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What It Takes to Give a Great Presentation

• Carmine Gallo

Five tips to set yourself apart.

Never underestimate the power of great communication. It can help you land the job of your dreams, attract investors to back your idea, or elevate your stature within your organization. But while there are plenty of good speakers in the world, you can set yourself apart out by being the person who can deliver something great over and over. Here are a few tips for business professionals who want to move from being good speakers to great ones: be concise (the fewer words, the better); never use bullet points (photos and images paired together are more memorable); don’t underestimate the power of your voice (raise and lower it for emphasis); give your audience something extra (unexpected moments will grab their attention); rehearse (the best speakers are the best because they practice — a lot).

I was sitting across the table from a Silicon Valley CEO who had pioneered a technology that touches many of our lives — the flash memory that stores data on smartphones, digital cameras, and computers. He was a frequent guest on CNBC and had been delivering business presentations for at least 20 years before we met. And yet, the CEO wanted to sharpen his public speaking skills.

• Carmine Gallo is a Harvard University instructor, keynote speaker, and author of 10 books translated into 40 languages. Gallo is the author of The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman  (St. Martin’s Press).

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How To Give An Effective Presentation (With Examples)

• What Is Figurative Language?
• What Are Rhetorical Strategies?
• What Is a Subject Matter Expert and What Do They Do?
• What Is A Differentiation Strategy
• What Is Job Order Costing
• What Is Situational Analysis
• Plan Of Action
• Report Format
• Law Of Diminishing Marginal Returns
• Administrative Duties
• Giving A Presentation
• Organizational Behavior Management
• Deductive Reasoning
• Reflective Listening

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Even if you have great ideas, nobody will listen if you don’t know how to give a compelling presentation.

In your career, how you frame your ideas will be the key to influencing those who matter. Learn how to give a compelling presentation, and you’ll enjoy an advantage over the competition.

Key Takeaways:

Understand your purpose for presenting, structure your presentation in a logical manner, and prepare as much as possible.

Remember to breathe during your presentation! This will help keep you calm and focused.

Structure your presentation with a beginning, middle, and end.

Keep your presentation as concise and clear as possible.

How To Give A Presentation

How to structure your presentation, top tips for writing an effective presentation.

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Understand your purpose and environment. This is the first step to giving any effective presentation. You want to know what you are getting yourself into. Ask yourself:

Why am I giving this presentation? What are my reasons?

What am I trying to accomplish?

Who is my audience?

Where is my presentation going to be?

When is my presentation? How much time will I have to speak?

This information allows you to structure your presentation so that it remains relevant and appropriate. Once you understand the who, what, where, when, and why of your presentation, you can then begin to focus on the “how”.

Tell a story with a logical and engaging structure. Your presentation needs to connect with you audience. This means you need to incorporate the ancient art of story telling. You need to present your purpose in such a way that hooks your audience in, takes then on a journey, and concludes with some feeling of fulfillment.

Essentially, you need a beginning, a middle, and an end. Each point of your presentation should flow into the next. Each point should build off one another to manifest the purpose of your presentation. In most cases, this is some kind of argument or goal you are trying to accomplish. Your structure is the framework of establishing this argument or goal.

Practice and prepare. This ensures that you understand your material and you give yourself the chance to make changes ahead of time. Consider recording yourself to evaluate your performance and/or ask others to watch you practice. Do you research to make sure you have your information correct.

Also, do you research on the presentation environment. Know where you are going to speak and what resources you will have or need to bring. Nothing will be perfect, but the more you practice and prepare, the more equipped you are to handle challenges, such as feelings of performance anxiety or technical issues.

You may think practice and preparation will limit you, but in fact it frees you to be in the moment during your presentation.

Present (and remember to breathe). Be present and in the moment during your presentation. Remember to breathe. If you have practice and prepared enough, you will find most of what you need to do will come without thinking. Stay relaxed and work through each step of your presentation at a steady pace. Don’t rush yourself, nor ramble on some random tangent. Stick the points and keep moving forward.

Conclude and evaluate. Wrap everything up in a logical manner that hammers home your purpose. Then, you may or may not need to answer questions. Once you are done, congratulate yourself! Give yourself some time to reflect and consider what worked and what didn’t. Use this reflection to improve future presentations.

Every effective presentation uses an easy-to-follow structure that includes:

A compelling introduction.

The purpose of the introduction is to briefly sum up what you’re going to talk about and convey why the topic is relevant to the audience.

Make sure to:

Start with an attention-grabber. You need to make the audience feel invested in your presentation as early as possible.

There are a million different strategies to do this, such as:

Cite a shocking statistic. A surprising statistic makes the audience realize that they’re uninformed about the subject, inviting them to listen and learn more.

Tell a brief anecdote. Humans love stories. If you capture the audience’s emotional attention, then you’ll have their intellectual attention too.

Clearly convey what the subject of your presentation is.

After all effective presentations, the audience should be able to recall its core message clearly.

Body of evidence.

The body is where you present evidence to support the core message you stated in your intro.

Make sure that the body section of your presentation:

Split each argument into clearly distinct sections. Think back to a compelling TED talk or presentation you’ve watched. You can probably still recall the main points and arguments that were given.

Use rhetorical techniques . The reason that most effective presentations include many of the same elements is that they’re proven to work.

Use tools such as repetition to drive a point home.

Humans respond well to numbers and statistics. If you can quote a percentage or figure to highlight your point, then definitely take that opportunity.

Conclusion.

Use the conclusion to sum up your key takeaways.

You want to loop back to your original statement using what you said during the body of the presentation, but in a new and memorable way.

This is your last chance to make a lasting impression on the audience, so don’t just lazily repeat what you’ve already said.

Many presenters mistakenly treat the conclusion as an afterthought that’s added in as a custom. In fact, it’s probably one of the most important parts of your entire presentation.

Most compelling presentations follow several similar guidelines that hold true whether the audience is a large crowd or a few company administrators .

Here are a few of the most important ones to help you when writing your own presentation:

Use a short, easy-to-follow structure. Be concise. When watching the most effective presentations, it’s easy to identify the introduction, body, and conclusion.

This simple structure makes the presentation easy to comprehend while watching and similarly easy to recall afterward.

Limit the amount of clutter on each slide. Less is more when it comes to making a memorable presentation.

The end result of cramming paragraphs of compelling evidence into a slide is that nobody will process even a single line.

Many marketing experts recommend a six-word limit per slide.

Pay attention to design details. It’s often obvious to audiences from the first minute if a presentation is worth listening to or a complete snore.

This is often due to design decisions that can make or break the presentation. Make sure to use eye-pleasing:

Color schemes. Too much color contrast on a slide can distract from its contents. Too little can make the entire presentation seem boring and ignorable.

Fonts. Imagine how seriously you would take a presentation that uses the same fonts often used in second-grade classrooms.

Choose a font and size that are appropriate for your type of presentation and stick to them consistently throughout each slide.

Format. A single badly-pixelated image can make your entire presentation seem amateur and sloppy.

Practice your delivery . What’s on the screen is only half of the presentation; the other is the actual presenter .

Presentation delivery is composed of two key parts:

Vocal delivery. Research shows that effective speakers know how to appropriately vary the pitch, volume, and pace of their voices.

This isn’t just a gimmick and makes intuitive sense.

If a presenter raises their voice when emphasizing a key point, we assume that they must be confident in their message.

If a speaker pauses after delivering a shocking message, then their point seems more surprising and meaningful.

Research some popular presentations on the internet and observe the different ways that speakers employ their voices as a tool.

Body language . Our brains are wired to pay attention to body language when someone is speaking to us.

Even if someone makes a great point, a stiff posture and dead energy can easily distract from their message.

Of course, you don’t need to swing your arms around and go overboard.

Create “wow” moments. Think back to any memorable presentations you’ve watched. They’re probably memorable not because you remember the majority of their details, but because of one or two moments that really stood out.

A great example is Bill Gates’ 2009 TED talk about his foundation’s efforts to reduce the spread of malaria.

Gates started the presentation off by stating: “Now, malaria is, of course, transmitted by mosquitoes. I brought some here so you could experience this.”

He then promptly walked to the center of the stage and opened a small jar that contained non-infected mosquitos.

The presentation is well-remembered even a decade later because he captured everyone’s attention through surprise.

Polish multiple times. Don’t review your presentation once and call it a day. Perfection requires iteration.

A popular and effective approach is to start by outlining your ideas and structure to make sure you’re satisfied with the foundation.

From there, add in all your details and what you want to say. Don’t be afraid to end up with a messy, bloated monster of a presentation.

The next step is to polish your presentation down to the bare essentials. Examine what information is critical for your core message and what isn’t.

This step is often the most difficult, as it can be challenging to choose what information to eliminate to reach that target of six words per slide.

Practice in front of people. You can practice a million times in front of a mirror, but it still won’t prepare you for stepping in front of an actual crowd.

You need to become accustomed to confidently addressing a group of faces .

Use a remote. Using a remote to advance your slides allows you to face the audience at all times.

Prepare backup material. During the presentation, you’re going to discover that not everything you say is going to resonate with the audience.

Be genuine. Although you want your presentation to be polished and well-practiced, make sure to maintain a sense of authenticity when delivering it.

Use small moments of humor to make your message more memorable and interesting to listen to.

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Justin Parker is a dynamic and driven writing professional in advertising, film, and web-based content. He has over 10 years of experience as a professional writer in these realms, having written for commercials, music videos, feature screenplays, and content for Zippia. Justin holds a bachelor's of fine arts degree in film and television from the Savannah College of Art and Design.

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• PRESENTATION SKILLS

Preparing for a Presentation

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Preparation is the single most important part of making a successful presentation. It is an absolutely crucial foundation, and you should dedicate as much time to it as possible, avoiding short-cuts. Good preparation will ensure that you have thought carefully about the messages that you want (or need) to communicate in your presentation and it will also help boost your confidence.

There are a number of aspects that you need to consider when preparing a presentation. They include the aim of the presentation, the subject matter, the audience, the venue or place, the time of day, and the length of the talk. All these will affect what you say and how you say it, as well as the visual aids that you use to get your point across.

The Objective

Whenever you are asked to give a presentation or speak to a group of people, you need to start by asking the purpose of the presentation.

In other words, what is the presentation expected to achieve, and what outcome(s) do the organisers and the audience expect?

These outcomes will shape your presentation, because it must be designed to achieve the objective and deliver the desired outcomes.

For example, you might be asked to give a talk to a gardening club. You might be told that the purpose of the talk is to fill a regular meeting slot, and that the members of the club have expressed a desire to learn more about pruning. You therefore know that your talk needs to be entertaining, fairly light, but knowledgeable, and that your audience wants to learn something new.

As you prepare your presentation, make sure you keep asking yourself:

“How is saying this going to help to achieve the objective and outcomes?”

The Subject

The subject of your presentation or talk about comes from the objective. They are linked, but they are not necessarily exactly the same thing.

For example:

The subject may be given to you by the organisation that has invited you (such as talking about pruning to the gardening club).

You may be knowledgeable in a particular field (perhaps you have an interest in local history).

The subject may be entirely your choice within certain limitations (you might, for example, be asked to give a presentation at an interview on a project which you feel has particularly developed your skills).

The Audience

Before preparing material for a presentation, it is worth considering your prospective audience.

Tailoring your talk to the audience is important and the following points should be considered:

The size of the group or audience expected.

The age range - a talk aimed at retired people will be quite different from one aimed at teenagers.

Gender - will the audience be predominantly male or female?

Is it a captive audience or will they be there out of interest?

Will you be speaking in their work or leisure time?

Do they know something about your subject already or will it be totally new to them?  Is the subject part of their work?

Are you there to inform, teach, stimulate, or provoke?

Can you use humour and, if so, what would be considered appropriate? If you are in any doubt about this, it is probably best to avoid anything even remotely risqué.

It is important to have as much advance information as possible about the place where you are going to speak.

It can be helpful to arrange to see the venue before the event. It does much to quell fear if you can visualise the place while you are preparing your talk. However, even if you cannot visit, you will probably find it helpful to know:

The size of the room;

The seating arrangements (for example, theatre-style, with rows of seats; or round-table);

The availability of equipment, e.g., microphone, laptop and projector, flip chart;

The availability of power points and if an extension lead is required for any equipment you intend to use;

If the room has curtains or blinds. This is relevant if you intend to use visual aids, and so that you can ensure the correct ambiance for your presentation;

The position of the light switches.  Check if you need someone to help if you are using audio/visual equipment and need to turn off the lights;

The likelihood of outside distractions, e.g., noise from another room; and

The availability of parking facilities so you do not have a long walk carrying any equipment you might need to take.

If this information is not available ahead of time, it will help to get there a bit early, to give you time to set up.

There will often be no flexibility in the time of day that a presentation is made. However, it does affect what you can do, and how you might organise your presentation, because of the likely state of your audience (see box).

How time of day can affect your audience

The morning is the best time to speak because people are generally at their most alert. However, as it gets towards lunch time, people begin to feel hungry and lose concentration. This is particularly true if the event has not included a coffee break.

After lunch, people often feel sleepy and lethargic. If you are given a slot immediately after lunch, it is a good idea to get your audience involved. A discussion or getting your audience moving about will work a lot better than simply presenting a lot of slides. A flip chart may also be a more useful tool than a laptop and projector, especially if it means you can open blinds and use natural light.

Towards the end of the afternoon, people again tend to lose concentration as they start to worry about getting home, the traffic or collecting children from school.

Evening or Weekend:

Outside regular office hours, people are more likely to be present because they want to be rather than because they have to be there.  There is a better chance of audience attention in the evening. However, if the presentation goes on for too long, people may have to leave before you have finished. People will also be less tolerant of a poor presentation because you are in their time, not their employer’s.

Length of Talk

Always find out how long you have to talk and check if this includes or excludes time for questions.

Find out if there are other speakers and, if so, where you are placed in the running order.  Never elect to go last.  Beware of over-running, as this could be disastrous if there are other speakers following you.

It is important to remember that people find it difficult to maintain concentration for long periods of time. This is a good reason for making a presentation succinct, well-structured and interesting. Aim for 45 minutes as a maximum single-session presentation, and preferably leave at least 10 or 15 minutes for questions. Nobody minds finishing a session early.

Providing Information in Advance

Always check what information you will need to provide in advance.

Organisers of big events and conferences often like to have all the PowerPoint presentations several days ahead of the event. This gives them time to load all the presentations, and make sure that they are properly branded for the event.

Some events also need speakers’ biographies ahead of time, to put in conference literature. When you are asked to give the presentation, make sure you ask what is needed by when—and then supply it.

You will not be popular if you turn up on the day and announce that you have completely rewritten your presentation on the train. It is entirely possible that the organisers may even not be able to accommodate that, for example if the audio-visual is being supplied by a separate company or by the venue.

And finally…

Being asked to give a presentation is an honour, not a chore.

You are representing your organisation or yourself, if you are self-employed. You are also not there by right, but by invitation. It is therefore important that you put in the time and effort to ensure that you deliver what your audience wants. That way, you may just be invited back another time.

Continue to: Organising the Presentation Material

See also: Can Presentation Science Improve Your Presentation? Preparing for Oral Presentations Managing the Presentation Event Coping with Presentation Nerves

• What Makes a Good Presentation

March 30, 2023

A successful presentation helps engage your audience in the subject matter and convey your message correctly. With the proper presentation skills , your talk can improve from nervous speech to confident conversation. As a general rule, it’s important to consider each step of your presentation preparation carefully before finalizing your speech. You may be wondering how to create a good presentation, which is why we have compiled a list of 10 tips to keep in mind for effective presentations.

10 Tips for Giving Effective Presentations

When giving an engaging presentation, you’ll want to provide your audience with the key points they need to understand your message and keep their attention throughout the speech. Whether you plan to use bullet points, notes or memorization, it is a good idea to go over the most helpful presentation tips to ensure you know exactly what you want to include in your talk.

1. Tell Stories

One of the best ways to engage the audience in your presentation is to tell a story. Sharing your personal events and thoughts can increase your relatability while allowing the audience to feel connected to your story and comfortable in your presence. Making the audience comfortable can also increase your confidence on stage, as the audience interacts and engages in your story and presence.

Stories are one of the main reasons that audience members pay attention to speeches or talks. Without them, the audience might become bored or start to drift away. A conversational, story-like speech means the audience is more likely to be interested in what you have to say and even remember some of your key points.

To tell a story within a speech, it’s a good rule of thumb to begin your presentation with a story or act like the speech is a story itself. Think about what you want to tell the audience and ensure your presentation contains those elements. There are two ways to focus on storytelling mechanics within your speech — focus on characters or find the changing dynamic of your story.

When focusing on characters, your presentation becomes like a narrative. While people are full of stories, objects and things are not. Keep this in mind when trying to focus your speech on what people are directly involved in the topic or message of your presentation.

When focusing on the changing dynamic of your speech’s storyline, you’ll want to find the elements of your story that change throughout the presentation. Think about what areas of the story are not yet resolved and answer with your current plan for change in your speech.

2. Smile and Make Eye Contact

Smiling and making eye contact throughout your speech are one of the best ways to create a good presentation. Eye contact creates a great connection with your audience by making the space feel more conversational and intimate. As a presenter, you want the audience to pay attention during your speech. One of the best ways to do that is to engage with them through smiles and positive facial expressions.

An expressive presentation builds rapport with the audience and helps you feel less nervous on stage. Realize that you’re talking to individuals rather than a massive audience without faces. If you can, request that the lights be kept on during the speech so you can intentionally make eye contact and let people see your face. It’s helpful if the audience can connect with your expressions while also paying attention to your slides or notes.

3. Stage Presence

Stage presence and body language are critical areas to practice before your presentation. Some expressions and mannerisms to avoid include the following:

• Crossing arms: You may seem closed off and unapproachable. Keep your arms at your sides, or use them with hand gestures to create an open and authentic feeling.
• Pacing: While some presenters may be able to pace and maintain audience engagement, their pacing may become too fast or distracting for some.
• Unapproachable face: Try to keep a positive expression or smile on your face at all times. While you don’t want to force your expressions, you don’t want to seem tired of your subject matter either.
• Bored expression: A presenter who seems bored with their message may bore the audience. You want to be passionate about your topic and create that passion in the audience.
• Swaying: Swaying your body back and forth is another sign of nervousness that you should try to replace with hand gestures and a confident stance.
• Shifting weight: Some shift their weight from foot to foot or hip to hip. Whatever you do, try to stand still with both feet apart. Centering your body weight helps you feel more confident and sure on your feet.

Many nervous presenters move their bodies during speeches to cope with the tension. However, this can be distracting. Try to relax and keep your waist and legs motionless. This will improve your overall stage presence and stop you from pacing or swaying too much.

It’s also good to stand still and let your hands do the talking. Try to make eye contact with specific audience members who seem engaged and keep them in mind when presenting. You can also quell nervousness by sitting in the audience and watching other presenters before it’s your turn. Keep your mind engaged and distracted while focusing on the topics at hand.

The most important part of a good speech is the connection you build with your audience. After all, you are the reason they are there. Make sure you let your passion for your presentation topic shine through everything else, even if you are nervous. By shifting your focus to your topic and why it matters to you, you can better come across as authentic and enthusiastic in your speech.

4. Focus on the Beginning

When preparing the content of your presentation, one of your focus points should be the beginning of the speech. The beginning draws in your audience and starts the presentation on a solid note. A great start ensures your audience connects with your topic and the entire presentation is well-received, making the beginning few slides or parts of your speech the most important.

To write or create a great beginning, consider what you need to include to grab the audience’s attention. Spend the first few minutes of your presentation holding their attention with a story, a quote, visual aids on a slide, audience interactions or an interesting anecdote.

5. Plan the Delivery

Next, you’ll want to plan how to deliver and convey the information in your presentation. Consider what would be appropriate to include and what form best suits your topic and message. That may consist of a PowerPoint, an online presentation from Zoom or a teleprompter.

Consider memorizing your notes or planning an audience activity you plan to use. You’ll also want to focus on your key phrases, points and messages and communicate those briefly throughout the piece. By keeping the core of your message brief, you can ensure the audience remains engaged throughout the presentation and remembers your points well.

There are three common ways to deliver a presentation. These include the following:

• Reading: Read your speech directly from a paper script or a teleprompter.
• Bullet points: Create bullet points to map out what topics you want to discuss in your presentation.
• Memorization: Memorize your entire speech or presentation.

However, you also have to be realistic. While it may be the best practice to memorize your speech, that might not always be possible. If so, try using bullet points on note cards or a ready-made script to glance at should you need to jog your memory. Remember to keep your tone conversational rather than authoritative, powerful or too passionate.

6. Practice, Practice, Practice

One of the essential parts of presentation preparation is practice. It is no secret that practice makes perfect. If you’ve written up or prepared your speech, you’ll need to practice continually until you know your presentation inside and out.

First, you’ll want to find an excellent spot to practice on your own or in front of a friend. Pick a quiet place without interruptions so you can fully concentrate on each part of your speech. Try practicing in front of the bathroom mirror or grabbing your spouse, partner, family member or friend to practice in front of them.

You’ll also want to practice taking and implementing feedback you receive from friends and family. This can help you improve your speech and gestures leading to the actual presentation. Remember that while you can’t please everyone, you must consider all constructive criticism you receive.

Rehearse your presentation before a colleague or friend and ask them for honest and helpful feedback. You can also time the presentation and use any notes or cue cards you’ll have available to try and see how long it might take you to do the speech. Anticipate questions your audience might have and prepare some responses. Your friends and family might also be able to help you come up with questions you might not be able to answer and think about how to respond to them.

7. Take Time to Breathe

Many presenters may become so nervous during the speech that they forget to relax, pause to breathe and talk slower during the presentation. Remember that taking a short pause is natural during a speech, allowing you to breathe and go slowly. You want to say everything in your speech with intention rather than speeding through it. Concentrate on your breaths and slow down your speech to create a more relaxed stage presence.

Pausing to breathe and focusing on what you have to say next can also help you present better. If you look like you’re enjoying yourself and the topic, the audience will respond to your passion and engage in the presentation. Improve your speech and confidence by breathing slowly and presenting with passion and excitement. Remember your reasons for doing the speech in the first place, and keep that in mind while talking.

8. Focus on Audience Needs

Another way to prepare your presentation is to focus on what your audience may get out of the speech. You can build the outline or write-up around your audience’s needs by thinking about what they want to know while you make your speech.

Try to remain focused on how your audience may respond to certain areas of the speech, such as specific topics or themes. How will they react to that, and how will that affect them? How can you effectively maintain audience interest? Think about the best ways to make the audience understand and respond to your topic while keeping them interested long after the speech is over.

9. Follow the 10-20-30 Rule

The 10-20-30 rule was created by a man named Guy Kawasaki , who worked at Apple. His rule states that slideshows for presentations should include the following:

• 10 slides: The presentation should have no more than ten slides throughout.
• 20 minutes: The presentation should last no longer than 20 minutes. Keep in mind that some presentations may require that your speech last for a longer time.
• 30-point size: Use a 30-point font size for your slides—no more, no less.

The point of the rule is to stop you from putting too much information on your slides and creating a more focused presentation. It also helps you avoid boring the audience or creating distracting slides that contain too many words or images. Remember that slides should enhance your speech rather than distract from your message. If you have to include more information, consider using a handout before or after the presentation to include that extra information.

10. Learn to Use Your Voice

One of the best ways to prepare an effective presentation is to learn to use your voice. While many presenters rely on visual aids to do the work, you are much better off practicing a dynamic and conversational voice and tone that keeps your audience engaged and interested.

Using your voice effectively may look like this:

• Varying speech speeds: Take time to speed up your talking when you want to emphasize specific points. However, you’ll also want to slow down in moments rather than breezing through the entire presentation. Varying your talking speeds can help create an exciting presentation that the audience will like.
• Emphasizing pitch and tone: Try varying your pitch and tone throughout the presentation. You don’t want to sound bored or uninterested the entire speech, just like you don’t want to sound forced or overenthusiastic. Try to sound conversational while varying your tones and pitch to make the audience interested in your topic and message.

Improve Your Presentations With Illuminated Integration

At Illuminated Integration, we can help improve your presentations in various settings, from professional to collegiate levels. We are an audio, visual and lighting company with a focus on designing, providing, installing and training clients on various performance systems, including possible uses for presentation styles and tips.

Our company can perform computer-aided design (CAD) or use 3D rendering technology. We’ll make your vision a reality and assist you with whatever you need. Contact us today to speak to an Illuminated Integration representative, or call us at 717-996-4596.

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May 18, 2022

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An Effective Presentation: Why Does it Matter?

The 5 key points we are going to outline here are all about power. Yes, you could present a message with a simple speech. But the truth is that a presentation is going to make the message come out way stronger.

What's Inside?

Have you ever wondered why presentations constitute such an integral part of our lives. With over fifty thousand presentations created daily, it is easy to be lost as to what all these people are creating these presentations about. Who came up with the concept anyways? If you are a common presentation-hater, you might be asking yourself “Why would anyone want to integrate their ideas into these things called slides when you can just have a straightforward speech written on a piece of paper?” We see what you mean. But, we are also here to tell you why.

5 Reasons Why Presentations Matter

The 5 key points we are going to outline here are all about power. Yes, you could present a message with a simple speech. But the truth is that a presentation is going to make the message come out way stronger. How?

1. A presentation helps you create a bigger impact for business purposes:

You are making a pitch presentation for your business idea. Without the support of visual aid or organization that a pitch deck is going to bring to the table, your message may get lost along the way. With a complementary design that properly organizes your ideas, your message will have an even stronger impact. It can also help bring a more positive light to your idea. Having a presentation can help align organizational values, business image and goals with your speech and have it reflect even more boldly.

2. With a presentation you can inform, educate and motivate your audience

You don’t just use presentations for your own purposes. The purpose of the presentation could also be to energize, motivate the public and get something going. Many organizations use presentations for internal purposes such as informing their employees, creating company wide educations, and building a company culture. Many offices observe improvements in productivity after delivering such effective presentations. Things like strategic presentations or business plan presentations can help clearly outline business expectations. For more information on strategic presentations or business presentation templates please refer to our previous blogs . To make sure your presentation makes the impact you were rooting for on your employees, give a presentation that keeps them on their toes, not a presentation where they are counting the seconds until it ends.

3. Get the Attention on Yourself

When you are giving a speech, it is so easy to lose your audience. We are living in a contemporary world where people’s attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. You have one shot at making your audience decide on whether they want to listen to you or take out their phone and browse the internet instead. Make your audience look up from your phone; and there is no better way to do that than presentations. A presentation helps balance speech and visuals to attract audience engagement. A good design, a proper balance of text and image/video/audio, will help you do that. With this tactic, you can help extend your audience’s attention span.

4. Give Your Audience a Breather and Yourself More Flexibility

Modifying a speech is difficult. Modifying and organizing a presentation is much simpler. After all, presentations are all about letting the proper delivery of content. You can easily alter the ordering of the content according to different audience segments and presentation purposes. It is also much easier to reuse a presentation without it being noticed that it is the same essential content. It could also be wise in terms of your budgeting to organize your messages into effective presentations rather than having to make weekly meetings that take hours.

5. Communicate Better

“I assume there was a miscommunication”... If I had a dollar for every time I heard this phrase I would be a millionaire by now. We live in the age of communication and every second matters. That is why finding a way to communicate your message clearly, practically and rapidly means big bucks. A clear and straightforward presentation will help you communicate better with your audience, display the key points, create easy access, and deliver better performance. This communication depends on a lot of presentational factors: color, text alignment, design factors, slide numbers, visual integrations and so on. Consider working with a presentation tool like Decktopus to make sure you are keeping all these factors in mind.

The bottom line is, yes, presentations matter because they help you organize and clarify your goal, communicate it better, connect with your audience in the meantime and so on. If you make a speech in presentation form, you will see the difference!

Some articles for inspiration:

• Ultimate Presentation Tools
• Presentation 101: How to Make a Simple Presentation?
• Public Speaking Tips to Deliver the Perfect Presentation

Also make sure to check out our social media accounts to get daily insights about presentations, public speaking and inspirational quotes:

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EPQs: why give a presentation?

What are the guidelines for the presentation?

The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) is an opportunity for you to work independently on a topic that really interests you or that you think is important. It is equivalent to an A-level qualification. These articles are designed to help you if you are enrolled on an EPQ.

See previous article in series: Writing up your dissertation

Why give a presentation?

Giving a presentation on the results of your work is a requirement for the EPQ. You are asked to:

• show evidence of how you approached and carried out the EPQ
• give an overview of the research you conducted.

There can be many reasons for giving a presentation. You might want to start a discussion, persuade others to share your opinion, analyse some evidence, share information, inspire people to do something, communicate an idea, teach a topic, learn something, show what you’ve been working on ...

The purpose of the presentation affects the content you include and the style you choose to use. 

Who’s in your audience and what do they want from your presentation ?

A presentation is a two-way activity. Thinking about your audience and developing a rapport with them keeps people engaged with what you’re saying or doing. 

Very often, a presentation will include a space for audience questions or discussion. If you have kept your audience engaged throughout your presentation, their questions will be more closely related to the content, making it easier for you to answer.

• Thinking about your audience
• Starting your presentation
• The EPQ audience

Starting your preparation by thinking about your audience – who they are, what they want, what they are interested in, what they like, what they don’t like – will help bring them to life in your mind.

You can imagine their characters and personalities, their interests and responses. You don’t have to think about the life story of everyone in the audience – this is about broad descriptions. But thinking about the audience means that when you are creating your presentation, you are doing it with people in mind, helping you craft a presentation that engages them as much as possible.

As an example, look at the two people in Figure 2 (or read the description) and write down five words to describe them.

How did you describe them? You might have come up with: 

• girl, writing, young, computer, relaxed, t-shirt
• man, banjo, musician, outdoors, beard

How can you use this description?

Think about starting your presentation .

If you think your audience is likely to be people like the young female writer, you could start with a (relevant!) quote from your favourite writer. For an audience of people that like to make music, you could include a piece of music that relates to your work.

Think about the content of your presentation. If you are presenting to a group of painters, you’d want to use lots of images. If you were presenting to very young children, you’d probably want to include some activities they could join in.

For example, Nisha, a researcher, gave a presentation at a science festival on the topic of ‘the future of space in society’. She characterised her audience as: 

• more than 16 years old
• knowledgeable
• interested in the future

What does this mean for how she structured her presentation? Because she imagined her audience as  adults , it’s likely she would have been comfortable discussing quite difficult topics and using complex language.

Thinking of them as  knowledgeable  means she would have been prepared for some interesting, and possibly tricky questions.

Visualising them as  interested in the future  means she would have included some material on new developments in research, and thought about the kind of questions they might ask about future work.

Who is the audience for your presentation?

For the EPQ, your audience is likely to be your fellow students and your teachers. These are probably people you know well, and who know each other well.

• What five words could you use to describe them?

What are the guidelines for the presentation ?

It’s always a good idea to know the guidelines for your presentation.

It’s helpful to have a few basic issues sorted out before you start preparing your presentation.

How long should your presentation be? Do you have to include time for discussion after the presentation or is that separate? 

For EPQ presentations, different exam boards have different specifications about timing and format, so check the guidelines for the exam board you are studying with. A typical guideline might be that you should present for ten minutes, followed by five minutes for questions and discussion.

What equipment do you need?

Will it be provided or will you have to take your own? 

Do you or the audience have specific needs that you should accommodate? 

For example, you might be asked to use a microphone because someone in the audience has hearing problems. What kind of microphone will this be? One fixed to a stand or one you carry in your hand? How will using the microphone affect your planned presentation style? If it’s a fixed microphone, and you planned to move about while you present, you might have to change some elements of your presentation.

Where will you be giving the presentation? What kind of layout will the room have? How will this affect your presentation?

For example, will the audience be seated in rows (like a theatre), around a table (like people in a café), in an informal circle, or some other arrangement? Is the room layout fixed or can you re-arrange it to suit your presentation?

Who will be in the audience?

If you have read the previous section, you’ll have thought about this and how you can create a presentation that will appeal to them.

How many people will be in the audience? 

This matters if you are planning to share handouts or ask people to look at visual aids or physical objects. You don’t want to have too few, but you don’t want to waste resources by preparing too much.

There are many different ways to present, so which kind of presentation should you choose? That depends on the kind of project you have done and the material you are presenting. 

Every format has advantages and disadvantages. You will want to choose the format that works best for you and your work.  Some common examples are:

Face-to-face oral presentation

Sometimes simply talking is enough. Telling your story directly to the listeners, with no distractions, is very compelling.

Oral presentation with visual aids

If you want to include evidence such as graphs, charts or images, using visual aids to support your presentation is helpful. Visual aids include presentation software (such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi or Apple Keynote), wall displays, large posters or printed handouts.

Video presentation

You could choose to make a short video documenting your work. This allows people to look at or listen to the presentation in their own time.

This style of presentation is very appropriate for a project in which you have created an artefact or run an experiment and you need to show the whole process. 

There’s more information about giving your presentation  later in this article.

Structuring your presentation .

There will be a time limit on your presentation, so you should plan your presentation to be sure that you cover everything you need to.

• How many slides?

One way to allocate the time for the different sections is to think about the proportions you used for the dissertation.

Check out the previous article in this series ‘Writing up your dissertation’  for more info.

Introduction – 1 minute – why this question:

• the question you set out to answer
• why this question matters (perhaps to you, to your audience, to other people).

Review – 3 minutes – the evidence you found:

• a summary of how you carried out your research
• an overview of the evidence you found.

In three minutes, you probably won’t have time to cover all your evidence, so pick out the key points that are most important for you to explain.

If the audience knows there’s more you haven’t had time to say, they will be able to ask you questions about it.

Discussion – 5 minutes – why it matters:

• a summary of your key findings
• evidence for and against your question
• what the evidence means – how it helped you answer your question.

Again, in five minutes, you’ll only really have time to focus on the key points, so think carefully about what they are and which ones you want to present.

Conclusion – 1 minute – the answer:

• the answer your evidence has led you to
• the key message you want your audience to take away from your presentation.

How many slides should you make for your presentation? The most important thing to think about is how much time you have. Ann, who is a lecturer in astrobiology education and also teaches science communication, discusses this issue.

What are her suggestions?

When you’re thinking about creating the slides for a presentation, there’s a couple of good rules of thumb to remember. One is to stick to one idea per slide. 

And the other is that it takes approximately two minutes to present a slide. So for a ten-minute presentation, you’re looking at maybe five slides. 

If you divide them up roughly the same way as you divide the presentation itself, that will be one slide for the question, another slide to review the evidence that you found, perhaps a couple of slides on your discussion and analysis and one slide on the conclusion. 

You can have a top and tail. It’s good to have a slide at the beginning with the name of your talk on it, and your name. This is a good one to have on display at the beginning, while people are settling down and getting comfortable. You can also have a closing slide that you can leave up to cover the question time.

Ann’s summary

If you plan to use presentation software, it’s tempting to cram in lots of slides, because you’ve done a lot of work and you want to share it all. However, your audience will need time to absorb the material you are presenting on your slides. If you have text, they need to be able to read it; if you have images, they need to be able to take in all the details. Good communication practice suggests that you should present one idea per slide, and that it takes roughly two minutes to present one slide. So for the example outlined in Table 1, that would mean:

• Introduction – one slide.
• Review – one or two slides.
• Discussion – two or three slides.
• Conclusion – one slide.

That’s approximately five to seven slides for a ten-minute presentation, with perhaps an additional opening slide to introduce yourself and a closing slide to cover the question time (Figure 7).

Using presentation software (such as PowerPoint, Prezi or Keynote) is probably the most common way of creating a presentation, but it’s worth taking a moment to decide whether this is the most appropriate route for the topic, the presentation and you.

• Should I use presentation software?
• Making it readable
• Using images

If you do decide to use presentation software, following a few simple guidelines will help keep your presentation interesting and impactful. When deciding, think about:

What’s best for your content?

• do you have a lot of images? (useful)  
• are there graphs and charts? (useful) 
• is it all text? (not so useful)

What’s best for your audience?

• how old are they?
• what are they interested in?
• where are you giving the presentation – small room, large theatre, in the dark, in artificial light?

What’s best for you?

• what skills do you have – can you draw really good images or take great photographs? 
• can you sum up complex ideas in a few interesting words?

A good rule of thumb is to aim for presentation slides to be readable from 2.5m away.

Don’t try to crowd too much onto a slide. Aim for your text or images to take up no more than half the area of the slide. Keeping a good margin of white space around the content makes images easier to understand and text easier to read.

Using a widescreen (16:9) format for your slides gives you a larger area to work on, which means your images can be bigger and the text size can be larger.

Compelling and relevant images that are easy to understand will hold the audience’s attention and support your storytelling.

In Figure 9, it’s easy to see that the young women are sharing their thoughts by writing on a large sheet of paper. We can speculate that some of them might be mothers, as there are young children and babies in the photo.

Compare that with the image in Figure 10. It’s not very clear – there’s some open water, a flock of pink birds that are possibly flamingos and a shoreline beyond them. It’s not easy to work out what the subject is: is it the water, the flamingos or the land on the horizon? If you used this photo, you would have to explain what to look for. That means the photo isn’t doing its job of enhancing your presentation.

Where to find images

If you have your own photos, drawings or images, that’s ideal, because they will represent your work most clearly. As the creator of the image, you own the  copyright , so you can use the image in whatever way you want.

As  discussed in our ‘Writing up your dissertation’ article, you should never try to pass off someone else’s work as your own. This applies to photos and images as well as text.

If you choose to use images created by other people, look for images that are in the public domain or have a Creative Commons licence, and in your presentation, include text that acknowledges where the image came from. Websites such as Pixabay or rawPixel offer lots of usable images, with full details of how you should acknowledge the creators. If you’re using Google Images, you can also click on ‘Tools’ and then adjust the ‘Usage Rights’ settings to search for re-usable material.

Using tables, graphs and charts

Presentation software, posters or handouts are excellent for showing tables, graphs and charts that illustrate your findings. When creating your presentation, you can re-use graphs and charts that you created for your dissertation.

For more information, see  Article 1: ‘Writing up your dissertation – Tables, graphs and charts’ .

Less is definitely more when it comes to text on slides. Compare these two slides – which is easier to read and understand?

The first slide is much better. It has a pale grey background with five lines of black text, with a few words highlighted in orange.  The second slide has a large image of a woodland as the background, with approximately 25 lines of white text. The text is almost unreadable.

Good communication practice suggests using:

• a maximum of  9   lines  of text on a slide
• a maximum of  10   words  per line
• an  easy-to-read  font; preferably sans serif (common sans serif fonts include arial, helvetica and calibri)
• large font  sizes; ideally 36-point text for titles; 30-point and 24-point for body text
• black text on pale grey (or pale yellow or blue) background; good contrast between background and text is best for people with dyslexia and vision problems. Avoid stark white backgrounds, as the shininess can cause problems
• colours  (up to five) for contrast and highlighting.

Giving your presentation .

We can learn a lot by watching and listening to other people give presentations, picking up from their good points and learning from what doesn’t go so well.

• Good presentations
• And not so good presentations
• Preparing to present – practising 

What’s the best presentation you’ve ever watched online or been to? Perhaps you have a teacher whose style you admire, or you’ve been to a public lecture or talk that included presentations. What made them so good?

If nothing comes to mind, watch this presentation on   The networked beauty of forests   from the  TED-Ed  community to get your thinking started. The presentation lasts about six minutes.

As you watch, consider anything about it that appeals to you. What are its good points?

You might have come up with ideas such as:

• a  title  that grabs your attention
• clear and relevant  images ,  graphs  and  tables
• use of relevant pieces of  video , audio  or  music
• speakers who look like they really  care  about the subject
• speakers who keep up a  good pace , not going too slowly but not rushing either
• being able to  hear the speaker  clearly
• being able to  see the content  clearly.

You probably came up with some other thoughts. How can you incorporate these ideas into your presentation?

Most of us have sat through presentations that weren’t very good. What problems did they have?

Watch this video , which was produced by Keele University, and use the bingo card below to identify some of the common mistakes made in presentations.

You probably spotted more problems than were included on the bingo card!

Of course, this was a deliberately bad presentation, but it gives us some clues about errors we can easily avoid. Sometimes speakers do things that irritate the audience because they’re nervous – people jangle keys in their pocket, chew their hair or constantly fiddle with a pen. Sometimes people don’t feel well-prepared so they read from a script, or they say ‘um’ or ‘er’ or ‘so…’ a lot. These are errors that we can avoid through good preparation and lots of practice.

Once you have designed your presentation, you need to think about how you are going to deliver it. What will you say as you present the slides?

Organise your notes

You might be very good at learning a script, but most people can’t remember the whole of a presentation by heart, and reading from a printed script isn’t engaging for your audience.

Therefore, many presenters use a ‘cue card’ system to keep on track:

• organise your notes into a logical series of points
• write a few reminder words for each point
• transfer your reminder words on to small cards (small enough to fit in your hand but big enough that you can read the reminder words easily; say 10cm x 5cm)
• have one card for the beginning, with your opening sentence written out
• have one card for the end, with a reminder of the message you want your audience to take away from the presentation
• fill in the middle with a card for each main point you want to make, or phrase you want to use.

When you are confident you have the right flow in your content, number your cue cards in sequence. Nervous presenters have been known to drop their cards and scatter them across the floor. If that happens, you’ll want to get them back in order quickly!

Practise giving your presentation as much as you can. Practise to your family, practise to your friends (and be an audience for them in return), practise to the cat or practise to a tree; the more you practise, the more confident you will be.

As you practise, you will become more comfortable with the sound of your ‘presenter’ voice and feel more like you’re talking as you would to a friend.

Something else to think about as you write your presentation is your speaking speed. You will find you need to speak more slowly when you are presenting, so that you deliver each word clearly. This means you can’t pack as many words into the minutes as you can in ‘normal’ speech.

Timing yourself over multiple practices helps you judge whether you have the right amount of content. If there’s anything there that doesn’t  need  to be there, this will give you the opportunity to cut it out. You might need to trim back and focus on fewer points, or you might find you have the space to add more material.

Practising also helps you ensure that the order of your points is logical and tells a coherent story. And finally, through practising you’ll be able to judge whether your visual aids (if you have used them) give the right message and enhance what you are saying. 

Feedback from other people can be very helpful when you’re practising, especially if you ask for feedback on specific points that you are concerned about. Asking for targeted feedback on the delivery, the slides or the visual aids (or other points) is likely to be more useful than simply asking ‘what do you think?’.

If it isn’t possible to get ‘live’ feedback, you could video yourself and ask others to watch it back and give you feedback, or you could watch the recording yourself and reflect on the presentation. Not everyone enjoys watching themselves give presentations though!

On the day.

Remember: 

• It’s your story – and you’re the best person to tell it.
• You’ve designed your presentation with the audience in mind (look back at  ‘Giving your presentation ’ ).
• You’ve prepared great content (look back at ‘Guidelines’  and ‘Structuring your presentation’ ).
• You’ve designed excellent slides, posters or other aids (look back at ‘Presentation software’ ).
• You’ve timed and practised your presentation (look back at ‘Structuring your presentation’  as well as the resources below).

Look up, smile at the audience, take a deep breath and be great! Good luck!

More resources.

There are lots of resources available online to help you prepare and give good presentations. Here are two from the Open University that you might find useful:

• Communicating and presenting: skills for OU study
• Giving presentations

Other articles in this series...

EPQs: designing your research question

You’ve already decided to do an EPQ, so it might seem a little odd to start this resource by asking you to consider why you want to do a research project. People do an EPQ for all sorts of reasons. Why do you want to do an EPQ?

EPQs: finding and using evidence

Finding the evidence that will help you understand a topic or answer a question is an important stage in the research process. And once you have found it, you will need to examine it closely and carefully, to judge how reliable it is and whether it is useful to help you answer your question.

EPQs: writing up your dissertation

You have collected and analysed your evidence and considered it in relation to your research question. The next step is to communicate all that you have done. Your dissertation is the element of the EPQ that is read and assessed by others who haven’t been involved in your research.

Become an OU student

Ratings & comments, share this free course, copyright information, publication details.

• Originally published: Wednesday, 3 May 2023
• Body text - Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 : The Open University
• Image 'Fig 1 - The research cycle: Communication' - Copyright: Ann Grand
• Image 'A woman giving a presentation. She is pointing at an image displayed on a large monitor.' - Copyright: Photo by  airfocus  on  Unsplash
• Image 'Fig 3 - Structuring a presentation' - Copyright: Ann Grand
• Image 'A powerpoint slide in wide-screen format' - Copyright: Victoria Pearson
• Image 'Women in a discussion group about health services for women and children' - Copyright: Voices from Durgapur (CC0)
• Image 'Photo of someone giving a presentation on stage' - Copyright: The Open University
• Image 'Screenshot of the presenter's view of an online presentation, showing the slide and notes.' - Copyright: Ann Grand
• Image 'Possibly flamingos? Photo by S. Filippidou, AstrobiologyOU' - Copyright: Sevasti Filippidou
• Image 'Example 1 of a slide' - Copyright: Ann Grand
• Image 'Example 2 of a slide' - Copyright: Ann Grand
• Image 'Possible audience members' - Copyright: Photo by Windows on Unsplash Photo by Meillene Ferrer on Unsplash
• Image 'Photo of someone presenting to an audience' - Copyright: Photo by Ben Moreland on Unsplash
• Image 'Photo of someone filming themselves' - Copyright: Photo by Jenny Ueberberg on Unsplash
• Image 'EPQs: why give a presentation?' - Alphabet Yellow © Betta0147 | Dreamstime.com under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license
• Image 'EPQs: writing up your dissertation' - © Betta0147 | Dreamstime.com under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license
• Image 'EPQs: finding and using evidence' - Alphabet Yellow © Betta0147 | Dreamstime.com under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license
• Image 'EPQs: designing your research question' - © Betta0147 | Dreamstime.com under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 license

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Learning English with Oxford

The latest language learning tips, resources, and content from oxford university press., useful phrases for giving a presentation in english.

• by Oxford University Press ELT
• Posted on April 21, 2023 February 2, 2024

Giving a presentation in English can be challenging, but with these helpful phrases, you can feel confident and ready to make a good presentation in English. 

Starting your presentation

So how to start a presentation in English? Begin by saying hello and welcoming everyone. You can also thank the audience for being there with you. 

The beginning of the presentation is one of the most important parts because you need to make sure your audience is interested from the start. 

You could tell a short story, give a fact, or simply tell the audience a little bit about yourself, e.g. ‘ Let me start by telling you a little bit about myself …’ 

Then, introduce what your presentation is about by giving an opening statement or an overview of your session. For example, ‘Today, I am going to talk to you about …’ or, ‘Today, we’ll be looking at/focusing on …’. 

You can also tell the audience, ‘ If you have any questions, please raise your hand and I’ll be happy to answer them’ … or ‘ We’ll have time at the end for questions.’

Presenting the topic

When you get into the main part of giving your presentation in English, remember that what you’re saying to your audience is new information. Speak slowly, organise your ideas, and make sure your pronunciation is clear. You can learn more about boosting your pronunciation here . 

Use expressions to order your ideas and introduce new ones. You can use words and phrases to sequence like, firstly/first of all, secondly, then, next, following this, and lastly/finally. 

If you want to introduce the opposite point of view, you can use language like however, on the other hand, contrary to this and then again. 

It’s a good idea to link what you are saying back to previous things you have said. This shows you have a well-organised presentation and also helps keep people engaged. For example, ‘as I said previously/at the beginning …’, ‘as you may remember’ and ‘this relates to what I said about ….’

Highlighting information during your talk 

When you are giving a presentation in English, you might want to highlight a particular piece of information or something that’s important. You can use phrases such as ‘Let’s focus on …’, ‘I want to highlight …’,   ‘Pay attention to …’, ‘Let’s look at …’, ‘I want to briefly address …’, or ‘Now, let’s discuss ….’ You can use these phrases after your sequencing words to help you with your structure. 

You can also highlight information by asking your audience their opinion of what you are saying or having them engage with the presentation in some way. For example, you could ask a question and have the audience raise their hands if they agree, or disagree, or if you want to find out how many of them have experience with the situation you’re discussing. Asking questions is a good way to make sure you still have the audience’s attention after you’ve been speaking for a while.

You can also highlight information on your visuals if you’re using them. Use bright, impactful pictures and colours, and don’t include too much writing on your slides.  

Finalising the talk 

At the end of the presentation, you should summarise your talk and remind the audience of the things you have discussed, and the new information you have given them. You can say things like ‘In summary, we have looked at …’, ‘I’d like to finish by …’, and ‘We’re coming to the end of the presentation. We’ve discussed …’. 

You can then ask the audience for any questions you haven’t already answered. 

What are your experiences of giving a presentation in English? Do you have any other tips to add? Share below!

Billie Jago is an ELT writer and teacher trainer, specialising in digital & assessments. She is the founder of the professional development podcast ELTcpd and co-founder of the digital ELT content agency, otterelt .

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Author: Oxford University Press ELT

Every year we help millions of people around the world to learn English. As a department of the University of Oxford, we further the University’s objective of excellence in education by publishing proven and tested language learning books, eBooks, learning materials, and educational technologies. View all posts by Oxford University Press ELT

before You start your presentation ,try please to mention the time duration . sometimes people should be informed so that we can take a coffe break or cigarettes break in order to make evry one happy with the topics

Here is the tip I would add according to my experience :

end your presentation on a positive note, for example with a funny sentence /image /meme / an inspirational quote, in short something that will make your talk pleasant to remember.

Valentina T.

You need to chill out and show calmness and confidence. You should rehearse your presentation on the stage some time before its previously stated time.

Clear, cogent & commanding. Thanks.

I think to get better respond to presentation you can do some mistakes in it and then explain it the end or in the next presentation. Because if anyone would like to learn something also should show involvement.

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10 Reasons Why You Get Nervous During Presentations

Hrideep barot.

• Body Language & Delivery , Presentation , Public Speaking

Why do I get so nervous during presentations? This question comes to the mind of every person who is about to deliver a speech or presentation. Anxiety frequently takes the form of a fear of public speaking. From mild trepidation to paralysing fear and terror, it can fluctuate in intensity. Many persons who have this phobia either completely avoid public speaking situations or endure them while trembling and speaking shakily. But you can get over your fear if you prepare and persevere.

Public speaking is one of many circumstances where feeling nervous or anxious is normal. Other manifestations of what is known as performance anxiety include stage fright, test anxiety, and writer’s block. However, a social anxiety disorder may be present in people with severe performance anxiety that includes significant worry in other social situations (also called social phobia). Cognitive behavioural therapy, medicines, or a combination of the two may be necessary to treat social anxiety disorder.

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10 reasons for getting nervous during presentations 

The information you need to get started on the path to greater confidence and enjoyment in public speaking is provided here. These are the ten main causes of your fear, along with the advice on how to get over it and, in essence, reclaim your life!

1. Discomfort in front of large crowds.

This is the justification for performance anxiety that is most usually given. “I’m alright speaking to small groups, but when there’s a big crowd, I get tremendously nervous” , is a common statement made to speech instructors. Two tactics will be useful: 

• Remember that the individuals you speak with one-on-one are also those in a large audience. 
• Focus on merely chatting to them rather than “presenting” to them. You will be at your peak.

2. Fear of coming out as tense. 

Do you worry that you’ll appear frightened? A lot of speakers do. So it’s simple to suppose that if the audience notices your anxiety, they’ll assume you don’t know your subject. However, the two are obviously unrelated. Don’t you feel sorry for the speaker when you see them shaking rather than passing judgement on their professionalism? If anything, your audience will sympathise with you rather than reject you.

3. Fear that you are being judged by others. 

The hard-love message in this situation is that nobody genuinely cares about you. They are there to learn something from your speech, presentation, or lecture. They want to make the most of their time. Everyone feels embarrassed when they witness a speaker stumble. Therefore, the crowd is actually rooting for you!

4. Previous failures 

Fear of public speaking is frequently an acquired tendency. In other words, you failed in the past, and that’s when the seed of self-doubt was planted. However, if you are knowledgeable and ready this time, there is no need for things to go wrong the way they did in the distant past. Not unless you firmly think it will happen. Instead, make a success plan.

5. Inadequate or poor preparation 

There is no reason you should succeed if you haven’t done your research, which includes understanding your target. You are the only one to blame. Being unprepared has a negative impact on public speaking confidence. However, nothing inspires confidence like knowing you’re prepared. Your decision.

6. Narcissism. 

The toughest love message that can be provided to clients who are stage nervous is this. Speaking while exhibiting severe self-consciousness is narcissistic. If you are completely preoccupied with yourself, how can you possibly impact others? Not at all. Therefore, “illuminate” your audience by turning that strong spotlight around. You are irrelevant. It’s true.

7. Unhappiness with your performance.

Okay, I admit that this is a valid worry. But among the Top 10 reasons, it’s also one of the simplest to fix. If your speaking abilities are lacking, you should be unhappy. But frustration may be a great motivator. Get the speech therapy you’ve been considering. You can feel a tonne more confident just by knowing you are a top-notch worker. You will probably become considerably more eager to communicate as a result.

8. Feeling uncomfortable in your own body. 

Why are we all at ease physically with friends but awkward and self-conscious in front of a crowd? If it describes you, read the advice about engaging listeners in the conversation above. You should be able to unwind by doing that. When you’re in a cosy setting, take attention to how you stand, sit, gesture, and move as well. Recreate that organic movement in front of bigger crowds.

9. Poor breathing techniques 

You likely have no idea how to breathe for speech unless you’ve studied acting or singing. More air is needed for public speaking than “vegetative breathing.” In order to maintain sound through the conclusion of your concept, you must also manage your exhalation. The method for doing all of this is diaphragmatic breathing. Additionally, it does wonder for slowing your racing heart.

10. Evaluating yourself against others.

Never do it! Never try to be a “great” public speaker. Your topic or area of interest should be engaging when you talk about it. That is it. The really wonderful news is that you are the only person in the universe who can tell us about it as well as you can. Indeed, you are the speaker we wanted to hear.

Ways of controlling your nerves while presenting 

The dread of speaking in front of a large audience often results from the belief that others will evaluate you when you’re in front of them. Memory is aided by the frontal lobe of the brain, which is temporarily shut down when we are agitated due to an increase in stress hormones. We freeze up and stop talking because of this.

There’s nothing wrong with being anxious; the key is learning to control and go through those feelings.

The following advice will assist you in managing your anxiety before, during, and after a presentation.

Prior to the presentation

1. know your subject.

You’ll feel more assured as you get more knowledge about your subject. You won’t need to refer to your notes in order to respond to queries.

2. Keep order

Spend some time carefully planning every part of your presentation. Creating PowerPoint slides or other visual materials like films is a common example of this. Tell the organiser in detail what format and technology you will use. Prepare your background and space if it will be virtual. This guarantees a smooth presentation and lowers your tension.

3. Practice

You can never practise enough, whether you’re practising in front of a mirror, a family member, or a pet. Request comments regarding your voice volume, eye contact, and body language. If you plan to deliver the presentation through video conference, record it there so you can check your appearance and voice quality.

4. Think about your success

Positive thinking will become more instinctive the more frequently you do it. Your confidence can significantly increase if you use positive self-talk. Successfully practise the presentation in your brain.

During the presentation

1. concentrate on your content, not the audience.

Your audience isn’t there to judge you; they are there to hear your presentation. They’ll be watching your vivid slides while also paying attention to what you have to say. Put enjoyment of the presentation to one side and deliver it as you practised.

2. Don’t be afraid of silence

It’s acceptable if your mind wanders for a moment. Although the time you spend trying to decide what to say next may seem like an eternity to you, it really only lasts a few seconds at most.

3. Talk slowly

Slow down. You might speak more quickly than you intended if you’re experiencing presentation anxiety. The fact that the audience can understand you will make them grateful, and if you speak slowly, it will allow you time to collect yourself.

4. Breathe deeply and sip water

Your brain receives oxygen through breathing, improving your ability to think clearly. Drinking water provides you with more energy and a chance to take a break.

The simplest yet most powerful approach to calm your anxiety is to smile. Endorphins are released when you do this, which makes you feel more self-assured. A smile will also help the audience be more receptive to what you have to offer.

6. Always keep in mind the “three truths of the audience”

There are three of these: 

• The audience believes you are the expert throughout the presentation 
• They support you 
• They are oblivious to your errors 

After the presentation

1. celebrate your achievements.

Celebrate giving a presentation because it is an accomplishment to be proud of. In addition to your loved ones, friends, and coworkers, you should give yourself a high five.

2. Take reflections

If you utilize feedback as a tool to help you perform even better the following time, it’s a beautiful gift. Find out what certain individuals of your audience loved and disliked. Remember that mistakes can teach you a lot.

3. Do not criticize yourself

The only thing anyone — including you — can ask for is that you tried your best.

Read this article for more useful insights: 17 tips and tricks to stop shaking and ease your anxiety during a speech

Final words 

It’s totally normal to experience performance anxiety feelings occasionally. In actuality, many people shy away from public speaking. But the more you encounter these kinds of circumstances, the more at ease you’ll feel.

Concentrating on your sentiments will only make matters worse if you become apprehensive when giving a presentation. To combat your nerves, consider your talk as an act of kindness: You’re giving something valuable to other people. Research has shown that being kind and generous lowers our stress levels. 

When you are putting together the presentation, use this frame. Start with some reflection rather than with your topic. Who will be in the room, you could ask? What are they expecting of me? Create a presentation that specifically answers those demands. 

Take slow, deep breaths and keep in mind that you are there to assist your audience when you are feeling particularly anxious on the day of your talk. Make eye contact with your audience during the presentation, even if you’d rather be doing something else. Imagine yourself conducting a succession of one-on-one interactions with various people, giving them all the information they require. This attitude of generosity can transform a traumatic event into a giving one.

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