purpose of formal presentation

Informal vs Formal Presentation: What You Need To Know

Table of contents, what is a formal presentation.

There are three key elements which make a presentation formal – your audience, your supporting material and the time you’re given to prepare in advance.

A presentation is considered formal when you’ve been asked to share ideas with an individual or group and you’ve been given time to prepare. Formal presentations require a very different approach than presenting to your team during a weekly meeting or in an impromptu discussion.

Let’s take a closer look at what goes into creating a formal presentation.

How Do You Create A Formal Presentation?

Creating a formal presentation is an art which requires hours of practice to create an effective presentation.

At Presentation Geeks, we know the importance of crafting an excellent formal presentation. That’s why we’ve put together a simple structured template of main points you should include in your next presentation to take it from a generic, informal presentation to a formal presentation which will surpass your audience’s expectations.

1 – Clearly Defined Goals

Before you begin writing your presentation or the speech you’ll deliver, you want to take the time to think about the following questions, “What do I want the audience members to remember and what is the key message I’m trying to drive?”.

Knowing your expected outcome is the goal of the presentation. Always keep reminding yourself what the goal is and don’t lose sight of it. This is the foundation of your formal presentation.

2 – Know Your Audience

Every audience is different and every audience consumes, absorbs and remembers information differently.

If you’re presenting to a graduating class of university students, your delivery will be much different than your presentation to an audience of senior executives at a Fortune 500 company or an audience of single mothers with newborns.

Get familiar with your audience members and prepare your presentation accordingly.

Bonus Tip: Try and figure out where the presentation will take place. Will it be held in an auditorium? A church? A boardroom? Perhaps it will even be held virtually. The venue in which your presentation will take place will also determine the supporting material you’ll use to help engage the audience during your presentation.

3 – Create An Outline

The success of your presentation depends on how well your audience can understand it. If you’re delivering a presentation that continuously jumps back and forth from one idea to another, your audience won’t follow and you’ll lose them.

Develop an outline that will guide the flow of your presentation. Think of it like a story. You want to keep it interesting. Provide appropriate examples that resonate with your audience. By tapping into an experience your audience is familiar with, it will work to your advantage as it will help the audience get engaged and keep them interested.

4 – Use Visual Aids

Using visual aids will help support your overall presentation and increase audience engagement.

Visual aids can include slides, videos, images and other visual supporting material. Although it might take some creative finesse to put visual aids together, you don’t have to do it alone.

Consider enlisting the help of a company that offers presentation design services. Presentation Geeks offers a variety of presentation services ranging from e-learning solutions, Google Slides, sizzle reels, Prezi design and much more!

5 – Dress Appropriately

Remember, first impressions are everything and your attire is a form of communication.

If you want to be seen as the expert on the topic matter and have people take your knowledge seriously, you want to dress appropriately.

Although this might seem like an outdated way of thinking, it is rooted in our psychology. These small details make or break a presentation and you don’t want to take a chance.

Don’t know where to start? Nine millionaires shared how they dress to make an impactful first impression which you can use in your wardrobe.

What are the types of formal presentations?

There are many types of formal presentations you’ll be exposed to throughout your career.

We’ve outlined six types of formal presentations you may consider when developing your next presentation.

However, if you’re looking for more examples of formal presentations in action, TED Talks are a great resource. TED Talks are presentations ranging on a variety of topics from science and business to motivational and unique life experiences.

Review the list below and determine which style your presentation will focus on. This will help you structure your notes, write your presentation and ultimately how you will present.

1 – Informative Presentation

This is the most common type of presentation, be it in an educational setting, business or corporate setting.

The aim of an informative presentation is to give detailed information about a product, concept, or idea to a specific kind of audience.

2 – Persuasive Presentation

Persuasive presentations are used to motivate or convince someone to act or make a change in their actions or thoughts.

3 – Demonstrative Presentation

A demonstrative presentation involves demonstrating a process or the functioning of a product in a step-by-step fashion.

4 – Inspirational Presentation

An inspirational presentation’s aim is to motivate or emotionally move your audience.

Using techniques like storytelling, narrating personal anecdotes, or even humor work wonders to enhance your presentation as your audience develops an emotional connection to the message.

5 – Business Presentation

A business presentation can encompass pitching client presentations , raising business capital, articulating company goals, RFP presentations , screening candidates, status reports, investment pitching and many more.

6 – PowerPoint Presentation

PowerPoint presentations or PPTs are the most effective ones among all types of presentations simply because they are convenient and easy to understand.

They are available in different formats and are suitable to use in practically any type of presentation and context, be it business, educational, or for informal purposes.

The only downside to PowerPoint presentations is the time it takes to create them and the creativity needed to make them stand out. Fortunately, there are PowerPoint presentation design services you can use that will help you save time and deliver new ideas in a creative way.

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What is an informal presentation.

It is fairly common for business meetings to include impromptu presentations. Most presentations you’ll encounter are informal presentations.

These types of presentations are usually prepared in a short amount of time and do not require the same organizational methods as a formal presentation such as using audience engagement or presentation software.

Oftentimes, they are very much like a conversation and you won’t be using any note cards. The presenter is usually speaking to a much smaller audience where each audience member will feel like they’re being spoken to.

What Presentation Style Should I Use?

Now that you know what the difference is between a formal presentation and an informal presentation, it is now time for you to decide which style to choose.

More often than not, if you have the time to be reading this article, you have the time to prepare a presentation. That means you’ll likely lean towards the formal style.

Informal presentations are more impromptu and you won’t have the time to research it ahead of time like you are now. But since you do have the time, here are some additional resources to help you master the craft of a formal presentation.

Additional Resources To Master Your Formal Presentation

Presentation 101: How to become a better presenter . We’ve put together a list of 10 actionable items you can start working on to become a better presenter. This article covers body language such as eye contact and voice projection to the topic you’ll talk about.

Secondly, if your presentation is held online, you need to have the skills to present a virtual presentation. We’ve got you covered once again. We take a deep-dive into how to ace your virtual presentation . We cover virtual presentation software you might encounter,

The last article you should review to incorporate into your presentation arsenal is how to give and receive constructive presentation feedback . The only way you’ll improve is through ongoing feedback and data collection of what your audience thought of your presentation and presentation skills.

If these aren’t enough, download and review some of the past presentation work we’ve done for Fortune 500 companies and other industries to help spark some inspiration for your next presentation.

If you review these three articles and incorporate them into your next presentation, you’ll be on your way to becoming an influential speaker who can convert any audience with a well crafted presentation.

Author:  Ryan

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What's the purpose of a presentation? You might well think that there's a simple answer. But, of course there isn't. That's because the purpose of your presentation depends on you, the presenter. That's right. What is it that you want to achieve with your audience? And, of course, that's the starting point for some serious work.

What's The Purpose Of A Presentation?

Because your job is to achieve results with your audience. That's results set against your own objectives.

So, what do you want to achieve? To help, you can phrase another question, along the lines of…" what do you want your audience to understand after your presentation ?

You want your audience to…

• Understand something,
• Know something,
• Believe something, or
• Do something

You plan to achieve a result with your audience, all because of your presentation. And that result is a change in their understanding . Or a change in their knowledge or beliefs . Or, perhaps your audience will choose to do something, all because of your presentation.

So, that's the purpose of a presentation. It's your purpose…your objective for your own presentation. So, it's not important whether it's a PowerPoint or a Keynote presentation. Your purpose is what really matters.

What's Your Purpose?

And, if you don't have a rationale for your presentation?

Then you need one. Because without purpose your presentation won't work. Your purpose for your presentation drives everything:

• Your points
• Your examples
• And, your evidence with which you illustrate your points

And, as your presentation is the best way to forge a communication with your audience, then now is the time to get cracking with a purpose for your presentation.

All the best public speakers have an answer to the question, " why give a speech ?" And so should all of us.

You can always discover more presentation tips with our regular series of podcast and video tips. And, when you are ready for more intensive learning, then you can always join us on a presentation course or ask us to organise a coaching session. Please don't hesitate to get in touch when the time is right.

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How To Write A Presentation 101 | Step-by-Step Guides with Best Examples | 2024 Reveals

Jane Ng • 05 April, 2024 • 9 min read

Is it difficult to start of presentation? You're standing before a room full of eager listeners, ready to share your knowledge and captivate their attention. But where do you begin? How do you structure your ideas and convey them effectively?

Take a deep breath, and fear not! In this article, we'll provide a road map on how to write a presentation covering everything from crafting a script to creating an engaging introduction.

So, let's dive in!

Table of Contents

What is a presentation , what should be in a powerful presentation.

• How To Write A Presentation Script
• How to Write A Presentation Introduction 

Key Takeaways

Tips for better presentation.

• How to start a presentation
• How to introduce yourself

Start in seconds.

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Presentations are all about connecting with your audience. 

Presenting is a fantastic way to share information, ideas, or arguments with your audience. Think of it as a structured approach to effectively convey your message. And you've got options such as slideshows, speeches, demos, videos, and even multimedia presentations!

The purpose of a presentation can vary depending on the situation and what the presenter wants to achieve. 

• In the business world, presentations are commonly used to pitch proposals, share reports, or make sales pitches. 
• In educational settings, presentations are a go-to for teaching or delivering engaging lectures. 
• For conferences, seminars, and public events—presentations are perfect for dishing out information, inspiring folks, or even persuading the audience.

That sounds brilliant. But, how to write a presentation?

• Clear and Engaging Introduction: Start your presentation with a bang! Hook your audience's attention right from the beginning by using a captivating story, a surprising fact, a thought-provoking question, or a powerful quote. Clearly state the purpose of your presentation and establish a connection with your listeners.
• Well-Structured Content: Organize your content logically and coherently. Divide your presentation into sections or main points and provide smooth transitions between them. Each section should flow seamlessly into the next, creating a cohesive narrative. Use clear headings and subheadings to guide your audience through the presentation.
• Compelling Visuals: Incorporate visual aids, such as images, graphs, or videos, to enhance your presentation. Make sure your visuals are visually appealing, relevant, and easy to understand. Use a clean and uncluttered design with legible fonts and appropriate color schemes. 
• Engaging Delivery: Pay attention to your delivery style and body language. You should maintain eye contact with your audience, use gestures to emphasize key points, and vary your tone of voice to keep the presentation dynamic. 
• Clear and Memorable Conclusion: Leave your audience with a lasting impression by providing a strong closing statement, a call to action, or a thought-provoking question. Make sure your conclusion ties back to your introduction and reinforces the core message of your presentation.

How To Write A Presentation Script (With Examples)

To successfully convey your message to your audience, you must carefully craft and organize your presentation script. Here are steps on how to write a presentation script: 

1/ Understand Your Purpose and Audience

• Clarify the purpose of your presentation. Are you informing, persuading, or entertaining?
• Identify your target audience and their knowledge level, interests, and expectations.
• Define what presentation format you want to use

2/ Outline the Structure of Your Presentation

Strong opening.

Start with an engaging opening that grabs the audience's attention and introduces your topic. Some types of openings you can use are: 

• Start with a Thought-Provoking Question: "Have you ever...?"
• Begin with a Surprising Fact or Statistic: "Did you know that....?"
• Use a Powerful Quote: "As Maya Angelou once said,...."
• Tell a Compelling Story : "Picture this: You're standing at...."
• Start with a Bold Statement: "In the fast-paced digital age...."

Main Points

Clearly state your main points or key ideas that you will discuss throughout the presentation.

• Clearly State the Purpose and Main Points: Example: "In this presentation, we will delve into three key areas. First,... Next,... Finally,.... we'll discuss...."
• Provide Background and Context: Example: "Before we dive into the details, let's understand the basics of....."
• Present Supporting Information and Examples: Example: "To illustrate...., let's look at an example. In,....."
• Address Counterarguments or Potential Concerns: Example: "While..., we must also consider... ."
• Recap Key Points and Transition to the Next Section: Example: "To summarize, we've... Now, let's shift our focus to..."

Remember to organize your content logically and coherently, ensuring smooth transitions between sections.

You can conclude with a strong closing statement summarizing your main points and leaving a lasting impression. Example: "As we conclude our presentation, it's clear that... By...., we can...."

3/ Craft Clear and Concise Sentences

Once you've outlined your presentation, you need to edit your sentences. Use clear and straightforward language to ensure your message is easily understood.

Alternatively, you can break down complex ideas into simpler concepts and provide clear explanations or examples to aid comprehension.

4/ Use Visual Aids and Supporting Materials

Use supporting materials such as statistics, research findings, or real-life examples to back up your points and make them more compelling. 

• Example: "As you can see from this graph,... This demonstrates...."

5/ Include Engagement Techniques

Incorporate interactive elements to engage your audience, such as Q&A sessions , conducting live polls, or encouraging participation. You can also spin more funs into group, by randomly dividing people into different groups to get more diverse feedbacks!

6/ Rehearse and Revise

• Practice delivering your presentation script to familiarize yourself with the content and improve your delivery.
• Revise and edit your script as needed, removing any unnecessary information or repetitions.

7/ Seek Feedback

You can share your script or deliver a practice presentation to a trusted friend, colleague, or mentor to gather feedback on your script and make adjustments accordingly.

More on Script Presentation

How to Write A Presentation Introduction with Examples

How to write presentations that are engaging and visually appealing? Looking for introduction ideas for the presentation? As mentioned earlier, once you have completed your script, it's crucial to focus on editing and refining the most critical element—the opening of your presentation - the section that determines whether you can captivate and retain your audience's attention right from the start. 

Here is a guide on how to craft an opening that grabs your audience's attention from the very first minute: 

1/ Start with a Hook

To begin, you can choose from five different openings mentioned in the script based on your desired purpose and content. Alternatively, you can opt for the approach that resonates with you the most, and instills your confidence. Remember, the key is to choose a starting point that aligns with your objectives and allows you to deliver your message effectively.

2/ Establish Relevance and Context

Then you should establish the topic of your presentation and explain why it is important or relevant to your audience. Connect the topic to their interests, challenges, or aspirations to create a sense of relevance.

3/ State the Purpose

Clearly articulate the purpose or goal of your presentation. Let the audience know what they can expect to gain or achieve by listening to your presentation.

4/ Preview Your Main Points

Give a brief overview of the main points or sections you will cover in your presentation. It helps the audience understand the structure and flow of your presentation and creates anticipation.

5/ Establish Credibility

Share your expertise or credentials related to the topic to build trust with the audience, such as a brief personal story, relevant experience, or mentioning your professional background.

6/ Engage Emotionally

Connect emotional levels with your audience by appealing to their aspirations, fears, desires, or values. They help create a deeper connection and engagement from the very beginning.

Make sure your introduction is concise and to the point. Avoid unnecessary details or lengthy explanations. Aim for clarity and brevity to maintain the audience's attention.

For example, Topic: Work-life balance

"Good morning, everyone! Can you imagine waking up each day feeling energized and ready to conquer both your personal and professional pursuits? Well, that's exactly what we'll explore today – the wonderful world of work-life balance. In a fast-paced society where work seems to consume every waking hour, it's vital to find that spot where our careers and personal lives harmoniously coexist. Throughout this presentation, we'll dive into practical strategies that help us achieve that coveted balance, boost productivity, and nurture our overall well-being. 

But before we dive in, let me share a bit about my journey. As a working professional and a passionate advocate for work-life balance, I have spent years researching and implementing strategies that have transformed my own life. I am excited to share my knowledge and experiences with all of you today, with the hope of inspiring positive change and creating a more fulfilling work-life balance for everyone in this room. So, let's get started!"

🎉 Check out: How to Start a Presentation?

Whether you're a seasoned speaker or new to the stage, understanding how to write a presentation that conveys your message effectively is a valuable skill. By following the steps in this guide, you can become a captivating presenter and make your mark in every presentation you deliver.

Additionally, AhaSlides can significantly enhance your presentation's impact. With AhaSlides, you can use live polls , quizzes , and word cloud to turn your presentation into an engaging and interactive experience. Let's take a moment to explore our vast template library !

Frequently Asked Questions

How to write a presentation step by step .

You can refer to our step-by-step guide on How To Write A Presentation Script: Understand Your Purpose and Audience Outline the Structure of Your Presentation Craft Clear and Concise Sentences Use Visual Aids and Supporting Material Include Engagement Techniques Rehearse and Revise Seek Feedback

How do you start a presentation? 

You can start with an engaging opening that grabs the audience's attention and introduces your topic. Consider using one of the following approaches: Start with a Thought-Provoking Question: "Have you ever...?" Begin with a Surprising Fact or Statistic: "Did you know that....?" Use a Powerful Quote: "As Maya Angelou once said,...." Tell a Compelling Story : "Picture this: You're standing at...." Start with a Bold Statement: "In the fast-paced digital age...."

What are the five parts of a presentation?

When it comes to presentation writing, a typical presentation consists of the following five parts: Introduction: Capturing the audience's attention, introducing yourself, stating the purpose, and providing an overview. Main Body: Presenting main points, evidence, examples, and arguments. Visual Aids: Using visuals to enhance understanding and engage the audience. Conclusion: Summarizing main points, restating key message, and leaving a memorable takeaway or call to action. Q&A or Discussion: Optional part for addressing questions and encouraging audience participation.

A writer who wants to create practical and valuable content for the audience

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How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

• Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Presentation Is...

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

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

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

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

The Key Elements of a Presentation

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

Consider the following key components of a presentation:

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

When and where will you deliver your presentation?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Are you already familiar with the audience?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See our page: Effective Speaking for more information.

How will the presentation be delivered?

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

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

Impediments

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

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

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

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

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

Continue to: Preparing for a Presentation Deciding the Presentation Method

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

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How to Structure your Presentation, with Examples

August 3, 2018 - Dom Barnard

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

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

Why is structuring a presentation so important?

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

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

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

What will affect your presentation structure?

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

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

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

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

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

What is the typical presentation structure?

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

1. Greet the audience and introduce yourself

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

Read our tips on  How to Start a Presentation Effectively

2. Introduction

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

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

In this section also explain:

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

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

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

3. The main body of your talk

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

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

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

4. Conclusion

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

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

Follow these steps:

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

5. Thank the audience and invite questions

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

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

Other common presentation structures

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

Demonstration

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

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

Problem-solution

This structure is particularly useful in persuading the audience.

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

Storytelling

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

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

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

• Great storytelling: Examples from Alibaba Founder, Jack Ma

Remaining method

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

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

Transitions

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

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

Moving from the introduction to the first point

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

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

Shifting between similar points

Move from one point to a similar one:

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

Internal summaries

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

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

Physical movement

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

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

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

Key slides for your presentation

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here are some additional resources for slide design:

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

Group Presentations

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

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

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

Example of great presentation structure and delivery

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

How Google Works – by Eric Schmidt

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

Start with why – by Simon Sinek

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

The Wisdom of a Third Grade Dropout – by Rick Rigsby

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

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

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

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

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

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

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by Tom Rielly • June 15, 2020

Keeping your presentation visuals minimalistic, simple, and clear is just one important step to remember when designing a hit presentation. Leaving nothing to chance, great presenters prove quite methodical as they prepare. Here’s a checklist for everything you need to keep in mind before your next presentation:

1. Choose the right software for your needs

The easiest way to select the right presentation software for you is to simply find the one that is native to your device. For example, if you have a Mac, use Apple Keynote, if you work on Windows, use PowerPoint. Google Slides is recommended if you’re working with someone, as it makes collaboration very easy. Another software option is Prezi: a specialty tool called Prezi that creates a presentation using motion, zoom, and panning across one giant visual space.

2. Organize your files

As you develop your script and visuals, you will need to start assembling all the assets for your slides. Create a unique folder on your computer to hold these items. Keep the folder organized by media type (presentation drafts, photos, videos, scripts) and back them up frequently to the Cloud or external disk. Label each file with a specific descriptive name, e.g. “Susan Johnson singing magpie 2020”, as opposed to “IMG_4043.jpg”, which can make it confusing to find your assets. The more organized you are up front, the easier preparing for your presentation will be.

3. Prepare your presentation materials

Make sure your presentation materials (script, graphics, actual slides) are saved in at least two safe spots (for example, your computer and an external USB drive) and are backed-up frequently. If you are using an online presentation software, such as Google Slides, be sure to also download a copy of your presentation in case the internet connection is unreliable. Having all the individual assets on hand in addition to your presentation slides can be helpful if you experience tech issues before presenting, or if you need to make any last minute changes. Make sure to label your final presentation with the title and your name so it’s easy to find.

4. Practice, practice, practice!

Remember, practice makes perfect. People often run out of time making their presentations and have no time to practice. Most TED speakers practice at least ten times. Neuroscientist Jill-Bolte Taylor gave one of the most successful Talks in TED history with nearly 27 million views. How did she do it? She practiced her Talk over 40 times! By rehearsing multiple times you will naturally memorize your Talk, which means you won’t need note cards when you give your final presentation.

5. Do a final test run

Before presenting, make sure the equipment you need is working properly. It’s generally good practice to rehearse standing on the exact stage with the exact lighting using the exact computer that you will be using in your final presentation.

Here’s a quick checklist of what to look for when testing your equipment:

• If you're not using your own computer, the one provided might be slower and have trouble playing media. If you have videos or other media, make sure they play correctly
• Test the projector to make sure it’s HD
• Make sure images are clear
• Test the sound of any clips you use, as this is what goes wrong most frequently
• If you’re using a mic, test the volume

Don’t let technical issues or other blunders overshadow your presentation. By following these guidelines, and with a little preparation, you can engineer out the problems BEFORE they happen.

Ready to learn more about how to make your presentation even better? Get TED Masterclass and develop your ideas into TED-style talks

© 2024 TED Conferences, LLC. All rights reserved. Please note that the TED Talks Usage policy does not apply to this content and is not subject to our creative commons license.

• Effective Presentation Skills Tutorial
• Preparing for the Presentation

Preparing the Presentation

Before developing a presentation on a given topic, know the requirements, purpose and audience of the presentation and then prepare an outline of the presentation.

Know the Requirements

Knowing the requirements of a presentation involves finding the answers for several relevant questions:

How much time will you have to deliver the presentation?

This dictates how much you have to prepare and how detailed it should be. The number of slides necessary for a 5-minute class presentation may differ considerably from what is necessary for a 30-minute project presentation.

Who and how many will be in the audience?

This impacts the formality of the presentation and its context, as well as the attire you may have to wear.

A thesis or dissertation presentation for a committee of faculty, or a project presentation for client at a company, may have a small audience and require formality in your delivery and attire (as appropriate for your discipline).

The context could involve evaluation of your presentation for a course grade or obtaining a project for your company.

Knowing the audience is also important for accommodating people with different abilities.

Where will you deliver the presentation?

This impacts the design of presentation materials, your delivery (whether you need a microphone or not) and the possibility to interact with the audience.

A small conference room (as opposed to a large classroom or an auditorium) may require developing different type of presentation materials.

A small conference room or classroom may allow you to interact easily with the audience, while a large auditorium where you deliver the presentation from the stage may not allow you that flexibility.

What type of technologies will be available to deliver the presentation?

This impacts the selection of technologies to match what will be available at the presentation location.

The delivery technologies can include presentation software and data projector, document camera, flip charts, microphone, web browsers, etc.

If you design your presentation using an online presentation tool, and plan to deliver the presentation using the same, it is critical to make sure that online presentation tool will be available at the delivery location, or you can bring your own.

Will you deliver the presentation alone or as part of a panel or a team?

This impacts what you prepare and how you will have to deliver it.

If you have to deliver the presentation by yourself, you will have considerable flexibility on how you can design and deliver your presentation.

If you have to present as part of a panel or a team, then you may have to coordinate with other presenters, to align your portion appropriately with theirs and not duplicate material.

Do you have to prepare handouts of your presentation to distribute to the audience?

This impacts the design of your presentation materials and the cost of making copies of the presentation.

Some presentation materials may come across well on a large screen but not on paper.

Distributing copies of your presentation will require you to know in advance how many copies to make, and any to make in large fonts for those with visual impairments.

What alternatives do you have if there are unexpected changes at the last minute to any of the previous items?

This helps you to develop Plan B solutions in case there are unexpected changes.

Planning simple alternatives to handle unavailability of particular delivery technologies in the presentation location or change in presentation duration can reduce stress and help you deliver your presentation effectively.

Saving presentation materials in different formats and media will help to adapt to any unexpected changes at the last minute.

Know the Purpose

Learn about the purpose of your presentation from your course instructor or the organizer of your presentation.

The purpose of a presentation can be (and are not limited) to:

• Inform   an audience, as in a formal thesis or project presentation
• Persuade   an audience, as in selling a proposal for service to a client or convincing an interviewer
• Entertain   an audience, as in presenting at a reception
• Speak   on a special occasion, such as honoring a colleague
• Educate   an audience, as in teaching or training a group of people

Informative Presentation

This video clip is an example of the presenter informing the audience .

Persuasive Presentation

This video clip is an example of a presenter attempting to persuade the audience .

Entertaining Presentation

This video clip is an example of the presenter attempting to entertain .

Honoring Presentation

This video clip is an example of the presenter speaking to the audience on a special occasion .

Knowing the purpose of the presentation will help you design, develop, and deliver the presentation for the intended purpose.

For example, a brief technical presentation for informing an audience may not leave time for very many interactions with the audience, including questions and answers (Q&A) at the end.

However, a technical presentation as part of a thesis or dissertation defense will involve considerable Q&A by the faculty committee and the audience.

Presenting for the purpose of educating or training an audience may require considerable interaction and Q&A during the presentations.

Presenting for the purpose of entertaining an audience may not be very formal, whereas honoring someone may be formal, and both may not involve Q&A at the end.

Knowing the purpose of the presentation can also help in arranging the room layout and audience seating (if that flexibility is available), so you can interact easily with the audience appropriately.

Know the Audience

It is important to know your audience demographics before you prepare your presentation. Knowing who they are (faculty, students, etc.), their familiarity with the topic, and their role (gain information, evaluate your learning, etc.) in attending your presentation, will help you organize your thoughts appropriately.

Presentation Level Appropriate

This video clip is an example of a presentation that is appropriate for a non-expert audience .

Presentation Level Inappropriate

This video clip is an example of a presentation that is too technical for a non-expert audience .

Presenting a topic to a specific audience requires careful preparation so the presentation will make sense to them and fulfill their needs. Some audience demographics include age, gender, faculty or students and educational background. Presenting to a group of your peers will require you to present the topic with authority, but on their level of understanding and with the ability to motivate them to ask questions. Presenting to a faculty audience will also require you to present the topic with authority, but you may need to prepare for more substantial questions and remarks.

Prepare an Outline

Once you know the requirements and the purpose of the presentation, the next step is to prepare an outline. Preparing an outline will give you a roadmap or a sense of direction for developing the presentation for the required purpose.

Before you develop an outline, ask yourself what you would want your audience to know in the time you have to present it. The outline should consist of the major headings or topics of your presentation.

The outline should have a beginning, middle and an end so that the audience can follow your ideas logically from the beginning to the end. You can then elaborate each major topic or heading into appropriate points.

The type of outline and the list of headings or topics may depend on the nature of the discipline and the purpose of a presentation.

For example, the outline of a technical presentation for informing an audience can consist of headings such as:

• Problem statement
• Objectives and scope
• Literature review
• Methodology
• Experimentation
• Conclusions

Similarly, the outline of XYZ corporation's (your employer) proposal presentation to a client ABC Co. for obtaining a project can consist of headings such as:

• Welcome and introductions
• Needs and trends
• XYZ corporation
• XYZ’s products and services
• Major clients of XYZ
• How XYZ can serve the needs of ABC
• Possible opportunities
• Contact information
• Questions and answers

An example of an outline for a non-technical presentation in the humanities or other disciplines could include the following:

• Purpose, thesis, preview
• First (second, third) point(s), supporting evidence of thesis
• Possible objections analyzed and or refuted
• Source of information
• Transition to conclusion
• Restate thesis
• Statement of possible actions, next steps
• Memory and attention-reinforcing strategies (quote, anecdote, etc.)
• Discussion of limitations, missing elements
• Closing or summary statement

Depending on the allotted duration of your presentation, you can then plan on how much time to spend on each topic, and develop the presentation materials accordingly.

The outline will depend on the content of your presentation and the outline need not dictate how the presentation will be delivered.

One can develop an outline or a framework for a presentation but organize the content in a non-sequential manner for delivery. This is especially suited for when the outline is in the form of a pictorial framework where each part can be presented non-sequentially.

Once you have developed the outline of your presentation, the next step is to organize the content.

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Next  

• Organizing the Presentation
• Designing Effective Presentation Materials
• Rehearsing the Presentation
• Delivering the Presentation
• Handling Questions and Answers
• Presentation Skills Quiz
• Presentation Preparation Checklist
• Common Reasons for Ineffective Presentations

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Formal vs. Informal Presentation Style

Presentations are a necessary part of business and there will be times when you will be asked to present about a topic.  Sometimes you are given time to prepare a structured presentation and other times you might be asked to give an impromptu presentation with little or no time to prepare.  Each of these presentation styles requires good communication skills but there are unique expectations when delivering a formal vs. and informal presentation. Here is a guide to both.

Formal Presentations

A presentation is considered formal when you have been asked to share ideas with an individual or group and you have been given time to prepare.  Formal presentations require a very different approach than presenting to your team during a weekly meeting.

-Set clearly defined goals.

In order to deliver a successful formal presentation you need to be very clear about what it is you want your audience to learn.  You need to write down the main points of your presentation and use this as a guide for your outline.

-Know your audience.

Are you presenting in front of 100 people or are you presenting in front of a smaller group?  Are you presenting to managers and executives or are you presenting to clients? Are you presenting to people who are familiar with the topic?  You must know your audience so you can tailor your presentation to meet their needs. You might need to include a hand-out for your audience or perhaps an infographic that summarizes your key points.

-Create an outline.

When you are giving a formal presentation it is expected that you will be well-prepared and well-rehearsed.  You have been given time to prepare so your audience is expecting a well-structured presentation. Therefore, you need to create an outline of your presentation so you will have an order in which to follow.

-Use visuals.

Again, when you have been given time to prepare it is expected that you will have some visuals for your audience.  Formal presentations usually include a PowerPoint or slideshow of some sort so your audience can follow along.

-Include questions for audience interaction.

A formal presentation should engage the audience.  You can end a formal presentation with a Q&A session or you can ask questions along the way after each point.  

-Dress the part.

Just as the name implies, a formal presentation requires more formal dress.  Men might wear a suit or tie while women should wear a nice dress or business suit. You should also always stand during a formal presentation.

Informal Presentations

It is fairly common for business meetings to include impromptu presentations.  These types of presentations are usually prepared in a short amount of time and do not require the same organizational methods as a formal presentation.

-Prepare your material.

Your boss might give you just a few hours to put together an informal presentation but you still need to spend some time jotting down your main points and a few notes about the topic.  While you don’t necessarily need to write a complete outline, you need to have a clear understanding of your main points.

-Understand the purpose.  

The purpose of formal presentations is to provide information to a group of people with a few questions at the end.  Informal presentations, however, are about providing information, listening to the reaction, and generating a discussion.  It becomes more like a conversation and the audience will be more involved.

-Keep visual aids to a minimum.

If you have time to prepare a quick slideshow it certainly wouldn’t hurt, but informal presentations do not require lengthy visuals.  It would even be acceptable to write on a whiteboard during an informal presentation as opposed to creating a formal slideshow.

-Consider a hand-out.

Formal presentations usually include a slideshow that audience members can access for reference.  However, since you don’t have as much time to prepare such a formal slideshow, it is usually effective to use a hand-out of some sort in an informal presentation.

-Interact with your audience.  

Formal presentations are more about the audience listening while informal presentations are more about interacting with the audience.  It is perfectly acceptable to generate discussion throughout an informal presentation and allow the audience to provide input and feedback.

-You can dress more casually.

Typically informal presentations do not require the suit and tie that formal presentations do.  You still want to look professional, but men can ditch the tie and women can wear a more casual dress.  It would also be acceptable to sit or stand during an informal presentation.

Communications Site

Formal presentations.

Presentations give you the opportunity to share and receive feedback on your ideas and research findings.  This page offers basic guidelines for organizing, designing, and delivering formal presentations. It also provides links for further discussion and examples. For information on informal presentations, see  Hillary Hart’s website for CE 333T.

But before you get started…

Know your audience.  As an engineer, you will deliver formal presentations to different audiences who have varying levels of technical knowledge: undergraduates, graduate students, professors, university administrators, and supervisors and colleagues in industry. Anticipate what your audience already knows about your topic. If you are unsure how to address your audience, imagine having a conversation about your topic with a member of the audience. You would employ different diction and sentence structures to discuss your work with a fellow engineering student than you would to explain it to a marketing student, wouldn’t you? Ideally, you address audience members on a field of shared knowledge and then lead them to greater understanding.

Also try to anticipate your audience’s mood.  You should organize your presentation differently for a friendly audience than you would for a skeptical or hostile one. Generally speaking, a friendly audience will likely accept an early assertion of your main point, followed by supportive details.  A skeptical audience, however, responds more productively to a presentation of shared concerns, followed by a “delayed thesis,” or main point (Ramage & Bean, 1995, 164).

Finally, make sure you know your audience’s preferences for presentations. Does your audience expect or require PowerPoint or other presentation software? Does your audience, like Edward Tufte (2010), despise PowerPoint? Would your audience prefer other modes of presentation, such as displaying slides as  Web pages  (Olivo, 2006)? These types of questions may be difficult to answer for someone with little presentation experience, but doing some initial research into your audience’s expectations will make you a more effective presenter.

Organizing the Presentation

Most presentations have three distinct sections: Introduction, Middle, and Conclusion.

1. Draft the Introduction.  Think like a journalist: the introduction should explain the “who, what, when, where, and why” of your research. The Middle will explain the “how.” Your title slide will convey much of this information. Fig. 1 shows a title slide that includes the “who, what, and where.” If you receive external funding for your research, your title slide should identify the source of your support. At this stage, consider your Introduction as a rough draft. You will revise it later.

2. Concentrate on the Middle and Conclusion. Imagine yourself at the end of your presentation. What exactly do you want the audience to learn, or take away?  Engineering communicators recommend that you focus on 3-5 points per presentation (Doumont, 2009).  Yet at a busy conference, most of us can realistically remember only the main point of each speaker (Alley, 2003, 153.). Prioritize your points in order of importance.  Make sure all the information you include in the Middle of your presentation contributes to your most important point; too many unnecessary details will veil the important information. Select the most persuasive visual data to use as supporting evidence.

3. Organize your argument and support.  First, avoid your computer (Grant, 2010). Instead, write down your points on note cards and organize the cards, so you can see the entire structure at a glance and make changes quickly. If you begin this work on presentation software, you risk wasting time on slide design details. This process will also help to remove unnecessary information that does not support your main points. It will be earlier to throw away a notecard that you scribbled on than to delete a slide that took you an hour to perfect.

Repetition helps you to emphasize important information. If you want the audience to remember a point, allude to it early, present the information as clearly as possible, and repeat your point in the conclusion.

4. Finally, return to your Introduction.  Review all the material in your draft, including your title.  Make sure your Introduction explains why your work is important—and why we should pay attention to you. Also explain the larger context of your work (or the “big picture”) for the least technically knowledgeable member of the audience; that person could have the most power or money to help you. If your presentation will last longer than 5 minutes, provide an overview slide to outline the contents. You can use the overview to explain your scope: what you will discuss and what you will not.

Designing the Slides

As an undergraduate, you will normally use PowerPoint for your slide designs, but you should know its limitations. Remember three principles:

1. Slides should support your message,  not act as a substitute. If you watch the talks on  Ted.com  you will notice that the focus is on the speaker, not the slides. Watch  Dr. Kristina M. Johnson  (Fig. 2), an engineer and the current Under Secretary for Energy, discuss the Clean Energy Economy for 20 minutes at the Institute of International and European Affairs. We do not need slides to understand what she is saying.

2. Visual presentations and written reports speak different languages . In other words, don’t simply cut-and-paste words and illustrations from your reports onto the slides. Consider how your presentation audience differs from your reader, and how you can use the language of visual presentation to advantage. Fig. 3 shows another slide from the student presentation featured above in Fig. 1. Here, the authors show at a glance how decision-making factors (in blue) match their more specific goals in designing the production facility.

Figure 3 . From “Monoclonal Antibody Production Facility,” (Eberly, Forschner, & Owens, 2010).

3. Keep the slides simple.  The more complex your material, the easier you should make the presentation for the reader.  As Doumont puts it, “maximize signal-to-noise ratio” (2010).  Neuroscientist Stephen Kosslyn observes that “audience members can only typically handle four ‘perceptual units’ (a word, phrase or picture) at a time” (Grant, 2010). Avoid long bullet lists, complex flow charts, and tables full of fine detail. Pay attention to the size of words and images. Alley recommends keeping the font side no smaller than 18 points (2003, 116).  What if you need to show the fine detail? Make a handout.

Three websites offer detailed advice on how to prepare slides for engineering presentations:

Michael Alley’s  Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students  at Penn State includes links to pages that discuss examples of excellent slide designs and suggest an alternative template to PowerPoint’s default. Alley presents an argument for the “Assertion-Evidence Structure”, in which a sentence-headline states the “assertion” and the body provides the “evidence.”

Jean-Luc Doumont’s support website for his book  Trees, maps, and theorems  gives crisp, straightforward advice for producing technical documents, oral presentations, and illustrations. In his link, “Explore the Topics,” a section on “Effective Graphical Displays” shows how to improve graphs, with useful before-and-after examples.

Melissa Marshall’s  Becoming an Effective Presenter of Engineering and Science ,  also at Penn State, gives detailed guidelines to Structure, Speech, Delivery, and Visual Aids. One particularly useful feature of this site is its use of video examples, both from TED talks and student presentations.

Practicing the Delivery

Public speakers, politicians, and professional actors get nervous before stepping onto a stage, so why shouldn’t you? Arguably, some degree of “nervousness” works to your advantage in that it keeps you alert and energizes your performance. Still, learning to channel that energy takes time and practice. The delivery could make or break a presentation, so start planning it early. Prepare your delivery as follows:

1. Create note cards.   Even if you are asked to “present a paper,” don’t plan to read the entire paper out loud. Outline it on cards, legibly stating the major points. Make sure you know your sources for all your information. If you are using presentation software, the sources should be cited on the slide. If not, list the source on your note cards. You may be called on your sources during the Question and Answer period.

2. Practice in front of friends —not just the mirror. It is amazing how quickly your brain will disregard the 10 hours of practicing you did at home when faced with another human being. A real audience, however small, will help give you a sense of the “nerves” you will experience and alert you to lapses in clarity or design flaws in your slides. Practice maintaining eye contact as much as possible. Practice twice, and note your improvement. If you are soft-spoken, practice in the largest lecture room possible. Ask a friend to sit in the back row so you can practice voice projection.

3. Visit the location if possible.   For presentations on campus, you should be able to visit the room beforehand. Note the size of the room and where you will stand. If you are presenting in a large lecture hall, check your slides for visibility from the back row. Test the projector and screen controls and arrange for technical support if necessary.

4. Remember  Murphy’s laws . Prepare for your laptop to crash, for the projector light bulb to blow out, for your partner not to show up. If you are presenting outside the University, prepare a backup plan to deliver

your talk from memory, with handouts.

5. Anticipate questions and challenges . Be ready to elaborate on each major point. Prepare to support your sources, your methods, and your conclusions without appearing to go on the defensive.    Hillary Hart  gives detailed advice on anticipating and responding to questions.

 References and Resources:

Alley, Michael (2007).  The Craft of Scientific Presentations.  Retrieved Sept. 10, 2010 from

http://www.writing.engr.psu.edu/csp.html

Doumont, Jean-Luc (2009). “Trees, maps, and theorems” from  Principiae: Structuring Thoughts . Retrieved Sept. 10, 2010 from  http://www.principiae.be/

Eberly, Hayley; Forschner, Caitlin; Owens, Lauren (Spring, 2010). “Monoclonal Antibody Production Facility.” PowerPoint presentation from ChE 473 K, Process Design and Operations. The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.

Grant, Bob. (3 Jan., 2010). “Pimp your PowerPoint.”  The Scientist.  Retrieved Dec. 29, 2010 from

http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/57186/

Hart, Hillary. (2010). “Preparing Presentations”  from CE 333T: Engineering Communication . Retrieved Sept. 10, 2010 from  http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/hart/333t/givingpresentations.cfm

Johnson, Kristina M. (8 July, 2010). “Growing a Clean Energy Economy.” Address to Institute of International and European Affairs. Retrieved Sept. 10. 2010 from  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgj1tkJfXaA

Marshall, Melissa. (2010).  Becoming an Effective Presenter of Engineering and Science . Retrieved Sept. 10, 2010 from http://www.engr.psu.edu/speaking/Visual-Aids.html

Olivo, Richard (2003-2006). “A Flexible Alternative to PowerPoint.” Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. Retrieved Sept. 12 from  http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/html/icb.topic58474/notPPT.htm

Ramage, John D. and Bean, John C. (1995). Writing Arguments: a Rhetoric with Readings. 3rd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Ted.com (2010). Retrieved Sept. 10 from  http://www.ted.com/

Tufte, Edward R. (2010). “The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within,” from

The Work of Edward Tufte and Graphics Press.  Retrieved Sept. 10 2020 from http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/powerpoint

Presentations give you the opportunity to share and receive feedback on your ideas and research findings.  This page offers basic guidelines for organizing, designing, and delivering formal presentations. It also provides links for further discussion and examples.

Most presentations have three distinct sections: Introduction, Middle, and Conclusion. 1. Draft the Introduction. 

Figure 1. Sample title slide

Think like a journalist: the introduction should explain the “who, what, when, where, and why” of your research.  The Middle will explain the “how.” Your title slide will convey much of this information. Fig. 1 shows a title slide that includes the “who, what, and where.” Make sure you attend to font size and color contrast so that your names are visible. Also, spell out the names of your university and department even though they may be obvious. If you receive external funding for your research, your title slide should identify the source of your support. At this stage, consider your Introduction as a rough draft. You will revise it later.

2. Concentrate on the Middle and Conclusion.

  Imagine yourself at the end of your presentation. What exactly do you want the audience to learn, or take away?  Engineering communicators recommend that you focus on 3-5 points per presentation (Doumont, 2009).  Yet at a busy conference, most of us can realistically remember only the main point of each speaker (Alley, 2003, 153.). Prioritize your points in order of importance.  Make sure all the information you include in the Middle of your presentation contributes to your most important point; too many unnecessary details will veil the important information. Select the most persuasive visual data to use as supporting evidence.

3. Organize your argument and support.

First, avoid your computer (Grant, 2010). Instead, write down your points on note cards and organize the cards, so you can see the entire structure at a glance and make changes quickly. If you begin this work on presentation software, you risk wasting time on slide design details. This process will also help to remove unnecessary information that does not support your main points. It will be earlier to throw away a notecard that you scribbled on than to delete a slide that took you an hour to perfect.

4. Finally, return to your Introduction. 

Review all the material in your draft, including your title.  Make sure your Introduction explains why your work is important—and why we should pay attention to you. Also explain the larger context of your work (or the “big picture”) for the least technically knowledgeable member of the audience; that person could have the most power or money to help you. If your presentation will last longer than 5 minutes, provide an overview slide to outline the contents. You can use the overview to explain your scope: what you will discuss and what you will not.

Figure 2. Dr. Kristina M. Johnson (2010).

1. Slides should support your message,  not act as a substitute. If you watch the talks on  Ted.com  you will notice that the focus is on the speaker, not the slides. Watch  Dr. Kristina M. Johnson  (Fig. 2), an engineer and the former Under Secretary for Energy, discuss the Clean Energy Economy for 20 minutes at the Institute of International and European Affairs. We do not need slides to understand what she is saying.

Figure 3. From “Monoclonal Antibody Production Facility,” (Eberly, Forschner, & Owens, 2010).

3. Visit the location if possible.   For presentations on campus, you should be able to visit the room beforehand.

Note the size of the room and where you will stand. If you are presenting in a large lecture hall, check your slides for visibility from the back row. Test the projector and screen controls and arrange for technical support if necessary.

4. Remember  Murphy’s laws . Prepare for your laptop to crash, for the projector light bulb to blow out, for your partner not to show up. If you are presenting outside the University, prepare a backup plan to deliver your talk from memory, with handouts.

5. Anticipate questions and challenges . Be ready to elaborate on each major point. Prepare to support your sources, your methods, and your conclusions without appearing to go on the defensive.  If you do not know the answer, say so.

References and Resources:

Alley, Michael (2007).  The Craft of Scientific Presentations.  Retrieved March 31, 2016 from  http://www.craftofscientificpresentations.com

Grant, Bob. (3 Jan., 2010). “Pimp your PowerPoint.”  The Scientist.  Retrieved Dec. 29, 2010 from  http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/57186/

Marshall, Melissa. (2010).  Becoming an Effective Presenter of Engineering and Science . Retrieved Sept. 10, 2010 from  http://www.engr.psu.edu/speaking/Visual-Aids.html

Olivo, Richard (2003-2006). “A Flexible Alternative to PowerPoint.” Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. Retrieved Sept. 12 from  http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/html/icb.topic58474/notPPT.html

Ramage, John D. and Bean, John C. (1995). Writing Arguments: a Rhetoric with Readings . 3rd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Tufte, Edward R. (2010). “The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within,” from The Work of Edward Tufte and Graphics Press.  Retrieved Sept. 10 2012 from  http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/powerpoint

Imagine yourself at the end of your presentation. What exactly do you want the audience to learn, or take away?  Engineering communicators recommend that you focus on 3-5 points per presentation (Doumont, 2009).  Yet at a busy conference, most of us can realistically remember only the main point of each speaker (Alley, 2003, 153.). Prioritize your points in order of importance.  Make sure all the information you include in the Middle of your presentation contributes to your most important point; too many unnecessary details will veil the important information. Select the most persuasive visual data to use as supporting evidence.

Understanding the difference: formal vs informal presentations

Learn the difference between formal and informal presentations and when to use them.

Supriya Sarkar

Problem-solving

Learn the difference between formal and informal presentations and when to use them. Enhance your presentation skills, with practical tips for any setting.

Presentations are a valuable tool—whether in academic, professional, or social settings. How information is delivered significantly impacts its reception and comprehension.

The two primary presentation styles that exist are formal and informal. While both serve distinct purposes, understanding their differences is crucial for effective communication.

This article covers the characteristics, usage, and strategies associated with formal and informal presentations—providing readers with comprehensive insights into both approaches.

Formal vs informal presentations: Definition

Creating a formal presentation requires careful planning and adherence to established guidelines. Presentations are usually structured and follow a predefined outline or agenda. This type of presentation is considered formal and is commonly given in professional settings such as board meetings, conferences, or academic seminars. Speakers maintain a professional disposition, employ formal language, and adhere to established standards of dress and conduct.

In contrast, informal presentations take on a different approach than presenting formally. They occur in more casual settings, like team meetings, workshops, or social gatherings. Informal presentations are often spontaneous and may be loosely structured or entirely improvised, allowing for more flexibility and spontaneity in delivery. Speakers adopt a conversational tone, often engaging the audience through anecdotes, humor, or personal stories.

When giving a formal presentation, it's common for business meetings to include a virtual presentation component, especially in today's digital age. This may involve using a slideshow to provide information to the audience. Speakers are usually given time to prepare their presentation and ensure that it meets the standards of professionalism expected in the given context.

However, when presenting to your team in a weekly meeting, the atmosphere is typically more relaxed. Presentations may feel more like a conversation, and speakers may take a less formal approach in delivering their content. This allows for a more interactive exchange of ideas among team members.

Characteristics of formal presentations:

The characteristics of a formal presentation encompass several key elements. Understanding and incorporating these elements can help you deliver formal presentations that are informative, engaging, and impactful.

Structure: Formal presentations follow a structured format, typically beginning with an introduction, followed by the main body, and concluding with a summary or conclusion. Each section is explained, with transitions facilitating smooth progression between topics.

Language: Formal presentations employ precise, technical language suited to the audience's expertise. Jargon and terminology relevant to the subject matter are commonly used, enhancing credibility and professionalism.

Visual aids: Visual aids such as slideshows, charts, or graphs are integral parts of formal presentations, aiding in information retention and comprehension. They are carefully designed to complement the spoken content, emphasizing key points and data.

Interaction: While interaction with the audience may occur in formal presentations, it is typically more structured, with designated question-and-answer sessions or opportunities for feedback at specific intervals.

Strategies for effective formal presentations:

The following strategies for formal presentations will enable you to communicate, engage the audience, and achieve your presentation objectives.

Preparation: Thorough preparation is essential for formal presentations. This includes researching the topic, organizing content logically, and rehearsing delivery to ensure fluency and confidence.

Clarity: Clear and concise communication is paramount in formal presentations. Articulate your points clearly, avoiding ambiguity or unnecessary complexity.

Engagement: While maintaining professionalism, you should strive to engage the audience through compelling storytelling, relevant examples, or thought-provoking questions.

Professionalism: Research on appearance-based inferences shows that formally dressed individuals are perceived as more competent and establish credibility. Dressing appropriately, maintaining eye contact, and exhibiting confidence are all characteristics of professionalism in formal presentations.

How to make an effective formal presentation?

Crafting an effective formal presentation involves meticulous planning, thorough preparation, and polished delivery. A well-crafted presentation script provides a solid foundation for exceptional delivery, enabling you to engage your audience and convey your message impactfully. Here are key steps to ensure success:

Define objectives:

Clarify the purpose and objectives of the presentation as it guides your planning and content creation process. A clear purpose ensures that you stay on track, maintain audience interest, and effectively communicate your message. Identify the key messages you want to convey and the desired outcomes you hope to achieve.

Know your audience:

Understand the needs, interests, and expectations of your audience as it allows you to create personalized content. By understanding your audience demographics, interests, and expectations, you can create content that resonates with them on a deeper level, increasing engagement and retention. Personalized content demonstrates that you value your audience's time and attention, leading to a more meaningful and impactful presentation experience for both you and your audience.

Research thoroughly:

Conducting comprehensive research on the topic is crucial to gather relevant information, data, and examples. This step is essential for several reasons:

-    It enables you to gain a thorough understanding of the subject matter, allowing you to speak confidently and authoritatively during your presentation. -    Thorough research helps uncover pertinent data, statistics, and examples to support your points, thereby enhancing the credibility of your presentation. -    In-depth research allows you to anticipate potential questions or objections from your audience and prepare thoughtful responses. -    Verifying the credibility of your sources ensures accuracy and relevance in your content.

By prioritizing comprehensive research, you equip yourself with the necessary knowledge and evidence to deliver a compelling and credible presentation.

Organize content:

Structure your presentation logically and coherently. Develop an outline or storyboard to organize key points, transitions, and visual aids effectively. A presentation outline acts as the foundation for a well-organized and impactful presentation. Here's why having one is crucial: -     Clarity and structure: An outline offers a clear framework, allowing you to organize your ideas logically. It ensures a smooth flow of information from start to finish, helping your audience grasp the main message effectively. -     Prevention of information overload: With a structured outline, you can prioritize key points and avoid overwhelming your audience with excessive details. This keeps your presentation focused and engaging. -     Time management: Effective time allocation is vital in presentations. An outline helps you manage time efficiently by dividing your content into manageable segments. This ensures that you stay within the allotted time and maintain a steady pace throughout your delivery.

Create compelling visuals:

Research indicates that over 50% of our brain is dedicated to processing visuals, highlighting the importance of visual storytelling in communication. Designing visually appealing slides or multimedia presentations to accompany your spoken content can significantly enhance audience engagement and improve information retention.

Compelling visuals not only make presentations more captivating but also facilitate the understanding of complex information. By incorporating clear and concise visuals such as charts, graphs, or images, you can effectively break down dense data or intricate processes into easily understandable and memorable segments.

This approach is particularly beneficial for business presentations, which often involve conveying valuable insights, system workflows, or customer journeys. Visual representations of statistics or stages help simplify complex information, making it more accessible and digestible for your audience.

Practice delivery:

Rehearse your presentation multiple times to familiarize yourself with the content and flow. It goes beyond just explaining your topic and data—it's also about mastering soft skills like speaking without reading, maintaining eye contact, and controlling your pace. This combination helps convey confidence and professionalism. Here's how rehearsing your presentation can benefit you in an effective presentation delivery : -     Enhances confidence: Regular practice boosts confidence and reduces anxiety, leading to a more polished and assured performance. -     Improves timing: Rehearsing helps refine the timing of the presentation, ensuring it fits within the allotted time frame. -     Enhances clarity: Practicing enables presenters to articulate their message clearly, improving audience comprehension. -     Refines delivery style: Repeated rehearsal allows presenters to refine their tone, pacing, and body language, enhancing overall communication effectiveness. -   Increases preparedness: Regular practice ensures presenters are well-prepared to handle unexpected situations or questions during the actual presentation.

Engage the audience:

An engaging and interactive presentation is more memorable as it prevents distractions and effectively communicates key messages. It also fosters a connection between the presenter and the audience, building rapport, trust, and a positive impression. To keep your audience engaged, consider the following tips:

-     Start with a compelling opening: Grab the audience's attention with a thought-provoking question, surprising fact, or relevant anecdote. -     Use visual aids: Incorporate visually appealing slides, videos, or images to enhance the presentation and reinforce key points. -     Tell stories: Share relevant stories or examples to make your points more relatable and evoke emotional connections. -     Encourage interaction: Foster engagement through polls, quizzes, or group discussions, and invite audience questions and thoughts. -     Involve the audience: Invite volunteers to participate in demonstrations or role-plays to encourage active participation and experiential learning. -   End with a call to action: Conclude with a clear call to action that motivates the audience to take the next steps, whether it's signing up for a newsletter or implementing new ideas.

Creating an interactive environment during a presentation is an art but it is not impossible to learn how to engage your audience . By incorporating the above-given tips into your presentation, you can help you create an engaging and memorable experience that resonates with your audience and achieves your presentation goals.

Handle Q&A sessions:

Q&A sessions are vital components of successful presentations as they gauge your preparedness, establish credibility, and provide clarity to stakeholders. To handle them effectively, it's essential to:

-   Prepare in advance: Anticipate potential questions and objections from the audience, and formulate clear, concise responses to address them effectively. -     Maintain composure: When facing challenging or confrontational questions, remain composed and avoid becoming defensive . Acknowledge concerns respectfully and respond thoughtfully. -   Restate and clarify: If necessary, restate questions for clarity before providing your response. This ensures that everyone understands the context and facilitates a more effective exchange. -     Redirect tactfully: If a question veers off-topic or becomes disruptive, tactfully redirect the conversation back to the presentation's focus while acknowledging the importance of the audience's input.

By following these strategies, presenters can navigate Q&A sessions with confidence, professionalism, and effectiveness.

Evaluate and adjust:

Evaluating and adjusting your presentation is essential for continuous improvement. After delivering your presentation, it's essential to seek feedback from audience members or peers to identify areas for improvement. If possible, take the time to review a recording of your presentation, paying close attention to verbal and non-verbal cues, audience reactions, and overall flow.

Use this review to pinpoint areas where adjustments can be made to enhance your delivery, such as modifying slides, refining talking points, or practicing delivery techniques. Each presentation should be viewed as a learning opportunity, encouraging continuous growth and refinement of your skills based on audience response and evolving objectives.

Understanding the significance of different types of formal presentations is essential for achieving presentation objectives effectively. Each type serves a specific purpose, catering to various communication needs in business contexts. By exploring these different forms, you can tailor your approach to suit the specific requirements of their audience and message. Dive into our article, " Exploring 8 different types of presentations to excel in business communication ," to gain valuable insights on different types of presentations and enhance your presentation skills.

Characteristics of informal presentations:

In the realm of formal vs. informal presentations, it's essential to recognize the unique characteristics that set informal presentations apart. Here's what distinguishes them:

Flexibility: Informal presentations offer greater flexibility in content and delivery. Speakers may deviate from a predefined structure, responding to audience feedback or incorporating spontaneous ideas.

Tone: The tone of informal presentations is conversational and relaxed, fostering a sense of fellowship and connection with the audience. Humor, personal anecdotes, and informal language are often employed to create a more engaging atmosphere.

Interactivity: Informal presentations encourage active participation from the audience, fostering conversation and collaboration. Speakers may invite questions, facilitate group discussions, or encourage audience members to share their experiences.

Visual aids: While visual aids may still be used in informal presentations, they are typically simpler and less formal than those used in formal settings. Hand-drawn diagrams, whiteboard sketches, or multimedia clips may supplement verbal communication.

Strategies for effective informal presentations:

When delivering an informal presentation, certain strategies can significantly enhance its effectiveness. By creating a relaxed and engaging atmosphere, informal presentations allow for a more conversational approach. Here are some key strategies to help you make the most of this dynamic setting:

Authenticity: Authenticity is key in informal presentations. You should express genuine enthusiasm and passion for the topic, fostering rapport and connection with the audience.

Adaptability: Flexibility and adaptability are essential in informal presentations. Be prepared to adjust their approach based on audience reactions, improvising as necessary to maintain engagement and interest.

Interactivity: Encouraging audience participation is crucial in informal presentations. You should create opportunities for dialogue, actively listening to audience feedback and incorporating it into the presentation where appropriate.

Engagement: Captivating the audience's attention is paramount in informal presentations. Make smart use of storytelling, humor, or interactive activities to maintain interest and foster a memorable experience.

How to make an impactful informal presentation:

Crafting a compelling informal presentation involves creating a relaxed and engaging environment while effectively conveying key messages. Here's how to enhance the impact of your presentation:

Start strong:

Starting your presentation strong is crucial to capture the audience's attention and set the tone for the rest of the session. A compelling opening statement, question, or anecdote can stimulate curiosity and encourage active participation from the outset.

Research suggests that when we anticipate a specific outcome, our attention may fade, but uncertainty about what comes next keeps us engaged. Therefore, using this principle can help maximize audience engagement and retention throughout your presentation.

Foster conversation:

Establishing a connection with your audience is key, and adopting a conversational tone and demeanor can help achieve this. By speaking naturally and using relatable examples, you can ensure clarity and engagement throughout your presentation. Avoiding complex jargon makes your message easier to follow, fostering a deeper connection with your audience. This approach creates a more inclusive and interactive atmosphere, enhancing the overall effectiveness of your presentation.

Harness the power of storytelling:

Storytelling is a powerful art form that can significantly enhance your overall message and captivate your audience. By incorporating storytelling, you can effectively illustrate complex ideas in a memorable and relatable manner. Share personal anecdotes or case studies that resonate with your audience, evoking emotions and deepening their understanding of the topic at hand. Through a compelling narrative, you can create a connection with your audience , making your message more impactful and memorable.

Encourage participation:

Encouraging participation involves involving the audience in the conversation right from the beginning. While presenting exhibit authenticity and confidence to foster an environment where questions, comments, and feedback are welcomed. This approach creates a participatory atmosphere where open dialogue and collaboration thrive, enhancing engagement and a sense of involvement among the audience members. By actively involving the audience throughout the presentation, you can create a more dynamic and interactive experience that resonates with the audience and encourages active participation.

Use visuals wisely:

When it comes to visual aids in informal presentations, simplicity and relevance are key. While formal presentations may rely heavily on polished powerpoint presentation slides, informal settings often favor more spontaneous tools like whiteboards, hand-drawn charts, and multimedia clips. These tools offer unique benefits, as they allow presenters to build visuals in real time, enhancing the impact of their spoken words.

‍ Using whiteboards or hand-drawn charts enables presenters to illustrate complex concepts on the spot, simplifying them for the audience's comprehension. This interactive approach fosters engagement and encourages audience participation. Additionally, multimedia clips can supplement verbal explanations, providing visual and auditory reinforcement to enhance understanding.

Inject humor appropriately:

Utilize humor to create a lively atmosphere and enhance audience engagement during your presentation. Incorporating wit and playful anecdotes not only lightens the mood but also encourages the audience to connect with and retain the information more effectively. By infusing your presentation with humorous elements, you can captivate your audience's attention and leave a lasting impression.

Stay flexible:

Stay responsive to your audience's reactions and feedback during your presentation to maximize your impact as a presenter. Pay attention to their non-verbal cues, which can offer valuable insights into their engagement and feelings toward the content. Embrace spontaneity and remain flexible, allowing space for improvisation to address audience interests or concerns in real time. This adaptability ensures that your presentation remains dynamic and relevant, fostering a deeper connection with your audience.

End on a strong note:

A strong conclusion ensures that the audience retains the most important information from the presentation and can motivate the audience to take certain actions. Additionally, it shows that the speaker has carefully considered the structure and content of the presentation, leaving a positive impression on the audience, and enhancing the speaker's credibility.

By implementing these strategies, speakers can create informal presentations that resonate with the audience, foster meaningful interactions, and make a lasting impact.

FAQ on informal vs formal presentation

1. what are the key differences between formal and informal presentations.

Explore the distinct characteristics and usage scenarios of formal and informal presentation styles, from the structured design of formal slideshows to the conversational flow of impromptu exchanges.

2. How can I effectively craft a formal presentation?

Discover the essential elements and strategies required for creating a polished formal presentation, including meticulous preparation, clear communication of main points, and engaging presentation design services.

3. Are impromptu presentations common in virtual settings?

Understand the prevalence of impromptu presentations in virtual environments and learn how to adapt presentation styles to effectively engage audiences during virtual meetings or discussions.

4. What organizational methods are typically employed in formal presentations?

Explore the organizational methods utilized in crafting a formal presentation, from outlining main points to structuring content for maximum impact and retention.

5. How can I engage my audience during a formal presentation?

Learn effective techniques for captivating your audience during a formal presentation, such as incorporating storytelling, utilizing persuasive presentation styles, and fostering interaction through questions and discussions.

Summarizing key takeaways:

• Understanding the difference : Presentations can be categorized into formal and informal styles, each requiring a different approach. Formal presentations are structured, planned, and usually occur in professional settings, while informal ones are more relaxed and spontaneous, akin to a conversation.
• Crafting effective formal presentations : Crafting a successful formal presentation involves meticulous preparation, clear communication, and professionalism. Speakers must dress appropriately, maintain eye contact, and employ precise language suited to the audience's expertise.
• Strategies for formal presentations : Key strategies for formal presentations include thorough preparation, clarity in communication, engagement through storytelling, professionalism in demeanor, and the use of compelling visual aids.
• Characteristics of informal presentations : Informal presentations offer flexibility, encourage interactivity, and adopt a conversational tone. They may include impromptu elements, involve the audience in discussions, and utilize simpler visual aids like whiteboards or multimedia clips.
• Strategies for informal presentations: Effective informal presentations prioritize authenticity, adaptability, interactivity, engagement through storytelling, visual aids tailored to simplicity and relevance, appropriate use of humor, flexibility in response to audience reactions, and a strong conclusion.
• Meeting audience expectations : Whether giving a formal or informal presentation, understanding audience expectations is crucial. Crafting presentations that align with audience needs, interests, and preferences enhances engagement, fosters connection, and increases the likelihood of achieving presentation goals.

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Informal vs formal presentation (plus tips on creating and delivering both)

To give a successful presentation, whether in front of a client, student, colleague, or stranger audience or virtually, you must understand the difference between formal and informal presentation. This article will help you learn just that and provide information on delivering powerful presentations in both styles to effectively promote your skills and make your audience more receptive to your message. So, let’s dive in!

What is a formal presentation?

Your audience, supporting materials, and the amount of time you have to prepare in advance are the main elements that define a presentation as formal.

A presentation is considered formal when you are requested to share your thoughts with a person or group and given the opportunity to prepare. This type of presentation requires a totally different approach than presenting to your team during an informal discussion or weekly meeting.

Formal presentations often take place in an academic or professional setting and adhere to a specific set of guidelines. They can be delivered orally or via video chat, which enables participants to connect from different locations and meet on screen so they can see each other while speaking without having anybody else around to listen.

The different types of formal presentations include:

• Informative
• Demonstrative
• Inspirational

Now that you know the formal presentation definition and its types, let’s examine how to create one in more detail.

How to make a formal presentation?

Crafting an excellent formal presentation that surpasses your audience’s expectations is an art that requires countless hours of practice to master.

Here at SlidePeak, we understand that a properly delivered formal speech can make a huge difference in how effectively someone expresses their thoughts. That’s why we’ve created this simple guide that will educate you on how to make your formal presentation PowerPoint the best it can be and help you prevent typical rookie mistakes.

What to include in the formal presentation:

• A clear introduction that captures the audience’s attention.
• A well-organized body that presents your research and supporting evidence.
• A brief conclusion that summarizes your main idea.

What is the voice of the formal presentation?

Typically, the voice of a formal presentation is strong, authoritative, and appealing. Such a voice is crucial when presenting or speaking to a large audience. This comes from your ability to make your voice resonate since a resonant voice is more pleasing and can make you sound more confident. Speaking softly or mumbling, on the contrary, might give the impression that you are uncertain and undermine the strength of your presentation.

Tips for creating a formal presentation:

• Clearly define your goals.
• Get to know your audience and prepare a presentation accordingly.
• Ensure the topic you choose is suitable for the audience.
• Conduct in-depth research and collect reliable data.
• Craft a detailed outline that will guide the presentation’s flow.
• Include questions for audience interaction.
• Choose a professional presentation format, such as Keynote or PowerPoint.
• Add visual aids (e.g., slides, videos, images) to support your presentation and increase audience engagement.

Don’t know where to start? Check this formal presentation example or enlist the help of PowerPoint presentation services to save time and ensure your ideas are presented in an appealing way that combines aesthetics alongside content.

Tips for delivering a formal presentation in person

When giving a formal presentation, there are also a few things to consider:

• Ensure you are well prepared.
• Speak slowly and try to be as clear as possible.
• Look your audience in the eyes when speaking.
• Use formal language.
• Dress appropriately, as first impressions are everything.

Tips for delivering a formal presentation virtually

If you are going to give an online presentation, make sure to consider the below tips in addition to the ones above.

• Choose a background that looks professional.
• Test your video and audio settings beforehand.

So, what is the difference between a formal and informal presentation? Read on to find out what an informal presentation is, what makes it different from a formal one, and how to give one like a pro.

Informal presentation definition

Informal presentations, also known as impromptu presentations, can be presented in a variety of settings. They have the same structure as formal ones but are less formal. This type of presentation can be delivered in person or virtually via video chat and frequently has a more conversational tone.

An informal presentation is pretty common for business meetings and is typically prepared quickly, without much organization. It’s more like a conversation where everyone feels like they’re being spoken to directly by the presenter rather than watching the presenter talk to an audience from behind slides. This makes it a fantastic way to engage the audience. And unlike a formal, lecture-like presentation with a few questions at the end, informal presentations are often followed by vivid discussions.

Tips for creating informal presentations:

• Understand the purpose of your presentation.
• Pick a topic that is suitable for the setting and audience.
• Conduct research, but don’t try to compile as much data as for a formal presentation.
• Make an outline, but it doesn’t have to be as thorough as one for a presentation in a formal setting. Instead, hit what’s important.
• Choose an appropriate presentation format, such as a PowerPoint or whiteboard.
• Consider a hand-out (in case of an in-person presentation).

Here are some excellent informal presentation examples to get you started:

Pro tip: If you have an outdated presentation on a similar topic or one with a similar structure but on a different topic, you can opt for a PPT redesign service and have it revamped while you practice your presentation or indulge in other important activities.

How to give an informal presentation?

There are a few things to remember when delivering informal presentations, and they are as follows:

• Ensure you are adequately prepared.
• Keep eye contact with the audience.
• Stick to a conversational, positive, and optimistic tone.
• Don’t mumble; speak slowly and try to be as clear as possible.
• Interact with your audience: ask questions and allow feedback.
• Insert on-purpose jokes every now and then (if suitable for the audience).
• Make sure to test your audio and video settings (in case of a virtual presentation).

Wrapping up

Both formal and informal presentations have their benefits. However, it’s crucial to take your particular situation into account to choose the most appropriate style, as formal presentations are more acceptable in a professional setting, while informal ones work better if there is no formality requirement (e.g., team discussion, conference, weekly meeting).

“But what is the secret to delivering powerful presentations in both styles?” you might ask. The answer is pretty straightforward: when you’re putting together your presentation, always ensure that your organization and research abilities work in harmony and find time to practice. Remember, practice makes perfect, and passion persuades. Polished presenting skills provide payoffs. Speak slowly and clearly, look your audience in the eyes, and give them something to talk about when your speech is over.

For assistance with the presentation design part, you can always count on slidepeak.com . Our dedicated team is at your service 24/7!

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Jerz's Literacy Weblog (est. 1999)

Oral presentation tips: how to deliver a speech for school or work.

Jerz >  Writing > [ Academic |  Technical ] This document briefly describes how to  write and deliver a formal oral presentation on an academic or professional subject. It should be useful for anyone who wants to know how to speak in public.

Note: by “formal presentation,” I don’t necessarily mean a Shakespeare monologue or a scientific treatise on robot-assisted microsurgery. Giving an oral presentation on  any subject–your favorite book, current events, a family story–can be “formal” and “technical” whenever its primary purpose is to communicate complex information.

The  content is the most obvious component of any oral presentation — after all, if you are talking, you had better have something worthwhile to say.  But a presentation is only as effective as its  delivery .

Part 1: Planning the Content

1.  Determine your goals. 2.  Prepare your material. 3.  Study a model. 4.  Arrange with your strongest points first . 5. Practice, practice, practice .

Part 2: Delivering the Content

6.  Make eye contact with your audience. 7. Engage actively with the audience. 8. A slide show is not a speech. 9.  Watch the time! 10.  Take questions in the middle, not the end?

1) Determine Your Goals as a Speaker

2) Prepare your material

Plan. Practice. Keep what’s good and try again. 

Good speakers usually aim to look like they are speaking effortlessly, tossing off words as they come to mind. What you don’t see is the preparation that paved the way for the polished performance. It’s all an act! You can do it too, if you plan ahead.

Once you know what your goal is, and you know what your audience wants, you can start strategizing. There is no single strategy that will guarantee success. How you plan depends on many variables.

How many minutes long is your speech? About how many words do you speak per minute?

Will your audience be lost if you use jargon? Will they feel talked down to if you spend time defining terms they already know?

Do you expect that your audience will disagree with you? (If so, you might need to give more examples and more evidence and spend more time addressing reasonable objections in order to sound convincing, which may mean talking a little faster.)

Do you expect your audience already agrees with the position you will take? (If so, they may check out if your speech simply rehashes arguments they already accept without question. What can you say to an audience that already agrees with you? Why would you listen to a speaker who is restating things you already accept as the truth?)

Graphics, inspirational quotations, and anecdotes are all well-respected methods of maintaining audience interest. However, Pinterest clip art, fancy computer transitions between slides, and vaudeville tricks get old pretty quickly (see Don McMillan’s hilarious “ Death by Powerpoint “), and they eat up time that you could use more effectively.

3) Study a Model

The internet is of course full of examples of good speeches, but the YouTube users who vote on videos may not have much in common with the audience who will hear your oral presentation.

Do you have access to speeches that your discourse community values? Your instructor or supervisor may not have ready access to video recordings from last year’s class or last quarter’s budget meeting, but you can pay attention to the speaking techniques deployed by people with authority in your field.

For instance, I have a colleague who never says, “This is taking too long, and I’m watching the clock, so let’s get on with it already.” Instead, this person says, “I’m conscious of everyone’s time, so shall we move on to the next item?”

Bear in mind that

• if you have been assigned to deliver a speech that defends a position on a topic (such as, whether Huckleberry Finn should be taught in middle school)…
• but your instructor usually refrains from stating any one answer is the best (preferring instead to present several viewpoints and letting the students decide for themselves)…
• then your instructor’s open-ended lecture (intended to spark a discussion) is not a good model of a position statement (intended to showcase your ability to latch onto a specific solution).

While this handout aims to provide general tips, you should ignore any general tip that contradicts something specific you learn about the goals, context, or genre of the specific speech you are preparing.

General Model

Successful oral presentations typically share some basic characteristics, owing to the nature of the spoken word.

• Tell them what you’re going to tell them.
• Tell them what you told them.

When we read, we can go back and reread passages we skimmed over the first time, and we can skip ahead when we’re bored. In a live oral presentation, the audience can’t re-read or skip ahead. If the audience doesn’t know why they are listening to your anecdote about winning the spelling bee, or why they should care what version of the software was installed on the computer that you used to crunch your numbers, their attention will wander and it will be hard to get it back.

When we listen, we gratefully cling to orientation phrases that help us understand what the whole shape of a speech is, where we are within the overall structure, and when we are transitioning from one section to another.

Your specific occasion for delivering a speech may involve specific contextual details that don’t mesh with the general advice I’m providing here.

• Introduction :   "I am Pinky J. Witzowitz from the U.S. Department of Bureaucracy, and I have been asked to speak for 20 minutes on 'The Government's Plan for Preventing Situation X in America's Heartland.'"
• "Situation X is the worst thing that can happen to you and your family." [ Startling claim ; follow up by citing the source of this quote, or giving evidence that supports it.]
• "It happened once to a family in Dubuque, and they were never heard from again." [ Anecdote ; follow up with details.]
• "I am here today to tell you how to prevent this terrible tragedy from striking you." [ Demonstrates relevance ; move directly to your  road map ]
• Main Content :  Put up a slide with topics to cover, a specific problem to solve, or a series of questions to answer. Promise that your talk will address the material on that slide. You might even return to that slide each time you start a new subsection, with the current place in the talk highlighted.

• Questions/Comments from the Audience? Even though most people save the question period until the end, they lose the opportunity to modify their conclusion to address the interests of the audience.
• Recap :  Our earnest “Situation X” speaker might give microencapsulated answers to all the questions on the main road map:  "We have learned that Situation X is a blah blah blah; that we should all care about it because yada, yada, yada..."
• Wrap it up : After reminding the audience how all these factors fit together, the speaker might say,  "Now that you understand how the U.S. Department of Bureaucracy helps you keep Situation X out of your life, please take one of our pamphlets home to your family and put it by the telephone where you can get it in an emergency; your family will thank you."
• Invite Questions :   If there is time, and if you haven’t already done so.

4) Arrange with Your Strongest Points First

In rare cases — such as when you are facing a hostile audience, you might want to start out by emphasizing where you agree with your audience, and then carefully working your way towards your most divisive, most daring claims.

• If the question is actually important to your talk,  you’ll probably be able to answer right away.
• If you can’t answer right away, or you don’t want to take the time, just promise you’ll follow up via e-mail , and then go right back to your presentation. Most  audience members will probably have been annoyed by the interruption.  They will be  delighted that you  didn’t take the questioner’s bait .

5) Practice, Practice, Practice.

Set a timer, and deliver your speech to a willing co-worker or family member, your pet fish, or the bathroom mirror.

My students are often surprised at how hard it is to fill up 3 minutes for an informal practice speech early in the term, and how hard it is to fit everything they want to say into a 10-minute formal speech later in the term.

Once you have the right amount of content, make a video recording of yourself practicing. If you plan to show a video clip, or ad-lib an explanation of a diagram, or load a website, or pass out paper handouts, or saw an assistant in half, actually do it while the camera is rolling, so that you know exactly how much time it takes.

Time it out.

• Script out a powerful introduction and conclusion.
• Know how long each section of your speech should take.
• which example or anecdote you will cut if you are running long?
• what additional example you can introduce if you need to fill time?

If you know your conclusion takes you 90 seconds to deliver, make sure to start your conclusion when you have at least 90 seconds left.

At several key points during your speech, maybe while you are playing a video or while the audience is taking in a complex image, glance at the clock and check to see — are you on track?

If you notice you’re starting Section 3 60 seconds later than you had intended, try to make up for time by rushing through your second example in section 3 and cutting the third example in section 4, so that you still have the full 90 seconds at the end to deliver that powerful conclusion.

Technological Considerations

• Do you know how to connect your computer to the overhead projector? (If you don’t know, who does?)
• What will you do if you can’t get your computer connected to the projector? (Back in 2003, when I applied for my current job at Seton Hill University, I was asked to give a teaching demonstration. I couldn’t get my laptop to work with the overhead projector, but I had posted the most important links on my blog, and I had brought along a printout of my speech, just in case. My preparations have paid off, because I got the job.)
• In the room where you will be speaking, will you be using a microphone, or relying on your unamplified voice?
• Will you be able to walk around with the microphone — perhaps to gesture at details in the slides — or is the mic attached to a stand? (Do you need to borrow a laser pointer, or get a volunteer to advance slides for you?)

6) Make Eye Contact With Your Audience.

I once sat through a four-hour training session, during which this was all I could see of the instructor.

Go ahead and write your whole speech out so you can read robotically if you blank out, but you should practice your speech so you know it well enough that you can glance up from your notes and look at your audience as you speak.

7) Engage with the audience.

Pay attention to the audience, and they will pay attention to you.

Don’t try to recite from memory . If you spend your energy worrying about what you’re supposed to say next, you won’t be able to pay attention to whether the audience can hear you, or whether the overhead projections are focused.

Preparation : Set up before the audience files into their seats. If you have scheduled a presentation for a class, don’t sit in your seat like a lump while your professor calls the roll and hands out papers. Few things are more boring than watching a presenter log into the computer, fiddle with the video data projector, hunt around for the light switches, etc.

Introduction : As the audience files into their seats, have a title card displayed on the screen — or at least write your  name and the title of your talk on the whiteboard.  In a formal setting, usually a moderator will usually introduce you, so you won’t need to repeat everything the moderator says.  Avoid canned introductions like “Principal Burch, members of the faculty, and fellow students, we are gathered here today…”

Hashtag : If it’s likely that many people in your audience use the same social media network, consider encouraging them to post their thoughts there. When you introduce yourself, give your social media handle and suggest a hashtag.

Handouts : Consider distributing handouts that present the basic facts (names, dates, timelines) and your main points.  You can keep the conclusion just slightly mysterious, if you don’t want to give everything away immediately, but the idea is to free the audience from the feeling that they have to write everything down themselves. (Note: Simply printing up all the overhead slides wastes a lot of paper.)

Grabber : Grab the attention of your audience with a startling fact or claim, an inspiring quotation, or a revealing anecdote.   This is not the time to try out your nightclub act; the “grabber” is not just comic relief, it also helps you set up the problem that you are going to address.  If the audience will be diverse and general, you can use the “grabber” as a metaphor, helping the audience see why the topic is so important to you, and how it might be important to them, too.  If your audience shares your technical specialty, and thus needs no special introduction to the topic, feel free simply to state your purpose without much to-do; but bear in mind that even technical audiences don’t want to be bored.

Road Map : Once you have established the problem or the main point of your talk, let the audience know how you are going to get to a solution.  You might put up a series of questions on a slide, then as your talk progresses, proceed to answer each one.  You might break each question down into a series of smaller questions, and answer each one of these in turn.  Each time you finish a subsection, return to the road map, to help your audience keep track of where you have been and where you are going.

Conclusion : To give your presentation closure, return to the “grabber”, and extend it, modify it, or otherwise use it to help drive home your main point.  Recap your main points, and demonstrate how they all fit together into a thought that the audience members can take with them.

8) A Slide Show Is Not a Speech

Don’t read word-for-word with your nose buried in a stack of papers . If you bother to show up to hear a person speak, how do you feel when the speaker mumbles through page after page of written text? Do you feel you should have just asked for a copy of the paper in the mail?

When you present, make every effort to include your audience; after all, they are the reason you are speaking in the first place.

If you do feel that you must write out your speech word-for-word, you should be familiar enough with it that you don’t need to look at the paper all the time. (And hold the page up when you glance at it, rather than bending down to look at it.)

9) Watch the time!

To help pace yourself, at the top of each page of your notes,  write down what time it should be ; as you turn each page, you can glance at the clock and see whether you are on track.

(The first time I gave this advice to a technical writing class, I mimed the action of “looking at the clock” — and noticed that I was running ten minutes behind, eating into time that I had promised to a student for an in-class testing session.  That was a rather humbling experience!)

See the “preparation” section above. If you have already practiced your speech and timed out the various sections, you’ll know whether you are running long. If you are, don’t talk faster — cut  something that you already marked out as optional.

Decide in advance which examples, which anecdotes, which subsections you can drop, without damaging the whole presentation.

I was at a conference in 1998 where the first speaker talked for 40 minutes — double  her allotted time.  (Why the moderator allowed this is a mystery to me.)

• None of the other speakers on the panel felt like cutting their talks to compensate.
• The result was that the last scheduled speaker — who had paid for an international plane ticket and a week in a hotel — did not get to speak at all.

10) Take questions in the middle, not at the end?

The benefits include:

• If you spark a good Q & A session, your audience will remember and appreciate it.
• If nobody has any questions,  you can just fill up the space with more of your own material .  That would be much harder to do if you have already wrapped up your talk and had nothing left to say.
• If you really know your material, you can  adjust your conclusion to address the questions raised by the audience.  Even if someone in the audience steals a little of your thunder by bringing up points you were saving for your big finish, you will appear smart for having predicted that audience response. At the same time, someone in your audience will feel smart for having anticipated what you were going to say.

Dennis G. Jerz , 01/27/2009 07:24:28 Oct, 1999 — first written 03 Dec, 2000 — posted here 03 June 2003 — tweaked and updated 30 Oct 2011 — updated and added video links 31 May 2016 — major update; separated into “preparation” and “presentation” sections. 26 Jan 2018 — blackboard -> whiteboard

50 thoughts on “ Oral Presentation Tips: How to Deliver a Speech for School or Work ”

Thanks alot for your teachings

Thank a lot , really great tip for oral presentation, i’ll implement these tips, and will let you know.

Very helpful tips.

this is awfully helpful. I am a teacher in France and my students have to do presentations in English. I wish they could read this and understand.

Thank you for these very useful tips on Oral presentation. I am taking an Organizational Behavior class and need to do a 5 minute oral presentation on a real life situation about Conflict Management in the Workplace. I am not sure how to structure or begin the presentation.

I like it Really helpful for me

Thank you for helping me to do my presentation…..and I have learned so much from oral presentation.

thankyou thankyou thankyou this helped me so much!!! : )

thankyou thankyou thankyou this helped me so much in english!!! : )

Thanks. Really helpful

Hi, I going to do 3 minute presentation and my topic is My son. what is a best tips to talk about the this topic. I am not sure where to start. Any tips to help me with.

Is that the topic you were assigned? Are you taking a public speaking class, a child development class, a class in writing personal memoirs, or are you learning English as a second language? I don’t know how your instructor will evaluate your work, so I am not sure how to help.

You might find it useful to look at this handout on writing personal essays. http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/creative1/personal-essays/

Hi, I going to do minute presentation and my topic is My son. what is a best tips to talk about the this topic. I am not sure where to start. Any tips to help me with.

This sort of helped

Denise Gillen Caralli liked this on Facebook.

Enter your comment here…Thanks a lot… I will follow your instructions..I’m hopeful those tips will work. .. Thanks once again….

Thanks so much will follow your instruction tomorrow where I will be having presentation with 180 Head masters about suplimetary feeding on their hunger striken ares

Yeah ,thanks and good luck to all of you from a powerful Jamaican girl

That’s great… It will work well for those who are aiming for like me. Thanks!

The tips are totally handy until now I am still applying it.

Appreciate it. =)

Very helpful for my presentation. Thanks!

I have learned a lot on this…thanks

Thanks a lot I have learned so much on this

I suppose to give out a presentation on Monday on someone or something in either an athlete or an actor and I don’t know how to start

i have a question i am supposed to give a speech but it has to have a power point or a drama thing the only problem is that i can’t have a power point because it won’t work into my speech and neither will a drama thing what should i do?

I suggest you talk to whoever set up the requirement for a slideshow/drama component. Maybe there is some flexibility, or maybe you’ll find a way to work that component into your speech.

Thank you heaps this really helped a lot

that is such good information and i believe im going to pass my speeches.

wow!!this are really helpfull stuff..but im just not confident enough to stand infront of all those people..wish i could do it without them looking at me

blind fold them! just joking…I’m getting ready to do mine and I’m having the same problem as you.

this is a helpfull site

this isn’t helping me with how nervous I am!! bye!!

love it really helped

thanks you are good

I have to do a presentation about “Importance of learning English”. There are 6 people in my group including myself. The presentation has to be exactly 8 minutes. We can’t use PowerPoint. Can you give us any unique, memorable and creative idea?

What are some lessons or life experiences that you find unique and memorable? I’d probably do a play, with a character who gets into trouble because he/she doesn’t know English, and then has a chance to correct those problems by demonstrating how learning English can fix the problems.

Hello mr.Dennis,I go straight to it.how can I become the most sought after Master of Ceremony(M.C.)/tv show presenter extra-ordinaire in my country before going international?any useful tips?

Sorry, that question is not something I cover on this page.

really well writen loved how you added steps so its easy to follow clear easily can be understaned and really helps us and gives us tips that we should actually think about and use at times

Yeah! I found it quite impressive. I hope it’z gonna be helpful for me to develop my speech techniques.

Nice tips….i think it will help me. but it’s too lengthy,it takes so much of time to read.

This really helps to prepare for all sort of things, Thanks a lot

Really helpful! Thank you

Pingback: Oral Presentation Readings « readwriteredroom

i love this helpful tips of oral presentation.. hope to visit this again or i just make a hard copy of this… thank you very much for that…

it was quite helpful

thank you for the great tip, but my problem is actually that I have a presentation on ‘All About Me’ and I have to keep the audience ‘engaged’ like by making a guessing game or something. If anyone has any other ideas please help!!

This may help: http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/creative1/showing/

This really helped me prepare my oral presentation…thanks very much!!!!

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Blog Beginner Guides 8 Types of Presentations You Should Know [+Examples & Tips]

8 Types of Presentations You Should Know [+Examples & Tips]

Written by: Krystle Wong Aug 11, 2023

From persuasive pitches that influence opinions to instructional demonstrations that teach skills, the different types of presentations serve a unique purpose, tailored to specific objectives and audiences.

Presentations that are tailored to its objectives and audiences are more engaging and memorable. They capture attention, maintain interest and leave a lasting impression. 

Don’t worry if you’re no designer —  Whether you need data-driven visuals, persuasive graphics or engaging design elements, Venngage can empower you to craft presentations that stand out and effectively convey your message.

Venngage’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface, extensive presentation template library and customizable design options make it a valuable tool for creating slides that align with your specific goals and target audience. 

Click to jump ahead:

8 Different types of presentations every presenter must know

How do i choose the right type of presentation for my topic or audience, types of presentation faq, 5 steps to create a presentation with venngage .

When it comes to presentations, versatility is the name of the game. Having a variety of presentation styles up your sleeve can make a world of difference in keeping your audience engaged. Here are 8 essential presentation types that every presenter should be well-acquainted with:

1. Informative presentation

Ever sat through a presentation that left you feeling enlightened? That’s the power of an informative presentation. 

This presentation style is all about sharing knowledge and shedding light on a particular topic. Whether you’re diving into the depths of quantum physics or explaining the intricacies of the latest social media trends, informative presentations aim to increase the audience’s understanding.

When delivering an informative presentation, simplify complex topics with clear visuals and relatable examples. Organize your content logically, starting with the basics and gradually delving deeper and always remember to keep jargon to a minimum and encourage questions for clarity.

Academic presentations and research presentations are great examples of informative presentations. An effective academic presentation involves having clear structure, credible evidence, engaging delivery and supporting visuals. Provide context to emphasize the topic’s significance, practice to perfect timing, and be ready to address anticipated questions. 

2. Persuasive presentation

If you’ve ever been swayed by a passionate speaker armed with compelling arguments, you’ve experienced a persuasive presentation . 

This type of presentation is like a verbal tug-of-war, aiming to convince the audience to see things from a specific perspective. Expect to encounter solid evidence, logical reasoning and a dash of emotional appeal.

With persuasive presentations, it’s important to know your audience inside out and tailor your message to their interests and concerns. Craft a compelling narrative with a strong opening, a solid argument and a memorable closing. Additionally, use visuals strategically to enhance your points.

Examples of persuasive presentations include presentations for environmental conservations, policy change, social issues and more. Here are some engaging presentation templates you can use to get started with: 

3. Demonstration or how-to presentation

A Demonstration or How-To Presentation is a type of presentation where the speaker showcases a process, technique, or procedure step by step, providing the audience with clear instructions on how to replicate the demonstrated action. 

A demonstrative presentation is particularly useful when teaching practical skills or showing how something is done in a hands-on manner.

These presentations are commonly used in various settings, including educational workshops, training sessions, cooking classes, DIY tutorials, technology demonstrations and more. Designing creative slides for your how-to presentations can heighten engagement and foster better information retention. 

Speakers can also consider breaking down the process into manageable steps, using visual aids, props and sometimes even live demonstrations to illustrate each step. The key is to provide clear and concise instructions, engage the audience with interactive elements and address any questions that may arise during the presentation.

4. Training or instructional presentation

Training presentations are geared towards imparting practical skills, procedures or concepts — think of this as the more focused cousin of the demonstration presentation. 

Whether you’re teaching a group of new employees the ins and outs of a software or enlightening budding chefs on the art of soufflé-making, training presentations are all about turning novices into experts.

To maximize the impact of your training or instructional presentation, break down complex concepts into digestible segments. Consider using real-life examples to illustrate each point and create a connection. 

You can also create an interactive presentation by incorporating elements like quizzes or group activities to reinforce understanding.

5. Sales presentation

Sales presentations are one of the many types of business presentations and the bread and butter of businesses looking to woo potential clients or customers. With a sprinkle of charm and a dash of persuasion, these presentations showcase products, services or ideas with one end goal in mind: sealing the deal.

A successful sales presentation often has key characteristics such as a clear value proposition, strong storytelling, confidence and a compelling call to action. Hence, when presenting to your clients or stakeholders, focus on benefits rather than just features. 

Anticipate and address potential objections before they arise and use storytelling to showcase how your offering solves a specific problem for your audience. Utilizing visual aids is also a great way to make your points stand out and stay memorable.

A sales presentation can be used to promote service offerings, product launches or even consultancy proposals that outline the expertise and industry experience of a business. Here are some template examples you can use for your next sales presentation:

6. Pitch presentation

Pitch presentations are your ticket to garnering the interest and support of potential investors, partners or stakeholders. Think of your pitch deck as your chance to paint a vivid picture of your business idea or proposal and secure the resources you need to bring it to life. 

Business presentations aside, individuals can also create a portfolio presentation to showcase their skills, experience and achievements to potential clients, employers or investors. 

Craft a concise and compelling narrative. Clearly define the problem your idea solves and how it stands out in the market. Anticipate questions and practice your answers. Project confidence and passion for your idea.

7. Motivational or inspirational presentation

Feeling the need for a morale boost? That’s where motivational presentations step in. These talks are designed to uplift and inspire, often featuring personal anecdotes, heartwarming stories and a generous serving of encouragement.

Form a connection with your audience by sharing personal stories that resonate with your message. Use a storytelling style with relatable anecdotes and powerful metaphors to create an emotional connection. Keep the energy high and wrap up your inspirational presentations with a clear call to action.

Inspirational talks and leadership presentations aside, a motivational or inspirational presentation can also be a simple presentation aimed at boosting confidence, a motivational speech focused on embracing change and more.

8. Status or progress report presentation

Projects and businesses are like living organisms, constantly evolving and changing. Status or progress report presentations keep everyone in the loop by providing updates on achievements, challenges and future plans. It’s like a GPS for your team, ensuring everyone stays on track.

Be transparent about achievements, challenges and future plans. Utilize infographics, charts and diagrams to present your data visually and simplify information. By visually representing data, it becomes easier to identify trends, make predictions and strategize based on evidence.

Now that you’ve learned about the different types of presentation methods and how to use them, you’re on the right track to creating a good presentation that can boost your confidence and enhance your presentation skills . 

Selecting the most suitable presentation style is akin to choosing the right outfit for an occasion – it greatly influences how your message is perceived. Here’s a more detailed guide to help you make that crucial decision:

1. Define your objectives

Begin by clarifying your presentation’s goals. Are you aiming to educate, persuade, motivate, train or perhaps sell a concept? Your objectives will guide you to the most suitable presentation type. 

For instance, if you’re aiming to inform, an informative presentation would be a natural fit. On the other hand, a persuasive presentation suits the goal of swaying opinions.

2. Know your audience

Regardless if you’re giving an in-person or a virtual presentation — delve into the characteristics of your audience. Consider factors like their expertise level, familiarity with the topic, interests and expectations. 

If your audience consists of professionals in your field, a more technical presentation might be suitable. However, if your audience is diverse and includes newcomers, an approachable and engaging style might work better.

3. Analyze your content

Reflect on the content you intend to present. Is it data-heavy, rich in personal stories or focused on practical skills? Different presentation styles serve different content types. 

For data-driven content, an informative or instructional presentation might work best. For emotional stories, a motivational presentation could be a compelling choice.

4. Consider time constraints

Evaluate the time you have at your disposal. If your presentation needs to be concise due to time limitations, opt for a presentation style that allows you to convey your key points effectively within the available timeframe. A pitch presentation, for example, often requires delivering impactful information within a short span.

5. Leverage visuals

Visual aids are powerful tools in presentations. Consider whether your content would benefit from visual representation. If your PowerPoint presentations involve step-by-step instructions or demonstrations, a how-to presentation with clear visuals would be advantageous. Conversely, if your content is more conceptual, a motivational presentation could rely more on spoken words.

6. Align with the setting

Take the presentation environment into account. Are you presenting in a formal business setting, a casual workshop or a conference? Your setting can influence the level of formality and interactivity in your presentation. For instance, a demonstration presentation might be ideal for a hands-on workshop, while a persuasive presentation is great for conferences.

7. Gauge audience interaction

Determine the level of audience engagement you want. Interactive presentations work well for training sessions, workshops and small group settings, while informative or persuasive presentations might be more one-sided.

8. Flexibility

Stay open to adjusting your presentation style on the fly. Sometimes, unexpected factors might require a change of presentation style. Be prepared to adjust on the spot if audience engagement or reactions indicate that a different approach would be more effective.

Remember that there is no one-size-fits-all approach, and the best type of presentation may vary depending on the specific situation and your unique communication goals. By carefully considering these factors, you can choose the most effective presentation type to successfully engage and communicate with your audience.

To save time, use a presentation software or check out these presentation design and presentation background guides to create a presentation that stands out.    

What are some effective ways to begin and end a presentation?

Capture your audience’s attention from the start of your presentation by using a surprising statistic, a compelling story or a thought-provoking question related to your topic. 

To conclude your presentation , summarize your main points, reinforce your key message and leave a lasting impression with a powerful call to action or a memorable quote that resonates with your presentation’s theme.

How can I make my presentation more engaging and interactive?

To create an engaging and interactive presentation for your audience, incorporate visual elements such as images, graphs and videos to illustrate your points visually. Share relatable anecdotes or real-life examples to create a connection with your audience. 

You can also integrate interactive elements like live polls, open-ended questions or small group discussions to encourage participation and keep your audience actively engaged throughout your presentation.

Which types of presentations require special markings

Some presentation types require special markings such as how sales presentations require persuasive techniques like emphasizing benefits, addressing objections and using compelling visuals to showcase products or services. 

Demonstrations and how-to presentations on the other hand require clear markings for each step, ensuring the audience can follow along seamlessly. 

That aside, pitch presentations require highlighting unique selling points, market potential and the competitive edge of your idea, making it stand out to potential investors or partners.

Need some inspiration on how to make a presentation that will captivate an audience? Here are 120+ presentation ideas to help you get started. 

Creating a stunning and impactful presentation with Venngage is a breeze. Whether you’re crafting a business pitch, a training presentation or any other type of presentation, follow these five steps to create a professional presentation that stands out:

• Sign up and log in to Venngage to access the editor.
• Choose a presentation template that matches your topic or style.
• Customize content, colors, fonts, and background to personalize your presentation.
• Add images, icons, and charts to enhancevisual style and clarity.
• Save, export, and share your presentation as PDF or PNG files, or use Venngage’s Presentation Mode for online showcasing.

In the realm of presentations, understanding the different types of presentation formats is like having a versatile set of tools that empower you to craft compelling narratives for every occasion.

Remember, the key to a successful presentation lies not only in the content you deliver but also in the way you connect with your audience. Whether you’re informing, persuading or entertaining, tailoring your approach to the specific type of presentation you’re delivering can make all the difference.

Presentations are a powerful tool, and with practice and dedication (and a little help from Venngage), you’ll find yourself becoming a presentation pro in no time. Now, let’s get started and customize your next presentation!

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More From Forbes

15 presentation tips for captivating your audience and commanding the room.

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Person speaking in front of audience

Public speaking can be a daunting task, especially when addressing a large audience. Whether you're giving a presentation in the boardroom or delivering a keynote speech at a conference, holding your audience's attention and maintaining command of the room is paramount. The ability to captivate your audience and leave a lasting impression not only enhances your message's impact but also builds your reputation as a confident and effective speaker.

Here, Forbes Coaches Council members share invaluable tips and strategies to help you conquer your fear of public speaking and ensure that your next presentation or speech is a resounding success.

1. Be Confident

Be grounded and confident to be yourself and then tell great stories. Use your voice and the stage to bring the stories alive. Your audience will connect to the emotion of the story but make sure that it is relevant for your audience and related to the topic. - Cath Daley , Cath Daley Ltd

2. Find A Way To Actively Engage The Audience

Be prepared with ways to get your audience engaged and keep their focus. Whether that's relating to your audience, telling a joke or asking questions, actively driving engagement will make for a more effective presentation or speech. - Luke Feldmeier , Online Leadership Training - Career and Leadership Accelerator for Engineers

3. Create An Emotional Connection

Creating an emotional connection with the audience and involving them in your session fosters active participation, and ensures your audience stays engaged throughout. This also serves to enhance your presence and to create memories that stay with them long after your presentation ends. - Kristin Andree , Andree Group

4. Put Your Unique Take Front And Center

Do you have something unexpected to say about your topic? Something that goes against the mainstream opinion in your industry or is maybe even slightly provocative? If so, putting your unique take front and center in the title and the beginning of your talk and explaining or resolving it later keeps your audience engaged and interested. - Micha Goebig , Go Big Coaching & Communications, LLC

5. Remember That The Audience Doesn't Know Your Planned Speech

No one wants to see you fail as a speaker. Remember that the focus shouldn't be on whether or not you can recall verbatim every word of your planned speech. The focus should be on how to connect to your audience with a few key points using a combination of storytelling and facts. - Sheri Nasim , Center for Executive Excellence

6. Adapt Your Language To The Audience

Talk about something they are interested in or include elements that will keep them interested. Start by asking why your topic matters to each and every one of them. Use language adapted to the audience. Keep the key messages to two or three maximum. Show them what you think and why you care about the topic. - Isabelle Claus Teixeira , Business and Human Development Consulting Pte Ltd

7. Try To Incorporate An Element Of Surprise

Engagement is the key to keeping the audience's attention. Invite participation, tell stories, walk around, have visuals, include humor, raise your voice and ask questions. Think of a comedian who points at someone in the audience: "Hey, you with the red shirt?" Everyone pays attention. What element of surprise can you present? - Susan Jordan, MBA, MSODL, PCC , Sphereshift Coaching and Consulting

8. Know Your Audience

Doing research ahead of time to ensure you're providing the subject matter in a personalized manner will keep their attention. The topic will dictate the necessary vibe. Based on that, providing opportunities for the group to engage, such as shouting out a word, raising a hand, etc., will also help maintain their interest. - Lindsay Miller , Reverie Organizational Development Specialists

9. Use The Problem-Agitation-Solution Approach

Don't just give a presentation — share a story. It must be a story-audience fit though. Use the P.A.S. — problem-agitation-solution — approach. Start with introducing a problem, follow by agitating the problem via telling a relevant anecdote and conclude by offering a solution by giving an audience a clear, direct way to avoid the pain and learn the lesson. - Alla Adam , Alla Adam Coaching

10. Tell The Audience What They Need To Hear

Instead of trying to figure out what to say, figure out what the audience wants and needs to hear. This shift in perspective allows you to tailor your speech in a way that keeps audiences actively engaged because it's good content that they want to hear. - Robin Pou , The Confident Leader

11. Go All In

To command your audience's attention you have to get into the spirit of what you're teaching and go all in without second-guessing yourself. People want to be led, but they'll be unwilling to follow someone who isn't confident in what they are communicating. - Arash Vossoughi , Voss Coaching Co.

12. Use A Compelling Opening

Start your speech/presentation with a compelling opening that grabs the audience's attention. This could be a surprising fact, a relevant story or a thought-provoking question. This initial engagement can help you establish a strong connection with the audience and set the stage for a captivating presentation. - Moza-Bella Tram , Moza-Bella LLC

Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?

13. Be Authentic

Connect deeply with your essence and purpose. Radiate authenticity. When you're centered in genuine passion and truth others feel it, creating an unspoken bond. It's not about performing; it's about being present and real and offering value from the heart. That's magnetic. - Anna Yusim, MD , Yusim Psychiatry, Consulting & Executive Coaching

14. Let Your Audience Talk

There is nothing worse than stealing everyone's craving for autonomy and speaking the whole time. The person who does the talking does the learning. So, give some autonomy to the audience. Let them talk. Even if it's thinking time and talking to themselves, or to their neighbor or table group. This gains trust and they will lean into what you have to say even more. - Alex Draper , DX Learning Solutions

15. Leverage Non-Verbal Cues

My top tip is to engage your audience through storytelling. A compelling narrative captures attention, evokes emotion and makes complex ideas more relatable. Additionally, use body language and eye contact effectively. These non-verbal cues can significantly enhance your connection with the audience. - Peter Boolkah , The Transition Guy

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How to Start a Presentation: 5 Templates and 90 Example Phrases

By Status.net Editorial Team on February 27, 2024 — 11 minutes to read

Starting a presentation effectively means capturing your audience’s attention from the very beginning. It’s important because it sets the tone for the entire presentation and establishes your credibility as a speaker.

Effective Openers: 5 Templates

Your presentation’s beginning sets the stage for everything that follows. So, it’s important to capture your audience’s attention right from the start. Here are some tried-and-true techniques to do just that.

1. Storytelling Approach

When you start with a story, you tap into the natural human love for narratives. It can be a personal experience, a historical event, or a fictional tale that ties back to your main point.

Example Introduction Template 1:

“Let me tell you a story about…”

Example : “Let me tell you a story about how a small idea in a garage blossomed into the global brand we know today.”

2. Quotation Strategy

Using a relevant quote can lend authority and thematic flavor to your presentation. Choose a quote that is provocative, enlightening, or humorous to resonate with your audience.

Example Introduction Template 2:

“As [Famous Person] once said…”

Example : “As Steve Jobs once said, ‘Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.'”

3. Questioning Technique

Engage your audience directly by opening with a thoughtful question. This encourages them to think and become active participants.

Example Introduction Template 3:

“Have you ever wondered…”

Example : “Have you ever wondered what it would take to reduce your carbon footprint to zero?”

4. Statistical Hook

Kick off with a startling statistic that presents a fresh perspective or underscores the importance of your topic.

Example Introduction Template 4:

“Did you know that…”

Example : “Did you know that 90% of the world’s data was generated in the last two years alone?”

5. Anecdotal Method

Share a brief, relatable incident that highlights the human aspect of your topic. It paves the way for empathy and connection.

Example Introduction Template 5:

“I want to share a quick anecdote…”

Example : “I want to share a quick anecdote about a time I experienced the customer service that went above and beyond what anyone would expect.”

How to Start a Powerpoint Presentation: 45 Example Phrases

Starting a PowerPoint presentation effectively can captivate your audience and set the tone for your message. The opening phrases you choose are important in establishing rapport and commanding attention. Whether you’re presenting to colleagues, at a conference, or in an academic setting, these phrases will help you begin with confidence and poise:

• 1. “Good morning/afternoon/evening, everyone. Thank you for joining me today.”
• 2. “Welcome, and thank you for being here. Let’s dive into our topic.”
• 3. “I’m excited to have the opportunity to present to you all about…”
• 4. “Thank you all for coming. Today, we’re going to explore…”
• 5. “Let’s begin by looking at the most important question: Why are we here today?”
• 6. “I appreciate your time today, and I promise it will be well spent as we discuss…”
• 7. “Before we get started, I want to express my gratitude for your presence here today.”
• 8. “It’s a pleasure to see so many familiar faces as we gather to talk about…”
• 9. “I’m thrilled to kick off today’s presentation on a topic that I am passionate about—…”
• 10. “Welcome to our session. I’m confident you’ll find the next few minutes informative as we cover…”
• 11. “Let’s embark on a journey through our discussion on…”
• 12. “I’m delighted to have the chance to share my insights on…”
• 13. “Thank you for the opportunity to present to such an esteemed audience on…”
• 14. “Let’s set the stage for an engaging discussion about…”
• 15. “As we begin, I’d like you to consider this:…”
• 16. “Today marks an important discussion on a subject that affects us all:…”
• 17. “Good day, and welcome to what promises to be an enlightening presentation on…”
• 18. “Hello and welcome! We’re here to delve into something truly exciting today…”
• 19. “I’m honored to present to you this comprehensive look into…”
• 20. “Without further ado, let’s get started on a journey through…”
• 21. “Thank you for carving time out of your day to join me for this presentation on…”
• 22. “It’s wonderful to see such an engaged audience ready to tackle the topic of…”
• 23. “I invite you to join me as we unpack the complexities of…”
• 24. “Today’s presentation will take us through some groundbreaking ideas about…”
• 25. “Welcome aboard! Prepare to set sail into the vast sea of knowledge on…”
• 26. “I’d like to extend a warm welcome to everyone as we focus our attention on…”
• 27. “Let’s ignite our curiosity as we begin to explore…”
• 28. “Thank you for your interest and attention as we dive into the heart of…”
• 29. “As we look ahead to the next hour, we’ll uncover the secrets of…”
• 30. “I’m eager to share with you some fascinating insights on…”
• 31. “Welcome to what I believe will be a transformative discussion on…”
• 32. “This morning/afternoon, we’ll be venturing into the world of…”
• 33. “Thank you for joining me on this exploration of…”
• 34. “I’m delighted by the turnout today as we embark on this exploration of…”
• 35. “Together, let’s navigate the intricacies of…”
• 36. “I’m looking forward to engaging with you all on the subject of…”
• 37. “Let’s kick things off with a critical look at…”
• 38. “Thank you for your presence today as we shine a light on…”
• 39. “Welcome to a comprehensive overview of…”
• 40. “It’s a privilege to discuss with you the impact of…”
• 41. “I’m glad you could join us for what promises to be a thought-provoking presentation on…”
• 42. “Today, we’re going to break down the concept of…”
• 43. “As we get started, let’s consider the significance of our topic:…”
• 44. “I’m thrilled to lead you through today’s discussion, which centers around…”
• 45. “Let’s launch into our session with an eye-opening look at…”

Starting a Presentation: 45 Examples

Connecting with the audience.

When starting a presentation, making a genuine connection with your audience sets the stage for a successful exchange of ideas. Examples:

• “I promise, by the end of this presentation, you’ll be as enthusiastic about this as I am because…”
• “The moment I learned about this, I knew it would be a game-changer and I’m thrilled to present it to you…”
• “There’s something special about this topic that I find incredibly invigorating, and I hope you will too…”
• “I get a rush every time I work on this, and I hope to transmit that energy to you today…”
• “I’m thrilled to discuss this breakthrough that could revolutionize…”
• “This project has been a labor of love, and I’m eager to walk you through…”
• “When I first encountered this challenge, I was captivated by the possibilities it presented…”
• “I can’t wait to dive into the details of this innovative approach with you today…”
• “It’s genuinely exhilarating to be at the edge of what’s possible in…”
• “My fascination with [topic] drove me to explore it further, and I’m excited to share…”
• “Nothing excites me more than talking about the future of…”
• “Seeing your faces, I know we’re going to have a lively discussion about…”
• “The potential here is incredible, and I’m looking forward to discussing it with you…”
• “Let’s embark on this journey together and explore why this is such a pivotal moment for…”
• “Your engagement in this discussion is going to make this even more exciting because…”

Building Credibility

You present with credibility when you establish your expertise and experience on the subject matter. Here’s what you can say to accomplish that:

• “With a decade of experience in this field, I’ve come to understand the intricacies of…”
• “Having led multiple successful projects, I’m excited to share my insights on…”
• “Over the years, working closely with industry experts, I’ve gleaned…”
• “I hold a degree in [your field], which has equipped me with a foundation for…”
• “I’m a certified professional in [your certification], which means I bring a certain level of expertise…”
• “Having published research on this topic, my perspective is grounded in…”
• “I’ve been a keynote speaker at several conferences, discussing…”
• “Throughout my career, I’ve contributed to groundbreaking work in…”
• “My experience as a [your previous role] has given me a unique outlook on…”
• “Endorsed by [an authority in your field], I’m here to share what we’ve achieved…”
• “The program I developed was recognized by [award], highlighting its impact in…”
• “I’ve trained professionals nationwide on this subject and witnessed…”
• “Collaborating with renowned teams, we’ve tackled challenges like…”
• “I’ve been at the forefront of this industry, navigating through…”
• “As a panelist, I’ve debated this topic with some of the brightest minds in…”

Projecting Confidence

• “I stand before you today with a deep understanding of…”
• “You can rely on the information I’m about to share, backed by thorough research and analysis…”
• “Rest assured, the strategies we’ll discuss have been tested and proven effective in…”
• “I’m certain you’ll find the data I’ll present both compelling and relevant because…”
• “I’m fully confident in the recommendations I’m providing today due to…”
• “The results speak for themselves, and I’m here to outline them clearly for you…”
• “I invite you to consider the evidence I’ll present; it’s both robust and persuasive…”
• “You’re in good hands today; I’ve navigated these waters many times and have the insights to prove it…”
• “I assure you, the journey we’ll take during this presentation will be enlightening because…”
• “Your success is important to me, which is why I’ve prepared diligently for our time together…”
• “Let’s look at the facts; they’ll show you why this approach is solid and dependable…”
• “Today, I present to you a clear path forward, grounded in solid experience and knowledge…”
• “I’m confident that what we’ll uncover today will not only inform but also inspire you because…”
• “You’ll leave here equipped with practical, proven solutions that you can trust because…”
• “The solution I’m proposing has been embraced industry-wide, and for good reason…”

Organizational Preview

Starting your presentation with a clear organizational preview can effectively guide your audience through the content. This section helps you prepare to communicate the roadmap of your presentation.

Outlining the Main Points

You should begin by briefly listing the main points you’ll cover. This lets your audience know what to expect and helps them follow along. For example, if you’re presenting on healthy eating, you might say, “Today, I’ll cover the benefits of healthy eating, essential nutrients in your diet, and simple strategies for making healthier choices.”

Setting the Tone

Your introduction sets the tone for the entire presentation. A way to do this is through a relevant story or anecdote that engages the audience. Suppose you’re talking about innovation; you might start with, “When I was a child, I was fascinated by how simple Legos could build complex structures, which is much like the innovation process.”

Explaining the Structure

Explain the structure of your presentation so that your audience can anticipate how you’ll transition from one section to the next. For instance, if your presentation includes an interactive portion, you might say, “I’ll begin with a 15-minute overview, followed by a hands-on demonstration, and we’ll wrap up with a Q&A session, where you can ask any questions.”

Practice and Preparation

Before you step onto the stage, it’s important that your preparation includes not just content research, but also rigorous practice and strategy for dealing with nerves. This approach ensures you present with confidence and clarity.

Rehearsing the Opening

Practicing your introduction aloud gives you the opportunity to refine your opening remarks. You might start by greeting the audience and sharing an interesting quote or a surprising statistic related to your topic. For example, if your presentation is about the importance of renewable energy, you could begin with a recent statistic about the growth in solar energy adoption. Record yourself and listen to the playback, focusing on your tone, pace, and clarity.

Memorizing Key Points

While you don’t need to memorize your entire presentation word for word, you should know the key points by heart. This includes main arguments, data, and any conclusions you’ll be drawing. You can use techniques such as mnemonics or the method of loci, which means associating each key point with a specific location in your mind, to help remember these details. Having them at your fingertips will make you feel more prepared and confident.

Managing Presentation Jitters

Feeling nervous before a presentation is natural, but you can manage these jitters with a few techniques. Practice deep breathing exercises or mindful meditation to calm your mind before going on stage. You can also perform a mock presentation to a group of friends or colleagues to simulate the experience and receive feedback. This will not only help you get used to speaking in front of others but also in adjusting your material based on their reactions.

Engagement Strategies

Starting a presentation on the right foot often depends on how engaged your audience is. Using certain strategies, you can grab their attention early and maintain their interest throughout your talk:

1. Encouraging Audience Participation

Opening your presentation with a question to your audience is a great way to encourage participation. This invites them to think actively about the subject matter. For instance, you might ask, “By a show of hands, how many of you have experienced…?” Additionally, integrating interactive elements like quick polls or requesting volunteers for a demonstration can make the experience more dynamic and memorable.

Using direct questions throughout your presentation ensures the audience stays alert, as they might be called upon to share their views. For example, after covering a key point, you might engage your audience with, “Does anyone have an experience to share related to this?”

2. Utilizing Pacing and Pauses

Mastering the pace of your speech helps keep your presentation lively. Quickening the pace when discussing exciting developments or slowing down when explaining complex ideas can help maintain interest. For example, when introducing a new concept, slow your pace to allow the audience to absorb the information.

Pauses are equally powerful. A well-timed pause after a key point gives the audience a moment to ponder the significance of what you’ve just said. It might feel like this: “The results of this study were groundbreaking. (pause) They completely shifted our understanding of…”. Pauses also give you a moment to collect your thoughts, adding to your overall composure and control of the room.

How should one introduce their group during a presentation?

You might say something like, “Let me introduce my amazing team: Alex, our researcher, Jamie, our designer, and Sam, the developer. Together, we’ve spent the last few months creating something truly special for you.”

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• PLoS Comput Biol
• v.17(12); 2021 Dec

Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides

Kristen m. naegle.

Biomedical Engineering and the Center for Public Health Genomics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America

Introduction

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.

Rule 1: Include only one idea per slide

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.

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. 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.

Rule 3: Make use of your heading

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.

Rule 4: Include only essential points

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.

Rule 5: Give credit, where credit is due

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.

Rule 6: Use graphics effectively

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.

Rule 7: Design to avoid cognitive overload

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:

• Use high contrast colors and simple backgrounds with low to no color—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment.
• Use sans serif fonts and large font sizes (including figure legends), avoid italics, underlining (use bold font instead for emphasis), and all capital letters—for persons with dyslexia or visual impairment [ 8 ].
• Use color combinations and palettes that can be understood by those with different forms of color blindness [ 9 ]. There are excellent tools available to identify colors to use and ways to simulate your presentation or figures as they might be seen by a person with color blindness (easily found by a web search).
• In this increasing world of virtual presentation tools, consider practicing your talk with a closed captioning system capture your words. Use this to identify how to improve your speaking pace, volume, and annunciation to improve understanding by all members of your audience, but especially those with a hearing impairment.

Rule 8: Design the slide so that a distracted person gets the main takeaway

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.

Rule 9: Iteratively improve slide design through practice

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.

Rule 10: Design to mitigate the impact of technical disasters

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:

• Save your presentation as a PDF—if the version of Keynote or PowerPoint on a host computer cause issues, you still have a functional copy that has a higher guarantee of compatibility.
• In using videos, create a backup slide with screen shots of key results. For example, if I have a video of cell migration, I’ll be sure to have a copy of the start and end of the video, in case the video doesn’t play. Even if the video worked, you can pause on this backup slide and take the time to highlight the key results in words if someone could not see or understand the video.
• Avoid animations, such as figures or text that flash/fly-in/etc. Surveys suggest that no one likes movement in presentations [ 3 , 4 ]. There is likely a cognitive underpinning to the almost universal distaste of pointless animations that relates to the idea proposed by Kosslyn and colleagues that animations are salient perceptual units that captures direct attention [ 4 ]. Although perceptual salience can be used to draw attention to and improve retention of specific points, if you use this approach for unnecessary/unimportant things (like animation of your bullet point text, fly-ins of figures, etc.), then you will distract your audience from the important content. Finally, animations cause additional processing burdens for people with visual impairments [ 10 ] and create opportunities for technical disasters if the software on the host system is not compatible with your planned animation.

Conclusions

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 ].

Acknowledgments

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.

Funding Statement

The author received no specific funding for this work.

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• Inspiration

23 presentation examples that really work (plus templates!)

• 30 Mar 2023

To help you in your quest for presentation greatness, we’ve gathered 23 of the best business presentation examples out there. These hand-picked ideas range from business PowerPoint presentations, to recruitment presentations, and everything in between.

As a bonus, several of our examples include editable video presentation templates from  Biteable .

Biteable allows anyone to create great video presentations — no previous video-making skills required. The easy-to-use platform has hundreds of brandable templates and video scenes designed with a business audience in mind. A video made with Biteable is just what you need to add that wow factor and make an impact on your audience.

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Activate your audience with impactful, on-brand videos. Create them simply and collaboratively with Biteable.

Video presentation examples

Video presentations are our specialty at Biteable. We love them because they’re the most visually appealing and memorable way to communicate.

1. Animated characters

Our first presentation example is a business explainer video from Biteable that uses animated characters. The friendly and modern style makes this the perfect presentation for engaging your audience.

Bonus template:  Need a business video presentation that reflects the beautiful diversity of your customers or team? Use  Biteable’s workplace scenes . You can change the skin tone and hair color for any of the animated characters.

2. Conference video

Videos are also ideal solutions for events (e.g. trade shows) where they can be looped to play constantly while you attend to more important things like talking to people and handing out free cheese samples.

For this event presentation sample below, we used bright colours, stock footage, and messaging that reflects the brand and values of the company. All these elements work together to draw the attention of passers-by.

For a huge selection of video presentation templates, take a look at our  template gallery .

Business PowerPoint presentation examples

Striking fear into the hearts of the workplace since 1987, PowerPoint is synonymous with bland, boring presentations that feel more like an endurance test than a learning opportunity. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Check out these anything-but-boring business PowerPoint presentation examples.

3. Design pointers

This PowerPoint presentation takes a tongue-in-cheek look at how the speakers and users of PowerPoint are the problem, not the software itself.

Even at a hefty 61 slides, the vintage theme, appealing colors, and engaging content keep the viewer interested. It delivers useful and actionable tips on creating a better experience for your audience.

Pixar, as you’d expect, redefines the meaning of PowerPoint in their “22 Rules for Phenomenal Storytelling”. The character silhouettes are instantly recognizable and tie firmly to the Pixar brand. The bright colour palettes are carefully chosen to highlight the content of each slide.

This presentation is a good length, delivering one message per slide, making it easy for an audience to take notes and retain the information.

Google slides examples

If you’re in business, chances are you’ll have come across  slide decks . Much like a deck of cards, each slide plays a key part in the overall ‘deck’, creating a well-rounded presentation.

If you need to inform your team, present findings, or outline a new strategy, slides are one of the most effective ways to do this.

Google Slides is one of the best ways to create a slide deck right now. It’s easy to use and has built-in design tools that integrate with Adobe, Lucidchart, and more. The best part — it’s free!

5. Teacher education

Here’s a slide deck that was created to educate teachers on how to use Google Slides effectively in a classroom. At first glance it seems stuffy and businessy, but if you look closer it’s apparent the creator knows his audience well, throwing in some teacher-friendly content that’s bound to get a smile.

The slides give walkthrough screenshots and practical advice on the different ways teachers can use the software to make their lives that little bit easier and educate their students at the same time.

6. Charity awareness raiser

This next Google slide deck is designed to raise awareness for an animal shelter. It has simple, clear messaging, and makes use of the furry friends it rescues to tug on heartstrings and encourage donations and adoptions from its audience.

Pro tip: Creating a presentation is exciting but also a little daunting. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed — especially if the success of your business or nonprofit depends on it.

Prezi presentation examples

If you haven’t come across  Prezi , it’s a great alternative to using static slides. Sitting somewhere between slides and a video presentation, it allows you to import other content and add motion to create a more engaging viewer experience.

7. Red Bull event recap

This Prezi was created to document the Red Bull stratosphere freefall stunt a few years ago. It neatly captures all the things that Prezi is capable of, including video inserts and the zoom effect, which gives an animated, almost 3D effect to what would otherwise be still images.  

Prezi has annual awards for the best examples of presentations over the year. This next example is one of the 2018 winners. It was made to highlight a new Logitech tool.

8. Logitech Spotlight launch

What stands out here are the juicy colors, bold imagery, and the way the designer has used Prezi to its full extent, including rotations, panning, fades, and a full zoom out to finish the presentation.

Sales presentation examples

If you’re stuck for ideas for your sales presentation, step right this way and check out this video template we made for you.

9. Sales enablement video presentation

In today’s fast-paced sales environment, you need a way to make your sales enablement presentations memorable and engaging for busy reps.  Sales enablement videos  are just the ticket. Use this video presentation template the next time you need to present on your metrics.

10. Zuroa sales deck

If you’re after a sales deck, you can’t go past this example from Zuora. What makes it great? It begins by introducing the worldwide shift in the way consumers are shopping. It’s a global phenomenon, and something we can all relate to.

It then weaves a compelling story about how the subscription model is changing the face of daily life for everyone. Metrics and testimonials from well-known CEOs and executives are included for some slamming social proof to boost the sales message.

Pitch presentation examples

Pitch decks are used to give an overview of business plans, and are usually presented during meetings with customers, investors, or potential partners.

11. Uber pitch deck

This is Uber’s original pitch deck, which (apart from looking a teensy bit dated) gives an excellent overview of their business model and clearly shows how they intended to disrupt a traditional industry and provide a better service to people. Right now, you’re probably very grateful that this pitch presentation was a winner.

You can make your own pitch deck with Biteable, or start with one of our  video templates  to make something a little more memorable.

12. Video pitch template

This video pitch presentation clearly speaks to the pains of everyone who needs to commute and find parking. It then provides the solution with its app that makes parking a breeze.

The video also introduces the key team members, their business strategy, and what they’re hoping to raise in funding. It’s a simple, clear pitch that positions the company as a key solution to a growing, worldwide problem. It’s compelling and convincing, as a good presentation should be.

13. Fyre Festival pitch deck

The most epic example of a recent pitch deck is this one for Fyre Festival – the greatest event that never happened. Marvel at its persuasion, gasp at the opportunity of being part of the cultural experience of the decade, cringe as everything goes from bad to worse.

Despite the very public outcome, this is a masterclass in how to create hype and get funding with your pitch deck using beautiful imagery, beautiful people, and beautiful promises of riches and fame.

Business presentation examples

Need to get the right message out to the right people? Business presentations can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

Simply press play and let your video do the talking. No fumbling your words and sweating buckets in front of those potential clients, just you being cool as a cucumber while your presentation does the talking.

Check out two of our popular templates that you can use as a starting point for your own presentations. While they’re business-minded, they’re definitely not boring.

14. Business intro template

Modern graphics, animations, and upbeat soundtracks keep your prospects engaged as they learn about your business, your team, your values, and how you can help them.

15. Business explainer template

Research presentation examples.

When you’re giving a more technical presentation such as research findings, you need to strike the perfect balance between informing your audience and making sure they stay awake.

As a rule, slides are more effective for research presentations, as they are used to support the speaker’s knowledge rather can capture every small detail on screen.

With often dry, complex, and technical subject matter, there can be a temptation for presentations to follow suit. Use images instead of walls of text, and keep things as easy to follow as possible.

16. TrackMaven research deck

TrackMaven uses their endearing mascot to lighten up this data-heavy slide deck. The graphs help to bring life to their findings, and they ensure to only have one bite-size takeaway per slide so that viewers can easily take notes.

17. Wearable tech research report

Obviously, research can get very researchy and there’s not a lot to be done about it. This slide deck below lays out a ton of in-depth information but breaks it up well with quotes, diagrams, and interesting facts to keep viewers engaged while it delivers its findings on wearable technology.

Team presentation examples

Motivating your team can be a challenge at the best of times, especially when you need to gather them together for….another presentation!

18. Team update template

We created this presentation template as an example of how to engage your team. In this case, it’s for an internal product launch. Using colorful animation and engaging pacing, this video presentation is much better than a static PowerPoint, right?

19. Officevibe collaboration explainer

This short slide deck is a presentation designed to increase awareness of the problems of a disengaged team. Bright colors and relevant images combine with facts and figures that compel viewers to click through to a download to learn more about helping their teams succeed.

Recruitment presentation examples

Recruiting the right people can be a challenge. Presentations can help display your team and your business by painting a dynamic picture of what it’s like to work with you.

Videos and animated slides let you capture the essence of your brand and workplace so the right employees can find you.

20. Company culture explainer

If you’re a recruitment agency, your challenge is to stand out from the hundreds of other agencies in the marketplace.

21. Kaizen culture

Showcasing your agency using a slide deck can give employers and employees a feel for doing business with you. Kaizen clearly displays its credentials and highlights its brand values and personality here (and also its appreciation of the coffee bean).

Explainer presentation examples

Got some explaining to do? Using an explainer video is the ideal way to showcase products that are technical, digital, or otherwise too difficult to explain with still images and text.

Explainer videos help you present the features and values of your product in an engaging way that speaks to your ideal audience and promotes your brand at the same time.

22. Product explainer template

23. lucidchart explainer.

Lucidchart does a stellar job of using explainer videos for their software. Their series of explainers-within-explainers entertains the viewer with cute imagery and an endearing brand voice. At the same time, the video is educating its audience on how to use the actual product. We (almost) guarantee you’ll have more love for spiders after watching this one.

Make a winning video presentation with Biteable

Creating a winning presentation doesn’t need to be difficult or expensive. Modern slide decks and video software make it easy for you to give compelling presentations that sell, explain, and educate without sending your audience to snooze town.

For the best online video presentation software around, check out Biteable. The intuitive platform does all the heavy lifting for you, so making a video presentation is as easy as making a PowerPoint.

Use Biteable’s brand builder to automatically fetch your company colors and logo from your website and apply them to your entire video with the click of a button. Even add a  clickable call-to-action  button to your video.

Share your business presentation anywhere with a single, trackable URL and watch your message turn into gold.

Make stunning videos with ease.

Take the struggle out of team communication.

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