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In this article.
Creating an effective presentation
Delivering an effective presentation
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Choose a font style that your audience can read from a distance. | Choosing a simple font style, such as Arial or Calibri, helps to get your message across. Avoid very thin or decorative fonts that might impair readability, especially at small sizes. |
Choose a font size that your audience can read from a distance. | Try to avoid using font sizes smaller than 18 pt, and you may need to go larger for a large room where the audience is far away. |
Keep your text simple and minimize the amount of text on your slides | Use bullets or short sentences, and try to keep each to one line; that is, without text wrapping. You want your audience to listen to you present your information, rather than read the screen. Some projectors crop slides at the edges, so long sentences may be cropped. You can remove articles such as "a" and "the" to help reduce the word count on a line. |
Use art to help convey your message. | Use graphics to help tell your story. Don't overwhelm your audience by adding too many graphics to a slide, however. |
Make labels for charts and graphs understandable. | Use only enough text to make label elements in a chart or graph comprehensible. |
Make slide backgrounds subtle and keep them consistent. | Choose an appealing, consistent template or theme that is not too eye-catching. You don't want the background or design to detract from your message. See . For information about using themes, see . |
Use high contrast between background color and text color. | Themes automatically set the contrast between a light background with dark colored text or dark background with light colored text. See . |
Check the spelling and grammar. | To earn and maintain the respect of your audience, always check the spelling and grammar in your presentation. |
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Show up early and verify that your equipment works properly. | Make sure that all equipment is connected and running. |
Don't assume that your presentation will work fine on another computer. | Disk failures, software version mismatches, lack of disk space, low memory, and many other factors can ruin a presentation. Turn off screen savers, and ensure you have the appropriate files and versions of software that you need, including PowerPoint. To ensure all files are accounted for when you copy them to a USB drive and carry them to your presentation location, see Consider storing your presentation on OneDrive so it can be accessible to you from any device with an internet connection. |
Verify that the projector's resolution is the same as the computer on which you created your presentation. | If the resolutions don't match, your slides may be cropped, or other display problems can occur. |
Turn your screen saver off. | Keep your audience focused on the content of your presentation. |
Check all colors on a projection screen before giving the actual presentation. | The colors may project differently than what appears on your monitor. |
Ask your audience to hold questions until the end. | Questions are an excellent indicator that people are engaged by your subject matter and presentation skills. But if you save questions until the end of the presentation, you will get through your material uninterrupted. Also, early questions are often answered by ensuing slides and commentary. |
Avoid moving the pointer unconsciously. | When you are not using the pointer, remove your hand from the mouse. This helps to stop you from moving the pointer unconsciously, which can be distracting. |
Don't read the presentation. | Practice the presentation so that you can speak from bullet points. The text should be a cue for the presenter rather than the full message for the audience. |
Stay on time. | If you plan a certain amount of time for your presentation, do not go over. If there is no time limit, take less time rather than more to ensure that people stay engaged. |
Monitor your audience's behavior. | Each time that you deliver a presentation, monitor your audience's behavior. If you observe people focusing on your slides, the slides may contain too much data or be confusing or distracting in some other way. Use the information you learn each time to improve your future presentations. |
Practice makes perfect. | Consider rehearsing your presentation with . |
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Ever sat through a presentation that put you to sleep faster than a bedtime story? Or have you given yourself one that felt about as exciting as watching grass grow? Fear not, presentation warriors! Even if you can be a boss in a boardroom or a student facing your first “show and tell,” this guide is your key to unlocking the power of amazing presentations.
Why, you ask? Well, good presentation skills are like superpowers. They can help you nail that dream job, get your ideas heard, teach and inspire and be remembered.
Ready to ditch the nervous shakes and become a presentation pro? Buckle up because we’re diving deep into the world of Presentation Skills: guidelines of presentation skills to Captivating Crowds. From crafting awesome content to delivering with confidence, we’ll cover what you need to know. So, let’s say goodbye to boring presentations and hello to leaving a lasting impact!
By adhering to these guidelines of presentation skills and understanding the rationale behind each, you’ll be better equipped to how to to create compelling and effective presentation slides. Remember, the goal is to enhance your spoken message, ensuring it is more than just engaging but accessible to your audience.
1. Follow the 10-20-30 Rule: The 10-20-30 Rule is often recommended for creating effective PowerPoint presentations, particularly by Guy Kawasaki, a venture capitalist and entrepreneur. The rule suggests:
10 Slides: Limit your presentation to around 10 slides. Keeping it concise ensures that you are focussing on the most critical points without making it overwhelming to your audience with too much information.
20 Minutes: Aim to complete your entire presentation within 20 minutes. This time constraint encourages you to prioritise key messages, keeping your audience engaged and preventing information fatigue.
30-Point Font: Use a minimum font size of 30 points for your text. This promotes readability and forces you to be concise with your content. Larger font sizes make sure that the audience can easily read and understand your slides.
2. One Idea Per Slide: Centering each slide around a single idea enhances clarity. This practice helps your audience follow your narrative more efficiently and prevents confusion caused by multiple competing concepts on a slide.
3. Clear and Concise Messaging: Using clear and concise language aids audience comprehension. Avoiding overly complex sentences ensures that your message is easily digestible, even for those with varying levels of familiarity with the topic.
4. Consistent Font and Colour Usage: Consistency in font style and the size on the screen maintains a professional appearance. Establishing a cohesive colour scheme enhances visual appeal and creates a unified and polished presentation.
5. Visual Appeal: High-quality visuals, such as images, charts, and graphs, add depth and support to your spoken content. A clean and professional design ensures that your visuals contribute positively to the presentation.
6. Limited Bullet Points: Bullet points effectively emphasise key points. Using them sparingly ensures that your audience stays focused on the most critical information, preventing distraction or confusion.
7. Effective Use of Headings: Clear and descriptive headings act as a navigational tool for your audience, providing a quick overview of the presentation slide’s main idea. This helps maintain engagement and aids understanding.
8. Minimise Text, Maximise Visuals: Striking a balance between text and visuals prevents text-heavy slides that might bore or overwhelm your audience. Effective use of images and graphics enhances overall engagement.
9. Consistent Slide Layout: Consistency in slide layout creates visual harmony. Uniform placement of headers, footers, and logos contributes to a polished and cohesive look, enhancing the overall professionalism of your presentation.
10. Logical Flow: A logical sequence of slides contributes to cohesive storytelling. Ensuring a logical flow allows your audience to follow the progression of your ideas, making it easier for them to understand and retain information.
11. Appropriate Use of Animation: Animation, when used judiciously, can draw attention to key points. However, excessive animation may distract from your message. Use animation to enhance, not overshadow, your presentation.
12. Check for Readability: Considering readability in different lighting conditions ensures that your slides remain clear and legible. Opting for high contrast between text and background colours contributes to a better viewing experience.
13. Proofread and Edit: Thoroughly proofreading ensures a polished presentation. Correcting grammatical mistakes and typos contributes to overall professionalism and enhances your credibility.
14. Feedback and Iteration: Seeking feedback and iteration based on constructive input allows for continuous improvement. Embracing a mindset of refinement ensures that your presentation skills evolve over time.
Embracing these practices and utilising the suggested tools and frameworks can significantly enhance your presentation skills.
Thorough preparation and research are foundational elements for a presentation. Investing time in comprehensive research using reliable sources like academic journals and industry reports not only builds your confidence but also establishes your credibility and expertise in the eyes of the audience.
Utilising tools such as mind mapping software and presentation platforms like PowerPoint or Prezi aids in organising information effectively, ensuring a logical and engaging flow during your presentation. Solo rehearsals and seeking feedback from peers contribute to refining both content and delivery, allowing for a confident and polished performance.
Tools like surveys and polls can be invaluable in gathering insights before the presentation, allowing you to adjust your approach accordingly. Staying informed about industry trends and current events related to your topic demonstrates your commitment to providing relevant and up-to-date information.
Ensuring your presentation resonates with your audience is extremely important for success. By focusing on your audience’s needs , you create an environment of engagement and connection. This approach not only helps to connect with your audience but also demonstrates a genuine interest in addressing their concerns.
To achieve this, conduct a thorough audience analysis , considering demographics and preferences. Creating audience personas aids in visualising diverse needs, and employing empathy mapping techniques helps understand their emotions and concerns. Aligning your content with these i dentified needs, addressing pain points, and maintaining relevance ensures that your audience finds value in your presentation.
Interactive elements, such as Q&A sessions and polls , contribute to real-time engagement and provide opportunities to address immediate queries. Incorporating these elements fosters a dynamic and participatory atmosphere.
Establishing a continuous feedback loop , both before and after the presentation, is essential. Utilise pre-presentation surveys to gather insights, adjust content accordingly, and enhance overall responsiveness. Post-presentation surveys and social media listening offer avenues for ongoing improvement, enabling you to fine-tune your approach based on real audience feedback.
Maintaining a concentrated focus on your core message is pivotal for delivering a good presentation that resonates and is easily understood by your audience. By distilling your presentation into a single, key takeaway, you will provide clarity and prevent information overload.
Following principles like the Rule of Three helps in presenting information in an engaging and memorable manner. Utilising message mapping techniques visually represents how your core message aligns with supporting points, ensuring a coherent narrative structure. Throughout the presentation, consistently reference and reinforce your core message to embed it in the minds of your audience.
Employing storytelling techniques enhances the impact, weaving your central idea into relatable anecdotes. Visual aids should be consistent with your core message and complement and reinforce the central idea. Structuring your content with the Pyramid Principle places the core message at the forefront, emphasising its importance.
To gauge clarity and effectiveness, seek feedback from peers , ensuring your core message is easily understood and resonates with the target audience. Conducting usability testing further refines your message and assesses its impact on your audience.
Establishing a personal connection with your audience is a key aspect of effective presentations, and smiling while making eye contact plays a crucial role in achieving this. A genuine smile fosters openness and relatability, while direct eye contact builds trust and engagement. Practising in front of the mirror helps refine your facial expressions, ensuring your smile is warm and inviting . Incorporating natural gestures and hand movements complements your facial expressions, contributing to a dynamic and engaging presence.
During a presentation, make a conscious effort to scan the audience, making brief eye contact with different individuals to create inclusivity and connection . Acknowledging audience responses with a smile or nod reinforces the interactive nature of your presentation. It’s crucial to be mindful of cultural norms regarding eye contact and facial expressions, ensuring your approach is respectful and aligns with diverse expectations. Incorporating relaxation techniques, such as mindful breathing, helps alleviate nervousness, contributing to a calm and composed demeanour.
Eye Contact Techniques:
The Triangle Technique: Divide your audience into three sections (left, centre, right). Rotate your gaze, spending a few seconds making eye contact with individuals in each section.
The Clock Technique: Visualise the audience to be a clock. Move your eyes from 12 to 6, 6 to 3, and 3 to 12, ensuring you cover the entire audience.
Pause and Engage: When making a significant point, pause and make deliberate eye contact with individuals. This emphasises key messages and enhances engagement.
Friendly Nod: Accompanying eye contact with a friendly nod signifies attentiveness and encourages a positive response from your audience.
Confident body language is a powerful tool that significantly contributes to the success of a presentation. Standing tall with an upright posture not only conveys assurance but also enhances your credibility as a presenter. Distributing your weight evenly between both feet and avoiding excessive movements or fidgeting reinforces the image of strength and professionalism.
Purposeful and natural gestures play a crucial role in maintaining audience engagement. Expressive movements emphasise key points , but it’s essential to avoid distracting or repetitive actions that may divert attention.
Facial expressions are another key component of confident body language. Using your face to convey enthusiasm, confidence, and sincerity adds depth to your verbal communication . Consistent eye contact, as reiterated in our previous point, reinforces engagement and connection with your audience. Purposeful movement can further enhance your message, allowing you to transition between key points or engage different sections of the audience. However, it’s important to strike a balance and avoid excessive pacing, ensuring your movements contribute to the overall impact of your presentation.
Additionally, integrating controlled breathing techniques into your routine contributes to a calm and composed demeanour. Practise deep breaths to maintain composure, as controlled breathing is integral to projecting steady and confident body language.
Effectively managing the question and answer (Q&A) session is a critical aspect of a successful presentation. A well-handled Q&A session not only enhances interactivity but also showcases your expertise and adaptability to audience needs. To navigate this segment smoothly, anticipating and preparing for potential questions is key.
Develop well-informed responses and create a comprehensive FAQ document as a quick reference during the session. When engaging with questions, practise active listening by giving each inquiry your full attention, maintaining eye contact, and repeating or clarifying questions for mutual understanding.
Remaining calm and composed during the Q&A is crucial, and employing mindful breathing techniques can help maintain composure, especially when faced with challenging queries. A positive and respectful tone throughout the session contributes to a constructive dialogue.
Encourage audience participation by creating an open floor for questions or having a moderator assist in selecting and presenting them. When uncertain about an answer, be honest and acknowledge limitations, offering to follow up with additional information post-presentation. Setting clear time limits for the Q&A session ensures a balanced allocation of time, preventing it from becoming overwhelming or extending beyond the scheduled time frame.
Actively seeking feedback after a presentation is a crucial step in the journey to improve your presentation skills. This process provides valuable insights into both strengths and areas for enhancement, offering a comprehensive understanding of how your message resonated with the audience.
Utilising feedback forms or surveys distributed post-presentation allows participants to share their thoughts on various aspects such as content, delivery, and overall impact. Structuring questions in these forms ensures targeted feedback , focusing on specific elements like clarity of message, engagement level, and relevance . Beyond formal surveys, engaging in peer reviews by requesting evaluations from colleagues adds external perspectives, fostering constructive discussions on presentation strengths and areas for improvement.
Reviewing your tone, body language, and overall delivery can help identify areas for adjustment. Sharing the recording with trusted individuals for an external review provides additional insights and perspectives. Personal reflection, such as conducting a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats), allows for a deeper understanding of individual performance.
In conclusion, mastering presentation skills involves a holistic approach, from thorough preparation to adept handling of interactive sessions. These guidelines serve as a roadmap for effective communication, helping presenters establish connections, convey core messages, and navigate challenges with confidence.
Whether a seasoned professional or a budding speaker, incorporating these guidelines will be elevating your ability in engaging, educating, and leaving a lasting impact. Presentation skills go beyond delivering information; they create experiences, foster connections, and leave indelible impressions. So, armed with these principles, step onto the stage with confidence, and watch your presentations transform into captivating and influential experiences. Your audience awaits, and your journey to becoming a compelling presenter continues.
Rishabh Bhandari is the Content Strategist at Kapable. Rishabh likes to transform complex ideas into captivating narratives relatable to the target audience. He loves telling stories through his content. He believes that stories have the power to shift mindsets and move mountains. He has 3 years of experience in educational blog writing and copywriting.
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Kristen m. naegle.
Biomedical Engineering and the Center for Public Health Genomics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America
The “presentation slide” is the building block of all academic presentations, whether they are journal clubs, thesis committee meetings, short conference talks, or hour-long seminars. A slide is a single page projected on a screen, usually built on the premise of a title, body, and figures or tables and includes both what is shown and what is spoken about that slide. Multiple slides are strung together to tell the larger story of the presentation. While there have been excellent 10 simple rules on giving entire presentations [ 1 , 2 ], there was an absence in the fine details of how to design a slide for optimal effect—such as the design elements that allow slides to convey meaningful information, to keep the audience engaged and informed, and to deliver the information intended and in the time frame allowed. As all research presentations seek to teach, effective slide design borrows from the same principles as effective teaching, including the consideration of cognitive processing your audience is relying on to organize, process, and retain information. This is written for anyone who needs to prepare slides from any length scale and for most purposes of conveying research to broad audiences. The rules are broken into 3 primary areas. Rules 1 to 5 are about optimizing the scope of each slide. Rules 6 to 8 are about principles around designing elements of the slide. Rules 9 to 10 are about preparing for your presentation, with the slides as the central focus of that preparation.
Each slide should have one central objective to deliver—the main idea or question [ 3 – 5 ]. Often, this means breaking complex ideas down into manageable pieces (see Fig 1 , where “background” information has been split into 2 key concepts). In another example, if you are presenting a complex computational approach in a large flow diagram, introduce it in smaller units, building it up until you finish with the entire diagram. The progressive buildup of complex information means that audiences are prepared to understand the whole picture, once you have dedicated time to each of the parts. You can accomplish the buildup of components in several ways—for example, using presentation software to cover/uncover information. Personally, I choose to create separate slides for each piece of information content I introduce—where the final slide has the entire diagram, and I use cropping or a cover on duplicated slides that come before to hide what I’m not yet ready to include. I use this method in order to ensure that each slide in my deck truly presents one specific idea (the new content) and the amount of the new information on that slide can be described in 1 minute (Rule 2), but it comes with the trade-off—a change to the format of one of the slides in the series often means changes to all slides.
Top left: A background slide that describes the background material on a project from my lab. The slide was created using a PowerPoint Design Template, which had to be modified to increase default text sizes for this figure (i.e., the default text sizes are even worse than shown here). Bottom row: The 2 new slides that break up the content into 2 explicit ideas about the background, using a central graphic. In the first slide, the graphic is an explicit example of the SH2 domain of PI3-kinase interacting with a phosphorylation site (Y754) on the PDGFR to describe the important details of what an SH2 domain and phosphotyrosine ligand are and how they interact. I use that same graphic in the second slide to generalize all binding events and include redundant text to drive home the central message (a lot of possible interactions might occur in the human proteome, more than we can currently measure). Top right highlights which rules were used to move from the original slide to the new slide. Specific changes as highlighted by Rule 7 include increasing contrast by changing the background color, increasing font size, changing to sans serif fonts, and removing all capital text and underlining (using bold to draw attention). PDGFR, platelet-derived growth factor receptor.
When you present your slide in the talk, it should take 1 minute or less to discuss. This rule is really helpful for planning purposes—a 20-minute presentation should have somewhere around 20 slides. Also, frequently giving your audience new information to feast on helps keep them engaged. During practice, if you find yourself spending more than a minute on a slide, there’s too much for that one slide—it’s time to break up the content into multiple slides or even remove information that is not wholly central to the story you are trying to tell. Reduce, reduce, reduce, until you get to a single message, clearly described, which takes less than 1 minute to present.
When each slide conveys only one message, use the heading of that slide to write exactly the message you are trying to deliver. Instead of titling the slide “Results,” try “CTNND1 is central to metastasis” or “False-positive rates are highly sample specific.” Use this landmark signpost to ensure that all the content on that slide is related exactly to the heading and only the heading. Think of the slide heading as the introductory or concluding sentence of a paragraph and the slide content the rest of the paragraph that supports the main point of the paragraph. An audience member should be able to follow along with you in the “paragraph” and come to the same conclusion sentence as your header at the end of the slide.
While you are speaking, audience members’ eyes and minds will be wandering over your slide. If you have a comment, detail, or figure on a slide, have a plan to explicitly identify and talk about it. If you don’t think it’s important enough to spend time on, then don’t have it on your slide. This is especially important when faculty are present. I often tell students that thesis committee members are like cats: If you put a shiny bauble in front of them, they’ll go after it. Be sure to only put the shiny baubles on slides that you want them to focus on. Putting together a thesis meeting for only faculty is really an exercise in herding cats (if you have cats, you know this is no easy feat). Clear and concise slide design will go a long way in helping you corral those easily distracted faculty members.
An exception to Rule 4 is to include proper citations or references to work on your slide. When adding citations, names of other researchers, or other types of credit, use a consistent style and method for adding this information to your slides. Your audience will then be able to easily partition this information from the other content. A common mistake people make is to think “I’ll add that reference later,” but I highly recommend you put the proper reference on the slide at the time you make it, before you forget where it came from. Finally, in certain kinds of presentations, credits can make it clear who did the work. For the faculty members heading labs, it is an effective way to connect your audience with the personnel in the lab who did the work, which is a great career booster for that person. For graduate students, it is an effective way to delineate your contribution to the work, especially in meetings where the goal is to establish your credentials for meeting the rigors of a PhD checkpoint.
As a rule, you should almost never have slides that only contain text. Build your slides around good visualizations. It is a visual presentation after all, and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. However, on the flip side, don’t muddy the point of the slide by putting too many complex graphics on a single slide. A multipanel figure that you might include in a manuscript should often be broken into 1 panel per slide (see Rule 1 ). One way to ensure that you use the graphics effectively is to make a point to introduce the figure and its elements to the audience verbally, especially for data figures. For example, you might say the following: “This graph here shows the measured false-positive rate for an experiment and each point is a replicate of the experiment, the graph demonstrates …” If you have put too much on one slide to present in 1 minute (see Rule 2 ), then the complexity or number of the visualizations is too much for just one slide.
The type of slide elements, the number of them, and how you present them all impact the ability for the audience to intake, organize, and remember the content. For example, a frequent mistake in slide design is to include full sentences, but reading and verbal processing use the same cognitive channels—therefore, an audience member can either read the slide, listen to you, or do some part of both (each poorly), as a result of cognitive overload [ 4 ]. The visual channel is separate, allowing images/videos to be processed with auditory information without cognitive overload [ 6 ] (Rule 6). As presentations are an exercise in listening, and not reading, do what you can to optimize the ability of the audience to listen. Use words sparingly as “guide posts” to you and the audience about major points of the slide. In fact, you can add short text fragments, redundant with the verbal component of the presentation, which has been shown to improve retention [ 7 ] (see Fig 1 for an example of redundant text that avoids cognitive overload). Be careful in the selection of a slide template to minimize accidentally adding elements that the audience must process, but are unimportant. David JP Phillips argues (and effectively demonstrates in his TEDx talk [ 5 ]) that the human brain can easily interpret 6 elements and more than that requires a 500% increase in human cognition load—so keep the total number of elements on the slide to 6 or less. Finally, in addition to the use of short text, white space, and the effective use of graphics/images, you can improve ease of cognitive processing further by considering color choices and font type and size. Here are a few suggestions for improving the experience for your audience, highlighting the importance of these elements for some specific groups:
It is very difficult to stay focused on a presentation, especially if it is long or if it is part of a longer series of talks at a conference. Audience members may get distracted by an important email, or they may start dreaming of lunch. So, it’s important to look at your slide and ask “If they heard nothing I said, will they understand the key concept of this slide?” The other rules are set up to help with this, including clarity of the single point of the slide (Rule 1), titling it with a major conclusion (Rule 3), and the use of figures (Rule 6) and short text redundant to your verbal description (Rule 7). However, with each slide, step back and ask whether its main conclusion is conveyed, even if someone didn’t hear your accompanying dialog. Importantly, ask if the information on the slide is at the right level of abstraction. For example, do you have too many details about the experiment, which hides the conclusion of the experiment (i.e., breaking Rule 1)? If you are worried about not having enough details, keep a slide at the end of your slide deck (after your conclusions and acknowledgments) with the more detailed information that you can refer to during a question and answer period.
Well-designed slides that follow the first 8 rules are intended to help you deliver the message you intend and in the amount of time you intend to deliver it in. The best way to ensure that you nailed slide design for your presentation is to practice, typically a lot. The most important aspects of practicing a new presentation, with an eye toward slide design, are the following 2 key points: (1) practice to ensure that you hit, each time through, the most important points (for example, the text guide posts you left yourself and the title of the slide); and (2) practice to ensure that as you conclude the end of one slide, it leads directly to the next slide. Slide transitions, what you say as you end one slide and begin the next, are important to keeping the flow of the “story.” Practice is when I discover that the order of my presentation is poor or that I left myself too few guideposts to remember what was coming next. Additionally, during practice, the most frequent things I have to improve relate to Rule 2 (the slide takes too long to present, usually because I broke Rule 1, and I’m delivering too much information for one slide), Rule 4 (I have a nonessential detail on the slide), and Rule 5 (I forgot to give a key reference). The very best type of practice is in front of an audience (for example, your lab or peers), where, with fresh perspectives, they can help you identify places for improving slide content, design, and connections across the entirety of your talk.
The real presentation almost never goes as we planned in our heads or during our practice. Maybe the speaker before you went over time and now you need to adjust. Maybe the computer the organizer is having you use won’t show your video. Maybe your internet is poor on the day you are giving a virtual presentation at a conference. Technical problems are routinely part of the practice of sharing your work through presentations. Hence, you can design your slides to limit the impact certain kinds of technical disasters create and also prepare alternate approaches. Here are just a few examples of the preparation you can do that will take you a long way toward avoiding a complete fiasco:
These rules are just a start in creating more engaging presentations that increase audience retention of your material. However, there are wonderful resources on continuing on the journey of becoming an amazing public speaker, which includes understanding the psychology and neuroscience behind human perception and learning. For example, as highlighted in Rule 7, David JP Phillips has a wonderful TEDx talk on the subject [ 5 ], and “PowerPoint presentation flaws and failures: A psychological analysis,” by Kosslyn and colleagues is deeply detailed about a number of aspects of human cognition and presentation style [ 4 ]. There are many books on the topic, including the popular “Presentation Zen” by Garr Reynolds [ 11 ]. Finally, although briefly touched on here, the visualization of data is an entire topic of its own that is worth perfecting for both written and oral presentations of work, with fantastic resources like Edward Tufte’s “The Visual Display of Quantitative Information” [ 12 ] or the article “Visualization of Biomedical Data” by O’Donoghue and colleagues [ 13 ].
I would like to thank the countless presenters, colleagues, students, and mentors from which I have learned a great deal from on effective presentations. Also, a thank you to the wonderful resources published by organizations on how to increase inclusivity. A special thanks to Dr. Jason Papin and Dr. Michael Guertin on early feedback of this editorial.
The author received no specific funding for this work.
Few are immune to the fear of public speaking. Marjorie North offers 10 tips for speakers to calm the nerves and deliverable memorable orations.
Snakes? Fine. Flying? No problem. Public speaking? Yikes! Just thinking about public speaking — routinely described as one of the greatest (and most common) fears — can make your palms sweat. But there are many ways to tackle this anxiety and learn to deliver a memorable speech.
In part one of this series, Mastering the Basics of Communication , I shared strategies to improve how you communicate. In part two, How to Communicate More Effectively in the Workplace , I examined how to apply these techniques as you interact with colleagues and supervisors in the workplace. For the third and final part of this series, I’m providing you with public speaking tips that will help reduce your anxiety, dispel myths, and improve your performance.
1. nervousness is normal. practice and prepare.
All people feel some physiological reactions like pounding hearts and trembling hands. Do not associate these feelings with the sense that you will perform poorly or make a fool of yourself. Some nerves are good. The adrenaline rush that makes you sweat also makes you more alert and ready to give your best performance.
The best way to overcome anxiety is to prepare, prepare, and prepare some more. Take the time to go over your notes several times. Once you have become comfortable with the material, practice — a lot. Videotape yourself, or get a friend to critique your performance.
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Before you begin to craft your message, consider who the message is intended for. Learn as much about your listeners as you can. This will help you determine your choice of words, level of information, organization pattern, and motivational statement.
Create the framework for your speech. Write down the topic, general purpose, specific purpose, central idea, and main points. Make sure to grab the audience’s attention in the first 30 seconds.
Keep the focus on the audience. Gauge their reactions, adjust your message, and stay flexible. Delivering a canned speech will guarantee that you lose the attention of or confuse even the most devoted listeners.
Be yourself, don’t become a talking head — in any type of communication. You will establish better credibility if your personality shines through, and your audience will trust what you have to say if they can see you as a real person.
Inject a funny anecdote in your presentation, and you will certainly grab your audience’s attention. Audiences generally like a personal touch in a speech. A story can provide that.
Reading from a script or slide fractures the interpersonal connection. By maintaining eye contact with the audience, you keep the focus on yourself and your message. A brief outline can serve to jog your memory and keep you on task.
Nonverbal communication carries most of the message. Good delivery does not call attention to itself, but instead conveys the speaker’s ideas clearly and without distraction.
Do you enjoy hearing a speech start with “Today I’m going to talk to you about X”? Most people don’t. Instead, use a startling statistic, an interesting anecdote, or concise quotation. Conclude your speech with a summary and a strong statement that your audience is sure to remember.
Too many can break the direct connection to the audience, so use them sparingly. They should enhance or clarify your content, or capture and maintain your audience’s attention.
Good communication is never perfect, and nobody expects you to be perfect. However, putting in the requisite time to prepare will help you deliver a better speech. You may not be able to shake your nerves entirely, but you can learn to minimize them.
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North is a consultant for political candidates, physicians, and lawyers, and runs a private practice specializing in public speaking, and executive communication skills. Previously, she was the clinical director in the department of speech and language pathology and audiology at Northeastern University.
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Presentation skills can be defined as a set of abilities that enable an individual to: interact with the audience; transmit the messages with clarity; engage the audience in the presentation; and interpret and understand the mindsets of the listeners. These skills refine the way you put forward your messages and enhance your persuasive powers.
The present era places great emphasis on good presentation skills. This is because they play an important role in convincing the clients and customers. Internally, management with good presentation skills is better able to communicate the mission and vision of the organization to the employees.
Interaction with others is a routine job of businesses in today’s world. The importance of good presentation skills is established on the basis of following points:
Development of good presentation skills requires efforts and hard work. To improve your presentation skills, you must:
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Presenting well isn’t a gift you’re born with. It’s true that some people are naturally more charismatic than others, but this doesn’t always make them good presenters. For a lot of people this common misconception can lead to crippling nerves, poor preparation, and lots of money in lost revenue as your sales deck doesn’t do what it’s supposed to. Good presentation skills can absolutely be taught, and even the most nervous, or clueless of presenters can learn how to present like professionals just by following some key advice.
Before we jump into that though, I’ll begin with a disclaimer. When a presentation fizzes and fails like a damp firework on New Year’s Eve, it’s rarely the presenter’s fault. In fact, often the blame sits with the slides. Unless your slides are at least half-decent, it’s pretty hard to make your presentation go off with a bang. Slides should be visual, exciting, and compelling and it’s the presenter’s job to bring them to life. Even with good presentation skills, for most normal people, if your slides are more sad squibs than rainbow rockets, you’ll lose your audience’s attention.
So once you’ve got effective, visual slides then – and only then – is it time to focus on the soft skills that will polish your delivery.
This guide contains lots of helpful tips on how to improve your presentation skills. We’ve divided it into sections so you can work through your preparation chronologically. We’d recommend starting at the beginning, but feel free to click below to jump to your favourite bit.
A note on presentations nerves
Preparing your content
Pre-empt the worst (and best)
How to master the art of body language
A note for introverts
How to train your team to present
A note on presentation nerves
We’ve all felt it – that heavy feeling in your stomach waiting for your name to be announced, the pacing up and down in the corridor before the door opens, the slightly sweaty palms as you open up your laptop. Everyone gets presentation nerves. And the truth is, a little extra adrenaline pumping through your veins probably gives your performance a lift. But chronic, debilitating nerves are unpleasant, and are a real issue for many people.
But are avoiding sweaty palms and practicing deep breathing really effective presentation skills?
Yes, because the real problem with nerves is that they might adversely affect your audience. The physical symptoms are distracting – beads of sweat on the forehead, restlessness, and fidgeting are all pretty obvious to a watchful crowd. The audience will notice you are uncomfortable and become distracted from your content. Breathiness – which happens when a presenter takes lots of short, shallow breaths – disrupts the flow of information and makes it difficult for people to follow a narrative. Your nerves also undermine your confidence, and – in turn – your audience’s confidence in you. It’s a tad unfortunate that many of the symptoms associated with nervousness are also associated with guilt, untrustworthiness and deceit. So, while you may have every confidence in the validity of your claims, it might not come across that way.
When it comes to tackling nerves, there is no single infallible method, but preparing your content and then rehearsing properly will you get them under control. Even if you never get nervous (lucky you!) these presentation tips will still help improve your delivery.
Preparedness is your number one ally. Often nerves are the result of feeling uncertain about what lies ahead. You can’t control everything or anticipate what is going to happen, but you can take steps to ensure that your role is locked down and certain.
The key is to practise, and to really know your content inside out. It seems a simple point to make – and it is – but often people confuse ‘knowing their content’ with ‘being able to get through their content’. Here, we’re aiming for the former. You may know your slides, and can present them well start-to-finish, but can you do the same if they’re out of order? Can you pick up where you left off after a 10-minute interruption? Can you keep your narrative going if the slide doesn’t progress? Can you paraphrase the final 10 slides if you run out of time? What if you fall off the stage half-way through your presentation ? If your laptop fails, can you deliver the content without any slides at all?
Most people massively underestimate the amount of time this requires, which is often why they end up feeling so nervous. It’s only with this level of ‘whatever-the-world-throws-at-me’ familiarity that will enable you to push past your presentation nerves. Often people stop rehearsing when they can get through the deck. In truth, your rehearsals only begin once you can get through the deck.
Giving you the benefit of the doubt, you probably get that you need to know your content well. However, there are a few things outside of your script or notes that you should keep in mind too:
“Don’t think about it! It will all be fine!” This is not advice you’ll hear from us. In fact, we want you to think about everything that could possibly go wrong; power failures, laptop glitches, and unreliable projectors are all quite common. But there’s no need to worry or panic because if you think about it ahead of time you can arrive with a fall-back option should the worst happen.
Beyond that, you need to prepare to deal with the most uncertain element of your presentation: your audience .
Thinking in these terms helps you plan and prepare effectively and helps remove the dreaded element of uncertainty.
And just in case you thought this was beginning to sound a little pessimistic, your preparedness needs to extend to best-case scenarios as well as worst. Are you prepared for them to sign then and there? Even if it’s a preliminary meeting, do you have prices to hand in case they are swayed by your early slides and don’t need to see any more? What if they are so engrossed, they want you to carry on past your 10-minute allotted time? Or they want to put you in front of the CEO then and there? Remember, as well as going wrong, things might go better than you expect!
You can be as prepared as possible, and think you know all your content, yet your delivery may still need some work. There are plenty of things you can do when rehearsing to improve your delivery technique and boost your confidence.
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The first piece of advice is to take a breath, physically, mentally and emotionally. It’s very easy to work yourself up into a state before you present. You automatically think of all the things that could go wrong and worry that your presentations skills aren’t up to scratch and the audience will judge you poorly for your performance. Try to drop all that baggage. There is no ‘you and them’, no one is waiting for you to mess up, and no one will judge you if you do. Take ‘business’ out of the equation and remember the crowd in front of you are people too. They’re here to learn from what you have to say, and you both want the presentation to go smoothly.
So, why is body language important? Well, I’m a firm believer that no one means to give out negative signals when they present – no one intentionally looks hostile or lazy; no one means to come across as over familiar or timid. However, the truth is that it can be all too easy to fall into one of these traps. Remember that body language is just one of the vehicles for delivery. Getting the message right, the content, the language, the follow-up, the technology are all big priorities. Yet, body language can have a real impact on your audience, which then has a knock-on effect on how well your audience perceive your message, so it’s a really good presentation skill to get right.
What is good body language?
Because interpreting body language is a highly individual thing, coming up with a list of 1-to-1 substitutions (i.e. this behaviour means this) is impossible. However, there are certain traits that are broadly and universally interpreted in certain ways. What’s interesting is that often the same behaviour can fall on either side of the spectrum, depending on its intensity.
For example: movement . If you move around too much, you look like you’re uncomfortable and nervous – wanting to be anywhere but where you are. Alternatively, if you’re too stationery, your unnatural stillness is disconcerting and too intense.
In this respect, positive body language is about balance – about not being too much one thing, nor too much the other. To put it another way, effective body language is best defined by what it isn’t, rather than by what it is.
With that is mind, it is more helpful to look at some of the behaviours you should avoid, rather than try to write a prescriptive list of behaviours to follow. Striking a balance between extremes of behaviour is often the best route to ironing out any issues you might have with your non-verbal communication. Take a look at the diagram below, which roughly groups together the interpretation of certain behaviours.
Generally, there are two metrics for the impression that presenters give off – enthusiasm and confidence. Too little or too much of either can be perceived negatively.
So, what does that leave us with? As I said, the key is to achieve a balance, so the ideal impression to portray would sit bang in the middle of the diagram above – shown by the dark purple circle.
How do you assess and improve your own body language?
Increase awareness: The first step to making your body language work effectively is to actually become aware of how you present at the moment. Often problems develop because people disregard it – letting their subconscious take over. It’s this inattention that allows bad habits to creep in.
The best way to become more aware of how you present is to see yourself do it. Mirrors don’t give you the full impression, it’s better to record yourself presenting something. Obviously it would be great to do so in a ‘live’ environment, but a dummy run in a meeting room would work perfectly well. Watch the footage and objectively assess yourself using the following questions:
Sometimes, watching yourself back and becoming more conscious of your body language is enough to improve it. You will probably find that you have an innate understanding of the mistakes you’re making and can figure out how to fix them.
Use a third party: However, if you’re still not sure whether you have an issue, it makes sense to bring in outside opinions to help. Choose a colleague for support but do so wisely. This isn’t the time for a ‘yes man’, someone who will simply say you’re doing a great job. Pick someone who will be honest and critical. Even better, get a group together – and aggregate their responses. As with any form of research, be careful when collecting their feedback – don’t lead them in anyway. So, questions like ‘What impression did you get from the presentation?’ work better than leading ones like ‘Do I look nervous to you?’.
Listen to your colleagues and pull together the common elements of their feedback. If there is anything that comes across as universally negative, it probably needs examining. Varied feedback, or comments that aren’t particularly strong in any sense usually indicate that your body language isn’t overtly negative. As I said earlier, people will likely take slightly different messages from how you behave. Don’t worry too much about this; try to get a general appreciation of how the group felt.
Effecting change: This is the tricky part. Changing your body language can be a case of trying to undo decades of learned and cemented experiences. This is not only challenging, but even if achieved, can come across as robotic and unnatural – ironically leading to worse problems. What’s more, you don’t want to be so caught up in perfecting your presentation skills that you fail to get your message across. Your message is the most important thing so, if you can’t make it work, don’t worry about it.
Having said that, do give it a go. If you think you’re moving around too much, try to present a few slides staying still. If people have said you look bored, stand up straighter and bring more energy. Of course, the difficulty is sustaining your new behaviour and not falling into old habits. Again, it helps to have a trusted colleague with you to pull you up when you slip. The only way to improve and to keep it up is to practise – to keep presenting with your new behaviour until it becomes second nature. It’s a frustrating and often slow process, but the more you work on it, the better your results will be.
Other techniques for good presentation delivery
Along with balancing your body language, there are a few other presentation delivery techniques you can employ on the day. For example, pay attention to your tone of voice . Watch the recordings you’ve made and consider whether the emphasis and emotion in your voice helps convey your message. Is your voice a droning monotone or do you come across as enthusiastic, lively and truly passionate about your subject? Just as with body language, the key to success is practice.
Secondly, to help you feel comfortable, try to pick out a few friendly faces in the crowd. If possible, speak to some audience members one-on-one before your presentation so there are familiar faces to focus on. More importantly, ignore the grumpy faces. Some people look miserable when they are actually just concentrating. Even if some of your audience are in a bad mood, it probably has more to do with the disappointing hotel breakfast than your presentation skills.
Before we move onto our next section, I’d like to dig a bit deeper into how to deliver presentations if you’re naturally shy or introverted. It’s a myth to think that you need to be extroverted in order to be a good presenter – it’s just not true. Effective presentation skills can help any introvert delivery a persuasive pitch.
What is an introvert: Most people think introversion is about shyness. Though this is partly true, it’s actually the level of stimulation you need to function, and the amount of time it takes to recover that determines whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert. Introverts need much less stimulation, and tend to want to withdraw in order to recharge. So, it isn’t really a surprise that a highly stimulating activity like giving a presentation in front of a huge crowd of people is going to wear out introverts much faster and more intensely that extroverts. If you want to do some further reading on this, check out Susan Cain and her book Quiet.
How to present well if you’re an introvert: But all is not lost. Introverts often give far better presentations that their extrovert counterparts, because they tend to be better prepared, but that isn’t always the most reassuring thing to hear when you have a presentation on the horizon. So, here are five practical pieces of advice to help your presentation go well:
Once you’ve given your presentation, you need to recover. Talking about recovery as a good presentation skill might seem odd but learning how to recover well is important. If you feel awful after every presentation it will feed into your nerves for the next time. This skill is particularly key for introverts who are more likely to find themselves feeling mentally and emotionally drained after a presentation. Saying that, everyone should schedule in recovery time – be strict! – and give yourself the time and space to collect your thoughts and relax. Maybe you need to lie down in a dark room, or perhaps a quiet cup of tea is enough. Put it in your calendar and make it a priority. If you can avoid a corporate dinner or intense networking session, do. The less traumatic the experience, the quicker your presentation confidence will grow.
Once you’ve recovered, it’s time to gather feedback from your team, chat with audience members or watch a recording of your presentation and make notes for how to improve your presentation skills for next time.
How to train your team to present
Once you are confident in your own presentation skills it’s time to spread the love and help those around you take a step up the skill ladder. If you’re a manager, training your team is a great way to positively impact their efficiency and make sure they’ve got the effective presentation skills they need to get results.
So, how do you turn your team into better presenters?
No-one is a naturally great presenter. While it’s true that some people are able to ‘wing it’ and get by on their charisma alone, this is a rare talent – and an approach that doesn’t always go down well with an audience. For most people, becoming a better presenter takes old fashioned hard work and time. We have done our fair share of presentation skills training – and are happy to come and get your team into shape – but if you prefer to go it alone, you’ll want to follow the steps below.
Ask your sales teams to click through the deck they will be presenting and run through the narrative by themselves. This is a great way for them to become familiar with the material, it won’t raise the quality of their performance in and of itself, but these private rehearsals are the helpful groundwork before a more comprehensive, group coaching session. Just like a dress rehearsal, if your team don’t know their material thoroughly before this point, they won’t get the most out of the time, so make sure you encourage them to spend time learning the slide content before you concentrate on delivery.
It’s hugely important to work on how to improve presentation skills in groups. Taking the time to run through the presentation in front of peers, and refining delivery based on their feedback is when you really start to see results. Ideally, you will work with a group who are all learning to deliver the same presentation. In this scenario, each person is given the opportunity to experience the material as a presenter and as a member of the audience, and they will very quickly see how they need to hone their delivery to communicate more effectively with their audience.
If you are coaching one person, the group should be formed of colleagues – ideally a mix of those with a good understanding of the subject matter, and those without. This will allow feedback that focuses on clarity of delivery as well as accuracy of content.
We learn best in a group of peers – each sees something slightly different, which enables a balanced and broad review of the delivery. But even for seasoned presenters, the prospect of presenting to colleagues isn’t an enticing one, so it’s important you encourage an atmosphere that is sympathetic, supportive, while still critical enough to be effective.
Facilitating group presentation skills training, though, is a skill in itself, so here are a few tips to help you run things well for you and your team:
Get everyone involved: Where there are multiple presenters, everyone gets a chance to present and a chance to watch and critique. If you only have one presenter, it’s a good idea to get a couple of other group members to have a go too. This not only takes the pressure off the trainee, and can boost their confidence, but also allows them to see the material from the audience’s point of view.
While the chance to present in front of an audience is helpful, I’d argue that the most beneficial element of a coaching session is the opportunity to watch how others present, see what they do well and where they go wrong. As you progress, the entire room’s delivery will improve as one presenter builds on the quality of the last.
Have multiple run-throughs: Once you’ve got everyone together, start running through the slides. This isn’t the time to talk about whether the message is right or whether the design looks perfect, you’re here to focus on delivery. Hopefully your team has learned their material, but even if not, encourage them to begin presenting anyway. They will learn the slides as they go through, and it’s more efficient than having the rest of the team sit around and wait.
Your role is to facilitate. Don’t allow others to interrupt a run through, and make sure you militantly chair feedback sessions. Invite comments from others, but don’t let the session descend into a free-for-all. There needs to be ground rules, so the learning experience is seen as fair, organised and effective.
Manage the feedback: Receiving criticism isn’t easy; all feedback should be constructive and never personal ( more on that here ). To be truly effective, it also needs to be mutual. I like to start with something positive, follow it with something more critical, then end on a positive, which I’ve found allows you to critique whilst supporting confidence. Make note of two or three positives and one or two negative elements from each delivery. Begin by summarising the delivery and picking out a couple of positive things you noticed. Invite the group to do the same. Then move on to areas that you think could use some work, presenting each as a learning opportunity, not a criticism. Again invite the others to do the same, and address any comments you think unduly harsh or damaging. Finally, sum up with a final, strong positive from your observations.
It is important to follow this pattern each and every time. Negative comments alone will damage confidence, while positive comments alone reduce your credibility and the effectiveness of the exercise. As you progress and the strength of delivery increases, you will find your negative comments become more and more minor, whilst your positive comments become more significant.
Encouraging group feedback keeps the session interactive and enjoyable for all. Slowly, you will see the strength of the presentation delivery increase, as presenters learn from one another’s mistakes and build on their successes. Taking time to coach your team in presentation skills, to ensure they are delivering your message in a powerful, confident and consistent way will never be time wasted.
So there you have it! Our ultimate guide to the presentation skills you need to ensure a great delivery every time. Just remember, positive body language and calm nerves are lovely, but they won’t save your presentation if your slides are rubbish! Our ultimate guide to sales presentations is a great place to start if you want to learn how to create effective, visual slides.
Principal consultant; head of brightcarbon academy, related articles, review: glisser online interactive presentations.
Glisser is an online platform that allows you to create interactive presentations that can be used for marketing, training or any other type of events. The site has different functions available for presenters, attendees at events and event planners which all focus on allowing for increased presenter-audience interaction. Since creating engaging visual presentations is what we do, I decided to take a closer look at Glisser and see what it’s all about and how the various functionalities work.
As with many things in life, when you’re presenting, getting started is often the most challenging part. Often, once people get into the flow on a particular slide, they are fine. But starting off strongly, pulling together the first few words or phrases once you've clicked on to a blank new slide is typically something that people struggle with. Here are a few handy tips to keep up your sleeve for those mind-blank moments.
Presentation handouts and leave-behinds are a great resource in giving your audience a tangible reminder of you and the company you represent. The problem is that they're oft-neglected and oft-ignored. So how do we create handouts that not only accurately represent our content, but look great and don't take a fortnight to create?
Thanks for your presentation skills guide. Well, apparently I’m looking for a skill training since I want to master that area. I have been scared of speaking my mind to a wider audience and I wanted to overcome that fear. Good thing I’ve read your piece. I like what you said about how practice is the key to really know my content inside out when presenting.
Thank you ❤️
Great learning tools
Great informations and learning tools.
Very useful
Thank you❤️
Good and informative article
Really helpful
Well done for this!
Good information it’s really helpful me
really helpful and informative
Having a positive mind will make you achieve more
Great learning album
Great learning and Thankyou very much
Thank you for the information
Thank you for the information .Great learning .
Good info. thank you a lot
Amazing information. thanks a lot
Amazing information. Thanks
Thank you so much
Thanks for great information
This is a good start.Thanks for the tip of confidence. I really need it as well because am really scared to speak to the audience
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Ask yourself these questions.
We all know the basics of good presentation skills: don’t read from a script ; don’t overwhelm your audience with verbose slides; and the like. But for a particular kind of high-stakes presentation — one in which you’re trying to get buy-in from key decision-makers — those basics aren’t enough.
Learn how to create and deliver presentations that inspire and captivate an audience!
Crafting effective presentations is challenging. But growth happens by applying key effective presentation tips around strong narratives, visuals, speaking skills and adapting to listeners. With practice, lacklustre slideshows transform into inspiring speeches that captivate and motivate audiences powerfully.
Specifically, winning over people happens quickly if your introduction grabs their attention seamlessly. Suppose you compared graduation to a butterfly emerging, still learning to fly despite inexperience. Imagery around this common vulnerability connects groups emotionally . Or you could highlight recent workplace statistics that show the tough road ahead for graduates. This data underscores the urgency to prepare. Either approach engages minds to hear more. Classic storytelling does that powerfully.
Whether facing sceptical executives or colleagues hoping for fresh inspiration, applying proven frameworks leads to increased clarity, resonance and collective unity between all involved in forwarding constructive dialogues ultimately. That represents true presentation mastery in action.
Let’s explore effective presentation skills and what you can do to make your future presentation more effective.
The opening moments of a presentation set the tone and capture the audience’s interest. Employing strategic techniques here makes an impactful first impression.
Engage listeners instantly by starting with a relevant anecdote, surprising statistic, quote, or rhetorical question focused on the idea behind the talk. Share an illustrative story showcasing why the subject matters. Use visual aids like images, videos, charts, or diagrams to complement your words. Structure the introduction crisply around three key points to convey the purpose rapidly.
Creating momentum from the start, emphasising significance, and establishing expectations keep the audience attentive and ready to hear more. Whether launching a 5-minute lightning pitch or a 2-hour seminar, the same principles enable any presenter to shine from their opening sentence. Wield these start techniques to command focus from the first slide.
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Audiences emotionally connect with narratives . Blend personal stories into presentations to make points memorably. For example, open with an anecdote showcasing the idea’s genesis or share a customer’s experience illustrating pain points.
Choose illustrative examples featuring real people when possible. Vet anecdotes beforehand to hone timing and phrases, avoiding rambles. Practise fluid storytelling transitions tying narratives back to core arguments.
Weaving personalised accounts makes effective presentations that are relatable and engaging. Integrate facts with anecdotes using a narrative structure that focuses on relatability, emotional connection, challenges, solutions, and positive outcomes. This approach amplifies the impact by allowing audiences to see aspects of their own experiences reflected in the stories you tell. Use this method to create a strong bond and resonance with your audience.
Does your team need more support in storytelling? Then our Storytelling for Business In-House Training could be the right learning method for you.
Even before taking the stage, get inside the hearts and minds of attendees . Ask – why are they here? What outcomes do they want? What objections or questions might they have?
Customise messaging and examples to resonate with given audiences’ backgrounds and knowledge levels. Weave in shared context around cultural events or local flair. Display empathy, addressing inherent needs and pain points. Feature diverse cultures representative of viewers in visuals to foster psychological safety.
You can also pepper strategic questions throughout presentations to continually re-engage listeners. Alternatively, have audience members introduce themselves or share relatable stories upfront to form connections. Or orchestrate small group discussions on key topics between segments.
Keeping presentations mentally stimulating enhances retention and impact. Structure content to feel like a captivating conversation rather than a sterile lecture. Lifting these psychological engagement techniques consistently yields more attentive, receptive crowds.
If you are looking for In-House Presentation Skills Training for a group or teams, please see our
While slides provide helpful talking point anchors , creative visuals fully immerse audiences, and infographics simplify complex data relationships. Product photos and video clips demonstrate functionality clearly. Customer journey maps reveal pain points.
Tailor visual formats to best communicate ideas, not just software defaults. Hand sketches’ rawness profoundly impacts. Physical props allow hands-on engagement. Printed design canvases facilitate notetaking. Whiteboard in real-time for flexibility.
Creatively transition between design elements and visuals , keeping viewers actively engaged. Thoughtfully displaying key concepts taps into visual learning styles, boosting comprehension.
Commanding an audience’s attention span hinges upon meticulously optimising cadence. Savvy presenters first gradually quicken the pace during opening passages, steadily building momentum before diving deeper into weighty details. This pulls listeners in rather than overwhelming them initially. Next, provide recaps highlighting key takeaways when transitioning between topics. Briefly summarising core concepts realigns focus, acting as a mental anchor point amidst churning tides of information.
Additionally, strategically sculpt the speech’s very rhythm over the presentation’s arc to further facilitate sustained engagement. Notably, quicken tempos during urgent sections to viscerally convey their immediacy but then slow back down while unpacking emotional moments, letting their subtle profundities fully resonate before advancing the underlying agenda. Regularly oscillating between such faster-paced peaks and contemplative valleys sustains active mental engagement, whereas monotonously rambling on in a steady state risks losing participants to daydreams.
Finally, establish consistent structural patterns within sections through judicious use of parallelism devices. State a problem, then smoothly bridge into unveiling its corresponding solution. Present a cause first, briefly building anticipation, then dramatically reveal the ensuing effect. Repeating key phrases refrains echoes concepts, drumming home core ideas through repetition’s power. Ultimately, words divorced from their delivery lack impact. Master not just the statements themselves but also the punctuated pacing applied to narrate ideas with intention.
Even speeches flawlessly scripted shall ring hollow, lacking authentic presentation delivery spark. Speakers must master subtle nonverbal elements projecting genuineness that captivates crowds. Frequently recording practice sessions allows for diagnosing body language, movement and facial expressions. Refining vocal tonality, strategically making eye contact and tailoring pace to reactions connect intellectually and emotionally.
Cascading one’s gaze evenly across full audiences signals engagement intimacy. Pausing amidst weighty statements affords gravity space to land impact. Leaning slightly forward telegraphs sharing mindspace up on the stage. Open palms foster inclusive energy when gesturing participating listeners to join imaginative journeys. Nodding along profound contributions validates two-way dialogue, building bonds.
Internalising advanced techniques sculpt ether until presentations themselves feel like conversations, mutually sparking both passive spectators and presenters alike into active idea exchanges to advance collective consciousness. Briefly expose obstacles overcome, demonstrating grit and tenacity, so speakers seem approachable as fellow travellers. Ever refine pacing and tone continuously based on listeners’ real-time responses using the crowd’s energy, arcing it back towards critical concepts. Polished nonverbal dynamics exponentially amplify intellectual and emotional resonance.
Though counterintuitive initially, strategic silence profoundly punctuates ideas better than many words strung together might, giving audiences reflective space. Savvy presenters have long mastered employing intentional pauses, deftly drawing listeners inward to lean closer before resuming carefully crafted speech .
Pauses grant gravity time needed preceding pivotal revelations, building delicious anticipation. Subtly smiling throughout sustains atmospheric composure, conveying nonverbal confidence until unveiling impactful truths once tension peaks. Silent countdowns stretching to five landing punchlines create comedic peaks of mirth echoing louder for the contrast conjured.
Next-level techniques utilise the open canvas of silence to insert post-punchline comedic breathers. Allowing certain jokes spatial room for laughter cements organic engagement unspoiled by prematurely bursting in overly eager with next agenda items hustling onwards. Masterfully balancing the ebb and flow of rushing speech versus letting well-placed pauses land finds that golden ratio, keeping even restless listeners perpetually riveted.
Beyond linear speeches, participation expands impact. Orchestrate think-pair-share discussions debriefing key topics in small groups. Distribute simple surveys polling perspectives on issues. Engage volunteers in roleplaying scenarios.
Further, captivate modern groups accustomed to entertainment rushes by gamifying interactivity. Set exciting countdown timers introducing friendly concept review competitions. Reward speedy, accurate responses publicly, praising high scorers’ impressive grasp. Empower crowds steering direction through unpredictable real-time voting pivots.
Moreover, recognising attendees themselves represents vast wisdom. Respectfully elicit personal stories or professional backgrounds contextually relevant. Validate and bridge diverse reactions into unified takeaways rather than judging binary rights or wrongs. Leaning into authentic dialogue fosters human connections impossible through rigid scripts alone.
Savvy presenters wield post-speech Q&As , advancing agendas through audience-sourced questions. First, tactfully repeat inquiries aloud ensuring whole rooms hear exchanges. Validate curiosity before artfully bridging queries back towards key messages.
When facing irrelevant tangents, politely pivot proceedings by finding common ground. Note Interesting perspectives before redirecting groups. If asked overly advanced queries given contexts, offer a meeting separately later or commenting below articles online.
For combative remarks, defuse tensions through empathy and openness. Paraphrase objectors’ views non-judgmentally before gently noting seeming disagreements. Finally, conclude sessions positively highlighting progress made towards shared goals . Frame takeaways are lifting all towards wisdom.
Beyond sharp slides , structure proves paramount. The first limit points to three maximum per section, enabling simplicity. Next, strategically sequence arguments, building dramatic tension towards conclusions. Finally, end where you’ve begun circling back, bookending stories with palpable symmetry.
Conceptualise narrative flows mirroring fables, rising actions crescendoing into climatic pivots before denouements tie residual threads back into coherent tapestries. Early subtle setups allow insights to manifest naturally when pieces cascade together into collective comprehension within groups’ minds. Incrementally guide audiences along ever more intellectually rewarding journeys toward impressive finales, facilitating satisfying closures.
Also, balance coverage evenly across factors when viable to avoid lopsidedness skewing understanding. Paralleling sections foster illuminating juxtapositions underlining salience. Interconnecting commentaries smoothed between standalone segments unifies talks through elegant consistency, momentum and rhythm felt intrinsically from section to section.
Final memorable impressions are formed in closing moments. Wrap up by deliberately employing impactful concluding tactics. First, restate the opening hook that originally grabbed interest while reminding audiences of the key ground covered. Echo meaningful phrases and examples shared earlier exhibiting perspectives collectively gained.
Next, clearly summarise 2-3 key takeaways, reinforcing core messages and insights for audiences to retain. celebrating any progress made so far. Encourage groups by applauding their time invested towards shared goals achieved up to this point. Outline beneficial next steps aligned with awakened potentials going forward beyond the presentation’s scope.
Then, unveil clear calls-to-action aligned with the shared vision promised early on. Outline possibilities awaiting activation by willing and ready participants committed to courageously enacting conferred wisdom as empowered changemakers.
Even experienced presenters should keep honing effective presentation skills, embracing an iterative growth mindset. Routinely request qualitative feedback from audiences on what resonated, including nonverbal dynamics noticed. Ask which sections are connected best and why.
Reviewing behind-the-scenes preparations often reveals impact optimisation opportunities. Analyse where pacing dragged, language confused, graphics missed the mark, or transitions lost listeners. Contrast weaknesses and strengths to reinforce positives while targeting areas for improvement.
Experiment with tailored delivery across mediums like intimate physical events or large-scale broadcasts. Consistently refine personal presentation style to channel messages powerfully.
Remember, presentations represent conceptual vessels, not destinations. Spotlight purpose and content rather than perfection. Value constructive feedback for incrementally mastering flexibility over time through openness and discernment, separating signal from noise constructively.
Impact Factory spotlights years of delivering bespoke virtual, in-person, online or hybrid coaching unmatched transforming presenters worldwide. Experienced trainers employ engaging person-centred approaches, guiding many clients annually to commanding stage presence across diverse presentation contexts, from speeches to high-stakes boardroom pitches.
Specific courses include the classic Presentation Skills course (also available as tailored training ), Advanced Presentation In-House Training or course for refining sophisticated delivery, Storytelling for Business focused on impactful narrative, and PowerPoint for supplementing talks visually. Expert trainers transfer decades of field experience, distilling techniques that facilitate memorable speeches.
Reach out to our world-class team to learn more about current offerings matching your specific presentation goals and skill level needs.
Cluttering slides is akin to overstuffing a suitcase: it becomes hard to find what you need. When slides are overloaded, key messages get lost in the shuffle. A minimalist approach focuses the audience’s attention on what truly matters, ensuring your main points stand out and are remembered.
Many presenters fall into traps like speaking to the slides instead of the audience, losing track of time, or wandering off-topic. Another common error is not rehearsing, which can lead to a lack of confidence or fluency during the presentation. Tailoring the content to resonate with your audience’s interests and background is crucial for a successful presentation .
Slides are a visual tool, not a teleprompter. Reading them word-for-word can make your presentation feel scripted and disengage your audience. Instead, use slides as a cue for discussing key points more expansively. This approach keeps your delivery natural and engaging, encouraging a more interactive and dynamic presentation experience.
Here are resources to guide you in the right direction on your journey to effective presentation skills mastery:
Business presentations can make or break deals, inspire teams, and drive change.
Effective preparation is an important part of your presentation skills that goes way beyond memorising your slides.
How to structure a presentation? Start with a clear introduction, present your main points, and end with a strong conclusion.
If you like what you've seen, please call us on +44 (0)20 7226 1877 or click the button below to contact us via our contact form.
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Presentation skills aren’t just for school PowerPoints — they’re necessary for various careers and a valuable soft skill for communicating information at work. These skills are vital to advancing your career and making your work stand out, whether you’re presenting data for an analysis project, projections in a finance role , or key takeaways in a team meeting. In this guide, we’ll cover:
Presentation skills employers look for, presentation skills: the bottom line.
Presentation skills are all of the skills you need to deliver an informative and engaging presentation. There are three main types of presentation skills.
Verbal communication skills are the skills you use when talking to someone else. When presenting, you use these skills to communicate information so your audience can easily understand. Verbal communication is both about speaking to your audience and speaking well. You should know your audience’s current knowledge level to understand how much information and context to give them; you should also communicate clearly, slowly, and articulately. Verbal communication presentation skills include:
Build your verbal communication skills by practicing interview skills in this free job simulation.
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Skills you’ll build: Communication, presentation, public speaking, poise, attention to detail, analytical thinking, problem-solving
You use interpersonal skills when interacting with others to build stronger relationships. While presenting, it’s unlikely you’ll forge a personal relationship with each audience member, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t interact with the audience. The best presenters engage with their audience by asking them questions, encouraging participation, making jokes, or telling stories you think will capture their attention. Interpersonal presentation speaking skills include:
Visual assets accompany almost every work presentation. These may be graphs with results or slides with key learnings in text. A good presenter uses visual aids to enhance their presentation, not distract or overwhelm the audience. Your slides should visualize what you’re talking about and summarize the key talking points you want your audience to take with them. Visual presentation skills include:
Almost any field — whether you’re in professional services or marketing — requires presentation skills. Employers are looking for team members who can communicate results, learnings, and key takeaways in presentations. They’re also looking for personable, authentic, engaging presenters who won’t robotically read off slides.
“Lead with your values and emotional intelligence [when presenting],” Megan Hamilton, speaking, visibility, and confidence coach, says. “This is counter to all of the rules we’ve seen about professionalism for the past several decades. Learning how to build your presence — a grounded body, a calm and relaxed demeanor, a resonant voice — comes easily with time, but fostering your true self will help you in every possible situation.”
With some of the workforce still working remotely or hybrid, using technology efficiently is also a critical presentation skill employers look for. On Zoom, knowing how to share your screen, navigate a chat, and present are the bare minimum. However, it’s a bonus to know how to use visual assets to enhance your presentation, use technology like breakout rooms, and make a virtual presentation that engages an audience.
Improving your presentation skills requires preparation before you stand in front of an audience or join a Zoom meeting. You’ll need to think about the context of your presentation, enhance your storytelling skills, and get creative with your practice.
“I got better at presenting because I was mindful about getting better. The mind then dictated my actions. I joined Toastmasters. I actively sought opportunities to speak. I listened to feedback. I began visualizing myself doing well giving presentations and engaged in positive self-talk.”
Neil Thompson, Founder at Teach the Geek, corporate public speaking training company
“The first step of crafting an effective presentation is thinking about your audience and tailoring the presentation to their needs,” Colleen Stevenson, post-secondary transition coach and founder of Choose Your University, says. “What and how much do they need to know? You don’t want to provide too much or too little information. As an entry-level employee, this may be challenging because you won’t be as familiar with your audience. This means you will have to ask effective questions and do research in order to provide the best presentation. “
For example, a CEO might need more zoomed-out, high-level takeaways to make a decision on your work, while your team member might be able to understand nuanced details. Ask yourself:
Sure, you might not be presenting on the most exciting thing, but practice framing your presentations as stories. Your presentation should give the audience clear context, show the journey of how you came to a conclusion, and give them an idea of what’s to come next. Finally, your audience should leave your presentation with a clear message and action items.
Build the confidence and practical skills that employers are looking for with Forage’s free job simulations.
All those hours on TikTok might come in handy. Hamilton suggests using the “live” feature — one that you can find on Tiktok or Instagram — to help build your skills in a “low stakes way.”
“They’re deletable, you can watch them over again, and they give you some more stress to be able to work through (because people are watching!) than just recording to your phone camera,” she says. “Whatever it is that you’re passionate about, build a two-minute talk or presentation, practice it and record it, and then give it a go in a social media live setting. Keep trying until you figure out how to present in a way that feels good and authentic to you — it’s all the same skills!”
Tech can be your best friend or worst nightmare when presenting. Getting comfortable with Google Slides, PowerPoint, and Keynote can help make your presentations smoother and more organized.
“Make sure that whatever you create is compatible with the systems you will be presenting on,” Stevenson advises. “There’s nothing worse than making the perfect slide deck only to find that all your fonts change when you open it on a different device! Any visual aids you create should contain as few words as possible, and should complement your verbal content by adding clarity rather than mirroring it.”
Before any presentation, you’ll want to review your slides multiple times. This doesn’t mean just reviewing where your text boxes are and what your graphs look like. Practice presenting out loud, and if you’re presenting virtually, practice in a mock Zoom meeting to get the hang of screen sharing and making eye contact virtually.
Presentation skills are used in nearly every job to communicate information to other team members, managers, and key stakeholders. The better your presentation skills are, the better others will understand the impact of your work — and the more likely you are to advance your career.
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Learn how to master different types of presentations with persuasive, instructional, informative, and inspirational skills. Find out the common difficulties, recommendations, and examples of effective presentation design and delivery.
Presentation skills are the abilities and qualities necessary for creating and delivering a compelling presentation that effectively communicates information and ideas. They encompass what you say, how you structure it, and the materials you include to support what you say, such as slides, videos, or images. You'll make presentations at various ...
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 ...
Read more on Business communication or related topics Power and influence, Presentation skills and Public speaking Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of ...
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.
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.
This is not surprising. Effective communications skills are a powerful career activator, and most of us are called upon to communicate in some type of formal presentation mode at some point along the way. For instance, you might be asked to brief management on market research results, walk your team through a new process, lay out the new budget ...
Frame your story (figure out where to start and where to end). Plan your delivery (decide whether to memorize your speech word for word or develop bullet points and then rehearse it—over and ...
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 ...
Presenting or making a speech at a conference or event. Objecting to a planning proposal at a council meeting. Making a speech at a wedding. Proposing a vote of thanks to someone at a club or society. On behalf of a team, saying goodbye and presenting a gift to a colleague who is leaving.
Key Components of Presentation Skills. Planning and Preparation: This involves researching the topic, understanding the audience, and organizing the content in a logical flow.; Delivery: This includes the use of voice modulation, pacing, and body language to convey the message effectively.; Use of Visual Aids: Skillfully incorporating tools like PowerPoint slides, charts, and videos to support ...
1. Create an Outline. Before designing slides and writing a script, outline your presentation. Start with your introduction, segue into key points you want to make, and finish with a conclusion. 2. Practice, Practice, Practice. Almost 8 in 10 professionals practice their presentations for at least an hour.
Tip #3: Keep your slides short and sweet. Tip #4: Focus on your presentation design. Tip #5: Visualize boring numbers and data. Tip #6: Practice in front of a live audience. Tip #7: Meet your audience before presenting. Tip #8: Channel nervous energy into enthusiastic energy.
9 top tips for improving your presentation skills: Practice speaking in front of others. Use less text and more visuals in your presentation. Leverage your personality. Welcome questions and comments during. Be passionate and engaging. Maintain eye contact with your audience. Obsess over your listeners. Focus on confident body language.
Presentation Slides. Creating slides to accompany your presentation can be a great way to provide complimentary visual representation of your topic. Slides are used to fill in the gaps while you tell the story. Start your presentation with a brief introduction- who you are and what you are going to talk about.
Tips for delivering an effective presentation. Tip. Details. Show up early and verify that your equipment works properly. Make sure that all equipment is connected and running. Don't assume that your presentation will work fine on another computer. Disk failures, software version mismatches, lack of disk space, low memory, and many other ...
Guidelines of Presentation Skills. Embracing these practices and utilising the suggested tools and frameworks can significantly enhance your presentation skills. 1. Prepare and Research Thoroughly. Thorough preparation and research are foundational elements for a presentation.
Rule 2: Spend only 1 minute per slide. When you present your slide in the talk, it should take 1 minute or less to discuss. This rule is really helpful for planning purposes—a 20-minute presentation should have somewhere around 20 slides. Also, frequently giving your audience new information to feast on helps keep them engaged.
Inject a funny anecdote in your presentation, and you will certainly grab your audience's attention. Audiences generally like a personal touch in a speech. A story can provide that. 7. Don't Read Unless You Have to. Work from an Outline. Reading from a script or slide fractures the interpersonal connection.
Presentation skills can be defined as a set of abilities that enable an individual to: interact with the audience; transmit the messages with clarity; engage the audience in the presentation; and interpret and understand the mindsets of the listeners. These skills refine the way you put forward your messages and enhance your persuasive powers. The present era places great emphasis on good ...
Research, plan, and prepare your presentation professionally. It helps you deliver an effective message to your target audience. Designed Correctly. Your visual points should stand out without overwhelming your audience. A good PowerPoint visual shouldn't complicate your message. Practiced to Perfection.
Just as with body language, the key to success is practice. Secondly, to help you feel comfortable, try to pick out a few friendly faces in the crowd. If possible, speak to some audience members one-on-one before your presentation so there are familiar faces to focus on. More importantly, ignore the grumpy faces.
A Checklist for More Persuasive Presentations. We all know the basics of good presentation skills: don't read from a script; don't overwhelm your audience with verbose slides; and the like ...
2. Tell a Compelling Story. Audiences emotionally connect with narratives.Blend personal stories into presentations to make points memorably. For example, open with an anecdote showcasing the idea's genesis or share a customer's experience illustrating pain points.. Choose illustrative examples featuring real people when possible.
Presentation skills aren't just for school PowerPoints — they're necessary for various careers and a valuable soft skill for communicating information at work. These skills are vital to advancing your career and making your work stand out, whether you're presenting data for an analysis project, projections in a finance role, or key takeaways in a team meeting.