortable with above your camera and pretend to present it to that person to look in the right place. Although, some people may see through this trick.

9. BODY LANGUAGE 

A good body language also is natural, open, and expressive. Natural, because it corresponds to your style. If you are rather expansive, you can make significant and many gestures.

Each gesture has a meaning, so if you try to adapt some motion that doesn’t correspond to your natural communication style, it can be noticed, and everything may seem forced.

We will explain how to practice the gestures, but before that, let us list some gestures to avoid:

• Putting one or two hands in the pockets gives an impression of disregard, of flippancy;
• Contrary to a common myth, keeping your arms crossed does not mean that you have a closed attitude; it is usually just a comfortable position and may sound a bit informal.
• Having the arms behind the back this is a position indicating a certain discomfort on the part of the speaker;
• Finger-pointing (regardless of a finger): This is a gesture that is considered coarse or inappropriate in many cultures;
• If you want to show a direction, it is better to do it by extending the whole hand, using an image, or verbally.

10. STRESS MANAGEMENT (Keeping Fear in Check) 

Fortunately, there are different methods to manage this stress; we are all different, and what works for one person does not necessarily work for another. 

For example, some people will use meditation to relax before delivering a presentation, or in other situations, they get anxious or nervous. In contrast, for others, it will only increase their stress.

However, fundamentally, the root causes are almost the same for everyone:

A. The fear of facing judgment and the eyes of the public, this fear can also derive from fear of failure;

B. The fear of the unknown, the impossibility of controlling the future, generates anguish of sometimes unbearable waiting.

To combat these two causes, there are many methods. I will list a few here:

• Repeat to yourself the content until you know you know it. Lack of preparation is one of the significant causes of stress and one of the reasons why people choose reading notes;
• Stay in the present moment by counting each time you inhale and exhale to avoid building disaster scenarios or worrying about the future;
• Treat the content like a casual conversation you will relate your friends in so it will be easier for you to remember without anxiety because it’s familiar.
• Do not assume that you don’t know enough, teach what you know, and endeavor to keep learning about what you don’t know. One sentence of what you know today could very well change the life of one or more people in your audience.

9 Basic Elements of a Great Persuasive Speech

As human beings, we commonly face debates, sales pitch, or even casual conversations, where we discuss with an audience (that can be familiar or not) about a subject that we want to convince, to think in a similar or same perspective that we do. If we are playing the speaker role, we need to bring…

11 Best Body Language Tips For Engaging Presentations (#11 is Underrated)

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The 7 Basic Elements of Public Speaking

Remember that time you had to present a topic in front of a crowd? Probably it was a proposal at work or an oral report in grade school. You took the time to prepare and gather materials, after which you climbed the podium and started talking. There are seven basic elements of public speaking that…

Conclusion 

Public speaking is an area where we progress with each experience; your presentation will never be perfect, especially if it is the first one. Embrace it and be authentic.

Reference and Further Reading

AcethePresentation. 7 Basic Elements of Public Speaking.

AcethePresentation. How to Stand Out In a Presentation.

Inc. 6 Key Elements of a Great Presentation.

Seawater Foundation. 9 Elements of Great Presentations.

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Blog Beginner Guides How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]

How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]

Written by: Krystle Wong Jul 20, 2023

A top-notch presentation possesses the power to drive action. From winning stakeholders over and conveying a powerful message to securing funding — your secret weapon lies within the realm of creating an effective presentation .  

Being an excellent presenter isn’t confined to the boardroom. Whether you’re delivering a presentation at work, pursuing an academic career, involved in a non-profit organization or even a student, nailing the presentation game is a game-changer.

In this article, I’ll cover the top qualities of compelling presentations and walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to give a good presentation. Here’s a little tip to kick things off: for a headstart, check out Venngage’s collection of free presentation templates . They are fully customizable, and the best part is you don’t need professional design skills to make them shine!

These valuable presentation tips cater to individuals from diverse professional backgrounds, encompassing business professionals, sales and marketing teams, educators, trainers, students, researchers, non-profit organizations, public speakers and presenters. 

No matter your field or role, these tips for presenting will equip you with the skills to deliver effective presentations that leave a lasting impression on any audience.

Click to jump ahead:

What are the 10 qualities of a good presentation?

Step-by-step guide on how to prepare an effective presentation, 9 effective techniques to deliver a memorable presentation, faqs on making a good presentation, how to create a presentation with venngage in 5 steps.

When it comes to giving an engaging presentation that leaves a lasting impression, it’s not just about the content — it’s also about how you deliver it. Wondering what makes a good presentation? Well, the best presentations I’ve seen consistently exhibit these 10 qualities:

1. Clear structure

No one likes to get lost in a maze of information. Organize your thoughts into a logical flow, complete with an introduction, main points and a solid conclusion. A structured presentation helps your audience follow along effortlessly, leaving them with a sense of satisfaction at the end.

Regardless of your presentation style , a quality presentation starts with a clear roadmap. Browse through Venngage’s template library and select a presentation template that aligns with your content and presentation goals. Here’s a good presentation example template with a logical layout that includes sections for the introduction, main points, supporting information and a conclusion: 

2. Engaging opening

Hook your audience right from the start with an attention-grabbing statement, a fascinating question or maybe even a captivating anecdote. Set the stage for a killer presentation!

The opening moments of your presentation hold immense power – check out these 15 ways to start a presentation to set the stage and captivate your audience.

3. Relevant content

Make sure your content aligns with their interests and needs. Your audience is there for a reason, and that’s to get valuable insights. Avoid fluff and get straight to the point, your audience will be genuinely excited.

4. Effective visual aids

Picture this: a slide with walls of text and tiny charts, yawn! Visual aids should be just that—aiding your presentation. Opt for clear and visually appealing slides, engaging images and informative charts that add value and help reinforce your message.

With Venngage, visualizing data takes no effort at all. You can import data from CSV or Google Sheets seamlessly and create stunning charts, graphs and icon stories effortlessly to showcase your data in a captivating and impactful way.

5. Clear and concise communication

Keep your language simple, and avoid jargon or complicated terms. Communicate your ideas clearly, so your audience can easily grasp and retain the information being conveyed. This can prevent confusion and enhance the overall effectiveness of the message. 

6. Engaging delivery

Spice up your presentation with a sprinkle of enthusiasm! Maintain eye contact, use expressive gestures and vary your tone of voice to keep your audience glued to the edge of their seats. A touch of charisma goes a long way!

7. Interaction and audience engagement

Turn your presentation into an interactive experience — encourage questions, foster discussions and maybe even throw in a fun activity. Engaged audiences are more likely to remember and embrace your message.

Transform your slides into an interactive presentation with Venngage’s dynamic features like pop-ups, clickable icons and animated elements. Engage your audience with interactive content that lets them explore and interact with your presentation for a truly immersive experience.

8. Effective storytelling

Who doesn’t love a good story? Weaving relevant anecdotes, case studies or even a personal story into your presentation can captivate your audience and create a lasting impact. Stories build connections and make your message memorable.

A great presentation background is also essential as it sets the tone, creates visual interest and reinforces your message. Enhance the overall aesthetics of your presentation with these 15 presentation background examples and captivate your audience’s attention.

9. Well-timed pacing

Pace your presentation thoughtfully with well-designed presentation slides, neither rushing through nor dragging it out. Respect your audience’s time and ensure you cover all the essential points without losing their interest.

10. Strong conclusion

Last impressions linger! Summarize your main points and leave your audience with a clear takeaway. End your presentation with a bang , a call to action or an inspiring thought that resonates long after the conclusion.

In-person presentations aside, acing a virtual presentation is of paramount importance in today’s digital world. Check out this guide to learn how you can adapt your in-person presentations into virtual presentations . 

Preparing an effective presentation starts with laying a strong foundation that goes beyond just creating slides and notes. One of the quickest and best ways to make a presentation would be with the help of a good presentation software . 

Otherwise, let me walk you to how to prepare for a presentation step by step and unlock the secrets of crafting a professional presentation that sets you apart.

1. Understand the audience and their needs

Before you dive into preparing your masterpiece, take a moment to get to know your target audience. Tailor your presentation to meet their needs and expectations , and you’ll have them hooked from the start!

2. Conduct thorough research on the topic

Time to hit the books (or the internet)! Don’t skimp on the research with your presentation materials — dive deep into the subject matter and gather valuable insights . The more you know, the more confident you’ll feel in delivering your presentation.

3. Organize the content with a clear structure

No one wants to stumble through a chaotic mess of information. Outline your presentation with a clear and logical flow. Start with a captivating introduction, follow up with main points that build on each other and wrap it up with a powerful conclusion that leaves a lasting impression.

Delivering an effective business presentation hinges on captivating your audience, and Venngage’s professionally designed business presentation templates are tailor-made for this purpose. With thoughtfully structured layouts, these templates enhance your message’s clarity and coherence, ensuring a memorable and engaging experience for your audience members.

Don’t want to build your presentation layout from scratch? pick from these 5 foolproof presentation layout ideas that won’t go wrong. 

4. Develop visually appealing and supportive visual aids

Spice up your presentation with eye-catching visuals! Create slides that complement your message, not overshadow it. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, but that doesn’t mean you need to overload your slides with text.

Well-chosen designs create a cohesive and professional look, capturing your audience’s attention and enhancing the overall effectiveness of your message. Here’s a list of carefully curated PowerPoint presentation templates and great background graphics that will significantly influence the visual appeal and engagement of your presentation.

5. Practice, practice and practice

Practice makes perfect — rehearse your presentation and arrive early to your presentation to help overcome stage fright. Familiarity with your material will boost your presentation skills and help you handle curveballs with ease.

6. Seek feedback and make necessary adjustments

Don’t be afraid to ask for help and seek feedback from friends and colleagues. Constructive criticism can help you identify blind spots and fine-tune your presentation to perfection.

With Venngage’s real-time collaboration feature , receiving feedback and editing your presentation is a seamless process. Group members can access and work on the presentation simultaneously and edit content side by side in real-time. Changes will be reflected immediately to the entire team, promoting seamless teamwork.

7. Prepare for potential technical or logistical issues

Prepare for the unexpected by checking your equipment, internet connection and any other potential hiccups. If you’re worried that you’ll miss out on any important points, you could always have note cards prepared. Remember to remain focused and rehearse potential answers to anticipated questions.

8. Fine-tune and polish your presentation

As the big day approaches, give your presentation one last shine. Review your talking points, practice how to present a presentation and make any final tweaks. Deep breaths — you’re on the brink of delivering a successful presentation!

In competitive environments, persuasive presentations set individuals and organizations apart. To brush up on your presentation skills, read these guides on how to make a persuasive presentation and tips to presenting effectively . 

Whether you’re an experienced presenter or a novice, the right techniques will let your presentation skills soar to new heights!

From public speaking hacks to interactive elements and storytelling prowess, these 9 effective presentation techniques will empower you to leave a lasting impression on your audience and make your presentations unforgettable.

1. Confidence and positive body language

Positive body language instantly captivates your audience, making them believe in your message as much as you do. Strengthen your stage presence and own that stage like it’s your second home! Stand tall, shoulders back and exude confidence. 

2. Eye contact with the audience

Break down that invisible barrier and connect with your audience through their eyes. Maintaining eye contact when giving a presentation builds trust and shows that you’re present and engaged with them.

3. Effective use of hand gestures and movement

A little movement goes a long way! Emphasize key points with purposeful gestures and don’t be afraid to walk around the stage. Your energy will be contagious!

4. Utilize storytelling techniques

Weave the magic of storytelling into your presentation. Share relatable anecdotes, inspiring success stories or even personal experiences that tug at the heartstrings of your audience. Adjust your pitch, pace and volume to match the emotions and intensity of the story. Varying your speaking voice adds depth and enhances your stage presence.

5. Incorporate multimedia elements

Spice up your presentation with a dash of visual pizzazz! Use slides, images and video clips to add depth and clarity to your message. Just remember, less is more—don’t overwhelm them with information overload. 

Turn your presentations into an interactive party! Involve your audience with questions, polls or group activities. When they actively participate, they become invested in your presentation’s success. Bring your design to life with animated elements. Venngage allows you to apply animations to icons, images and text to create dynamic and engaging visual content.

6. Utilize humor strategically

Laughter is the best medicine—and a fantastic presentation enhancer! A well-placed joke or lighthearted moment can break the ice and create a warm atmosphere , making your audience more receptive to your message.

7. Practice active listening and respond to feedback

Be attentive to your audience’s reactions and feedback. If they have questions or concerns, address them with genuine interest and respect. Your responsiveness builds rapport and shows that you genuinely care about their experience.

8. Apply the 10-20-30 rule

Apply the 10-20-30 presentation rule and keep it short, sweet and impactful! Stick to ten slides, deliver your presentation within 20 minutes and use a 30-point font to ensure clarity and focus. Less is more, and your audience will thank you for it!

9. Implement the 5-5-5 rule

Simplicity is key. Limit each slide to five bullet points, with only five words per bullet point and allow each slide to remain visible for about five seconds. This rule keeps your presentation concise and prevents information overload.

Simple presentations are more engaging because they are easier to follow. Summarize your presentations and keep them simple with Venngage’s gallery of simple presentation templates and ensure that your message is delivered effectively across your audience.

1. How to start a presentation?

To kick off your presentation effectively, begin with an attention-grabbing statement or a powerful quote. Introduce yourself, establish credibility and clearly state the purpose and relevance of your presentation.

2. How to end a presentation?

For a strong conclusion, summarize your talking points and key takeaways. End with a compelling call to action or a thought-provoking question and remember to thank your audience and invite any final questions or interactions.

3. How to make a presentation interactive?

To make your presentation interactive, encourage questions and discussion throughout your talk. Utilize multimedia elements like videos or images and consider including polls, quizzes or group activities to actively involve your audience.

In need of inspiration for your next presentation? I’ve got your back! Pick from these 120+ presentation ideas, topics and examples to get started. 

Creating a stunning presentation with Venngage is a breeze with our user-friendly drag-and-drop editor and professionally designed templates for all your communication needs. 

Here’s how to make a presentation in just 5 simple steps with the help of Venngage:

Step 1: Sign up for Venngage for free using your email, Gmail or Facebook account or simply log in to access your account. 

Step 2: Pick a design from our selection of free presentation templates (they’re all created by our expert in-house designers).

Step 3: Make the template your own by customizing it to fit your content and branding. With Venngage’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor, you can easily modify text, change colors and adjust the layout to create a unique and eye-catching design.

Step 4: Elevate your presentation by incorporating captivating visuals. You can upload your images or choose from Venngage’s vast library of high-quality photos, icons and illustrations. 

Step 5: Upgrade to a premium or business account to export your presentation in PDF and print it for in-person presentations or share it digitally for free!

By following these five simple steps, you’ll have a professionally designed and visually engaging presentation ready in no time. With Venngage’s user-friendly platform, your presentation is sure to make a lasting impression. So, let your creativity flow and get ready to shine in your next presentation!

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What makes an effective presentation + effective presentation strategies

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Anete Ezera August 15, 2022

Presenting is not everyone’s forte, but it’s an important skill that can help you get a job, get a promotion, influence a decision, persuade a large group, and make people understand your point of view. It’s a powerful way to gain control and make your voice heard. If you do it right, you’ll love presenting. However, if your presentation isn’t engaging or easy to follow, you’ll start seeing people’s attention drift away, and eventually, you’ll want it to be over as soon as possible. 

You’ve probably seen some fascinating presentations and some boring presentations. Could you spot the difference between them? What was it that made the engaging presentations effective? 

In this article, we’ll explore what makes an effective presentation, and what preparation you need to do to make sure that your presentation will be a success. We’ll also pinpoint 4 highly-useful tips on how to give an effective presentation. 

Keep reading to learn how to make an effective presentation. 

What makes a presentation effective

An effective presentation keeps you hooked the whole time, no matter whether you watch it online or in person.  There are multiple examples of effective presentations that people have enjoyed listening to. For example, the introduction of the iPhone by Steve Jobs remains one of the most influential speeches. Tony Robbins, an American author, inspired millions of people with his presentation on The Power of Beliefs. If you go through TED talks, you’ll discover several impressive presentations that have hooked thousands and millions of people. 

What do all these effective presentations have in common? Let’s dive into the effective presentation strategies they all share. 

In the list below, discover 5 key elements that make an effective presentation, and make sure to implement them in your next presentation.

#1 Simplicity

Despite what you might think, simplicity can actually be tied to many powerful and effective presentations. In the words of Leonardo da Vinci, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” 

An effective presentation is simple and to the point. Just because you make a grand presentation with many facts and figures and thought-out details doesn’t make it more effective, nor sophisticated, for that matter. What’s important is that your presentation hits the right points and leaves the audience impressed and persuaded by your message.

You want your presentation to be easy to follow to ensure your audience is engaged from start to finish. To do that, remove anything that doesn’t support your narrative or add substantial value to your presentation. 

When speaking, always focus on your main points and avoid drifting away to other topics or irrelevant details. It’s best not to spend too much time explaining complex theories or terminologies. If you must, give concise, brief summaries of the concepts your audience might not be familiar with, but spend the majority of your presentation focused on the information your audience will have an easier time understanding. Another way to touch on a complex topic is to describe it from a new angle, one that might unlock new understanding for your audience.  

When creating your presentation, use a minimal amount of text. Don’t overwhelm your audience with blocks of text. Your presentation content should act as a compliment to your speech and shouldn’t contain a lot of text or difficult-to-read elements. Simplify your presentation with clearly-legible fonts and a coordinating color scheme. Also, remember to choose a simple yet appealing background that isn’t too busy and highlights the visual elements of your presentation. 

In short, include strong text and visuals to drive your points home. Leave the unnecessary bits out. 

#2 Well-defined structure

Have you ever gotten lost when listening to a presentation? One of the reasons might be that it didn’t have a well-defined structure. 

A clear structure is crucial for a presentation to be effective. Giving a presentation is like telling a story. You need to have a compelling beginning that pulls in listeners. Once everyone is hooked, provide an interesting storyline with conflict, heroes, villains, and other enriching elements. In the end, you need to give an obvious conclusion, leaving the audience to discuss the main takeaways.

Create an outline of your presentation before creating the content of it. You’ll have a better overview of what you want to share. To organize your thoughts, create a mind map using Prezi Design . It’ll help you structure your points and decide when and how to share them.

Having a clearly-defined structure will help your audience to follow your story and get them on the same page as you. You’ll feel more confident when talking because you’ll know your talking points by heart, and your audience will feel more comfortable and engaged when listening to you.

Visuals enrich your presentation, help reinforce your words, highlight important points, and keep your audience engaged. Visuals are powerful tools. Used wisely, they can elevate your presentation to a whole new level.

Most people are visual learners – 65% to be exact. Therefore, visuals play an important role in understanding a topic. By incorporating visuals into your presentation, your audience will have an easier time digesting the information. 

Furthermore, visual aids make presentations more enjoyable and engaging. Just take a look at the examples below. One slide contains only text-based information, while the other also has visuals. Which one do you find more visually appealing?  

Images, video, data visualizations, GIFs, stickers, and animations make a presentation effective. Showcase images or videos to highlight an important point, or incorporate animations to add movement to your presentation. You can also add data visualizations like interactive charts and maps to illustrate essential statistics or valuable information. Plus, you can use infographics to diversify your presentation content and make it more attractive. 

You can find plenty of engaging visuals, like images, video covers, GIFs, stickers, and more in the Prezi library. Also, you can create impressive data visualizations by choosing a pre-designed template or starting from scratch using Prezi Design. You can even use this pre-designed template below. 

When adding visuals to your presentation, don’t forget the golden rule – simplicity. You can enrich your presentation with funny GIFs and interesting videos, but don’t overdo it. Add them where they’ll make the most impact and make sense to your audience. 

#4 Connection with the audience

When giving a presentation, you want your audience to connect with you, and you want to connect with them. Ultimately, you want to feel like you’re having a conversation with your friends. 

Creating a connection can be difficult, especially if you’re presenting online. However, you have to find a way to cultivate a bond to make your audience genuinely interested in what you’re presenting. 

One way to do that is by sharing a personal story at the beginning of your presentation to create a more intimate atmosphere in the room. Share something you’ve struggled with or a common problem your audience members can relate to, or tell a fascinating story that reveals your values and experiences. An anecdote your audience will find amusing would also work, just as long as it relates to your topic. 

Storytelling is a powerful way to connect with your audience from the get-go, so think about incorporating a story element into your presentation to generate this connection. 

Making eye contact with your audience members when presenting is key. If you’re presenting to a small group of people, it’s easy, but if you’re presenting to a wider audience, choose a couple of people to make eye contact with. 

When presenting online, make sure to always remain visible to your audience, so avoid sharing your screen and blocking yourself from viewing. Instead, try Prezi Video and display your content next to you on screen while you maintain a face-to-face connection with your audience. People will feel more connected to you and your presentation if they’ll be able to see you while you’re presenting. Discover what Prezi Video has to offer:

#5 Preparation

Being prepared is the key to presentation success . If you practice something long enough, you’ll be able to master it. Therefore, preparation is one of the most important aspects of an effective presentation. It’s what truly makes an effective presentation and empowers you to be the best speaker you can be. 

You might think that public speaking is not your strong suit, but with dedicated preparation and time invested in improving your public speaking skills, you can impress yourself. 

When practicing your presentation, create a mind map to help you memorize the key points, but don’t stop there. Plan out how you’re going to start and end your presentation . Think about which statement or statistic you want to share to start your presentation speech. Also, decide what’s going to be the last statement or question of your speech. The details matter. 

What’s more, consider the technical requirements and familiarize yourself with the equipment. Whether you’re presenting in a familiar setting or someplace new, become acquainted with the equipment and the surroundings. If you’re presenting online, test-run your slides and visuals, especially if you’re planning to share video or audio materials.

How to give an effective presentation

Now that you know what makes an effective presentation, you might be wondering how to apply them. A stunning presentation will make a killer impression only if you deliver it right. Make sure to follow these effective presentation strategies to give a memorable presentation. 

Stay calm and focused

Sometimes, nerves can get the best of you. Your hands get sweaty, your breath shortens, and your heart starts pounding. If you’re not a fan of public speaking, this is how you might feel about presenting in front of an audience. 

Don’t panic. There’s a way to calm your nerves and appear collected in front of your audience. The last thing you want is for people in the audience to notice your nervousness and for you to mess up because of it. 

Try practicing in front of your friends to get acquainted with speaking in front of people. Also, focus on your topic and shut down intrusive thoughts. If you’re focused on the topic, you’ll have less time to think about other people’s thoughts. Lastly, try breathing exercises to calm down right before presenting, and remember that it’s normal to feel nervous – it means you care. Discover other ways to not be nervous for a presentation.  

Read the room

You have mapped out the whole presentation. However, you can never truly know how your audience will feel and react. They might surprise you. 

When presenting, try to notice how your audience responds to what you’re sharing. Before presenting, if you’re on stage or in a meeting room, you might already get a chance to scan the room or even say hi to some people. Read the room to familiarize yourself with the audience. 

Make your presentation a conversation instead of a monologue, if applicable. Ensure that your audience feels comfortable and understood. If you’re presenting online, use the chat function, and ask people to send in their questions. There’s a higher chance they’ll ask a question if they don’t have to be in the spotlight and ask on camera.

Be aware of your body language

Body language can say a lot about how a person feels, and whether or not theyre confident and comfortable. Body language can influence other people’s connection with you. If you’re talking to a person with inviting body language (for instance, a friendly smile, open posture, or eye contact), you might feel closer to them. 

That’s why you need to work on your body language to appear confident and approachable when presenting. You’ll be able to develop a close connection with your audience and appear trustworthy and friendly. 

Make sure you greet your audience with a smile and keep eye contact. Have an open posture and use hand gestures to articulate your thoughts (without overdoing them). If you’re on stage, you can even walk around the stage to develop command of the room.

Choose easy-to-use tools

When delivering your presentation, you want to look and feel confident. Technical mishaps and confusing presentation tools can pose an issue. Make sure you use convenient, good-looking presentation tools that make your presentation look professional and engaging. 

If you’re presenting in a virtual setting, it can be challenging to hold your audience’s attention, and there’s a higher chance of technical issues. 

To engage your audience and create an easy-to-use presentation, check out Prezi Present . You can save time by choosing a pre-designed presentation template or creating a unique-looking presentation from scratch. With Prezi Video, share your content next to you on-screen, which will help you engage your audience throughout your presentation. 

Before presenting, you can go through your slides and even record yourself with Prezi Video to test-run your presentation. As a result, you’ll feel prepared and confident. 

There’s a lot that goes into creating and delivering an impressive presentation. However, a few key elements make the greatest impact on your presentation. Follow these points and check out 14 effective presentation tips to further improve your presentations. Also, if you’re presenting online, familiarize yourself with the virtual presentation framework by Micheal Lee to impress your virtual audience. 

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Powerful and Effective Presentation Skills: More in Demand Now Than Ever

When we talk with our L&D colleagues from around the globe, we often hear that presentation skills training is one of the top opportunities they’re looking to provide their learners. And this holds true whether their learners are individual contributors, people managers, or senior leaders. This is not surprising.

Effective communications skills are a powerful career activator, and most of us are called upon to communicate in some type of formal presentation mode at some point along the way.

For instance, you might be asked to brief management on market research results, walk your team through a new process, lay out the new budget, or explain a new product to a client or prospect. Or you may want to build support for a new idea, bring a new employee into the fold, or even just present your achievements to your manager during your performance review.

And now, with so many employees working from home or in hybrid mode, and business travel in decline, there’s a growing need to find new ways to make effective presentations when the audience may be fully virtual or a combination of in person and remote attendees.

Whether you’re making a standup presentation to a large live audience, or a sit-down one-on-one, whether you’re delivering your presentation face to face or virtually, solid presentation skills matter.

Even the most seasoned and accomplished presenters may need to fine-tune or update their skills. Expectations have changed over the last decade or so. Yesterday’s PowerPoint which primarily relied on bulleted points, broken up by the occasional clip-art image, won’t cut it with today’s audience.

The digital revolution has revolutionized the way people want to receive information. People expect presentations that are more visually interesting. They expect to see data, metrics that support assertions. And now, with so many previously in-person meetings occurring virtually, there’s an entirely new level of technical preparedness required.

The leadership development tools and the individual learning opportunities you’re providing should include presentation skills training that covers both the evergreen fundamentals and the up-to-date capabilities that can make or break a presentation.

So, just what should be included in solid presentation skills training? Here’s what I think.

The fundamentals will always apply When it comes to making a powerful and effective presentation, the fundamentals will always apply. You need to understand your objective. Is it strictly to convey information, so that your audience’s knowledge is increased? Is it to persuade your audience to take some action? Is it to convince people to support your idea? Once you understand what your objective is, you need to define your central message. There may be a lot of things you want to share with your audience during your presentation, but find – and stick with – the core, the most important point you want them to walk away with. And make sure that your message is clear and compelling.

You also need to tailor your presentation to your audience. Who are they and what might they be expecting? Say you’re giving a product pitch to a client. A technical team may be interested in a lot of nitty-gritty product detail. The business side will no doubt be more interested in what returns they can expect on their investment.

Another consideration is the setting: is this a formal presentation to a large audience with questions reserved for the end, or a presentation in a smaller setting where there’s the possibility for conversation throughout? Is your presentation virtual or in-person? To be delivered individually or as a group? What time of the day will you be speaking? Will there be others speaking before you and might that impact how your message will be received?

Once these fundamentals are established, you’re in building mode. What are the specific points you want to share that will help you best meet your objective and get across your core message? Now figure out how to convey those points in the clearest, most straightforward, and succinct way. This doesn’t mean that your presentation has to be a series of clipped bullet points. No one wants to sit through a presentation in which the presenter reads through what’s on the slide. You can get your points across using stories, fact, diagrams, videos, props, and other types of media.

Visual design matters While you don’t want to clutter up your presentation with too many visual elements that don’t serve your objective and can be distracting, using a variety of visual formats to convey your core message will make your presentation more memorable than slides filled with text. A couple of tips: avoid images that are cliched and overdone. Be careful not to mix up too many different types of images. If you’re using photos, stick with photos. If you’re using drawn images, keep the style consistent. When data are presented, stay consistent with colors and fonts from one type of chart to the next. Keep things clear and simple, using data to support key points without overwhelming your audience with too much information. And don’t assume that your audience is composed of statisticians (unless, of course, it is).

When presenting qualitative data, brief videos provide a way to engage your audience and create emotional connection and impact. Word clouds are another way to get qualitative data across.

Practice makes perfect You’ve pulled together a perfect presentation. But it likely won’t be perfect unless it’s well delivered. So don’t forget to practice your presentation ahead of time. Pro tip: record yourself as you practice out loud. This will force you to think through what you’re going to say for each element of your presentation. And watching your recording will help you identify your mistakes—such as fidgeting, using too many fillers (such as “umm,” or “like”), or speaking too fast.

A key element of your preparation should involve anticipating any technical difficulties. If you’ve embedded videos, make sure they work. If you’re presenting virtually, make sure that the lighting is good, and that your speaker and camera are working. Whether presenting in person or virtually, get there early enough to work out any technical glitches before your presentation is scheduled to begin. Few things are a bigger audience turn-off than sitting there watching the presenter struggle with the delivery mechanisms!

Finally, be kind to yourself. Despite thorough preparation and practice, sometimes, things go wrong, and you need to recover in the moment, adapt, and carry on. It’s unlikely that you’ll have caused any lasting damage and the important thing is to learn from your experience, so your next presentation is stronger.

How are you providing presentation skills training for your learners?

Manika Gandhi is Senior Learning Design Manager at Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. Email her at [email protected] .

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How to make a great presentation

Stressed about an upcoming presentation? These talks are full of helpful tips on how to get up in front of an audience and make a lasting impression.

The secret structure of great talks

The beauty of data visualization

TED's secret to great public speaking

How to speak so that people want to listen

How great leaders inspire action

What Are the Elements of a Powerful Presentation?

You worked so hard designing your slide deck— or maybe not as hard if you used Beautiful.ai— and you most certainly want your audience to receive your message. How frustrating would it be if instead, people walked away from your presentation without following, understanding or remembering anything you had to say?

Want to ensure you design a stellar presentation that is effective, engaging and memorable? Sure, there are some elements common to all visual presentations… but we won’t bore you with instructions for designing another frankendeck . Check out the following 16 elements of powerful presentations:

1. Engaging icebreakers

Start on an engaging foot and break the ice with your audience through a brief activity. You could ask a fun icebreaker question such as, “What movie most closely resembles your life?” or, “What vegetable would you be?” and encourage conversation. Or, you could conduct a short quiz or poll related to your presentation topic. 

Another way to break the ice with your audience is by playing a short and simple icebreaker game like, “Have you ever?” or “Two truths and a lie,” playing with either your entire audience or smaller groups seated together.

2. Visual storytelling

Humans are social creatures, and our brains respond to stories more than facts alone. Mankind has used storytelling to pass its wisdom and lessons to future generations since the days of painting cave walls. At the same time, we also respond to visual information— the largest parts of our brains are dedicated to visual stimuli, after all. 

Combine the two concepts, and the resulting visual storytelling is one of the most effective ways to attract an engaged audience that remembers your message long after your presentation ends. Visual storytelling elements like photos, video and infographics more effectively tell your story leaps and bounds than the spoken word and text alone.

3. Eye-catching images

Just as visual storytelling makes for an engaging and memorable presentation , eye-catching images are ideal for attracting, retaining and refocusing audience attention. Look for images with bright and bold colors, interesting angles or exciting subjects, and your audience members’ eyes will stay glued to the screen.

4. Data visualizations

By including statistics, facts and other data in the elements of a good presentation, you provide your audience with the evidence it needs to trust your message— if you can give the data meaning. Designing slides with too much text and too many numbers is a good way to put your audience to sleep. 

Data visualizations , however, tell the data’s story. Present your data through elements like bar graphs, pie charts or pictograms. Beautiful.ai users can include all sorts of engaging infographics in their presentations with ease. Just input the data and watch as artificial intelligence designs the perfect infographic to illustrate it.

5. Animations

Eyes are attracted to movement. It’s why video is increasingly surpassing text in popularity for receiving information. You can add movement and draw your audience’s eyes back to your presentation by animating your slides. One of the simplest animations to add are the transitions between slides, but Beautiful.ai users can even animate their infographics and add motion to various elements of individual slides.

6. Simplicity

If you present slides that are overcrowded or cluttered, nobody is going to want to look at them for very long. Not only that, but your audience probably can’t digest that much information from a single view. Keep your slides simple and tidy. It’s better to add more slides than to add too many elements to each. 

Beautiful.ai users need not fear poorly designed slides. Every time new content is added, artificial intelligence adjusts the layout of the slide based on principles of great design recommended by the pros.

Music isn’t one of the more common elements of presentations, but it should be. After all, listening to music engages practically every neural subsystem. According to Johns Hopkins research , however, music embedded throughout a visual presentation “can sustain attention, while slipping the content into long-term memory.” 

Dr. Ronald Berk, now an author and keynote speaker, says even background music, “can increase attention levels, improve retention and memory, extend focused learning time and expand thinking skills.”

Video is another effective element of presentations that attracts your audience’s attention and interest. Video elements can capture expert feedback if they can’t appear in person, illustrate activities that a still photo just can’t capture, demonstrate how products are used and, of course, add eye-catching movement to a slide deck.

10. Audience immersion

What better way to capture an audience’s attention than by making them a part of the show? Audience interaction is an extremely effective element of a good presentation. 

Invite audience members to get involved with your presentation, whether by inviting a single viewer to participate or by designating smaller groups or teams to interact together. Audience immersion can be achieved through activities like games, challenges, demonstrations or even short skits.

One classic element of a good presentation is the addition of props. Whether you pull out humorous objects that help to illustrate your topic, or design visual aids in addition to your slide deck, the use of props almost always adds some extra pizzazz to an otherwise ordinary presentation.

12. Orderly and cohesive designs

A powerful presentation will include slides designed with order and unity. Every slide in the deck should look like it belongs with all of the others. At the same time, you can select color palettes and typography that support the mood, tone or topic of your presentation. 

Beautiful.ai users easily can ensure their slide decks feature orderly and cohesive designs by customizing a theme or brand style guide for every presentation so that elements like certain fonts, colors, margins and footers automatically are added to every slide. Just add your favorite design elements on a master slide.

13. Clear goals

What do you want your presentation to accomplish? If audiences are receiving your intended message, what does your presentation accomplish? 

Be sure to define goals for your presentation, and only add content to your slide deck that supports those goals. Do you simply want to inform? Or do you want to persuade your audience to share a viewpoint or change a behavior? Determining your objective is a key element of a powerful and effective presentation.

14. Calls to Action

Don’t take any chances that your audience will misinterpret your message or fail to understand the objective of your presentation. Cut straight to the core of your message with a clear call to action. 

To ensure your call-to-action is effective, be sure to start with a strong commanding verb, use words that insight emotion or enthusiasm and provide your audience with a reason they should take the suggested action.

15. Strong closing slides

All of your hard work designing a powerful slide deck might be for naught if your presentation doesn’t feature a memorable ending . One of the most effective ways to achieve a strong conclusion is by including an end-of-presentation slide. This slide could include a summary, a call-to-action, a joke or an interesting quotation that will leave audiences pondering long after you’ve finished presenting.

16. Hooks and earworms

Interjecting hooks in between key points of a presentation is an effective way to refocus an audience’s attention. Meanwhile, ending a presentation with an earworm can keep people thinking about your topic for hours or days. While they serve different purposes, hooks and earworms are very similar and each can be accomplished by examples such as a funny story, a joke, an insightful quotation, a fun fact or a rhetorical question.

Samantha Pratt Lile

Samantha is an independent journalist, editor, blogger and content manager. Examples of her published work can be found at sites including the Huffington Post, Thrive Global, and Buzzfeed.

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Oral Presentations

Presentation basics, key elements of good presentations.

There are three key elements of good presentations: Content, Organization, Delivery.  Your audience needs interesting and appropriate content in order to pay attention, especially at the start of a presentation.  Logical organization helps retain your audience’s attention – they need to be able to follow your train of thought and predict where you are going with your ideas.  Delivery also is important, as your own engagement with the information helps your audience engage.

Content deals with the substance of your presentation. Your ideas and information should be original and significant.  Use accepted and relevant sources in your research, and reference those sources as needed.  Offer a clear analysis that’s comprehensive and concise at the same time – strive for the right amount of information for your audience’s needs and the allotted presentation time. Make sure that your content is relevant to your audience, so that they understand immediately why they should pay attention to your presentation.

Garr Reynolds, in his book Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery , identifies characteristics of presentation content that create what he calls SUCCES(s): [1]

• Simplicity – reduce information to key points and essential meanings
• Unexpectedness – pose questions, offer interesting statistics, “make the audience aware that they have a gap in their knowledge and then fill that gap”
• Concreteness – use specific language, provide real-life examples
• Credibility – use sources, facts, statistics to back up your content; deliver information confidently; know your information well
• Emotions – engage your audience to feel something about your content
• Stories – use examples and illustrations to create a “story element” to the presentation

Finally, to make your content effective, repeat key information throughout your presentation. A memory research pioneer, German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, found that we forget approximately 50 percent of new information within 18 minutes, with retention falling to 35 percent after a week. However, Ebbinghaus also discovered that repetition of the new information at key intervals can change this trajectory, a discovery known as the spacing effect. The lesson for presenters: work repetition into your presentation content.

Organization

Good organization requires a clear beginning, middle, and end. Link your ideas logically throughout the presentation to lead to an ending that resolves the problem or summarizes the situation you presented at the start. If you’re presenting based on a formal report or proposal, you may want to follow the order of the longer written document, but you don’t have to; as long as you include main ideas, it’s up to you to determine your presentation’s organization based on your audience and purpose. Strive for clear transitions between individual points, slides, and topics.

Delivery involves a range of factors from body language and word choice to vocal variety. A good presenter has a passion for the subject and an ability to convey and perhaps elicit that emotion in the audience. Audience engagement through eye contact, facial expression, gestures, and/or vocal tone contributes to an effective presentation. Delivery also deals with the confidence and professionalism with which you deliver the presentation.  Hesitations, “ums,” and other types of vocal fumbling will distract your audience, while a clear, confident presentation helps to engage them.

Content, organization, and delivery work together and are equally important aspects of presentations.

The following two videos provide basic tips for creating effective presentations in terms of content, organization, and delivery.  As you view them, consider their similarity of information and dissimilarity in presentation style. What can you infer about the presenter and intended audience of each presentation?  Which video resonates more fully with you personally, and why?  In terms of conveying information to a general audience, which video do you think is most effective, and why?

Planning Presentations

As you can see based on the video examples, presentations always require a situational analysis in the planning stage.  Identify your audience, purpose, context, and all of the communication variables that you need to consider in order to make choices that will result in an effective presentation for your purpose and audience. For example, your purpose – the one, main idea that you want to convey through your presentation – can influence your content, organization, delivery, and overall approach.  Identifying your audience can help you with what may be the most critical aspect of your presentation, making your information relevant to your audience.  Analyzing communication variables for your presentation also will help you determine if you need supplemental materials or handouts, how to arrange a room for an in-person presentation, how best to structure a virtual presentation, and more.

Even if you are creating a presentation based on a formal report or proposal for which you have already done a situational analysis, do another situational analysis for your presentation, as your audience, organization, language, and overall approach may differ based on the different communication mode.

Planning Online Presentations

In addition to doing a situational analysis, online presentations may require some additional planning time in terms of how you present information.  A real-time, in-person audience may pay attention to your presentation simply because you are present, and you may be able to adapt your presentation to audience reaction.  However, it’s more difficult to capture the attention of a virtual audience, either real-time or asynchronous, so online presentations need to be thought through very deliberately in terms of their content, organization, look, and approach.

The following video, while written for online instructors, nonetheless offers important points to consider for any type of virtual, online presentation.

Understanding Presentation Audiences

Audiences are egocentric, meaning that they operate under the principle of WIIFM: what’s in it for them. Don’t expect your audience to meet you where you are; meet them where they are and then take them where you want to go together. According to Lucas, audiences “pay closest attention to messages that affect their own values, beliefs, and well being. Listeners approach speeches with one question uppermost in mind: ‘Why is this important to me?’ … What do these psychological principles mean to you as a speaker?  First, they mean that your listeners will hear and judge what you say on the basis of what they already know and believe.  Second, they mean you must relate your message to your listeners–show how it pertains to them, explain why they should care about it as much as you do.” [2]

Also, audiences have relatively short attention spans, and often decide whether or not to give you their attention within the first minute or so of a presentation. Various research studies indicate a five – twenty minute attention span for any type of presentation (note that results of studies vary). An article titled “ Neuroscience Proves You Should Follow TED’s 18-Minute Rule to Win Your Pitch ” discusses the concept of “cognitve backlog,” or the idea that the more information you provide, the more information your audience will tune out and not remember. [3]

These audience characteristics lay the groundwork for presentation strategies identified in the videos, strategies such as starting with and continuing a story, engaging attention with an interesting statistic, and more.  The point to remember is that you need to make conscious, reasoned decisions about ways to engage your audience.  Keeping audience attention span and egocentrism in mind, strive for the following presentation basics:

• Conciseness
• Connection with audience

Expectations for Presentations

The 10/20/30 rule, generally attributed to venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki, is a good guideline to help you achieve a “just right” balance in your presentations. Geared for entrepreneurs pitching their business, his advice is a discipline that would improve the quality—and, effectiveness—of most presentations. In brief, 10/20/30 translates to a maximum of 10 slides, a maximum of 20 minutes and a minimum of 30 point font. [4]

While this rule is a good starting point, it does not overrule your audience analysis or understanding of your purpose. Sometimes, you may need more slides or have a more involved purpose—like training people in new software or presenting the results of a research study—that takes more than 30 minutes to address. In that case, go with what your audience needs and what will make your presentation most effective. The concept behind the 10/20/30 rule—to make new learning easy for your audience to take in, process and remember—should still be your guide even if you don’t follow the rule exactly.

One last way to gauge presentations is to consider most audiences’ expectations for good presentations:

• main ideas are compelling and relevant
• information is organized with a clear beginning, middle, and end; audience can follow where the ideas are leading
• delivery shows the presenter’s enthusiasm and engagement
• visuals apply good design practices
• presentation length is appropriate for audience, purpose, and context

The following video summarizes characteristics that create effective presentations.

[1] Reynolds, Garr. (2012) Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery. 2nd ed. New Riders, Pearson Education. Information from pages 78- 81. http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780321811981/samplepages/0321811984.pdf

[2] Lucas, Stephen E. (2020) The Art of Public Speaking (13th edition).

[3]  Gallo, Carmine. “Neuroscience  Proves You Should Follow TED’s 18-Minute Rule to Win Your Pitch.”   Inc. ,  https://www.inc.com/theupsstore/small-biz-ings.html

[4] Kawasaki, Guy.  The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint . December 2005.  ↵

• Presentation Basics, original material and material adapted from Business Communication Skills for Managers, see attributions below. Authored by : Susan Oaks. Project : Communications for Professionals. License : CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial
• Making a Presentation for a Meeting. Authored by : Nina Burokas. Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-businesscommunicationmgrs/chapter/making-a-presentation-for-a-meeting/ . Project : Business Communication Skills for Managers. License : CC BY: Attribution
• image of professional making a presentation. Authored by : rawpixel. Provided by : Pixabay. Located at : https://pixabay.com/photos/agreement-brainstorming-business-3408113/ . License : CC0: No Rights Reserved
• video Create an Effective Business Presentation. Authored by : Nick Morgan. Provided by : Harvard Business Review. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTRt0zkD73M . License : Other . License Terms : YouTube video
• video How to Give a Great Presentation - 7 Presentation Skills and Tips to Leave an Impression. Provided by : Practical Psychology. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnIPpUiTcRc . License : Other . License Terms : YouTube video
• video Teaching Tip: Designing Online Lectures and Recorded Presentations. Authored by : Greg Steinke and Jill Zimmerman. Provided by : CCAPS Teaching Tips, University of Minnesota. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCAaRZJFJAU . License : Other . License Terms : YouTube video
• image of businesswoman presenting to an audience. Authored by : rawpixel. Provided by : Pixabay. Located at : https://pixabay.com/photos/analyzing-audience-board-3565815/ . License : CC0: No Rights Reserved
• Visual Aids. Authored by : Nina Burokas. Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-businesscommunicationmgrs/chapter/visual-aids/ . Project : Business Communication Skills for Managers. License : CC BY: Attribution
• video Five Simple Rules for Creating World Changing Presentations. Authored by : Nancy Duarte. Provided by : Duarte Inc.. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT9GGmundag . License : Other . License Terms : YouTube video

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• PRESENTATION SKILLS

What is a Presentation?

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The formal presentation of information is divided into two broad categories: Presentation Skills and Personal Presentation .

These two aspects are interwoven and can be described as the preparation, presentation and practice of verbal and non-verbal communication. 

This article describes what a presentation is and defines some of the key terms associated with presentation skills.

Many people feel terrified when asked to make their first public talk.  Some of these initial fears can be reduced by good preparation that also lays the groundwork for making an effective presentation.

A Presentation Is...

A presentation is a means of communication that can be adapted to various speaking situations, such as talking to a group, addressing a meeting or briefing a team.

A presentation can also be used as a broad term that encompasses other ‘speaking engagements’ such as making a speech at a wedding, or getting a point across in a video conference.

To be effective, step-by-step preparation and the method and means of presenting the information should be carefully considered. 

A presentation requires you to get a message across to the listeners and will often contain a ' persuasive ' element. It may, for example, be a talk about the positive work of your organisation, what you could offer an employer, or why you should receive additional funding for a project.

The Key Elements of a Presentation

Making a presentation is a way of communicating your thoughts and ideas to an audience and many of our articles on communication are also relevant here, see: What is Communication? for more.

Consider the following key components of a presentation:

Ask yourself the following questions to develop a full understanding of the context of the presentation.

When and where will you deliver your presentation?

There is a world of difference between a small room with natural light and an informal setting, and a huge lecture room, lit with stage lights. The two require quite different presentations, and different techniques.

Will it be in a setting you are familiar with, or somewhere new?

If somewhere new, it would be worth trying to visit it in advance, or at least arriving early, to familiarise yourself with the room.

Will the presentation be within a formal or less formal setting?

A work setting will, more or less by definition, be more formal, but there are also various degrees of formality within that.

Will the presentation be to a small group or a large crowd?

Are you already familiar with the audience?

With a new audience, you will have to build rapport quickly and effectively, to get them on your side.

What equipment and technology will be available to you, and what will you be expected to use?

In particular, you will need to ask about microphones and whether you will be expected to stand in one place, or move around.

What is the audience expecting to learn from you and your presentation?

Check how you will be ‘billed’ to give you clues as to what information needs to be included in your presentation.

All these aspects will change the presentation. For more on this, see our page on Deciding the Presentation Method .

The role of the presenter is to communicate with the audience and control the presentation.

Remember, though, that this may also include handing over the control to your audience, especially if you want some kind of interaction.

You may wish to have a look at our page on Facilitation Skills for more.

The audience receives the presenter’s message(s).

However, this reception will be filtered through and affected by such things as the listener’s own experience, knowledge and personal sense of values.

See our page: Barriers to Effective Communication to learn why communication can fail.

The message or messages are delivered by the presenter to the audience.

The message is delivered not just by the spoken word ( verbal communication ) but can be augmented by techniques such as voice projection, body language, gestures, eye contact ( non-verbal communication ), and visual aids.

The message will also be affected by the audience’s expectations. For example, if you have been billed as speaking on one particular topic, and you choose to speak on another, the audience is unlikely to take your message on board even if you present very well . They will judge your presentation a failure, because you have not met their expectations.

The audience’s reaction and therefore the success of the presentation will largely depend upon whether you, as presenter, effectively communicated your message, and whether it met their expectations.

As a presenter, you don’t control the audience’s expectations. What you can do is find out what they have been told about you by the conference organisers, and what they are expecting to hear. Only if you know that can you be confident of delivering something that will meet expectations.

See our page: Effective Speaking for more information.

How will the presentation be delivered?

Presentations are usually delivered direct to an audience.  However, there may be occasions where they are delivered from a distance over the Internet using video conferencing systems, such as Skype.

It is also important to remember that if your talk is recorded and posted on the internet, then people may be able to access it for several years. This will mean that your contemporaneous references should be kept to a minimum.

Impediments

Many factors can influence the effectiveness of how your message is communicated to the audience.

For example background noise or other distractions, an overly warm or cool room, or the time of day and state of audience alertness can all influence your audience’s level of concentration.

As presenter, you have to be prepared to cope with any such problems and try to keep your audience focussed on your message.   

Our page: Barriers to Communication explains these factors in more depth.

Continue to read through our Presentation Skills articles for an overview of how to prepare and structure a presentation, and how to manage notes and/or illustrations at any speaking event.

Continue to: Preparing for a Presentation Deciding the Presentation Method

See also: Writing Your Presentation | Working with Visual Aids Coping with Presentation Nerves | Dealing with Questions Learn Better Presentation Skills with TED Talks

15 Essential Presentation Techniques for Winning Over Any Audience

• The Speaker Lab
• April 13, 2024

Table of Contents

Ever found yourself standing before an audience, your heart racing? That’s the moment when knowing effective presentation techniques can prove to be your unwavering ally. But what are presentation techniques? And what makes them so powerful? In this article, we’re going to answer those questions.

Before we can talk about presentation techniques, though, we first have to talk about good communication. The power of effective communication isn’t just in what you say. It’s how you say it; it’s in those deep breaths that steady nerves, and in maintaining eye contact. It’s about turning a room full of strangers into an engaged audience hanging onto your every word. When it comes to public speaking, real success comes from mastering non-verbal cues to punctuate our words and using visual aids not as crutches but as tools for engagement.

As you hone your communication skills, you will begin to form effective presentation techniques. Expect rough patches as you get the hang of things, but view them as mere footholds propelling you towards your ultimate triumph. Keep pushing forward.

Mastering Presentation Techniques for Impactful Delivery

Presentation techniques are more than just standing in front of a crowd and talking. They’re about making connections, telling stories that resonate, and leaving your audience with something to remember you by.

Elements of an Effective Presentation

For your presentation to resonate, ensure the visuals are straightforward and supportive, rather than distracting. Your message should be concise yet powerful enough to stick. And let’s not forget engagement; keeping your audience on their toes is key.

• Visuals: Keep them simple but impactful.
• Message: Make every word count.
• Engagement: Interact with your audience, ask questions, make them think.

We’ve all seen those slides crammed with text or charts. When you make your slides, don’t cram information, because nobody wants to squint at tiny fonts or decipher complex graphs while trying to listen to you speak. This resource suggests focusing on clarity and simplicity when designing slides—advice worth taking.

Strategies for Delivering a Successful Presentation

To deliver a knockout presentation, start strong. Grab attention from the get-go with an intriguing fact or story related directly back into the topic at hand. Maintain eye contact across the room so everyone feels included in the conversation. Finally, end on a memorable note, either with a call to action or insight gained during the time together. Leave them wanting more information and eager to learn about the subject matter discussed today.

• The opener: Hook your audience with a relevant fact or anecdote.
• Maintain connection: Eyes up, engage everyone around.
• Closing remarks : Last chance for impact–what’s your mic drop?

As author Lilly Walters once said, “The success of your presentation will be judged not by the knowledge you send but by what the listener receives.” This quote reminds us that the true goal of any speech is the understanding achieved between the speaker and the listeners.

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Engaging Your Audience with Nonverbal Communication

As the name implies, nonverbal communication denotes all of the ways you communicate without using words. This includes eye contact, body language, and facial expressions. Although nonverbal communication might not be the first presentation technique that comes to mind, it’s nevertheless a very powerful tool to have in your arsenal. Let’s take a look.

The Power of Eye Contact, Body Language, and Facial Expressions

Making eye contact isn’t just about looking someone in the eye; it’s about forging a connection. Aim for brief moments of eye contact across different sections of your audience throughout your presentation. Establishing fleeting eye connections across diverse audience segments fosters a sense of trust and keeps them hooked, all while ensuring no one feels on edge.

Body language is similarly important. Stand tall with good posture; it exudes confidence even when you feel nervous. As you grow more confident, mix up standing still with moving around subtly. This dynamic shift holds attention better than being rooted to one spot or nervous pacing. Use your hands to gesture naturally as you speak—it adds emphasis and keeps things lively.

If there’s one thing people can spot from miles away, it’s insincerity. So let those facial expressions match your words. Smile when you share something amusing, and furrow your brow when diving into serious stuff. After all, it’s not just what you say but how visually engaged and passionate you appear while saying it that counts.

Tying these elements together helps you deliver impactful, memorable talks. When done right, folks will leave feeling more connected, understood, and fired up by your presentation, all thanks to your techniques.

Designing Compelling Presentation Materials

Knowing how to design engaging presentation materials is one technique you can’t do without. Far from mere embellishments, these implements are crafted to hammer your message home. Hence, it’s vital to select these aids with great care and discernment.

Tips for Creating Effective Slides

When it comes to crafting slides, think of each as a billboard advertisement for your idea. You want it clear, impactful, and memorable.

• Keep it simple : One idea per slide keeps confusion at bay and attention locked in.
• Use bullet points : Break down your points so your audience can track.
• Pick a font size : Generally speaking, bigger is better.
• Use color : Harness colors that pop without blinding anyone; contrast is key.
• Use images with purpose : A good picture or chart can help illustrate your point, but keep it relevant and don’t overdo it.

With a few helpful visuals, your presentation can go from good to great. For more on creating slides, check out this link here .

Handling Questions and Interactions Professionally

For some speakers, it’s not the presentation itself that makes them nervous—it’s the Q&A session that follows. This is the moment where you get to shine or stumble based on how well you handle those curveballs from your audience. If you want to round off your presentation well, you’re going to want to learn a few techniques for fielding these questions. Let’s look at a few ways of doing this.

Preparing for Audience Questions and How to Address Them Effectively

Below are six techniques that will help you address audience questions effectively.

• Listen Up : The first rule of thumb is to listen like it’s a superpower. When someone throws a question at you, don’t just hear them out—really listen. Demonstrating this level of attentiveness not only conveys your respect but also affords you a brief moment to collect your ideas.
• Stay Calm : You’ve got this. Even if a question catches you off guard, take a deep breath before diving into your answer. No one expects perfection, but showing confidence matters.
• Practice Beforehand : Before presentation day arrives, think about potential questions folks might ask and prep some responses in advance. Practice makes perfect, after all.
• Vary Your Techniques : Not every question needs an essay as an answer; sometimes short and sweet does the trick. Mix up how detailed or brief your answers are depending on what’s asked.
• Show You Care : If you ever get a question that leaves you stumped, say so honestly—but add that magical line: “Let me find out more and I’ll get back to you.” Then actually do it.
• Appreciate Audience Curiosity : Remember that the reason you audience is asking questions is because they’re interested. So no matter what questions you get, keep engaging with enthusiasm.

Go forth with confidence, knowing not only can these moments boost credibility—they make connections too. So next time when facing down those queries remember to listen hard, stay calm & always engage warmly. With these techniques under your belt, answering audience questions after your presentation will feel much less daunting.

Techniques for a Memorable and Effective Presentation

No matter what topic you cover in your presentation, you can easily add in a story, and more likely than not you can add a little humor too. Together, these two presentation techniques are perfect for making your speech memorable.

Incorporating Storytelling into Your Presentation

One great technique for making your presentation stick is telling stories. Stories have the power to touch people profoundly, especially when they depict relatable experiences. So, when you’re up there presenting, kick things off with a story that ties into your main message. It could be personal, something from history, or even an anecdote that gets your point across. Stories are not just fluff; they’re the glue of your presentation. They make complex ideas digestible and memorable.

Using Humor to Connect with the Audience

Another great way of engaging your audience is by using humor. But here’s the deal—use humor wisely. Keep it tasteful and tied closely to the content at hand so it enhances rather than detracts from your message.

• Pick universal themes everyone can relate to.
• Avoid anything potentially offensive.
• Tie jokes back to your key points to make them relevant.

If humor isn’t your thing, or you’re worried about your comedic timing, it’s perfectly okay to skip the jokes. Especially if you’re new to public speaking, humor can be hard to nail immediately. But as you grow and hone your presentation techniques, consider stretching yourself a bit. By starting small, you can practice using humor to connect with your audience. That is your goal, after all—to leave a positive, memorable impression on your audience.

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Overcoming Public Speaking Anxiety

For some speakers, stepping in front of a crowd to speak causes immediate anxiety. But fear not! Conquering public speaking anxiety is entirely within your grasp.

Techniques to Manage Stage Fright and Boost Confidence

First off, feeling nervous before taking the stage is completely normal. Even Mark Twain admitted, “There are two types of speakers. Those who get nervous and those who are liars.” So take that flutter in your stomach as a sign you care deeply about delivering value to your audience. In addition, consider the following tips as you prepare to hit the stage.

• Breathe Deep: Before stepping up, take some deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Feel every muscle relax with each exhale.
• Mind Over Matter: Visualization is key. Picture yourself nailing that presentation, because if you can see it, you can achieve it.
• Keep It Simple: Stick to what you know best; this isn’t the time for surprises or untested waters.
• Pace Yourself: Speak slowly but surely—there’s no rush here.

Believe it or not, acting relaxed often leads to actually being relaxed. Remember when we said mind over matter? Well, it applies here big time. The power pose backstage might just be what turns those nerves into excitement.

So next time you feel stage fright coming on, fight back with these techniques. With these tricks up your sleeve, you’re more than ready. So go ahead, breathe deep, and step onto that stage. You’ve got this.

Using Different Presentation Methods to Engage Your Audience

While learning styles is “ little more than urban myth ,” presenting your material in a variety of ways is a great technique for engaging your audience. By switching it up, you increase your chances of explaining something in a way that clicks with individual audience members. This is especially helpful for more complex topics that might be hard to grasp.

There are three main ways of presenting your material to your audience: through visuals, audio, and hands-on activities.

• Visuals: Use slides packed with images, graphs, and bullet points.
• Audio: Tell stories, play audio clips or engage in discussions.
• Hands-on Activities: Include activities or demonstrations that allow audience members to participate physically.

Making sure everyone gets something from your presentation means considering these techniques when planning content. Not only can incorporating various methods increase audience engagement, but it can also elevate your presentation from decent to memorable.

Essential Tips for First-Time Presenters

Stepping onto the stage or logging into that webinar platform as a first-time presenter can feel nerve-wracking. But fear not! With these tips on how to dress appropriately, arrive early, and make your presentation shine, you’ll be ready to confidently nail that presentation.

Dress Appropriately

Your outfit is your armor. Choose something professional yet comfortable. Whether it’s in-person or online, dressing one notch above what you expect your audience to wear usually hits the sweet spot. Aim for solid colors that won’t distract your audience.

Arriving Early

If possible, arrive at the venue before your audience does. This gives you time to settle in, test any tech gear like microphones or projectors, and take those deep breaths. This extra time also lets you chat with early birds. By connecting with people before taking center stage, you can ease nerves significantly.

Making Presentation Time Count

You only have the audience’s attention for so long. Keep an eye on the clock as you present, but avoid rushing through content. It especially helps to pause after key points, letting information sink in. Your end goal? Leave you’re audience wanting more. You’ll know if you succeeded based on the number of questions you get during the Q&A.

So there you have it—the techniques you need to deliver an engaging presentation. By honing nonverbal communication, like eye contact and posture, you can captivate your audience with your energy. And visual aids? They’re not just ornamental; they help bolster your point and drive it home.

We also learned that tackling audience questions is not an art reserved for the eloquent few but a skill sharpened by preparation and presence. While it takes a little work to nail good storytelling and well-timed humor, the ultimate outcome is worth it.

So while standing before an audience may set your heart racing, know that arming yourself with knowledge and technique can transform not just your presentation, but you yourself. So don’t be afraid to try your hand at these skills; in doing so, you build your own confidence and become a better speaker in the process.

• Last Updated: April 11, 2024

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How to Structure your Presentation, with Examples

August 3, 2018 - Dom Barnard

For many people the thought of delivering a presentation is a daunting task and brings about a  great deal of nerves . However, if you take some time to understand how effective presentations are structured and then apply this structure to your own presentation, you’ll appear much more confident and relaxed.

Here is our complete guide for structuring your presentation, with examples at the end of the article to demonstrate these points.

Why is structuring a presentation so important?

If you’ve ever sat through a great presentation, you’ll have left feeling either inspired or informed on a given topic. This isn’t because the speaker was the most knowledgeable or motivating person in the world. Instead, it’s because they know how to structure presentations – they have crafted their message in a logical and simple way that has allowed the audience can keep up with them and take away key messages.

Research has supported this, with studies showing that audiences retain structured information  40% more accurately  than unstructured information.

In fact, not only is structuring a presentation important for the benefit of the audience’s understanding, it’s also important for you as the speaker. A good structure helps you remain calm, stay on topic, and avoid any awkward silences.

What will affect your presentation structure?

Generally speaking, there is a natural flow that any decent presentation will follow which we will go into shortly. However, you should be aware that all presentation structures will be different in their own unique way and this will be due to a number of factors, including:

• Whether you need to deliver any demonstrations
• How  knowledgeable the audience  already is on the given subject
• How much interaction you want from the audience
• Any time constraints there are for your talk
• What setting you are in
• Your ability to use any kinds of visual assistance

Before choosing the presentation’s structure answer these questions first:

• What is your presentation’s aim?
• Who are the audience?
• What are the main points your audience should remember afterwards?

When reading the points below, think critically about what things may cause your presentation structure to be slightly different. You can add in certain elements and add more focus to certain moments if that works better for your speech.

What is the typical presentation structure?

This is the usual flow of a presentation, which covers all the vital sections and is a good starting point for yours. It allows your audience to easily follow along and sets out a solid structure you can add your content to.

1. Greet the audience and introduce yourself

Before you start delivering your talk, introduce yourself to the audience and clarify who you are and your relevant expertise. This does not need to be long or incredibly detailed, but will help build an immediate relationship between you and the audience. It gives you the chance to briefly clarify your expertise and why you are worth listening to. This will help establish your ethos so the audience will trust you more and think you’re credible.

Read our tips on  How to Start a Presentation Effectively

2. Introduction

In the introduction you need to explain the subject and purpose of your presentation whilst gaining the audience’s interest and confidence. It’s sometimes helpful to think of your introduction as funnel-shaped to help filter down your topic:

• Introduce your general topic
• Explain your topic area
• State the issues/challenges in this area you will be exploring
• State your presentation’s purpose – this is the basis of your presentation so ensure that you provide a statement explaining how the topic will be treated, for example, “I will argue that…” or maybe you will “compare”, “analyse”, “evaluate”, “describe” etc.
• Provide a statement of what you’re hoping the outcome of the presentation will be, for example, “I’m hoping this will be provide you with…”
• Show a preview of the organisation of your presentation

In this section also explain:

• The length of the talk.
• Signal whether you want audience interaction – some presenters prefer the audience to ask questions throughout whereas others allocate a specific section for this.
• If it applies, inform the audience whether to take notes or whether you will be providing handouts.

The way you structure your introduction can depend on the amount of time you have been given to present: a  sales pitch  may consist of a quick presentation so you may begin with your conclusion and then provide the evidence. Conversely, a speaker presenting their idea for change in the world would be better suited to start with the evidence and then conclude what this means for the audience.

Keep in mind that the main aim of the introduction is to grab the audience’s attention and connect with them.

3. The main body of your talk

The main body of your talk needs to meet the promises you made in the introduction. Depending on the nature of your presentation, clearly segment the different topics you will be discussing, and then work your way through them one at a time – it’s important for everything to be organised logically for the audience to fully understand. There are many different ways to organise your main points, such as, by priority, theme, chronologically etc.

• Main points should be addressed one by one with supporting evidence and examples.
• Before moving on to the next point you should provide a mini-summary.
• Links should be clearly stated between ideas and you must make it clear when you’re moving onto the next point.
• Allow time for people to take relevant notes and stick to the topics you have prepared beforehand rather than straying too far off topic.

When planning your presentation write a list of main points you want to make and ask yourself “What I am telling the audience? What should they understand from this?” refining your answers this way will help you produce clear messages.

4. Conclusion

In presentations the conclusion is frequently underdeveloped and lacks purpose which is a shame as it’s the best place to reinforce your messages. Typically, your presentation has a specific goal – that could be to convert a number of the audience members into customers, lead to a certain number of enquiries to make people knowledgeable on specific key points, or to motivate them towards a shared goal.

Regardless of what that goal is, be sure to summarise your main points and their implications. This clarifies the overall purpose of your talk and reinforces your reason for being there.

Follow these steps:

• Signal that it’s nearly the end of your presentation, for example, “As we wrap up/as we wind down the talk…”
• Restate the topic and purpose of your presentation – “In this speech I wanted to compare…”
• Summarise the main points, including their implications and conclusions
• Indicate what is next/a call to action/a thought-provoking takeaway
• Move on to the last section

5. Thank the audience and invite questions

Conclude your talk by thanking the audience for their time and invite them to  ask any questions  they may have. As mentioned earlier, personal circumstances will affect the structure of your presentation.

Many presenters prefer to make the Q&A session the key part of their talk and try to speed through the main body of the presentation. This is totally fine, but it is still best to focus on delivering some sort of initial presentation to set the tone and topics for discussion in the Q&A.

Other common presentation structures

The above was a description of a basic presentation, here are some more specific presentation layouts:

Demonstration

Use the demonstration structure when you have something useful to show. This is usually used when you want to show how a product works. Steve Jobs frequently used this technique in his presentations.

• Explain why the product is valuable.
• Describe why the product is necessary.
• Explain what problems it can solve for the audience.
• Demonstrate the product  to support what you’ve been saying.
• Make suggestions of other things it can do to make the audience curious.

Problem-solution

This structure is particularly useful in persuading the audience.

• Briefly frame the issue.
• Go into the issue in detail showing why it ‘s such a problem. Use logos and pathos for this – the logical and emotional appeals.
• Provide the solution and explain why this would also help the audience.
• Call to action – something you want the audience to do which is straightforward and pertinent to the solution.

Storytelling

As well as incorporating  stories in your presentation , you can organise your whole presentation as a story. There are lots of different type of story structures you can use – a popular choice is the monomyth – the hero’s journey. In a monomyth, a hero goes on a difficult journey or takes on a challenge – they move from the familiar into the unknown. After facing obstacles and ultimately succeeding the hero returns home, transformed and with newfound wisdom.

Storytelling for Business Success  webinar , where well-know storyteller Javier Bernad shares strategies for crafting compelling narratives.

Another popular choice for using a story to structure your presentation is in media ras (in the middle of thing). In this type of story you launch right into the action by providing a snippet/teaser of what’s happening and then you start explaining the events that led to that event. This is engaging because you’re starting your story at the most exciting part which will make the audience curious – they’ll want to know how you got there.

• Great storytelling: Examples from Alibaba Founder, Jack Ma

Remaining method

The remaining method structure is good for situations where you’re presenting your perspective on a controversial topic which has split people’s opinions.

• Go into the issue in detail showing why it’s such a problem – use logos and pathos.
• Rebut your opponents’ solutions  – explain why their solutions could be useful because the audience will see this as fair and will therefore think you’re trustworthy, and then explain why you think these solutions are not valid.
• After you’ve presented all the alternatives provide your solution, the remaining solution. This is very persuasive because it looks like the winning idea, especially with the audience believing that you’re fair and trustworthy.

Transitions

When delivering presentations it’s important for your words and ideas to flow so your audience can understand how everything links together and why it’s all relevant. This can be done  using speech transitions  which are words and phrases that allow you to smoothly move from one point to another so that your speech flows and your presentation is unified.

Transitions can be one word, a phrase or a full sentence – there are many different forms, here are some examples:

Moving from the introduction to the first point

Signify to the audience that you will now begin discussing the first main point:

• Now that you’re aware of the overview, let’s begin with…
• First, let’s begin with…
• I will first cover…
• My first point covers…
• To get started, let’s look at…

Shifting between similar points

Move from one point to a similar one:

• In the same way…
• Likewise…
• Equally…
• This is similar to…
• Similarly…

Internal summaries

Internal summarising consists of summarising before moving on to the next point. You must inform the audience:

• What part of the presentation you covered – “In the first part of this speech we’ve covered…”
• What the key points were – “Precisely how…”
• How this links in with the overall presentation – “So that’s the context…”
• What you’re moving on to – “Now I’d like to move on to the second part of presentation which looks at…”

Physical movement

You can move your body and your standing location when you transition to another point. The audience find it easier to follow your presentation and movement will increase their interest.

A common technique for incorporating movement into your presentation is to:

• Start your introduction by standing in the centre of the stage.
• For your first point you stand on the left side of the stage.
• You discuss your second point from the centre again.
• You stand on the right side of the stage for your third point.
• The conclusion occurs in the centre.

Key slides for your presentation

Slides are a useful tool for most presentations: they can greatly assist in the delivery of your message and help the audience follow along with what you are saying. Key slides include:

• An intro slide outlining your ideas
• A  summary slide  with core points to remember
• High quality image slides to supplement what you are saying

There are some presenters who choose not to use slides at all, though this is more of a rarity. Slides can be a powerful tool if used properly, but the problem is that many fail to do just that. Here are some golden rules to follow when using slides in a presentation:

• Don’t over fill them  – your slides are there to assist your speech, rather than be the focal point. They should have as little information as possible, to avoid distracting people from your talk.
• A picture says a thousand words  – instead of filling a slide with text, instead, focus on one or two images or diagrams to help support and explain the point you are discussing at that time.
• Make them readable  – depending on the size of your audience, some may not be able to see small text or images, so make everything large enough to fill the space.
• Don’t rush through slides  – give the audience enough time to digest each slide.

Guy Kawasaki, an entrepreneur and author, suggests that slideshows should follow a  10-20-30 rule :

• There should be a maximum of 10 slides – people rarely remember more than one concept afterwards so there’s no point overwhelming them with unnecessary information.
• The presentation should last no longer than 20 minutes as this will leave time for questions and discussion.
• The font size should be a minimum of 30pt because the audience reads faster than you talk so less information on the slides means that there is less chance of the audience being distracted.

Here are some additional resources for slide design:

• 7 design tips for effective, beautiful PowerPoint presentations
• 11 design tips for beautiful presentations
• 10 tips on how to make slides that communicate your idea

Group Presentations

Group presentations are structured in the same way as presentations with one speaker but usually require more rehearsal and practices.  Clean transitioning between speakers  is very important in producing a presentation that flows well. One way of doing this consists of:

• Briefly recap on what you covered in your section: “So that was a brief introduction on what health anxiety is and how it can affect somebody”
• Introduce the next speaker in the team and explain what they will discuss: “Now Elnaz will talk about the prevalence of health anxiety.”
• Then end by looking at the next speaker, gesturing towards them and saying their name: “Elnaz”.
• The next speaker should acknowledge this with a quick: “Thank you Joe.”

From this example you can see how the different sections of the presentations link which makes it easier for the audience to follow and remain engaged.

Example of great presentation structure and delivery

Having examples of great presentations will help inspire your own structures, here are a few such examples, each unique and inspiring in their own way.

How Google Works – by Eric Schmidt

This presentation by ex-Google CEO  Eric Schmidt  demonstrates some of the most important lessons he and his team have learnt with regards to working with some of the most talented individuals they hired. The simplistic yet cohesive style of all of the slides is something to be appreciated. They are relatively straightforward, yet add power and clarity to the narrative of the presentation.

Start with why – by Simon Sinek

Since being released in 2009, this presentation has been viewed almost four million times all around the world. The message itself is very powerful, however, it’s not an idea that hasn’t been heard before. What makes this presentation so powerful is the simple message he is getting across, and the straightforward and understandable manner in which he delivers it. Also note that he doesn’t use any slides, just a whiteboard where he creates a simple diagram of his opinion.

The Wisdom of a Third Grade Dropout – by Rick Rigsby

Here’s an example of a presentation given by a relatively unknown individual looking to inspire the next generation of graduates. Rick’s presentation is unique in many ways compared to the two above. Notably, he uses no visual prompts and includes a great deal of humour.

However, what is similar is the structure he uses. He first introduces his message that the wisest man he knew was a third-grade dropout. He then proceeds to deliver his main body of argument, and in the end, concludes with his message. This powerful speech keeps the viewer engaged throughout, through a mixture of heart-warming sentiment, powerful life advice and engaging humour.

As you can see from the examples above, and as it has been expressed throughout, a great presentation structure means analysing the core message of your presentation. Decide on a key message you want to impart the audience with, and then craft an engaging way of delivering it.

By preparing a solid structure, and  practising your talk  beforehand, you can walk into the presentation with confidence and deliver a meaningful message to an interested audience.

It’s important for a presentation to be well-structured so it can have the most impact on your audience. An unstructured presentation can be difficult to follow and even frustrating to listen to. The heart of your speech are your main points supported by evidence and your transitions should assist the movement between points and clarify how everything is linked.

Research suggests that the audience remember the first and last things you say so your introduction and conclusion are vital for reinforcing your points. Essentially, ensure you spend the time structuring your presentation and addressing all of the sections.

• Uncategorized

Elements of an Effective Presentation

• By: Presentation Mentor

Effectiveness is defined as the degree to which you are able to reach a desired outcome. When it comes to presentations we must become masters of effectiveness, because in the words of Eminem “you only get one shot.” As funny as it may sound to say those words out loud, they really do ring true when it comes to presentations.

According to a study  completed by Maureen Murphy at University of North Texas the ideal length of an effective presentation is just 20 minutes. Maureen Murphy tested this idea in an experiment. She had adults attending a 60-minute presentation at work and tested to see the difference in memory and reaction to the same talk given in one 60-minute-long presentation, versus a presentation that had 20-minute segments with short breaks in between. What Dr. Murphy found was that the people enjoyed the 20-minute chunked presentations more, learned more information immediately after, and retained more information a month later.

What that means for us as presenters is that we only have 20 minutes at a time to capitalize on our audience, we better make it the most effective 20 minutes we can. If we want to master effectiveness there are three elements every presentation must contain.

Start with an engaging opener. According to Princeton psychologists Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov found  that all it takes is a fraction of a second for a person to make a first impression judgement about a stranger, they also found that longer exposure does not necessarily result in a change of that impression. I know that may be a startling statistic, but it is important that we understand the first few minutes of our presentation are vital.

As presenters we must use our opening minutes to build rapport with our audience, connect with their emotions, and humanize ourselves. It is also important to remember to smile. If people are making a judgement about us in the first few seconds we want our body language to communicate warmth, not nerves, or anxiety. Because remember it takes a lot of work to unravel a bad first impression.

Use inspiring stories the illustrate our content. At Ethos3 we have talked a lot about the importance of stories. We have shared statistics, like stories result in a 26% increase in information retention. However, if we want to be effective in our presentations just telling stories is not enough. Our stories must illustrate our content. It is not enough to have our audience laughing and connecting with us on a human level if we never bring the story back around to the point.

I see this mistake often in young presenters. They tell a great story, they draw the audience in to the moment, and then they move on to their next point leaving the entire room confused as to why they spent the last 5 minutes hearing about the presenters grandchild. Don’t make that mistake, always begin crafting your story with the end in mind. That way you will land the plane and connect the dots for your audience creating not just inspiring but effective stories.

Finish with a clear call to action. I still remember high school assembly after high school assembly filled with motivational speeches, a room full of mildly engaged adolescents, squirming around on uncomfortable bleachers. I remember the feeling of pain as I tried to get comfortable, the smell of the 9th grade boys’ body spray, and the thought that I hope this finishes early so I can be first in line at lunch. What I don’t remember is the point. What exactly were they trying to get us to do?

Call to actions are an integral part of every presentation. They are the piece that motivates people to do something about what they have just heard. Whether you are making a sales pitch, teaching a lecture, or motivating a room filled with pre-teens this principle is the same. If we want our presentations to be effective we must give our audience a clear call to action. We must invite them into a next step. If we miss this step the entire presentation will have missed the mark. Don’t chicken out, don’t shy away. Be confident in the call and make the ask.

Effectiveness is something we all strive for. If we are unable to be effective there is no real point to presenting in first place. If you are interested in making your presentations more effective be sure to sign up for the presentation mentor online course, this course will help you create outstanding presentations that not only wow your audience but move them into something new. Sign up online at PresentationMentor.com .

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What is a Presentation? Objectives, Elements, Important skills, Four Ps

• Post last modified: 4 June 2023
• Reading time: 19 mins read
• Post category: Business Communication

What is a Presentation?

A presentation communicates a message, an idea or information to a group. It is similar to a report, but with a key difference–the human element. A presentation conveys the speaker’s personality and enables immediate interaction among all participants.

Table of Content

• 1 What is a Presentation?
• 2.1 To Inform
• 2.2 To Train
• 2.3 To Persuade
• 2.4 To Motivate
• 2.5 To Entertain
• 3 Main Elements of Presentation
• 4.1 Analytical ability
• 4.2 Effective communication ability
• 4.3 Creative ability
• 4.4 Good interpersonal skill
• 4.5 Sound time management
• 4.6 Problem-solving ability
• 4.7 A sense of humour
• 5 Evaluation Wheel
• 6.1 Prepare
• 6.2 Practice
• 6.3 Present
• 7.1 Know Yourself
• 7.2 Know Your Material
• 7.3 Know Your Purpose
• 7.4 Know Your Audience

Objectives of Presentation

The main objectives of a presentation are:

To Persuade

To motivate, to entertain.

A presentation is created to convey some information to a group of people. For example, a presentation may display an organisation’s quarterly performance.

Most training programmes in organisations are done through the presentation mode. Such instructional presentations convey a lot of information and are created with instructional design principles to keep the audience engaged for a long period.

Some presentations are used to convince a group of people to accept a particular idea and/or make a certain choice.

The growing popularity of TED Talks indicates how a presentation can be a powerful motivation tool. These presentations trigger emotions and inspire people to act.

Presentations can also be used to celebrate an event. For example, a farewell presentation of a colleague can be used to narrate the story of his/her overall tenure, experiences and achievement in the organisation.

Main Elements of Presentation

A presentation is said to be effective if it has three main elements, which are as follows:

• Specific content : This refers to the information that a presentation will comprise. The information must be conveyed effectively so that it is absorbed by the audience in one sitting. It should be relevant and meaningful to them.
• Audience : A presentation should be targeted for a specific group of audience who share the same purpose and have a similar level of pre-knowledge.
• Presenter: The presenter should act as the advocate of the information. If his/her conviction and passion in the message are clearly articulated, the audience will also pay attention to the subject.

Important Presentation Skills

In today’s business environment, presentation skills are requisite in almost every professional arena. Employees are often required to give presentations on the targets achieved by them. A presentation can be effective if it is carefully planned and prepared.

However, delivering presentations is not always easy for every individual. Some people take presenting as a probable opportunity to showcase skills, while others find it a challenging task. To provide an effective presentation, a presenter must possess some abilities.

Some of them are explained as follows:

Analytical ability

Effective communication ability, creative ability, good interpersonal skill, sound time management, problem-solving ability, a sense of humour.

It refers to a calibre which empowers an individual to collect, organise, visualise and comprehend data. Such skills enable a person to look at related patterns, draw conclusions and find solutions to problems. In addition, sound analytical skills also enable an individual to forecast future trends using various techniques such as brainstorming, forecasting, data mining and metrics interpretation.

Communication entails much more than mere talking to the audience. To communicate effectively during a presentation, one ought to showcase information lucidly. During a presentation, a person should not just have a good set of slides together; rather he needs to engage and strike a chord with the audience to transmit the intended message.

It refers to the ability to present things in a creative way that have not been explored earlier. Creative skills in presentation enable an individual to invent or develop something path-breaking, such as a new concept, unique way out from a problem, a method, a work of art or new machinery, etc.

It encompasses how an individual portrays or presents himself to the audience and builds a rapport with the audience. During a presentation, sound interpersonal skills empower a speaker to interact, communicate and collaborate with the audience effectively.

Interpersonal skills are prevalent across all personal and professional interactions between people. Interpersonal skills entail empathy, active listening and emotional intelligence.

While delivering a presentation, a person should manage time effectively, set a presentation schedule and end a presentation within a stipulated time. If a presentation is long, there are chances the audience may lose interest and the message may not be delivered.

A speaker cannot expect audience to actively listen to the presentation for hours. At the start of presentation, a speaker should aim to grab audience’s attention and allocate time for questions and answers at the end.

Problem-solving is a requisite skill for a presentation. During a presentation, the audience may ask the speaker any kind of questions. On the other hand, it is important for the speaker to provide an appropriate answer to the audience to make the presentation successful.

A sense of humour is crucial to deliver a quality presentation to make the environment light and engaging. Appropriate usage of light jokes relieves stress and holds the attention of an audience, which makes the presentation a memorable experience for both the speaker and the audience.

Evaluation Wheel

Evaluation wheel is a creative and effective tool that accumulates information on outcomes in a simple and accessible manner. A presenter can opt for the evaluation wheel tool to show the outcomes of the research or reports. This tool is used to provide various types of information and journeys of change within the organisation.

It offers a visual representation of progression and results in the form of a spider diagram. The evaluation wheel measures the exact outcomes for a programme at the start and end. It also helps educators, designers to comprehend information systematically. Figure shows an example of evaluation wheel:

Figure states the scale questionnaire in a circle form wherein respondents will analyse the instances from their discretion and experience and give rating on a scale of 1 to 5.

For instance, service users are appropriately involved. In this case, if the respondent strongly agrees, he/she will give 5 rating and if he/she does not agree, he/she will give 1 rating. The centre of the circle is for 1 and as the respondent agrees, they reach out to edge for 5 rating.

Ps of Presentation

Even the most powerful presentation may fail if the presenter comes unprepared. A presentation is both a mental and a physical effort. There are Ps of presentation that provide a checklist to the presenter for ensuring that the presentation is well-constructed and clear so that the audience gets the message. These four Ps are explained as follows:

A thoroughly prepared presentation captivates the interests of the audience. The topic or content of the presentation must be thoroughly researched. No one would develop interest in a vague or equivocal presentation. A speaker can make use of stories or relatable examples and quote references to give more depth to the presentation and make it intriguing.

Apart from that, it should be ensured that only important points are highlighted in bullets or using other graphical elements. Providing too much of theory or full sentences can create boredom for the audience.

While preparing for a presentation, the presenter should include the following sections:

• Introduction : This section includes the name of the topic and the purpose of the presentation.
• Body : This section contains the main content of the presentation; thus, it must be prepared in a well-organised manner.
• Summary : It provides a recap of the content of the presentation. It outlines the most important points of the presentation to ensure the key message is retained by the audience.

Practice will make a man perfect is an adage that is appropriate across all spheres of life. It helps a speaker become familiar with his/her own voice, words and phrases and adjust accordingly. By practising thoroughly, a speaker can explore how to fit different pieces of information together and practise transition.

Also, a speaker should make notes wherever required as a part of presentation support. Using an index card is a common form of note-taking that provides a quick glimpse of important points.

While delivering a presentation, the speaker needs to demonstrate confidence in front of the audience. The speaker must be polite, but not apologetic in situations, such as if the session is running overtime or the microphone has stopped working.

Instead he/she should expect and ask for discipline and attention. It is important for a speaker to engage with the audience during the presentation in order to assure them that he/she is genuinely interested in talking to them. 4. Pace, pitch and pause: A presenter should deliver the presentation in an easy-to-follow pace and try changing the pace to enliven the presentation.

For example, pauses can be taken intentionally between main points to reinforce them. Along with pace, pitch is equally important. Just as pace varies in normal conversations, it should be used effectively during presentations too. For example, when asking a question, the presenter can raise the pitch and can lower it down when explaining a point.

Four Cornerstones of Making Memorable Presentations

The most crucial aspect of delivering an effective presentation is that the speaker should appear confident and the speech should look effortless. Presentations are a source of anxiety for many individuals. However, getting well-prepared before delivering a presentation can reduce this feeling considerably and ease apprehension.

There are a number of ways to overcome feelings of anxiety, stress and stage fright before the presentation in order to appear confident in front of the audience. The four cornerstones of making a memorable presentation are provided in the upcoming sections.

Know Yourself

Know your material, know your purpose, know your audience.

A presenter should acknowledge his/her strengths and weaknesses. Accordingly, he/she should decide the style of delivering a presentation. For instance, if a presenter has a great sense of humour and can use it comfortably in the speech, he/she can make the presentation more engaging and interesting.

On the other hand, if the speaker who is an introvert and prefers to talk or engage less, he/she can add visuals in the presentation. Therefore, the trick is whosoever is delivering the presentation should feel comfortable.

Knowing the topic thoroughly is the most important step in preparing and delivering a presentation. A presenter with well-versed knowledge of the topic is bound to feel more confident. One should perform extensive research of the topic using credible websites and surveys.

A presenter with minimal information about the topic will not be able to deliver a memorable presentation; rather, it would create a negative image in front of the audience. A good presentation is one that is centred around the main theme, presents relevant information and stimulates thought.

It is crucial to know the purpose of the presentation. A presenter should be aware of whether the purpose is to create awareness or to build new skills or to change attitudes. For instance, professional firms or businesses use presentations for various purposes such as to create awareness, educate, motivate and persuade internal and external audiences.

Therefore, to prepare a presentation, identify its objective/purpose, determine the method of delivery, formulate a structure, include visual aids and rehearse.

One should know the type of audience and what is their purpose of attending the presentation. For instance, whether they are there for gaining knowledge or learning new skills, etc. The age, culture and knowledge base of the audience help a presenter in designing and delivering his/her presentation effectively and in a manner in which audience can easily understand and relate to.

A well-designed presentation uses visual aids effectively to reinforce the main points and enhance the audience’s level of understanding.

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4 Elements of a Powerful Presentation

By Dave Johnson

Updated on: March 10, 2010 / 11:53 AM EST / MoneyWatch

Here are four elements you should consider building into any visuals you bring into the conference room or auditorium.

Of course, no presentation has to include PowerPoint slides. You might choose to go solo, or use an alternative solution like the breathtaking, elegant Prezi . But Productivity 501 recently summarized four elements of a powerful presentation. Here are the highlights:

Focus the audience's attention . Your visuals should focus attention on what you're saying, not distract from it. Consider clean, minimalist slides with little clutter and simple backgrounds. Don't distract with animations, busy headers and footers, and other visual debris.

Be terse . Likewise, the fewer the words, the better. Use bullets, not paragraphs, and let the text compliment and summarize your points. Let the slides emphasize your main points -- they don't have to reiterate everything you're saying.

Use images smartly . A picture is worth a thousand words, so you can sometimes use an image to replace a slide full of text.

Anchor the audience in your presentation . If people don't know where you are and how much time is left, they can get frustrated and distracted. Keep the audience informed about where you are in the presentation. You can do that by showing an outline of your presentation up front, and then keeping everyone informed about where you are as you progress.

Of course, Rick suggests killing PowerPoint entirely .

View all articles by Dave Johnson on CBS MoneyWatch » Dave Johnson is editor of eHow Tech and author of three dozen books, including the best-selling How to Do Everything with Your Digital Camera . Dave has previously worked at Microsoft and has written about technology for a long list of magazines that include PC World and Wired .

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Home Blog Design How to Create Effective Call to Action Slides for Presentations

How to Create Effective Call to Action Slides for Presentations

When concluding a presentation , it’s essential to prompt attendees to take action. This is where a specific slide type, the call-to-action slide or CTA slide, comes into play. Depending on your context, this slide can incorporate various graphical elements, such as compelling images, charts, or diagrams, to evoke emotions or simply be attractive with information on how to contact the presenter. 

In our experience, a call-to-action slide is an element that has one-third of the influence factor for decision-making, especially in contexts of business pitch or sales presentation . For this reason, this article will guide you through the essentials of creating powerful, attention-grabbing call-to-action slides for presentations. We will illustrate each point with examples and include a list of eye-catching PPT templates that can make the job easier.

Table of Contents

What is a Call to Action Slide?

What are the elements of a call to action slide, how to write a call to action slide, recommended cta templates for powerpoint and google slides, final words.

A call to action slide is a presentation slide type designed to prompt an immediate response or encourage the audience to take a specific action (purchase, connect, sign-up, etc.). Typically, call-to-action slides are placed at the end of a presentation, as they capitalize on the audience’s interest in the presented topic and the expectations built up throughout the presentation. 

The same guidelines applied in marketing for call-to-action features in e-commerce are valid for call-to-action slides, as they must be clear, concise, and focus on an actionable verb to instruct the audience what to do next. Bold colors and strong contrast indicate what action to take, and in some cases, visual elements like buttons, arrows, or even animations help guide the audience to that specific keyword.

Let’s analyze the contents of a call to action slide through this infographic.

The Visuals

All call-to-action slides ought to include an image. This can be a vector graphics illustration , a photo displaying the desired typical scenario (for example, for an e-commerce brand, the call to action is a computer placed on top of a desktop with the website opened), or a product image.

The visuals must be prominent and in high-quality format—meaning no pixelation and clear-to-understand imagery. In terms of importance inside the slide, they can take up to a third of the layout.

The Container

This is the area where the written call to action is placed. We have to work with a box format (although it can feature organic shapes if the context requires it) where the information is displayed. Gradients are particularly helpful as we create smooth transitions between sections of the container and don’t induce sharp contrast between text, icons, and the container’s background.

Besides the specific verb that incites to take action, we have to include a concise text that gives the call-to-action a context. What’s the reason for that? Picture it this way: you want your call to action to be actionable, regardless of when that’s bound to happen. If attendees of your presentation get a copy of the slide deck , they can share it with colleagues or friends, boosting the reach of your call to action slide. But what if your call to action doesn’t give any context? People who didn’t connect with the presentation or didn’t attend the event may not feel prompted to take action on something they cannot grasp how it will benefit their lives.

To further illustrate this point, let’s imagine this scenario: You deliver a presentation on cybersecurity for large corporations. Your agency exposes the risks of continuing to operate under the same standards and adds a call to action slide at the end of the presentation to encourage stakeholders to hire your services. Which one of the slides is going to work best?

• Scenario A: A computer screen image with a button that says “Hire Us Now.”
• Scenario B: A minimalistzic slide showcasing a picture of a locked computer due to ransomware with a text box that states, “54,000 customer accounts can be leaked at any minute. Protect their assets now” – and a button with the text “Secure Your Data.”

Yes, scenario B is a well-thought case of a call-to-action slide.

Visual Cues

If your slide is cluttered with multiple visual elements, as in webinars, you can use arrows, icons, or eye-catching buttons to highlight the area where the CTA is placed. Use bold colors to contrast with the container’s background, but be mindful of your selected color palette.

You can learn more about the importance of colors in presentations in our color theory for presentations article.

A Clear Directive

The call to action doesn’t have to be lengthy. Your best approach is a clear and direct command that tells the audience exactly what to do. Consider the following list of call-to-action examples to guide you:

• Register Now
• Download Now
• Let’s Connect
• Start Your Free Trial Today!
• Schedule Your Free Demo!

Urgency or Incentive

Sometimes, your message might not be perceived as imperative as you expect. In highly competitive niches, marketers work with taglines that add an extra incentive, inciting a sense of urgency to acquire the product or service. Examples of these are:

• Limited Time Offer
• Only 10 Units Left
• (Timeclock) Minutes Left
• Unlock Premium Features Now

Follow this step-by-step instruction to create your call to action slide, regardless of your presentation’s niche. 

Identify the Objective

The approach you need to take depends on the topic of your presentation. If you aim to sell a product, the call to action slide can invite the audience to try a demo or to become one of the first buyers and receive an exclusive 40% discount.

If, on the other hand, you promote a service, you can invite them to connect, discover customer success stories, or schedule a meeting to discuss a custom-made offer.

Craft a Compelling Message

Your call to action slide must be written in an active language tone to ensure audience engagement . It is important to use strong verbs that connect your message and the value your product or service brings to the potential buyer’s life. For that purpose, you should personalize the message to be directed to the audience attending your presentation on that specific day. How can you do that? Bring in relevant facts that interest your attendees and use recent factual information about your offer.

The CTA has to be concise yet powerful. Font size matters on this behalf, so you need to test the readability from several distance rows or opt for a complementary speech CTA. Technically speaking, use no less than 24pt as font size to write the text for the CTA button and 18pt for the contextual text.

The Emotional Value

Storytelling in presentations is an excellent aid when you need to create a CTA without making the slide look self-promotional. You can articulate the graphics and the presentation’s speech as different chapters of a narrative, where the CTA is the epilogue of your story. This approach requires aligning all the graphics to your narrative, avoiding technical jargon that might distract the audience from your story’s core value, and creating a summary slide that exposes the benefits of taking action now.

General Recommendations for High-Quality CTA Slides

We want to conclude this section with tips from our experience creating effective call-to-action slides. First and foremost, you can only add one CTA per slide. If your presentation has multiple objectives requiring a CTA, something is not working. Less is more, and you dilute the message if you distract the audience with multiple options to choose from.

That being said, the layout for the call to action slide has to be minimalistic. All elements must direct attention to the CTA section, and ample white space is extremely important so the audience focuses on that key point.  This is not an extra slide on your deck. It has to remain consistent with the slide deck’s style regarding color palette, font pairing options, and graphics; otherwise, it feels disconnected. Visual hierarchy principles indicate that the human eye scans content from left to right, top to bottom in the Western culture (languages that are read right to the left invert the horizontal axis but preserve the vertical one). Place your content accordingly, making the CTA the final element that attracts the user. You can test the correct placement of your call to action by checking the slides across different devices.

In this section, you can find our selection of Google Slides and PowerPoint templates that are fit to create call to action slides in just a couple of minutes. Download and customize them for any kind of presentation topic.

1. Corporate CTA Slide Deck

Secure business deals by inviting your clients to reach out in a clean and professional layout. This call to action template for PowerPoint features an array of icons to indicate address, phone number, email, and website.

Use This Template

2. Dropshipping Call-to-Action Slide

For any kind of dropshipping business that seeks to close partnership deals with fellow entrepreneurs, this slide deck contains all the graphical elements to depict your business model and invite to get in touch.

3. Product Presentation Call to Action Slide

Highlight the key features of your product with a creative call to action slide layout. Four different arrangements to tailor your product presentation for maximum sales performance. Check it out!

4. IT Consultancy Call to Action Slide

A slide deck intended for IT agencies delivering services to both clients and corporations. You can craft a compelling presentation describing your team, the services you offer, your expertise, strategy to implement, and summarize it with a carefully designed call to action slide.

5. CTA Slide for Business Presentations

Ideal for company presentations, product sales pitches (as we’ve seen in our example above), and more. Customize the slides of this presentation deck in just minutes.

Creating persuasive CTAs can transform your presentations from informative to persuasive content, even when you don’t feel such a transition is forced. Your audience is inspired to act because of the quality of your presentation, making the CTA slide the final touch to convince them of your expertise on the matter.

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