create a list of presentation good practice characteristics

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How To Make a Good Presentation [A Complete Guide]

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!

Home Blog Education Presentation Skills 101: A Guide to Presentation Success

Presentation Skills 101: A Guide to Presentation Success

Getting the perfect presentation design is just a step toward a successful presentation. For the experienced user, building presentation skills is the answer to elevating the power of your message and showing expertise on any subject. Still, one can ask: is it the same set of skills, or are they dependable on the type of presentation?

In this article, we will introduce the different types of presentations accompanied by the skillset required to master them. The purpose, as always, is to retain the audience’s interest for a long-lasting and convincing message.

Table of Contents

The Importance of Presentation Skills

Persuasive presentations, instructional presentations, informative presentations, inspirational presentations, basic presentation skills, what are the main difficulties when giving a presentation, recommendations to improve your presentation skills, closing statement.

Effective communication is the answer to reaching business and academic goals. The scenarios in which we can be required to deliver a presentation are as diverse as one can imagine. Still, some core concepts apply to all presentations.

 We define presentation skills as a compendium of soft skills that directly affect your presentation performance and contribute to creating a great presentation. These are not qualities acquired by birth but skills you ought to train and master to delve into professional environments.

You may ask: is it really that evident when a presenter is not prepared? Here are some common signs people can experience during presentations:

• Evasive body language: Not making eye contact with the audience, arms closed tightly to the body, hands in pockets all the time.
• Lack of interest in the presenter’s voice: dull tone, not putting an effort to articulate the topics.
• Doubting when asked to answer a question
• Irksome mood

The list can go on about common presenter mistakes , and most certainly, it will affect the performance of any presented data if the lack of interest by the presenter is blatantly obvious.  Another element to consider is anxiety, and according to research by the National Institute of Mental Health, 73% of the population in the USA is affected by glossophobia , which is the fear of public speaking, judgment, or negative evaluation by other people.

Therefore, presentation skills training is essential for any business professional who wants to achieve effective communication . It will remove the anxiety from presentation performance and help users effectively deliver their message and connect with the audience.

Archetypes of presentations

Persuasive presentations aim to convince the audience – often in short periods – to acquire a product or service, adhere to a cause, or invest in a company. For business entrepreneurs or politicians, persuasive presentations are their tool for the trade.

Unless you aim to be perceived as an imposter, a proper persuasive presentation has the elements of facts, empathy, and logic, balanced under a well-crafted narrative. The central pillar of these presentations is to identify the single factor that gathered your audience: it could be a market need, a social cause, or a revolutionary concept for today’s society. It has to be something with enough power to gather critiques – both good and bad.

That single factor has to be backed up by facts. Research that builds your hypothesis on how to solve that problem. A deep understanding of the target audience’s needs , concerns, and social position regarding the solution your means can offer. When those elements are in place, building a pitch becomes an easy task. 

Graphics can help you introduce information in a compelling format, lowering the need for lengthy presentations. Good presentation skills for persuasive presentations go by the hand of filtering relevant data and creating the visual cues that resonate with what your audience demands.

One powerful example of a persuasive presentation is the technique known as the elevator pitch . You must introduce your idea or product convincingly to the audience in a timeframe between 30 seconds and less than 2 minutes. You have to expose:

• What do you do 
• What’s the problem to solve
• Why is your solution different from others 
• Why should the audience care about your expertise

For that very purpose, using engaging graphics with contrasting colors elevates the potential power of your message. It speaks professionalism, care for details, and out-of-the-box thinking. Knowing how to end a presentation is also critical, as your CTAs should be placed with care.

Therefore, let’s resume the requirements of persuasive presentations in terms of good presentation skills:

• Identifying problems and needs
• Elaborating “the hook” (the element that grabs the audience’s attention)
• Knowing how to “tie” your audience (introducing a piece of information related to the hook that causes an emotional impact)
• Broad knowledge of body language and hand gestures to quickly convey your message
• Being prepared to argue a defense of your point of view
• Handling rejection
• Having a proactive attitude to convert opportunities into new projects
• Using humor, surprise, or personal anecdotes as elements to sympathize with the audience
• Having confidence
• Be able to summarize facts and information in visually appealing ways

You can learn more about persuasive presentation techniques by clicking here .

In the case of instructional presentations, we ought to differentiate two distinctive types:

• Lecture Presentations : Presentations being held at universities or any other educative institution. Those presentations cover, topic by topic, and the contents of a syllabus and are created by the team of teachers in charge of the course.
• Training Presentations : These presentations take place during in-company training sessions and usually comprise a good amount of content that is resumed into easy-to-take solutions. They are aimed to coach employees over certain topics relevant to their work performance. The 70-20-10 Model is frequently used to address these training situations.

Lecture presentations appeal to the gradual introduction of complex concepts, following a structure set in the course’s syllabus. These presentations often have a similar aesthetic as a group of professors or researchers created to share their knowledge about a topic. Personal experience does tell that course presentations often rely on factual data, adequately documented, and on the theoretical side.

An example of a presentation that lies under this concept is a Syllabus Presentation, used by the teaching team to introduce the subject to new students, evaluation methods, concepts to be learned, and expectations to pass the course.

On the other hand, training presentations are slide decks designed to meet an organization’s specific needs in the formal education of their personnel. Commonly known as “continuous education,” plenty of companies invest resources in coaching their employees to achieve higher performance results. These presentations have the trademark of being concise since their idea is to introduce the concepts that shall be applied in practice sessions. 

Ideally, the training presentations are introduced with little text and easy-to-recognize visual cues. Since the idea is to summarize as much as possible, these are visually appealing for the audience. They must be dynamic enough to allow the presenter to convey the message.

Those key takeaways remind employees when they revisit their learning resources and allow them to ruminate on questions that fellow workers raise. 

To sum up this point, building presentation skills for instructional presentations requires:

• Ability to put complex concepts into simpler words
• Patience and a constant learning mindset
• Voice training to deliver lengthy speeches without being too dense
• Ability to summarize points and note the key takeaways
• Empathizing with the audience to understand their challenges in the learning process

The informative presentations take place in business situations, such as when to present project reports from different departments to the management. Another potential usage of these presentations is in SCRUM or other Agile methodologies, when a sprint is completed, to discuss the advance of the project with the Product Owner.

As they are presentations heavily dependent on data insights, it’s common to see the usage of infographics and charts to express usually dense data in simpler terms and easy to remember. 

Informative presentations don’t just fall into the business category. Ph.D. Dissertation and Thesis presentations are topics that belong to the informative presentations category as they condense countless research hours into manageable reports for the academic jury. 

Since these informational presentations can be perceived as lengthy and data-filled, it is important to learn the following professional presentation skills:

• Attention to detail
• Be able to explain complex information in simpler terms
• Creative thinking
• Powerful diction
• Working on pauses and transitions
• Pacing the presentation, so not too much information is divulged per slide

The leading inspirational platform, TEDx, comes to mind when talking about inspirational presentations. This presentation format has the peculiarity of maximizing the engagement with the audience to divulge a message, and due to that, it has specific requirements any presenter must meet.

This presentation format usually involves a speaker on a stage, either sitting or better standing, in which the presenter engages with the audience with a storytelling format about a life experience, a job done that provided a remarkable improvement for society, etc.

Empathizing with the audience is the key ingredient for these inspirational presentations. Still, creativity is what shapes the outcome of your performance as people are constantly looking for different experiences – not the same recipe rephrased with personal touches. The human factor is what matters here, way above data and research. What has your experience to offer to others? How can it motivate another human being to pursue a similar path or discover their true calling?

To achieve success in terms of communication skills presentation, these inspirational presentations have the following requirements:

• Focus on the audience (engage, consider their interests, and make them a part of your story)
• Putting ego aside
• Creative communication skills
• Storytelling skills
• Body language knowledge to apply the correct gestures to accompany your story
• Voice training
• Using powerful words

After discussing the different kinds of presentations we can come across at any stage of our lives, a group of presentation skills is standard in any type of presentation. See below what makes a good presentation and which skills you must count on to succeed as a presenter.

Punctuality

Punctuality is a crucial aspect of giving an effective presentation. Nothing says more about respect for your audience and the organization you represent than delivering the presentation on time . Arriving last minute puts pressure on the tech team behind audiovisuals, as they don’t have enough preparation to test microphones, stage lights, and projector settings, which can lead to a less powerful presentation Even when discussing presentations hosted in small rooms for a reduced audience, testing the equipment becomes essential for an effective presentation.

A solution for this is to arrive at least 30 minutes early. Ideally, one hour is a sweet spot since the AV crew has time to check the gear and requirements for your presentation. Another benefit of this, for example, in inspirational presentations, is measuring the previous presenter’s impact on the audience. This gives insights about how to resonate with the public, and their interest, and how to accommodate your presentation for maximum impact.

Body Language

Our bodies can make emotions transparent for others, even when we are unaware of such a fact. Proper training for body language skills reduces performance anxiety, giving the audience a sense of expertise about the presented topic. 

Give your presentation and the audience the respect they deserve by watching over these potential mistakes:

• Turning your back to the audience for extended periods : It’s okay to do so when introducing an important piece of information or explaining a graph, but it is considered rude to give your back to the audience constantly.
• Fidgeting : We are all nervous in the presence of strangers, even more, if we are the center of attention for that moment. Instead of playing with your hair or making weird hand gestures, take a deep breath to center yourself before the presentation and remember that everything you could do to prepare is already done. Trust your instincts and give your best.
• Intense eye contact : Have you watched a video where the presenter stared at the camera the entire time? That’s the feeling you transmit to spectators through intense eye contact. It’s a practice often used by politicians to persuade.
• Swearing : This is a no-brainer. Even when you see influencers swearing on camera or in podcasts or live presentations, it is considered an informal and lousy practice for business and academic situations. If you have a habit to break when it comes to this point, find the humor in these situations and replace your swear words with funny alternatives (if the presentation allows for it). 

Voice Tone plays a crucial role in delivering effective presentations and knowing how to give a good presentation. Your voice is a powerful tool for exposing your ideas and feelings . Your voice can articulate the message you are telling, briefing the audience if you feel excited about what you are sharing or, in contrast, if you feel the presentation is a burden you ought to complete.

Remember, passion is a primary ingredient in convincing people. Therefore, transmitting such passion with a vibrant voice may help gather potential business partners’ interest.  

But what if you feel sick prior to the presentation? If, by chance, your throat is sore minutes before setting foot on the stage, try this: when introducing yourself, mention that you are feeling a bit under the weather. This resonates with the audience to pay more attention to your efforts. In case you don’t feel comfortable about that, ask the organizers for a cup of tea, as it will settle your throat and relax your nerves.

Tech Skills

Believe it or not, people still feel challenged by technology these days. Maybe that’s the reason why presentation giants like Tony Robbins opt not to use PowerPoint presentations . The reality is that there are plenty of elements involved in a presentation that can go wrong from the tech side:

• A PDF not opening
• Saving your presentation in a too-recent PowerPoint version
• A computer not booting up
• Mac laptops and their never-ending compatibility nightmare
• Not knowing how to change between slides
• Not knowing how to use a laser pointer
• Internet not working
• Audio not working

We can come up with a pretty long list of potential tech pitfalls, and yet more than half of them fall in presenters not being knowledgeable about technology.

If computers aren’t your thing, let the organization know about this beforehand. There is always a crew member available to help presenters switch between slides or configure the presentation for streaming. This takes the pressure off your shoulders, allowing you to concentrate on the content to present. Remember, even Bill Gates can get a BSOD during a presentation .

Presentations, while valuable for conveying information and ideas, can be daunting for many individuals. Here are some common difficulties people encounter when giving presentations:

Public Speaking Anxiety

Glossophobia, the fear of public speaking, affects a significant portion of the population. This anxiety can lead to nervousness, trembling, and forgetfulness during a presentation.

Lack of Confidence

Many presenters struggle with self-doubt, fearing that they may not be knowledgeable or skilled enough to engage their audience effectively.

Content Organization

Organizing information in a coherent and engaging manner can be challenging. Presenters often grapple with how to structure their content to make it easily digestible for the audience. Artificial Intelligence can help us significantly reduce the content arrangement time when you work with tools like our AI Presentation Maker (made for presenters by experts in presentation design). 

Audience Engagement

Keeping the audience’s attention and interest throughout the presentation can be difficult. Distractions, disengaged attendees, or lack of interaction can pose challenges.

Technical Issues

Technology glitches, such as malfunctioning equipment, incompatible file formats, or poor internet connectivity, can disrupt presentations and increase stress.

Time Management

Striking the right balance between providing enough information and staying within time limits is a common challenge. Going over or under the allotted time can affect the effectiveness of the presentation.

Handling Questions and Challenges

Responding to unexpected questions, criticism, or challenges from the audience can be difficult, especially when presenters are unprepared or lack confidence in their subject matter.

Visual Aids and Technology

Creating and effectively using visual aids like slides or multimedia can be a struggle for some presenters. Technical competence is essential in this aspect.

Language and Articulation

Poor language skills or unclear articulation can hinder effective communication. Presenters may worry about stumbling over words or failing to convey their message clearly.

Maintaining appropriate and confident body language can be challenging. Avoiding nervous habits, maintaining eye contact, and using gestures effectively requires practice.

Overcoming Impersonal Delivery

In virtual presentations, maintaining a personal connection with the audience can be difficult. The absence of face-to-face interaction can make it challenging to engage and read the audience.

Cultural and Diversity Awareness

Presenting to diverse audiences requires sensitivity to cultural differences and varying levels of familiarity with the topic.

In this section, we gathered some tips on how to improve presentation skills that can certainly make an impact if applied to your presentation skills. We believe these skills can be cultivated to transform into habits for your work routine.

Tip #1: Build a narrative

One memorable way to guarantee presentation success is by writing a story of all the points you desire to cover. This statement is based on the logic behind storytelling and its power to connect with people .

Don’t waste time memorizing slides or reading your presentation to the audience. It feels unnatural, and any question that diverts from the topic in discussion certainly puts you in jeopardy or, worse, exposes you as a fraud in the eyes of the audience. And before you ask, it is really evident when a presenter has a memorized speech. 

Build and rehearse the presentation as if telling a story to a group of interested people. Lower the language barrier by avoiding complex terms that maybe even you aren’t fully aware of their meaning. Consider the ramifications of that story, what it could lead to, and which are the opportunities to explore. Then, visualize yourself giving the presentation in a natural way.

Applying this technique makes the presentation feel like second nature to you. It broadens the spectrum in which you can show expertise over a topic or even build the basis for new interesting points of view about the project.

Tip #2: Don’t talk for more than 3 minutes per slide

It is a common practice of presenters to bombard the audience with facts and information whilst retaining the same slide on the screen. Why can this happen? It could be because the presenter condensed the talk into very few slides and preferred to talk. The reality is that your spectators won’t retain the information you are giving unless you give visual cues to help that process. 

Opt to prepare more slides and pace your speech to match the topics shown on each slide. Don’t spend more than 3 minutes per slide unless you have to introduce a complex piece of data. Use visual cues to direct the spectators about what you talk about, and summarize the principal concepts discussed at the end of each section.

Tip #3: Practice meditation daily

Anxiety is the number one enemy of professional presenters. It slowly builds without you being aware of your doubts and can hinder your performance in multiple ways: making you feel paralyzed, fidgeting, making you forget language skills or concepts, affecting your health, etc.

Meditation is an ancient practice taken from Buddhist teachings that train your mind to be here in the present. We often see the concepts of meditation and mindfulness as synonyms, whereas you should be aware that meditation is a practice that sets the blocks to reach a state of mindfulness. For presenters, being in the here and now is essential to retain focus, but meditation techniques also teach us to control our breathing and be in touch with our body signals when stress builds up. 

The customary practice of meditation has an impact on imagination and creativity but also helps to build patience – a skill much needed for connecting with your audience in instructional presentations.

Having the proper set of presentation skills can be quite subjective. It goes beyond presentation tips and deepens into how flexible we can be in our ability to communicate ideas.

Different presentations and different audiences shape the outcome of our efforts. Therefore, having a basic understanding of how to connect, raise awareness, and empathize with people can be key ingredients for your career as a presenter. A word of advice: success doesn’t happen overnight. It takes dedication and patience to build communication skills . Don’t condition your work to believe you will be ready “someday”; it’s best to practice and experience failure as part of the learning process.

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Business Presentations, Presentation Approaches, Presentation Skills Filed under Education

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6 presentation skills and how to improve them

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What are presentation skills?

The importance of presentation skills, 6 presentation skills examples, how to improve presentation skills.

Tips for dealing with presentation anxiety

Learn how to captivate an audience with ease

Capturing an audience’s attention takes practice. 

Over time, great presenters learn how to organize their speeches and captivate an audience from start to finish. They spark curiosity, know how to read a room , and understand what their audience needs to walk away feeling like they learned something valuable.

Regardless of your profession, you most likely use presentation skills on a monthly or even weekly basis. Maybe you lead brainstorming sessions or host client calls. 

Developing effective presentation skills makes it easier to contribute ideas with confidence and show others you’re someone to trust. Although speaking in front of a crowd sometimes brings nerves and anxiety , it also sparks new opportunities.

Presentation skills are the qualities and abilities you need to communicate ideas effectively and deliver a compelling speech. They influence how you structure a presentation and how an audience receives it. Understanding body language , creating impactful visual aids, and projecting your voice all fall under this umbrella.

A great presentation depends on more than what you say. It’s about how you say it. Storytelling , stage presence, and voice projection all shape how well you express your ideas and connect with the audience. These skills do take practice, but they’re worth developing — especially if public speaking makes you nervous. 

Engaging a crowd isn’t easy. You may feel anxious to step in front of an audience and have all eyes and ears on you.

But feeling that anxiety doesn’t mean your ideas aren’t worth sharing. Whether you’re giving an inspiring speech or delivering a monthly recap at work, your audience is there to listen to you. Harness that nervous energy and turn it into progress.

Strong presentation skills make it easier to convey your thoughts to audiences of all sizes. They can help you tell a compelling story, convince people of a pitch , or teach a group something entirely new to them. And when it comes to the workplace, the strength of your presentation skills could play a part in getting a promotion or contributing to a new initiative.

To fully understand the impact these skills have on creating a successful presentation, it’s helpful to look at each one individually. Here are six valuable skills you can develop:

1. Active listening

Active listening is an excellent communication skill for any professional to hone. When you have strong active listening skills, you can listen to others effectively and observe their nonverbal cues . This helps you assess whether or not your audience members are engaged in and understand what you’re sharing. 

Great public speakers use active listening to assess the audience’s reactions and adjust their speech if they find it lacks impact. Signs like slouching, negative facial expressions, and roaming eye contact are all signs to watch out for when giving a presentation.

2. Body language

If you’re researching presentation skills, chances are you’ve already watched a few notable speeches like TED Talks or industry seminars. And one thing you probably noticed is that speakers can capture attention with their body language. 

A mixture of eye contact, hand gestures , and purposeful pacing makes a presentation more interesting and engaging. If you stand in one spot and don’t move your body, the audience might zone out.

3. Stage presence

A great stage presence looks different for everyone. A comedian might aim for more movement and excitement, and a conference speaker might focus their energy on the content of their speech. Although neither is better than the other, both understand their strengths and their audience’s needs. 

Developing a stage presence involves finding your own unique communication style . Lean into your strengths, whether that’s adding an injection of humor or asking questions to make it interactive . To give a great presentation, you might even incorporate relevant props or presentation slides.

4. Storytelling

According to Forbes, audiences typically pay attention for about 10 minutes before tuning out . But you can lengthen their attention span by offering a presentation that interests them for longer. Include a narrative they’ll want to listen to, and tell a story as you go along. 

Shaping your content to follow a clear narrative can spark your audience’s curiosity and entice them to pay careful attention. You can use anecdotes from your personal or professional life that take your audience along through relevant moments. If you’re pitching a product, you can start with a problem and lead your audience through the stages of how your product provides a solution.

5. Voice projection

Although this skill may be obvious, you need your audience to hear what you’re saying. This can be challenging if you’re naturally soft-spoken and struggle to project your voice.

Remember to straighten your posture and take deep breaths before speaking, which will help you speak louder and fill the room. If you’re talking into a microphone or participating in a virtual meeting, you can use your regular conversational voice, but you still want to sound confident and self-assured with a strong tone.

If you’re unsure whether everyone can hear you, you can always ask the audience at the beginning of your speech and wait for confirmation. That way, they won’t have to potentially interrupt you later.

Ensuring everyone can hear you also includes your speed and annunciation. It’s easy to speak quickly when nervous, but try to slow down and pronounce every word. Mumbling can make your presentation difficult to understand and pay attention to.

6. Verbal communication 

Although verbal communication involves your projection and tone, it also covers the language and pacing you use to get your point across. This includes where you choose to place pauses in your speech or the tone you use to emphasize important ideas.

If you’re giving a presentation on collaboration in the workplace , you might start your speech by saying, “There’s something every workplace needs to succeed: teamwork.” By placing emphasis on the word “ teamwork ,” you give your audience a hint on what ideas will follow.

To further connect with your audience through diction, pay careful attention to who you’re speaking to. The way you talk to your colleagues might be different from how you speak to a group of superiors, even if you’re discussing the same subject. You might use more humor and a conversational tone for the former and more serious, formal diction for the latter.

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses when it comes to presenting. Maybe you’re confident in your use of body language, but your voice projection needs work. Maybe you’re a great storyteller in small group settings, but need to work on your stage presence in front of larger crowds. 

The first step to improving presentation skills is pinpointing your gaps and determining which qualities to build upon first. Here are four tips for enhancing your presentation skills:

1. Build self-confidence

Confident people know how to speak with authority and share their ideas. Although feeling good about your presentation skills is easier said than done, building confidence is key to helping your audience believe in what you’re saying. Try practicing positive self-talk and continuously researching your topic's ins and outs.

If you don’t feel confident on the inside, fake it until you make it. Stand up straight, project your voice, and try your best to appear engaged and excited. Chances are, the audience doesn’t know you’re unsure of your skills — and they don’t need to.

Another tip is to lean into your slideshow, if you’re using one. Create something colorful and interesting so the audience’s eyes fall there instead of on you. And when you feel proud of your slideshow, you’ll be more eager to share it with others, bringing more energy to your presentation.

2. Watch other presentations

Developing the soft skills necessary for a good presentation can be challenging without seeing them in action. Watch as many as possible to become more familiar with public speaking skills and what makes a great presentation. You could attend events with keynote speakers or view past speeches on similar topics online.

Take a close look at how those presenters use verbal communication and body language to engage their audiences. Grab a notebook and jot down what you enjoyed and your main takeaways. Try to recall the techniques they used to emphasize their main points, whether they used pauses effectively, had interesting visual aids, or told a fascinating story.

3. Get in front of a crowd

You don’t need a large auditorium to practice public speaking. There are dozens of other ways to feel confident and develop good presentation skills.

If you’re a natural comedian, consider joining a small stand-up comedy club. If you’re an avid writer, participate in a public poetry reading. Even music and acting can help you feel more comfortable in front of a crowd.

If you’d rather keep it professional, you can still work on your presentation skills in the office. Challenge yourself to participate at least once in every team meeting, or plan and present a project to become more comfortable vocalizing your ideas. You could also speak to your manager about opportunities that flex your public speaking abilities.

4. Overcome fear

Many people experience feelings of fear before presenting in front of an audience, whether those feelings appear as a few butterflies or more severe anxiety. Try grounding yourself to shift your focus to the present moment. If you’re stuck dwelling on previous experiences that didn’t go well, use those mistakes as learning experiences and focus on what you can improve to do better in the future.

Tips for dealing with presentation anxiety 

It’s normal to feel nervous when sharing your ideas. In fact, according to a report from the Journal of Graduate Medical Education, public speaking anxiety is prevalent in 15–30% of the general population .

Even though having a fear of public speaking is common, it doesn’t make it easier. You might feel overwhelmed, become stiff, and forget what you were going to say. But although the moment might scare you, there are ways to overcome the fear and put mind over matter.

Use these tactics to reduce your stress when you have to make a presentation:

1. Practice breathing techniques

If you experience anxiety often, you’re probably familiar with breathing techniques for stress relief . Incorporating these exercises into your daily routine can help you stop worrying and regulate anxious feelings. 

Before a big presentation, take a moment alone to practice breathing techniques, ground yourself, and reduce tension. It’s also a good idea to take breaths throughout the presentation to speak slower and calm yourself down .

2. Get organized

The more organized you are, the more prepared you’ll feel. Carefully outline all of the critical information you want to use in your presentation, including your main talking points and visual aids, so you don’t forget anything. Use bullet points and visuals on each slide to remind you of what you want to talk about, and create handheld notes to help you stay on track.

3. Embrace moments of silence

It’s okay to lose your train of thought. It happens to even the most experienced public speakers once in a while. If your mind goes blank, don’t panic. Take a moment to breathe, gather your thoughts, and refer to your notes to see where you left off. You can drink some water or make a quick joke to ease the silence or regain your footing. And it’s okay to say, “Give me a moment while I find my notes.” Chances are, people understand the position you’re in.

4. Practice makes progress

Before presenting, rehearse in front of friends and family members you trust. This gives you the chance to work out any weak spots in your speech and become comfortable communicating out loud. If you want to go the extra mile, ask your makeshift audience to ask a surprise question. This tests your on-the-spot thinking and will prove that you can keep cool when things come up.

Whether you’re new to public speaking or are a seasoned presenter, you’re bound to make a few slip-ups. It happens to everyone. The most important thing is that you try your best, brush things off, and work on improving your skills to do better in your next presentation.

Although your job may require a different level of public speaking than your favorite TED Talk , developing presentation skills is handy in any profession. You can use presentation skills in a wide range of tasks in the workplace, whether you’re sharing your ideas with colleagues, expressing concerns to higher-ups, or pitching strategies to potential clients.

Remember to use active listening to read the room and engage your audience with an interesting narrative. Don’t forget to step outside your comfort zone once in a while and put your skills to practice in front of a crowd. After facing your fears, you’ll feel confident enough to put presentation skills on your resume.

If you’re trying to build your skills and become a better employee overall, try a communications coach with BetterUp. 

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Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

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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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Complete Guide for Effective Presentations, with Examples

July 9, 2018 - Dom Barnard

During a presentation you aim to look confident, enthusiastic and natural. You’ll need more than good words and content to achieve this – your delivery plays a significant part. In this article, we discuss various techniques that can be used to deliver an effective presentation.

Effective presentations

Think about if you were in the audience, what would:

• Get you to focus and listen
• Make you understand
• Activate your imagination
• Persuade you

Providing the audience with interesting information is not enough to achieve these aims – you need to ensure that the way you present is stimulating and engaging. If it’s not, you’ll lose the audience’s interest and they’ll stop listening.

Tips for an Effective Presentation

Professional public speakers spend hours creating and practicing presentations. These are the delivery techniques they consider:

Keep it simple

You shouldn’t overwhelm your audience with information – ensure that you’re clear, concise and that you get to the point so they can understand your message.

Have a maximum of  three main points  and state them at the beginning, before you explain them in more depth, and then state them at the end so the audience will at least remember these points.

If some of your content doesn’t contribute to your key message then cut it out. Also avoid using too many statistics and technical terminology.

Connect with your audience

One of the greatest difficulties when delivering a presentation is connecting with the audience. If you don’t  connect with them  it will seem as though you’re talking to an empty room.

Trying to make contact with the audience makes them feel like they’re part of the presentation which encourages them to listen and it shows that you want to speak to them.

Eye contact and smile

Avoiding eye contact is uncomfortable because it make you look insecure. When you  maintain eye contact  the audience feels like you’re speaking to them personally. If this is something you struggle with, try looking at people’s foreheads as it gives the impression of making eye contact.

Try to cover all sections of the audience and don’t move on to the next person too quickly as you will look nervous.

Smiling also helps with rapport and it reduces your nerves because you’ll feel less like you’re talking to group of faceless people. Make sure you don’t turn the lights down too much before your presentation so you can all clearly see each other.

Body language

Be aware of your body language and use it to connect:

• Keep your arms uncrossed so your  body language is more open .
• Match your facial expressions with what you’re saying.
• Avoid fidgeting and displaying nervous habits, such as, rocking on your feet.
• You may need to glance at the computer slide or a visual aid but make sure you predominantly face the audience.
• Emphasise points by using hand gestures but use them sparingly – too little and they’ll awkwardly sit at your side, too much and you’ll be distracting and look nervous.
• Vary your gestures so you don’t look robotic.
• Maintain a straight posture.
• Be aware of  cultural differences .

Move around

Avoid standing behind the lectern or computer because you need to reduce the distance and barriers between yourself and the audience.  Use movement  to increase the audience’s interest and make it easier to follow your presentation.

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.

Watch 3 examples of good and bad movement while presenting

Example: Movement while presenting

Your movement at the front of the class and amongst the listeners can help with engagement. Think about which of these three speakers maintains the attention of their audience for longer, and what they are doing differently to each other.

Speak with the audience

You can conduct polls using your audience or ask questions to make them think and feel invested in your presentation. There are three different types of questions:

Direct questions require an answer: “What would you do in this situation?” These are mentally stimulating for the audience. You can pass a microphone around and let the audience come to your desired solution.

Rhetorical questions  do not require answers, they are often used to emphasises an idea or point: “Is the Pope catholic?

Loaded questions contain an unjustified assumption made to prompt the audience into providing a particular answer which you can then correct to support your point: You may ask “Why does your wonderful company have such a low incidence of mental health problems?” The audience will generally answer that they’re happy.

After receiving the answers you could then say “Actually it’s because people are still unwilling and too embarrassed to seek help for mental health issues at work etc.”

Be specific with your language

Make the audience feel as though you are speaking to each member individually by using “you” and “your.”

For example: asking “Do you want to lose weight without feeling hungry?” would be more effective than asking “Does anyone here want to lost weight without feeling hungry?” when delivering your presentation. You can also increase solidarity by using “we”, “us” etc – it makes the audience think “we’re in this together”.

Be flexible

Be prepared to adapt to the situation at the time, for example, if the audience seems bored you can omit details and go through the material faster, if they are confused then you will need to come up with more examples on the spot for clarification. This doesn’t mean that you weren’t prepared because you can’t predict everything.

Vocal variety

How you say something is just as is important as the content of your speech – arguably, more so.

For example, if an individual presented on a topic very enthusiastically the audience would probably enjoy this compared to someone who covered more points but mumbled into their notes.

• Adapt your voice  depending on what are you’re saying – if you want to highlight something then raise your voice or lower it for intensity. Communicate emotion by using your voice.
• Avoid speaking in monotone as you will look uninterested and the audience will lose interest.
• Take time to pronounce every word carefully.
• Raise your pitch when asking questions and lower it when you want to sound severe.
• Sound enthusiastic – the more you sound like you care about the topic, the more the audience will listen. Smiling and pace can help with this.
• Speak loudly and clearly – think about projecting your voice to the back of the room.
• Speak at a  pace that’s easy to follow . If you’re too fast or too slow it will be difficult for the audience to understand what you’re saying and it’s also frustrating. Subtly fasten the pace to show enthusiasm and slow down for emphasis, thoughtfulness or caution.

Prior to the presentation, ensure that you  prepare your vocal chords :

• You could read aloud a book that requires vocal variety, such as, a children’s book.
• Avoid dairy and eating or drinking anything too sugary beforehand as mucus can build-up leading to frequent throat clearing.
• Don’t drink anything too cold before you present as this can constrict your throat which affects vocal quality.
• Some people suggest a warm cup of tea beforehand to relax the throat.

Practice Presentation Skills

Improve your public speaking and presentation skills by practicing them in realistic environments, with automated feedback on performance. Learn More

Pause to breathe

When you’re anxious your breathing will become quick and shallow which will affect the control you have on your voice. This can consequently make you feel more nervous. You want to breathe steadily and deeply so before you start speaking take some deep breaths or implement controlled breathing.

Controlled breathing is a common technique that helps slow down your breathing to normal thus reducing your anxiety. If you think this may be useful practice with these steps:

• Sit down in an upright position as it easier for your lungs to fill with air
• Breathe in through your nose and into your abdomen for four seconds
• Hold this breathe for two seconds
• Breathe out through your nose for six seconds
• Wait a few seconds before inhaling and repeating the cycle

It takes practice to master this technique but once you get used to it you may want to implement it directly before your presentation.

Completely filling your lungs during a pause will ensure you reach a greater vocal range.

During the presentation delivery, if you notice that you’re speaking too quickly then pause and breathe. This won’t look strange – it will appear as though you’re giving thought to what you’re saying. You can also strategically plan some of your pauses, such as after questions and at the end of sections, because this will give you a chance to calm down and it will also give the audience an opportunity to think and reflect.

Pausing will also help you  avoid filler words , such as, “um” as well which can make you sound unsure.

• 10 Effective Ways to use Pauses in your Speech

Strong opening

The first five minutes are  vital to engage the audience  and get them listening to you. You could start with a story to highlight why your topic is significant.

For example, if the topic is on the benefits of pets on physical and psychological health, you could present a story or a study about an individual whose quality of life significantly improved after being given a dog. The audience is more likely to respond better to this and remember this story than a list of facts.

Example: Which presentation intro keeps you engaged?

Watch 5 different presentation introductions, from both virtual and in-person events. Notice how it can only take a few seconds to decide if you want to keep listening or switch off. For the good introductions, what about them keeps you engaged?

More experienced and confident public speakers use humour in their presentations. The audience will be incredibly engaged if you make them laugh but caution must be exercised when using humour because a joke can be misinterpreted and even offend the audience.

Only use jokes if you’re confident with this technique, it has been successful in the past and it’s suitable for the situation.

Stories and anecdotes

Use stories whenever you can and judge whether you can tell a story about yourself because the audience are even more interested in seeing the human side of you.

Consider telling a story about a mistake you made, for example, perhaps you froze up during an important presentation when you were 25, or maybe life wasn’t going well for you in the past – if relevant to your presentation’s aim. People will relate to this as we have all experienced mistakes and failures. The more the audience relates to you, the more likely they will remain engaged.

These stories can also be  told in a humorous way  if it makes you feel more comfortable and because you’re disclosing a personal story there is less chance of misinterpretation compared to telling a joke.

Anecdotes are especially valuable for your introduction and between different sections of the presentation because they engage the audience. Ensure that you plan the stories thoroughly beforehand and that they are not too long.

Focus on the audience’s needs

Even though your aim is to persuade the audience, they must also get something helpful from the presentation. Provide the audience with value by giving them useful information, tactics, tips etc. They’re more likely to warm to you and trust you if you’re sharing valuable information with them.

You could also highlight their pain point. For example, you might ask “Have you found it difficult to stick to a healthy diet?” The audience will now want to remain engaged because they want to know the solution and the opportunities that you’re offering.

Use visual aids

Visual aids are items of a visual manner, such as graphs, photographs, video clips etc used in addition to spoken information. Visual aids are chosen depending on their purpose, for example, you may want to:

• Summarise information.
• Reduce the amount of spoken words, for example, you may show a graph of your results rather than reading them out.
• Clarify and show examples.
• Create more of an impact. You must consider what type of impact you want to make beforehand – do you want the audience to be sad, happy, angry etc?
• Emphasise what you’re saying.
• Make a point memorable.
• Enhance your credibility.
• Engage the audience and maintain their interest.
• Make something easier for the audience to understand.

Some general tips for  using visual aids :

• Think about how can a visual aid can support your message. What do you want the audience to do?
• Ensure that your visual aid follows what you’re saying or this will confuse the audience.
• Avoid cluttering the image as it may look messy and unclear.
• Visual aids must be clear, concise and of a high quality.
• Keep the style consistent, such as, the same font, colours, positions etc
• Use graphs and charts to present data.
• The audience should not be trying to read and listen at the same time – use visual aids to highlight your points.
• One message per visual aid, for example, on a slide there should only be one key point.
• Use visual aids in moderation – they are additions meant to emphasise and support main points.
• Ensure that your presentation still works without your visual aids in case of technical problems.

10-20-30 slideshow rule

Slideshows are widely used for presentations because it’s easy to create attractive and professional presentations using them. 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.

If you want to give the audience more information you can provide them with partially completed handouts or give them the handouts after you’ve delivered the presentation.

Keep a drink nearby

Have something to drink when you’re on stage, preferably water at room temperature. This will help maintain your vocal quality and having a sip is a subtle way of introducing pauses.

Practice, practice, practice

If you are very familiar with the content of your presentation, your audience will perceive you as confident and you’ll be more persuasive.

• Don’t just read the presentation through – practice everything,  including your transitions  and using your visual aids.
• Stand up and speak it aloud, in an engaging manner, as though you were presenting to an audience.
• Ensure that you practice your body language and gesturing.
• Use VR to  practice in a realistic environment .
• Practice in front of others and get their feedback.
• Freely improvise so you’ll sound more natural on the day. Don’t learn your presentation verbatim because you will sound uninterested and if you lose focus then you may forget everything.
• Create cards to use as cues – one card should be used for one key idea. Write down brief notes or key words and ensure that the cards are physically connected so the order cannot be lost. Visual prompts can also be used as cues.

This video shows how you can practice presentations in virtual reality. See our  VR training courses .

Two courses where you can practice your presentations in interactive exercises:

• Essential Public Speaking
• How to Present over Video

Try these different presentation delivery methods to see which ones you prefer and which need to be improved. The most important factor is to feel comfortable during the presentation as the delivery is likely to be better.

Remember that the audience are generally on your side – they want you to do well so present with confidence.

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

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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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Blog > Tips for good PowerPoint Presentations

Tips for good PowerPoint Presentations

08.14.21   •  #powerpoint #tips.

If you know how to do it, it's actually not that difficult to create and give a good presentation.

That's why we have some examples of good PowerPoint presentations for you and tips that are going to make your next presentation a complete success.

1. Speak freely

One of the most important points in good presentations is to speak freely. Prepare your presentation so well that you can speak freely and rarely, if ever, need to look at your notes. The goal is to connect with your audience and get them excited about your topic. If you speak freely, this is much easier than if you just read your text out. You want your audience to feel engaged in your talk. Involve them and tell your text in a vivid way.

2. Familiarize yourself with the technology

In order to be able to speak freely, it is important to prepare the text well and to engage with the topic in detail.

However, it is at least as important to familiarize yourself with the location’s technology before your presentation and to start your PowerPoint there as well. It is annoying if technical problems suddenly occur during your presentation, as this interrupts your flow of speech and distracts the audience from the topic. Avoid this by checking everything before you start your talk and eliminate any technical problems so that you can give your presentation undisturbed.

• Don't forget the charging cable for your laptop
• Find out beforehand how you can connect your laptop to the beamer. Find out which connection the beamer has and which connection your laptop has. To be on the safe side, take an adapter with you.
• Always have backups of your presentation. Save them on a USB stick and preferably also online in a cloud.
• Take a second laptop and maybe even your own small projector for emergencies. Even if it's not the latest model and the quality is not that good: better bad quality than no presentation at all.

3. Get the attention of your audience

Especially in long presentations it is often difficult to keep the attention of your audience. It is important to make your presentation interesting and to actively involve the audience. Try to make your topic as exciting as possible and captivate your audience.

Our tip: Include interactive polls or quizzes in your presentation to involve your audience and increase their attention. With the help of SlideLizard, you can ask questions in PowerPoint and your audience can easily vote on their own smartphone. Plus, you can even get anonymous feedback at the end, so you know right away what you can improve next time.

Here we have also summarized further tips for you on how to increase audience engagement.

4. Hold eye contact

You want your audience to feel engaged in your presentation, so it is very important to hold eye contact. Avoid staring only at a part of the wall or at your paper. Speak to your audience, involve them in your presentation and make it more exciting.

But also make sure you don't always look at the same two or three people, but address everyone. If the audience is large, it is often difficult to include everyone, but still try to let your eyes wander a little between your listeners and look into every corner of the room.

5. Speaking coherently

In a good presentation it is important to avoid jumping from one topic to the next and back again shortly afterwards. Otherwise your audience will not be able to follow you after a while and their thoughts will wander. To prevent this, it is important that your presentation has a good structure and that you work through one topic after the other.

Nervousness can cause even the best to mumble or talk too fast in order to get the presentation over with as quickly as possible. Try to avoid this by taking short pauses to collect yourself, to breathe and to remind yourself to speak slowly.

6. Matching colors

An attractive design of your PowerPoint is also an important point for giving good presentations. Make sure that your slides are not too colorful. A PowerPoint in which all kinds of colors are combined with each other does not look professional, but rather suitable for a children's birthday party.

Think about a rough color palette in advance, which you can then use in your presentation. Colors such as orange or neon green do not look so good in your PowerPoint. Use colors specifically to emphasize important information.

To create good PowerPoint slides it is also essential to choose colors that help the text to read well. You should have as much contrast as possible between the font and the background. Black writing on a white background is always easy to read, while yellow writing on a white background is probably hard to read.

7. Slide design should not be too minimalistic

Even though it is often said that "less is more", you should not be too minimalistic in the design of your presentation. A presentation where your slides are blank and only black text on a white background is likely to go down just as badly as if you use too many colors.

Empty presentations are boring and don't really help to capture the attention of your audience. It also looks like you are too lazy to care about the design of your presentation and that you have not put any effort into the preparation. Your PowerPoint doesn't have to be overflowing with colors, animations and images to make it look interesting. Make it simple, but also professional.

8. Write only key points on the slides

If you want to create a good presentation, it is important to remember that your slides should never be overcrowded. Write only the most important key points on your slides and never entire sentences. Your audience should not be able to read the exact text you are speaking in your PowerPoint. This is rather annoying and leads to being bored quickly. Summarize the most important things that your audience should remember and write them down in short bullet points on your presentation. Then go into the key points in more detail in your speech and explain more about them.

9. Do not overdo it with animations

Do never use too many animations. It looks messy, confusing and definitely not professional if every text and image is displayed with a different animation. Just leave out animations at all or if you really want to use them then use them only very rarely when you want to draw attention to something specific. Make sure that if you use animations, they are consistent. If you use transitions between the individual slides, these should also always be kept consistent and simple.

10. Use images

Pictures and graphics in presentations are always a good idea to illustrate something and to add some variety. They help keep your audience's attention and make it easier to remember important information. But don't overdo it with them. Too many pictures can distract from your presentation and look messy. Make sure the graphics also fit the content and, if you have used several images on one slide, ask yourself if you really need all of them.

11. Choose a suitable font

Never combine too many fonts so that your presentation does not look messy. Use at most two: one for headings and one for text. When choosing fonts, you should also make sure that they are still legible at long distances. Script, italic and decorative fonts are very slow to read, which is why they should be avoided in presentations.

It is not so easy to choose the right font. Therefore, we have summarized for you how to find the best font for your PowerPoint presentation.

12. Do not use images as background

In a good presentation it is important to be able to read the text on the slides easily and quickly. Therefore, do not use images as slide backgrounds if there is also text on them. The picture only distracts from the text and it is difficult to read it because there is not much contrast with the background. It is also harder to see the image because the text in the foreground is distracting. The whole thing looks messy and distracting rather than informative and clear.

13. Never read out the text from your slides

Never just read the exact text from your slides. Your audience can read for themselves, so they will only get bored and in the worst case it will lead to "Death by PowerPoint". You may also give them the feeling that you think they are not able to read for themselves. In addition, you should avoid whole sentences on your slides anyway. List key points that your audience can read along. Then go into more detail and explain more about them.

14. Don't turn your back

Never turn around during your presentation to look at your projected PowerPoint. Not to read from your slides, but also not to make sure the next slide is already displayed. It looks unprofessional and only distracts your audience.

In PowerPoint's Speaker View, you can always see which slide is currently being displayed and which one is coming next. Use this to make sure the order fits. You can even take notes in PowerPoint, which are then displayed during your presentation. You can read all about notes in PowerPoint here.

15. Do not forget about the time

In a good presentation, it is important to always be aware of the given time and to stick to it. It is annoying when your presentation takes much longer than actually planned and your audience is just waiting for you to stop talking or you are not able to finish your presentation at all. It is just as awkward if your presentation is too short. You have already told everything about your topic, but you should actually talk for at least another ten minutes.

Practice your presentation often enough at home. Talk through your text and time yourself as you go. Then adjust the length so that you can keep to the time given on the day of your presentation.

16. Avoid a complicated structure

The structure of a good presentation should not be complicated. Your audience should be able to follow you easily and remember the essential information by the end. When you have finished a part, briefly summarize and repeat the main points before moving on to the next topic. Mention important information more than once to make sure it really gets across to your audience.

However, if the whole thing gets too complicated, it can be easy for your audience to disengage after a while and not take away much new information from your presentation.

17. Choose appropriate clothes

On the day of your presentation, be sure to choose appropriate clothing. Your appearance should be formal, so avoid casual clothes and stick to professional dress codes. When choosing your clothes, also make sure that they are rather unobtrusive. Your audience should focus on your presentation, not on your appearance.

18. Adapt your presentation to your audience

Think about who your audience is and adapt your presentation to them. Find out how much they already know about the topic, what they want to learn about it and why they are here in the first place. If you only talk about things your audience already knows, they will get bored pretty soon, but if you throw around a lot of technical terms when your audience has hardly dealt with the topic at all, they will also have a hard time following you. So to give a successful and good presentation, it is important to adapt it to your audience.

You can also ask a few questions at the beginning of your presentation to learn more about your audience and then adapt your presentation. With SlideLizard , you can integrate polls directly into your PowerPoint and participants can then easily answer anonymously from their smartphone.

19. Mention only the most important information

Keep it short and limit yourself to the essentials. The more facts and information you present to your audience, the less they will remember.

Also be sure to leave out information that does not fit the topic or is not relevant. You will only distract from the actual topic and lose the attention of your audience. The time your audience can concentrate and listen with attention is rather short anyway, so don't waste it by telling unimportant information.

20. Talk about your topic in an exciting way

Tell compelling and exciting stories to make your presentation really good. If you speak in a monotone voice all the time, you are likely to lose the attention of your audience. Make your narration lively and exciting. Also, be careful not to speak too quietly, but not too loudly either. People should be able to understand you well throughout the whole room. Even if it is not easy for many people, try to deliver your speech with confidence. If you are enthusiastic about the topic yourself, it is much easier to get your audience excited about it.

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About the author.

Helena Reitinger

Helena supports the SlideLizard team in marketing and design. She loves to express her creativity in texts and graphics.

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How can you make a good presentation even more effective?

This page draws on published advice from expert presenters around the world, which will help to take your presentations from merely ‘good’ to ‘great’.

By bringing together advice from a wide range of people, the aim is to cover a whole range of areas.

Whether you are an experienced presenter, or just starting out, there should be ideas here to help you to improve.

1. Show your Passion and Connect with your Audience

It’s hard to be relaxed and be yourself when you’re nervous.

But time and again, the great presenters say that the most important thing is to connect with your audience, and the best way to do that is to let your passion for the subject shine through.

Be honest with the audience about what is important to you and why it matters.

Be enthusiastic and honest, and the audience will respond.

2. Focus on your Audience’s Needs

Your presentation needs to be built around what your audience is going to get out of the presentation.

As you prepare the presentation, you always need to bear in mind what the audience needs and wants to know, not what you can tell them.

While you’re giving the presentation, you also need to remain focused on your audience’s response, and react to that.

You need to make it easy for your audience to understand and respond.

3. Keep it Simple: Concentrate on your Core Message

When planning your presentation, you should always keep in mind the question:

What is the key message (or three key points) for my audience to take away?

You should be able to communicate that key message very briefly.

Some experts recommend a 30-second ‘elevator summary’, others that you can write it on the back of a business card, or say it in no more than 15 words.

Whichever rule you choose, the important thing is to keep your core message focused and brief.

And if what you are planning to say doesn’t contribute to that core message, don’t say it.

4. Smile and Make Eye Contact with your Audience

This sounds very easy, but a surprisingly large number of presenters fail to do it.

If you smile and make eye contact, you are building rapport , which helps the audience to connect with you and your subject. It also helps you to feel less nervous, because you are talking to individuals, not to a great mass of unknown people.

To help you with this, make sure that you don’t turn down all the lights so that only the slide screen is visible. Your audience needs to see you as well as your slides.

5. Start Strongly

The beginning of your presentation is crucial. You need to grab your audience’s attention and hold it.

They will give you a few minutes’ grace in which to entertain them, before they start to switch off if you’re dull. So don’t waste that on explaining who you are. Start by entertaining them.

Try a story (see tip 7 below), or an attention-grabbing (but useful) image on a slide.

6. Remember the 10-20-30 Rule for Slideshows

This is a tip from Guy Kawasaki of Apple. He suggests that slideshows should:

• Contain no more than 10 slides;
• Last no more than 20 minutes; and
• Use a font size of no less than 30 point.

This last is particularly important as it stops you trying to put too much information on any one slide. This whole approach avoids the dreaded ‘Death by PowerPoint’.

As a general rule, slides should be the sideshow to you, the presenter. A good set of slides should be no use without the presenter, and they should definitely contain less, rather than more, information, expressed simply.

If you need to provide more information, create a bespoke handout and give it out after your presentation.

7. Tell Stories

Human beings are programmed to respond to stories.

Stories help us to pay attention, and also to remember things. If you can use stories in your presentation, your audience is more likely to engage and to remember your points afterwards. It is a good idea to start with a story, but there is a wider point too: you need your presentation to act like a story.

Think about what story you are trying to tell your audience, and create your presentation to tell it.

Finding The Story Behind Your Presentation

To effectively tell a story, focus on using at least one of the two most basic storytelling mechanics in your presentation:

Focusing On Characters – People have stories; things, data, and objects do not. So ask yourself “who” is directly involved in your topic that you can use as the focal point of your story.

For example, instead of talking about cars (your company’s products), you could focus on specific characters like:

• The drivers the car is intended for – people looking for speed and adventure
• The engineers who went out of their way to design the most cost-effective car imaginable

A Changing Dynamic – A story needs something to change along the way. So ask yourself “What is not as it should be?” and answer with what you are going to do about it (or what you did about it).

For example…

• Did hazardous road conditions inspire you to build a rugged, all-terrain jeep that any family could afford?
• Did a complicated and confusing food labelling system lead you to establish a colour-coded nutritional index so that anybody could easily understand it?

To see 15 more actionable storytelling tips, see Nuts & Bolts Speed Training’s post on Storytelling Tips .

8. Use your Voice Effectively

The spoken word is actually a pretty inefficient means of communication, because it uses only one of your audience’s five senses. That’s why presenters tend to use visual aids, too. But you can help to make the spoken word better by using your voice effectively.

Varying the speed at which you talk, and emphasising changes in pitch and tone all help to make your voice more interesting and hold your audience’s attention.

For more about this, see our page on Effective Speaking .

9. Use your Body Too

It has been estimated that more than three quarters of communication is non-verbal.

That means that as well as your tone of voice, your body language is crucial to getting your message across. Make sure that you are giving the right messages: body language to avoid includes crossed arms, hands held behind your back or in your pockets, and pacing the stage.

Make your gestures open and confident, and move naturally around the stage, and among the audience too, if possible.

10. Relax, Breathe and Enjoy

If you find presenting difficult, it can be hard to be calm and relaxed about doing it.

One option is to start by concentrating on your breathing. Slow it down, and make sure that you’re breathing fully. Make sure that you continue to pause for breath occasionally during your presentation too.

For more ideas, see our page on Coping with Presentation Nerves .

If you can bring yourself to relax, you will almost certainly present better. If you can actually start to enjoy yourself, your audience will respond to that, and engage better. Your presentations will improve exponentially, and so will your confidence. It’s well worth a try.

Improve your Presentation Skills

Follow our guide to boost your presentation skills learning about preparation, delivery, questions and all other aspects of giving effective presentations.

Start with: What is a Presentation?

Continue to: How to Give a Speech Self Presentation

See also: Five Ways You Can Do Visual Marketing on a Budget Can Presentation Science Improve Your Presentation? Typography – It’s All About the Message in Your Slides

• Video Marketing
• Case Studies
• Create a video

14 Must-Know Presentation Tips for a Killer Presentation [in 2023]

Guru - November 8, 2022 - Leave your thoughts. 18 min read

We're all familiar with the old adage: "A good presentation is like a great conversation."

What makes a presentation great?

Is it a compelling story? Or a good connection with your audience? Or is it about an eloquent delivery by the presenter?

The truth is, there is no “one-size-fits-all solution” for creating great presentations. Every presentation is different, and every audience is different.

When you’re tasked with delivering a presentation, you want to ensure it goes off without a hitch. We all know how important it is for the audience to remember and understand the content.

So if you’re wondering how to make a killer presentation that will stand out and stay in people’s minds for a long time, you’ve come to the right place!

In this article, we have addressed the most frequently asked questions about presentations.

We have also compiled a list of great presentation tips to improve your deck designs, presentation best practices, and effective ways to communicate the subject to your audience.

Here’s what the article covers,

What makes a good presentation?

• 14 Must-Know Presentation Tips to give a killer presentation

What are the difficulties in making a presentation?

Spellbound your audience with these presentation tips.

When we think about presentations, we often think about the content itself. We imagine a long list of facts or figures, a well-rehearsed script, and a PowerPoint slide deck.

But what makes a good presentation? What makes it memorable, engaging, and valuable?

These are questions that any presenter should be asking themselves.

Here are the four characteristics of a good presentation:

• A good presentation makes you want to take action.
• It helps your audience engage and be interested in what you have to say. It educates and entertains at the same time.
• It puts forth information in a way that makes it easy for them to understand and process without overwhelming them.
• If you're one of those people who's always thinking, "What can I add to my own presentation?”

Well, we've compiled some best presentation tips for you that will help make your next presentation memorable—and, more importantly, help you do what you came here to do: share information with the world.

So read on to find out.

14 Must Know Presentation Tips for a killer presentation [in 2023]

Ever felt like you're struggling to make a presentation on time? Worried about how good your presentation will turn out? We have all been there.

This is why we have put together a list of great presentation tips that can make your next presentation a breeze, and we hope it helps!

Here are some tips to help you create a great presentation:

• Do proper homework on the subject
• Have a strong opening
• Follow a presentation structure
• Have a Hook!
• Tell an engaging story
• Use visual elements
• Keep it short
• Add a touch of humor
• Have a parking lot for questions
• Learn to empathize with the audience
• Keep it interactive with Call-to-action
• Incorporate Data when required
• Use Hashtags in your presentation
• Try out unique presentation templates

Tip 1 - Do proper homework on the subject

Whenever a topic is assigned to you for a presentation, it goes without saying that you understand the topic correctly.

You must do proper homework and research on the subject to ensure you know what you're talking about.

Reading articles and books, or even watching videos or podcasts, will help you understand the topic and how the presentation should be structured.

Also, if you need more background information on the topic, don't be afraid to ask for help from other people—you might find that they know more than you think!

Take notes while learning about the topic. This will help you remember key points.

Then, read your notes before you present and practice saying them aloud (this will help with timing and pronunciation).

Use a timer; this helps keep track of how long you take to say things while also keeping yourself from getting too nervous.

Do some fundamental research on your audience and their expectations about your presentation.

For instance, If they're business executives, they might be looking for intellectual information and numbers. Or, If they're a general audience, they may want more details about how your product works or how it can benefit them.

You'll be surprised how much more effective your presentation will be when you know,

Everything about the topic How crucial it is for the audience, and What the audience expects from the presentation

So only present a topic after doing loads of essential research!

Tip 2 - Have a strong opening

An excellent way to ensure that your presentation is successful is by having a solid opening. Plan the intro slides ahead so that you can set the right tone for the pitch.

Have a strong opening statement that tells your audience who they are listening to, why they're here, what they will hear from you, and anything else you want them to know!

Doing so will help keep your audience engaged and interested in what you have to say.

Be prepared for questions from your audience before you start speaking. It is not necessary that the audience must wait till the end to ask questions.

Being prepared will help you answer them well and present yourself as an expert in the field.

Tip 3 - Follow a presentation structure

The first thing you should do is decide on a structure for your presentation. This will help you ensure that you cover all essential topics and leave no gaps in what you say.

The most successful presentations start with a strong introduction, followed by a clear and concise main body, and ending with a proper sign-off.

The body presents the study's research, findings, and conclusions in an organized and engaging way.

The final section/sign-off should close with any additional information or recommendations. Not just that, it must also give the audience space to ask questions related to the presentation.

Each section can have about two or three minutes of content. This would help structure the presentation concisely and make sure to include all important information.

Use transitions between slides that move from one topic to another, rather than just jumping from one slide to another in one continuous flow.

This makes your content more manageable for your audience to follow and gives them more time to digest what they're seeing before moving on to the next thing!

Hence, remember this effective presentation tip - follow a proper structure!

Tip 4 - Have a Hook!

When you're delivering a presentation, keeping your audience's attention is essential.

But how do you make learning a little more fun? What are the best presenting tips and tricks?

Well, one way is by making sure that your presentation has a hook.

A hook can be anything from an element of surprise (like an announcement that will keep them anticipated till the end) to something unexpected (a discount!).

This will help to keep your audience engaged because they won't feel like they're reading through a textbook or manual - they'll feel like they're getting involved in your story.

Ideally, hooks are placed at the start of the presentation. It's the part that acts as a surprise for the audience, keeping them engaged and excited, and would help retain the audience's attention.

However, remember that the fewer distractions in your presentation, the easier it will be for them to see how amazing it is!

Tip 5 - Tell an engaging story

When you're creating a presentation, it’s a thumb rule to make sure your slide decks are memorable and engaging throughout.

One of the best ways to do this is by telling a story—whether that's a story about your business, your life, or anything else related to the subject.

Telling a story is the key to creating an excellent presentation.

Your audience will be more interested if they can relate to what's on your slides. So tell them a story that connects with their lives and work experiences - it may be a funny anecdote or a relatable work prank!

Let's say you're talking about how to create a product. You can start by showing an image or a video of the product. You can develop the flow by telling the product story and how it has grown through the years.

That way, your audience gets to see both sides of the coin: what this product does and how it was made.

The more details you include in your presentation, the better it will be for viewers—not only because they'll get more information but because they'll also have more context for what they see on screen.

Hence, remember to carve your presentation with a well-practiced, engaging story.

Tip 6 - Use visual elements

People love visual aids—they help them remember things better than words alone!

When you're presenting a product or service, you have to look at it from all angles—from the customer's point of view, the provider's point of view, and your own.

It's essential to keep in mind that your presentation must build a connection with the audience. You must consider the audience’s needs and how you can meet them. The best way to bring that connection is not just through words but to incorporate visual proofs in your slide decks.

But the visual elements used must be relevant to the topic at hand.

For example, if your company is doing something great for the community, show pictures of people smiling in joy from being around you!

If you're talking about how much money you've made over the years as an entrepreneur, add pictures of dollar signs!

Finally, make sure that everything in your presentation flows together nicely.

For example, if visual element parts don't match, then consider breaking them up into two separate slides or changing how things are laid out so it doesn't feel so jarring when someone views it.

Use quality screenshots and images that are relevant to the topic at hand. This is especially important when you're speaking in front of an audience who may need to become more familiar with your product or service.

If possible, use photos or videos of people who might be familiar with your topic—people who will help convey your message more effectively than just text alone.

You don't have to go all out on the graphics, but if you can, try to use high-quality images that are easy to understand.

With online presentation makers like Animaker Deck, you get access to the stock images library; you can pick and add high-quality images for your slide decks with a simple click now!

Also, the best part is you can upload screenshots and brand images directly into the app and use them in the presentation.

Tip 7 - Keep it short

Ever wonder why some presentations are so dull? It's because they're dragging!

A good presentation should be at most 20 minutes at maximum and be structured so that even a first-time viewer can easily understand the information conveyed.

Ensure your audience knows what to expect from you and your content. Refrain from crossing the line of being boring or boringly informative. Your audience should never feel like they're being lectured.

One key business presentation tip is to convey the message to the audience most memorably and engagingly possible.

It is really in the hands of the presenter to steer the audience’s attention throughout the presentation without giving too many dull moments.

The shorter, the better. Keep your slides concise, and avoid falling into the trap of talking about things that have nothing to do with your actual point.

Tip 8 - Add a touch of humor

If you're trying to create an awesome presentation, you can do a few things to ensure it's easy on the eyes and makes people want to engage.

One of the best methods for communicating the message in a light-hearted manner and making your presentation stand out is through humor.

Try to avoid text-heavy slides! You can use witty remarks, analogies, drawings, personal anecdotes, or even memes that suit current trends.

When you tell about something that has happened to you, people may be able to associate with it even more if the story is humorous.

This way, you can easily withhold the audience’s attention through the presentation.

Tip 9 - Have a parking lot for questions

When you're creating a presentation, it's important to keep the audience engaged and excited about what's coming up next. Therefore, it is very necessary to make the presentation a two-way street.

A good way to do this is by asking questions during your presentation and allowing them to answer. This helps keep the audience interested in what they're learning and makes them feel like they're part of the conversation.

The audience should be engaged throughout the presentation and allowed to ask questions to the presenter.

However, it is also vital to ensure that the flow of the presentation is not disrupted by the bombardment of questions in the middle of the presentation.

To tackle this, the presenter can introduce a “parking lot” in their presentation.

So when the audience asks a question about a particular section in the presentation, the presenter can choose to park similar questions together and answer them all together at the end of the presentation.

This way, the presentation’s flow is not affected, and even the audience will get their questions answered.

This is an important skill to be imbibed by every presenter to ensure the audience feels comfortable and gains a good experience from the presentation.

Tip 10 - Learn to empathize with the audience

One of the most important things to remember when creating a presentation is that you are trying to connect with your audience.

Learn to empathize with the audience. You'll want to understand what they're seeing, feeling, and thinking so that you can communicate your message in a way that resonates with them.

By understanding their needs, you can create a more meaningful presentation that will resonate with them. Try to put yourself in their shoes and imagine how they think about this topic.

Are they excited? Are they bored? What are they hoping for? What do they want to see from you?

Know your audience's needs!

It would help if you talked to people with similar backgrounds as your audience and how they would like to be educated on the topic.

Before you start creating content for your presentation, think about who you're speaking to and what they need from you.

When you do this, you will not only speak more clearly, but you'll also be able to connect with them emotionally, making your message stick.

Tip 11 - Keep it interactive with Call-to-action

Have you ever been in a presentation where the speaker makes it look like a one-way conversation? It's not an intentional act of rudeness—the speaker is just trying to get their point across.

But for the audience, it might be very disappointing!

The solution? Keep your presentation interactive with call-to-action buttons that let your audience help move things along.

When something important is being discussed, ask them to take action by clicking on one of the buttons that appear on the screen.

Include a call-to-action that tells your audience what they should do next (like sign up for my newsletter!) or take action on what you've just told them (like buy my product!).

So include call-to-action buttons wherever necessary, so viewers feel like they're partaking in something meaningful rather than just watching someone talk for hours on end!

But one thing, don’t go overboard on those CTAs either. Too many CTAs can be bugging.

Tip 12 - Incorporate Data when required

Creating a presentation is a complicated task, but it's also incredibly important that you need to be able to convey information clearly and effectively.

That's where data comes in!

Data can help you make your point by giving context and supporting the main points of your argument.

Incorporate data when required to present information to the audience quickly. This will make your audience understand what you're talking about more efficiently and allow them to consume the information in a way that makes sense to them.

Use real-life examples and statistics whenever possible because people love those!

With an online presentation maker like Animaker Deck, you get access to the property section, where you can search and add charts, graphs, icons, and other properties directly into your slide decks with just a few clicks.

For example, if you're presenting an overview of how your company's business model works, include graphs or charts that show how the different parts of the model work together so that people who aren't familiar with it can follow along easily.

Or, if you're talking about something more complex, like an industry trend, use graphs or charts to illustrate key points about it, such as growth rates for specific industries over time or changes in consumer demand based on demographics.

You can also use numbers and percentages in charts when comparing different items or events.

Tip 13 - Use Hashtags in your presentation

It’s the era of social media. People are likely tweeting, emailing, or running their entire little business on their phones and sharing every life update on the internet while still doing other chores.

When used correctly, hashtags can: Persuade attendees to share your event on social media, give participants a way to continue the conversation online, and permit you to review tagged comments to evaluate consumer feedback.

You can create a hashtag for your event and use it in the presentation. Promote social media interactions with the hashtag. This will allow you to connect with other users interested in what you have to say!

You can help inspire viewers to share news, ideas, and updates about your presentation by linking this custom hashtag you created. It combines social interaction, event promotion, and word-of-mouth marketing into one.

So if you use social media in your presentation, make sure you promote the hashtag you'll use. This will ensure that people who follow your brand or business see and interact with the hashtag!

Tip 14 - Try out unique presentation templates

We know how hard it is to come up with a good pitch and how hard it is to be creative when you have no time to waste on making something from scratch.

Thanks to online presentation makers like Animaker Deck, creating a presentation online is now easier than ever.

You can access exciting presentation templates with the help of Animaker's online presentation software, hundreds of customizable layouts and branding options, free stock images, properties, transition effects, and animations.

They'll let you get straight to the point and help you win every pitch because they're so easy to use and exceptionally engaging that they'll blow your audience away!

In other words, Animaker Deck handholds you in bringing all your fascinating presentation ideas to life with its one-of-a-kind features and built-in templates, ready for you to use on the go!

Making a presentation can be a daunting task.

The difficulty lies in brainstorming the subject matter, preparing the presentation, and successfully presenting it to the audience. Overall, it is a lengthy and time-consuming process.

A good presentation must be organized and have a logical flow.

Many difficulties are encountered when preparing a presentation. This includes lack of preparation, lack of information about the subject, or worse, lack of interest in learning the subject from an academic perspective, let alone presenting it.

1st , you have to know what you're talking about. You must do your research and be able to explain the topic clearly and concisely.

2nd , you have to make a good impression quickly. You need to get your point across in a way that makes people want to listen—so they don't drift off and tune out!

3rd , your presentation must be not only exciting but also useful. If people don't learn something from your presentation, then it wasn't worth making in the first place!

Sure, you've been doing it for years—but that doesn't mean you're an expert at it. On the contrary, it's a skill that takes practice and dedication to master, and it can be frustrating when things don't go quite as planned.

So if you want to make better presentations every time, implement the above compelling presentation tips and overcome all the difficulties!

That’s all, folks!

We hope you found the above slide Presentation tips very useful, and you will never have to worry about making a presentation anymore!

Now that you know how to make an excellent presentation, it's time to start imbibing these presentation tips in your next presentation and spellbound your audience immediately!

Create a free account with Animaker Deck today to start dominating all of your presentations right away!

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THE IMPORTANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD PRESENTATION

• First Online: 01 January 2014

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• Adrian Wallwork 3  

Part of the book series: Guides to Professional English ((GPE))

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Presentations are opportunities to:

establish yourself within the company as being an expert in your field

show that you have good communication skills (i.e. to persuade, to inspire, to motivate) and thus have management potential – in most surveys of companies, presentation skills were rated as being as important (if not more so) than technical skills

learn a lot about the topic you are presenting, it will help you understand your topic better, and it may help you to see the topic from a new perspective (i.e. that of the user rather than the developer / designer)

Any kind of training session or demo is like selling a product – you are trying to get your audience to do something, e.g. to use some product or service.

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Wallwork, A. (2014). THE IMPORTANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD PRESENTATION. In: Presentations, Demos, and Training Sessions. Guides to Professional English. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0644-4_1

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CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD PRESENTATION

At the beginning.

• Introduce the topic
• State what is known
• State what remains unknown
• Introduce the main question
• Indicate how this work fits into the big picture
• Convince the audience of the importance of the work
• Refer to the original main question and how this research has addressed the question
• State the significance of this work and how it relates to the "big picture"
• Consider unanswered questions
• Suggest new questions that have arisen from this work
• Suggest possible future experiments
• Organize along this format: Intro, Methods, Results (and their implications), Discussion
• Establish eye contact with audience
• Provide an overview
• Become familiar with all methods and techniques
• Explain why a particular technique was used
• Use your own words and examples
• Make sure you understand the most difficult aspects
• Anticipate questions and have answers ready.
• Practice the entire talk while timing yourself
• Record your talk and listen for errors or rough spots
• Carefully point to subregions within the figures
• Screen supplemental figures (Avoid complexity; you want the audience to feel "OK, now I understand.")
• Emphasize the most important points, de-emphasize less important points
• Perhaps organize the talk as a series of questions and responses
• Justify each set of experiments (Why must these experiments be done? What was the question and why was it important?)
• Check word pronunciations in advance
• Include a drawing or diagram of the experimental setup
• Choose words carefully (importance of practice)
• Point out errors or flaws in text, figures, or logic
• Don't say "they" or "scientists. " Rather, say "investigators" or "workers" or "researchers."
• Don't say "they found out...."
• Don't say "OK" or "ahmmmm"
• Don't say "proved" (instead, use these verbs: suggested, indicated, demonstrated, showed, etc.) in most cases, avoid being absolutely definite.
• Don't rush through figures (Explain the axes and summarize each figure.)
• Don't attempt humor.
• Don't provide unnecessary details (ex: means of anesthesia, food, etc, unless relevant)
• Don't make nervous movements (snap pen cap, pace, fiddle with pointer, etc.)
• Don't talk directly to wall or talk with pen in mouth
• Don't trail off sentences into mumbling
• Don't worry. (Be happy.)

Ace the Presentation

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)

Growing up, we were always taught how we should have manners while talking to others and that there were some things we could not do in front of people like sprawling or even putting our elbows on the table while eating because it was rude. In the examples above, the rudeness comes from gestures, not…

The 7 Basic Elements of Public Speaking

Conclusion 

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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If you have a big presentation lingering in the near future and want to really nail it, identify what makes a good presentation. Here are some examples:

I know this seems fairly impossible at the moment but going into a presentation with confidence really helps to sell it to your audience. People want you to succeed and they are looking to you to make them at ease. If you’re second-guessing everything about your speech pattern and delivery, how can you expect those listening to buy into what you’re selling. Prepare thoroughly and come ready to do the best job you can. The right attitude can make a big difference.

Keeping a captive audience is not an easy task, especially within the business world. While the information is no doubt important, the subject material can sometimes be dry, so it’s your job as a presenter to give it some life. Delivering the topic with passion can often times translate into your audience forming their own interest in the subject. When you can speak passionately and eloquently about a subject, it will at the very least help to hold the attention of those you’re speaking to and hopefully ignite a passion of their own.

Before getting started on your presentation, you want to learn as much as possible about the subject you’re going to speak about. Become as much an expert as is reasonable to expect. The hope is that without even preparing a presentation, you would be able to speak at length on the subject. Without having a handle on the material, you will lose the audience. No matter how many times you practice, an audience can always tell the difference between someone who really knows the subject and those who are just regurgitating facts.

Naturalness

Memorizing a presentation can help to make you feel more prepared, but an overly memorized presentation isn’t too much fun to sit through. Presentations should certainly be professional but they can also benefit from adding a bit of informality to the proceedings. Being comfortable with the material allows you to be open to a bit of naturalism when presenting which makes for a much more engaging talk. Stay on your talking points and don’t stray off course, but don’t make things too rigid or else it won’t be fun for anyone.

Organization

While a little informality can be great for a presentation, when it comes to the structure of your presentation, strict guidelines are important. When a presentation hopes around too often, even if the right points are being hit, it can cause confusion in the audience and the message to become muddled. Your points need to connect and lead from one into the other so the audience has a story to follow. This helps them to remember information more easily and actually attain what you’re trying to say.

Time-sensitive

Getting across all the necessary information in your presentation is important, but keeping the whole things to a reasonable length is also important. No matter what you’re talking about, your audience isn’t going to stay with you forever, so you need to make the presentation as concise as possible. Make cuts where necessary, understand what’s really important and what is not and be able to improvise if you’re running long.

Above all else, a presentation is meant to convey a message. You could check all the box for the above qualities but if your audience leaves the presentation not knowing what your message was, then the whole thing failed. Identify a clear and concise message that can easily be interpreted and taken from your presentation. Know each time within your presentation that you need to hammer home that message. A clear message well delivered is the absolute key to a successful presentation.

– Courtesy of BoomersPlus

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