presentation skills theory

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How are you providing presentation skills training for your learners?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What are presentation skills?

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

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

Making speeches at a wedding, conference, or another event

Making a toast at a dinner or event

Explaining projects to a team 

Delivering results and findings to management teams

Teaching people specific methods or information

Proposing a vote at community group meetings

Pitching a new idea or business to potential partners or investors

Why are presentation skills important? 

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

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

Enriched written and verbal communication skills

Enhanced confidence and self-image

Boosted critical thinking and problem-solving capabilities

Better motivational techniques

Increased leadership skills

Expanded time management, negotiation, and creativity

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

Effective presentation skills

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

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

Verbal communication

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

Body language

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

Voice projection

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

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

Storytelling

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

Active listening

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

Stage presence

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

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

Self-awareness

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

Writing skills

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

Understanding an audience

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

Learn more about presentation skills from industry experts at SAP:

How to improve presentation skills

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

Work on self-confidence.

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

Develop strategies for overcoming fear.

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

Learn grounding techniques.

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

Learn how to use presentation tools.

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

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

Powtoon: Animation software that makes video creation fast and easy

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

Practice breathing techniques.

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

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

Gain experience.

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

Tips to help you ace your presentation

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

Arrive early.

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

Become familiar with the layout of the room.

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

Listen to presenters ahead of you.

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

Use note cards.

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

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

Article sources

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

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

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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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Applying Learning Principles to Presentation Delivery

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Cognitive Load Theory can be applied to delivering clear, effective presentations. A second learning theory that may be useful for presenters to understand is a group of learning principles developed by psychologist Richard Mayer and his many different co-authors (and summarized nicely in his book with Ruth Clark ).

In my new book, Better Presentations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers and Wonks , I explain how to create, design, and deliver effective presentations, and understanding the mechanisms by which your audience learns can help you improve your own presentation skills.

Mayer’s research involves the intersection of cognition, instruction, and technology. Three aspects of his research are especially important for presentations:

• The Multimedia Principle simply states that people learn better from words and pictures than from words alone. Based on a number of studies, Mayer and his colleagues found that there was an 89 percent improvement in learning when pictures were paired with text compared with text alone.

When applied to presentations, try to be as visual as possible. Use images, graphs, and icons—instead of that dense table of regression results you copied-and-pasted from your paper’s Appendix, convert them to a graph that visually demonstrates the patterns.

• The Contiguity Principle argues that integrating text and visuals can lead to more learning than when text and visuals are not combined. Over the course of eight different studies, Mayer and his colleagues found that learning outcomes from lessons integrating text and visuals were on average 68 percent higher than those that did not.

When you use visuals in your slides, don’t slap them in randomly or haphazardly. Each image—every object on every slide—should have a purpose and should help support your content. As a simple example, if you’re placing a picture of a person next to text on a slide, have them face the text; we tend to follow the person’s gaze, which therefore leads your audience to your text.

• The Coherence Principle suggests that adding superfluous elements irrelevant to the teaching goal can disrupt and interfere with learning. Across six different experiments, learning outcomes were 105 percent higher on average for students who received the lesson without extraneous materials than those who did.

At all times, focus your audience’s attention where you want it, and what’s important. You may be able to delete the regression estimates that are secondary to your main point; remember, your presentation is not an opportunity to give your audience every single detail from your paper, but to highlight the most important points.

In the past, I’ve urged researchers to think about their audience when they present , tell stories when the present , and reduce the amount of numbers they put on their slides. Some of those recommendations are based on observed best practices and strategies employed by others, but many of them are based on learning principles rooted in science that demonstrate some of the ways in which our brains receive and process information.

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Jon- This is a nice summary of these 3 principles. Thanks for sharing.

eLearning and the Science of Instruction was a go-to book of mine when I needed science/research to back up approaches to building training (mostly to clients and bosses). And it’s applicable to good presentation design as well.

For those wanting to get deeper into Mayer’s research, his “Multi-media Learning” is a good one. And if you really want to get in deep and nerd-out, check out “The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning,” edited by Mayer. Buyer beware though, it’s 900 pages, so you’ll be busy for awhile! 🙂

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

Presentation Skills 101: A Guide to Presentation Success

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

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

Table of Contents

The Importance of Presentation Skills

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Archetypes of presentations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Punctuality

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

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

Body Language

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tech Skills

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

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

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

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

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

Public Speaking Anxiety

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

Lack of Confidence

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

Content Organization

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

Audience Engagement

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

Technical Issues

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

Time Management

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

Handling Questions and Challenges

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

Visual Aids and Technology

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

Language and Articulation

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

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

Overcoming Impersonal Delivery

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

Cultural and Diversity Awareness

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

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

Tip #1: Build a narrative

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tip #3: Practice meditation daily

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

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

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

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

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

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The psychology of presentations: getting your point across

Creating effective presentations can be difficult. Use these tips to grab attention and ensure the audience will easily grasp and recall essential data.

Tim Stumbles

Apr 17, 2017

Have you ever attended a bad presentation? I have, and they seem to be endless and boring regardless of how interesting the subject may have been. I can think of several meetings where I was presented with eye-straining slides, or slides created from blocks of pasted text. 

In these types of presentations, I find it hard to stay focused on what the host is saying and, unfortunately, struggle to retain the information they were trying to communicate.

Any presenter’s primary goal is for their audience to pay attention, easily understand the data being communicated, and leave the room remembering the main points. Thanks to the extensive research available on human psychology, memory and attention, presenters can take advantage of scientifically based techniques to create more compelling and effective presentations.

Tips to help beginner product managers ace their presentations

From capturing the audience’s attention to raising retention levels, the following research-backed tips will help professionals deliver more effective presentations:

Cater to the different learning styles

Psychologists, teachers , trainers and leaders often use a theory of learning called the VAK model to help people concentrate on and process information more effectively. According to the VAK theory, an individual’s dominant learning style can be either visual, auditory or kinesthetic.

• Auditory learners  absorb information best through words and sounds. Varying vocal pitch, tone, volume and pace to avoid monotony or emphasize important ideas can be an effective approach when addressing this type of audiences. In addition, well-placed pauses can add tension, spark curiosity, or give the participants time to process new concepts.
• Visual learners  respond best to graphs, mind maps, charts, pictures and any other illustrations. Using facial expressions, gestures and other visual cues while speaking can also be effective.
• Kinesthetic learners  retain new concepts most effectively through experience – moving, doing, touching, sharing. Inviting them to share their opinions or integrating various activities into the presentation will help keep kinesthetic audiences focused and improve retention levels.

Since an audience usually comprises a mix of the different types of learners, the safest approach when planning a presentation is to cater to all learning styles. However, in some instances, it can be a good idea to favor one sensory channel over the others. For example, when presenting to a team of illustrators or designers, emphasizing visual communication will ensure a better response from the audience.

Structure the content

Research  shows that structured information is 40% easier to retain than data conveyed in a freeform manner. To ensure clarity and higher retention levels, professionals can rely on a variety of effective presentation structures, including:

• Problem – Solution – Benefit : good for motivating or persuading the audience
• Cause – Effect : recommended for helping the audience understand the logic behind the presenter’s position
• Comparison (differences and similarities) : effective in highlighting the relative advantages of a specific approach to a problem
• Chronological : best for reporting or stepping the audience through a process.

Use the law of three

What do the Three Little Pigs, the slogan of the French Republic, and the famous Latin phrase “Veni, vidi, vici” have in common? It’s that they all come in threes – and there may be a reason behind it.

The law of three is one of the oldest writing and rhetoric principles, dating back to Aristotle. It suggests that groups or lists of three items are more effective, more “satisfying”, and easier to remember than any other numbers. The rule is used extensively in literature (particularly fairytales), public speaking, marketing, music, theater, the movie industry, and even religion – it is all around us. But why is the number 3 so powerful?

The answer may lie in the way our brains are wired. Humans’  pattern recognition capability  is superior to any other species’ and it is one of the most important features supporting information processing, language and imagination. The human brain loves patterns – the simpler they are, the easier they’ll be to process and remember. 

Three is the smallest number required to make a pattern, and this is why triads are so effective when it comes to data retention. Therefore, reducing a presentation to three main points or structuring ideas as triads will make it easier for the audience to focus and remember the information presented.

State your most important points first

According to research, people tend to remember the first and last items in a series considerably better than those in the middle of the sequence. This cognitive bias is called “ serial position effect ” and can have quite an impact on the effectiveness of a presentation. Therefore, a good approach to ensure higher data retention is to:

• Present the most important points first
• Use the middle of the presentation to expand them
• Restate the key points in the conclusion.

Use effective visuals

Numerous studies have demonstrated that images, graphs and pictures are  more likely to grab attention  and be remembered than words. Adding visuals to a presentation can, therefore, be one of the most valuable ways for professionals to ensure they get their point across – as long as they are used wisely. 

Here are a few tips on how to use visuals for more impactful presentations:

1. Use graphs, not tables

Moin Syed, PhD, psychology professor at the University of Minnesota, recommends converting words and numbers into graphs and diagrams rather than tables. Tables require detailed reading and focus, so they are not ideal for extracting essential data quickly. A well designed  chart , on the other hand, can help the audience get the big picture much faster.

2. Be bold with colors

A recent  IEEE study  has shown that images comprising 7 or more colors are more memorable than visuals with 2 to 6 colors. As a result, a colorful project plan such as the one below, for instance, can ensure the project team or stakeholders will find the information presented easy to grasp and remember. 

On the other hand, the second image may seem more businesslike, but will most likely not have the same impact on the audience.

3. Avoid complex visuals

Research published in the Journal of Neuroscience  has revealed that visual and auditory senses share a limited neural resource. This means that focusing on complex images can reduce the brain’s capacity to process sounds. 

Consequently, when a presentation includes particularly demanding visuals, the audience will not merely ignore the presenter’s voice – they will actually fail to hear it in the first place. Practicing simple designs in  presentations  will reduce the cognitive load on the audience and ensure both the visual data and the speaker’s voice can get through to the participants.

4. Surprise

Psychological studies on human memory have shown that a notably different item in a series of otherwise similar items will be more easily recalled than the others. This cognitive bias is known as the  von Restorff effect  and can be used to deliver more effective presentations. When creating graphs, charts and other visuals, professionals can  tweak colors , sizes and shapes to add an element of surprise and steer the audience’s focus to the most important details. 

For instance, in the image below, “Beta Test 2.2” clearly stands out and will most likely be recalled better than the other milestones on the timeline.

5. Spark curiosity

There is a psychological phenomenon called the curiosity gap that has been used extensively in online marketing (e.g. clickbait titles) and can be very effective in PowerPoint presentations as well. According to  research , people learn better when they are curious about an answer. 

In addition, the increased dopamine activity while in a state of curiosity also improves their long-term memory. Presenting seemingly incomplete visuals and revealing the missing data gradually will make the audience curious about the omitted details and, therefore, ensure a higher retention level. 

For example, in the schedule presented below, viewers can see that there are two events programmed after lunch, but, initially, there is no data about what they entail. When the information is revealed in the second image, due to the curiosity gap created, the audience will be more likely to remember the  Mobile strategy  meeting and the guest speaker programmed in the afternoon.

The tips above are just some of the many techniques experienced presenters use to get their point across successfully. Understanding the way the human mind works, what grabs attention and what supports learning and memory can help professionals create more powerful presentations, regardless of topic or purpose.

Key points to remember

• Adapting a presentation to the audience’s dominant learning style can considerably improve information processing.
• Structure, patterns, and the order in which ideas are presented play a big role in data retention.
• Well thought-out visuals will make important data easily distinguishable and more memorable

Tim is Co-Founder & CEO of Office Timeline, a Seattle-based start-up that aims to rid the world of boring, uninspiring meetings.

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Presentation Skills explained plus examples

Presentation skills: this article explains the topic of presentation skills in a practical way. The article starts with reasons why these skills are important in the business environment and in academic research, followed by examples and practical tips. Enjoy reading!

What are presentation skills?

Whether it concerns presenting the results of a long-term research project or introducing a new invention, a new strategy or a new brand , presentations are often important moments for professionals.

Learning presentation skills helps presenters understand what they need to practice when preparing for such important moments.

Practicing and developing in this area makes them more confident and competent, which can make all the difference.

Examples of presentation skills include:

• Body language

Use of voice

Visual aids.

• Storytelling
• Stress management
• Adaptability
• Time management

Figure 1 – examples of Presentation Skills

Why is giving good presentations an important skill?

It’s no secret that effective presentations can help people advance in their careers. After all, what better way to demonstrate knowledge and expertise than giving a well-thought-out and good presentation? The right skills enable the presenter to share ideas with the general public in an engaging and persuasive way.

In this article you will read about the different types of presentations that are important in professional life and you will read about practical tips to develop yourself into an effective presenter.

Fear of presentations and public speaking

Fear of presentations and speaking in front of an audience is something that many people share.

It is a normal feeling and has to do with dealing with the pressure of conveying information to others, the fear of judgment and the natural fear of the unknown.

Fortunately, this fear can be overcome with practice and techniques, and many successful speakers have gone through this process.

The most important thing is to realize that you are not alone in feeling this fear, and that there are resources and support available to help you cope and thrive in public speaking.

Overcoming fear

Overcoming presentation anxiety starts with understanding where this fear comes from and then addressing its causes. Gaining insight into and control over something starts with understanding, especially the causes. You can then work on these.

The cause of anxiety during presentations and public speaking usually stems from:

• Lack of self confidence
• Lack of control (or feeling not having control) – over the situation, other people (the audience) and our own reactions and feelings
• In some cases, a negative memory or experience from the past

These effects are amplified as the size of the audience increases and possibly also depend on the nature of the audience and the situation.

Presentation Skills the main types of presentations

Persuasive presentations.

Persuasive presentations aim to influence the audience to make a specific decision or take action.

• A start-up founder convincing an investor to provide funding
• A salesperson who tries to convince customers to buy a product
• A political candidate who tries to convince voters to vote for him

Instructive presentations

Instructive presentations focus on guiding the audience in understanding new policies, procedures, laws, or other complex topics.

• An HR manager giving a presentation to instruct new employees on company policies
• A teacher who explains to students how to understand a complex mathematical concept
• A legal expert giving a presentation on recent changes in legislation

Informative presentations

Informative presentations aim to provide the audience with factual information about a specific topic, such as updates, benefits, or new developments.

• A company presentation in which the HR manager shares information about a new bonus structure for employees
• A health expert giving a presentation on the benefits of a healthy lifestyle
• A technology expert discussing the latest developments in the industry at a conference

Inspirational presentations

Inspirational presentations are intended to motivate the audience, increase their enthusiasm, or create a sense of pride and belonging.

• A TED Talk speaker who encourages the audience to pursue their dreams
• A CEO who shares his vision during a company meeting and inspires employees to commit to the company
• A sports coach who motivates his team before an important match through an inspiring and uplifting speech

Presentation styles: which style suits my purpose?

There are different ways to convey a message in a presentation. Read below about which methods are often used.

Extemporaneous presentations

Extemporaneous presentations are presentations that you give without prior preparation, although you plan them in advance and structure them in your mind.

With this method you do not have a fully written text or notes to fall back on. Instead, you rely on your knowledge and speaking skills to give a presentation on the spot.

Extemporaneous presentations may seem more spontaneous, but they require a good command of the topic and confidence in your speaking skills.

Rehearsed presentations

Rehearsed presentations are presentations that you memorize and recite without relying on notes or visual aids.

This approach requires significant effort and practice to deliver the presentation without errors.

It can be very persuasive if done well and the speaker gives a strong, flowing presentation without hesitation.

Written presentations

Written presentations are presentations in which the speaker uses a fully written script or detailed notes to closely follow the content.

This method provides a high degree of precision and control over the words used, reducing the risk of errors.

It is useful for formal, legal, or technical presentations.

Impromptu presentations

Impromptu presentations are similar to extemporaneous presentations, but they are improvised on the fly without prior planning or preparation.

In impromptu presentations, the speaker must think quickly and respond to an unexpected question or situation. The ability to speak clearly and coherently without preparation is crucial here.

This approach is common in informal conversations, debates, or discussions where the speaker must respond immediately.

How to improve presentation skills

Below you will find tips for improving the key skills associated with giving good presentations.

Speaking skills are essential for effective business and academic presentations.

Improve it by practicing regularly and asking for feedback , use visual aids such as slides, master the content thoroughly, master nonverbal communication, and work on voice modulation and intonation.

You can also join speaking clubs or take courses focused on public speaking to refine specific skills. Practice and confidence are crucial for successful presentations.

Body language as a part of presentation skills

Mastering body language is also very important for giving effective presentations in both business and academic research.

Improve this skill by becoming aware of your own body language, paying attention to posture, eye contact and gestures.

For example, practice in front of a mirror. Work on self-confidence and relaxation during presentations.

Also study successful speakers to learn from their body language. Consciously controlling body language increases the impact and persuasiveness of a presentation.

Controlling your voice is crucial for effective presentations. Improve this skill by working on tone, tempo, volume and articulation. Practice varying your voice to convey emotion and meaning.

Recording and listening to feedback is helpful and consider consulting voice coaches or taking speaking courses for improvement. Good voice use can make presentations more interesting and convey the message more clearly to the audience.

Presentation Skills and structure

Improve this skill by creating clear introductions, transitions, and conclusions.

Use a logical sequence, such as problem-situation-solution, to structure the presentation.

Use visual aids such as slides and bullet points to reinforce the structure.

Practice concise and clear communication of the most important points.

A well-structured presentation makes it easier for the audience to understand and remember the message.

Effective use of visual aids can make all the difference in business and academic presentations. Improve this skill by providing simple, clear graphics and relevant images.

Limit text and ensure consistency between the verbal and visual message. Practice timing slides and making eye contact with the audience, not just the screen.

Storytelling and Presentation Skills

Storytelling is crucial for effective presentations.

Improve this skill by creating a clear storyline. Use concrete examples and anecdotes to clarify abstract concepts. Work on voice variation and emotion to make the story more engaging.

Now it’s your turn

What do you think? Do you recognize the explanation about presentation skills? Have you ever given a presentation where you struggled with anxiety? How did you deal with this then? What tips or techniques can you share for overcoming presentation anxiety? Have you ever attended an inspiring presentation? Can you share this moment with us? What do you think are the most important characteristics of a good presentation? Do you have other tips or comments about this article?

Share your experience and knowledge in the comments box below.

More information

• Bradbury, A. J. (2006). Successful presentation skills (Vol. 111). Kogan Page Publishers .
• Gelula, M. H. (1997). Effective lecture presentation skills . Surgical neurology, 47(2), 201-204.
• Haber, R. J., & Lingard, L. A. (2001). Learning oral presentation skills: a rhetorical analysis with pedagogical and professional implications . Journal of general internal medicine, 16, 308-314.
• Pittenger, K. K., Miller, M. C., & Mott, J. (2004). Using real-world standards to enhance students’ presentation skills . Business Communication Quarterly, 67(3), 327-336.

How to cite this article: Janse, B. (2023). Presentation Skills . Retrieved [insert date] from Toolshero: https://www.toolshero.com/personal-development/presentation-skills/

Original publication date: 11/06/2023 | Last update: 11/06/2023

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Ben Janse is a young professional working at ToolsHero as Content Manager. He is also an International Business student at Rotterdam Business School where he focusses on analyzing and developing management models. Thanks to his theoretical and practical knowledge, he knows how to distinguish main- and side issues and to make the essence of each article clearly visible.

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6 presentation skills and how to improve them

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What are presentation skills?

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

Tips for dealing with presentation anxiety

Learn how to captivate an audience with ease

Capturing an audience’s attention takes practice. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. Active listening

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

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

2. Body language

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

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

3. Stage presence

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

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

4. Storytelling

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

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

5. Voice projection

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

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

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

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

6. Verbal communication 

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

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

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

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

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

1. Build self-confidence

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

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

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

2. Watch other presentations

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

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

3. Get in front of a crowd

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

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

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

4. Overcome fear

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

Tips for dealing with presentation anxiety 

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

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

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

1. Practice breathing techniques

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

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

2. Get organized

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

3. Embrace moments of silence

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

4. Practice makes progress

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

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

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

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

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

Elevate your communication skills

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Elizabeth Perry, ACC

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

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Presentation Skills and Techniques

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Presentations skills and public speaking skills are very useful in many aspects of work and life. Effective presentations and public speaking skills are important in business, sales and selling, training, teaching, lecturing, and generally feeling comfortable speaking to a group of people.

Developing the confidence and capability to give good presentations, and to stand up in front of an audience and speak well, are also extremely helpful competencies for self-development and social situations.

Presentation skills and public speaking abilities are not limited to certain special people - anyone can give a good presentation, or perform public speaking to a professional and impressive standard. Like most specialisms, this requires  preparation  and  practice .

The formats and purposes of presentations can be very different, for example: oral (spoken), multimedia (using various media - visuals, audio, etc), PowerPoint presentations, short impromptu presentations, long-planned presentations, educational or training sessions, lectures, and simply giving a talk on a subject to a group on a voluntary basis for pleasure. Even speeches at weddings and eulogies at funerals are types of presentations.

Yet every successful presentation uses broadly the essential techniques and structures explained here.

This article provides:

• A guide to the process of creating effective presentations ,
• Tips and techniques for successfully delivering presentations
• Explanations and methods for reducing presentation fears and stresses  - notably through the use of  preparation  and  control , to build  confidence

Fear of Public Speaking and Presentations

You are not alone if the thought of speaking in public scares you. On the contrary.

Everyone feels fearful of presenting and public speaking to one degree or another.

Giving a presentation is very worrying for many people. Presenting or speaking to an audience regularly tops the list in surveys of people's top fears - more than heights, flying or dying.

Here is a popular saying (which features in many presentations) about giving presentations and public speaking:

" Most people would prefer to be lying in the casket rather than giving the eulogy. "

I first heard a speaker called Michelle Ray use this quote in the early 1990s. The quote is often credited to Jerry Seinfeld, although the basic message is much older. For example (thanks Dr N Ashraf) the ancient Tamil work Thirukkural (also called Tirrukural) includes the following words in its aptly titled chapter,  Fearlessness in an Assembly :

" Many are ready to even die in battle, but few can face an assembly without nerves. " 

Couplet 723, from Thirukkural/Tirrukural, also called the Kural - a seminal guide to life and ethics attributed to the Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar, said to have lived between about 200-10BC.

I am grateful also to R Ersapah for an alternative translation of couplet 723, and below, a more modern literal interpretation:

" Many encountering death in face of foe will hold their ground; who speak undaunted in the council hall are rarely found. "

In more modern language this means:

" Many indeed may (fearlessly) die in the presence of (their) foes; (but) few are those who are fearless in the assembly (of the learned). "

In a French translation, this is:

" Nombreux sont ceux qui peuvent affronter la mort face à leurs ennemis; rares sont ceux qui peuvent sans crainte se tenir devant une assemblée. "

The title of Tirrukural's chapter 73 is: Not to dread the Council (French: Ne pas craindre les assemblees).

Couplet 727 says, amusingly and incisively:

" The learning of him who is diffident before an assembly is like the shining sword of an hermaphrodite in the presence of his foes... " (French: " Les connaissances de celui qui a peur des auditoires sont comme l'epee tranchante que tient l'eunuque en presence de son ennemi... " )

I am informed (thanks again R Ersapah) that all of chapter 73 fits the theme of  public speech  being  one of the greatest challenges many people face in their lives .

This is further evidence that speaking in public is not just a modern fear - this fear has been in humankind for at least 2,000 years.

Incidentally the English translation of Tirrukural comprises various chapters such as: Domestic Virtues, Ascetic Virtue, Royalty, Ministers of State, The Essentials of a State. The English Translations are by Rev Dr G U Pope and Rev W H Drew. The French translation is by a Mauritian author M Sangeelee.

I'm always keen to receive and share old examples of public-speaking-and-fear analogies - if you know any  please send them .

Understanding and Overcoming Fear

The key to managing and controlling anything is first to understand it, especially its causes.

The cause of fear is (a feeling of) insecurity and/or an unfamiliar or uncontrollable threat.

In the context of presentations and public speaking, this is usually due to:

• Lack of  confidence , and/or
• Lack of  control  (or a feeling of not having control) - over the situation, other people (the audience) and our own reactions and feelings
• And (in some cases) possibly a bad memory or experience from our past

The effects of these are heightened according to the  size of the audience , and potentially also the  nature of the audience/situation  - which combine to represent a perceived uncontrollable threat to us at a very basic and instinctive level (which we imagine in the form or critical judgement, embarrassment, humiliation, etc).

This 'audience' aspect is illustrated by the following:

" Most of us would not feel very fearful if required to give a presentation to a class of 30 five-year-old children, but we would feel somewhat more fearful if required to give a presentation to an interview panel of three high court judges. So audience size is not everything - it's the nature of the situation and audience too. "

As such audience size and situation are circumstantial factors which can influence the degree of anxiety, but they are not causal factors in themselves. The causes exist because of the pressure to command, control, impress, etc.

Confidence and Control

The two big causal factors (low  confidence  and  control ) stem typically from:

• Inadequate  preparation/rehearsal , and/or
• Low  experience .

If we have a bad memory which is triggering a fear response, then it is likely that the original situation we recall, which prompts our feelings of anxiety, resulted from one or both of the above factors.

Preparation and rehearsal  are usually very manageable elements. It's a matter of making the effort to prepare and rehearse before the task is upon us. Presentations which do not work well usually do so because they have not been properly prepared and rehearsed.

Experience  can be gained simply by seeking opportunities for public speaking and presenting to people and groups, wherever you feel most comfortable (and then try speaking to groups where you feel less comfortable). Given that humankind and society everywhere are arranged in all sorts of groups - schools and colleges, evening classes, voluntary groups, open-mic nights, debating societies, public meetings, conferences, the local pub, sports and hobby clubs, hospitals, old people's homes, etc, etc - there are countless groups everywhere of people and potential audiences by which you can gain speaking and presenting experience - this is not so difficult to achieve.

So  experience , is actually just another manageable element before the task, although more time and imagination are required than in preparing and rehearsing a particular presentation.

Besides these preparatory points, it's useful to consider that  fear  relates to  stress .

Stress can be managed in various ways.  Understanding stress and stress management methods  can be very helpful in reducing the anxiety we feel before and while giving presentations and public speaking.

Physiology, Chemistry, Stress

Fear of public speaking is strongly related to stress - see the  causes of stress and stress management .

A common physical reaction in people when having to speak in public is a release of adrenaline and cortisol into our systems, which is sometimes likened to drinking several cups of coffee. Even experienced speakers feel their hearts thumping very excitedly indeed.

This sensational reaction to speaking in public is certainly not only felt by novices, and even some of the great professional actors and entertainers suffer from real physical sickness before taking the stage or podium.

So you are not alone. Speaking in public is genuinely scary for most people, including many who outwardly seem very calm.

Our primitive brain shuts down normal functions as the 'fight or flight' impulse takes over - see FEAR under the  acronyms  section (note: there is some adult content among these acronyms for training and presentations).

But don't worry - every person in your audience wants you to succeed. The audience is on your side (if only because they are very pleased that it's you up there in the spotlight speaking and not them).

All you need to do is follow the guidelines contained on this page, and everything will be fine. As the saying goes, don't try to get rid of the butterflies - just get them flying in formation.

Incidentally, the origins of this famous public-speaking/performing butterflies metaphor are typically given as "There is nothing wrong with stomach butterflies! You just have to get them to fly in formation!" - see the attribution information for the  butterflies metaphor  on the inspirational quotes page.

So, how do you calm the butterflies and get them flying in formation?

The answer (where  butterflies  equate to  fear ) is clear and simple in the following maxim:

To  calm the butterflies  you must  be relaxed . To  be relaxed  you must  be confident . To  be confident  you must  be prepared and rehearsed .

Good preparation  is the key to  confidence , which is the key to  being relaxed , and this calms the butterflies,(i.e., overcomes the fear).

Put another way, according to logical ' cause and effect':

Good preparation and rehearsal will reduce your nerves by 75%, and increase the likelihood of avoiding errors to 95%. (Source: Fred Pryor Organisation, a significant provider of seminars and open presentation events.)

And so this is the most important rule for effective presentations and public speaking:

Prepare , which means  plan it , and  practise/rehearse it .

Then you'll be in control, and confident.

Your audience will see this and respond accordingly, which in turn will help build your confidence, and you even start to enjoy yourself too.

And remember that there is a cumulative effect:

Every successful presentation that you create and deliver generates more experience and confidence for you, which makes every future presentation easier and more successful for you, and so it goes, until every last butterfly is calmed.

Tips for Effective Presentations

• Preparation and knowledge (of subject and the presentation itself) are the pre-requisites for a successful presentation, which importantly produce confidence and control, which in turn is important for relaxing the presenter, and the audience.
• As a presenter, remember and apply Eleanor Roosevelt's maxim that " no one can intimidate me without my permission ". When you are a presenter you are in charge. The audience generally accepts this, and you are within your rights to control anyone who does not.
• Remember also that " depth of conviction counts more than the height of logic, and enthusiasm is worth more than knowledge ", (which is apparently attributed to David Peebles, about whom I have no further details - please let me know if you do).  Passion  is therefore a very powerful component in any successful presentation.
• Good presenting is about  entertaining  as well as conveying information. As well, people retain more if they are enjoying themselves and feeling relaxed. So whatever your subject and audience, try to find ways to make the content and delivery enjoyable - even the most serious of occasions, and the driest of subjects, can be lifted to an enjoyable or even an amusing level one way or another with a little research, imagination, and humour.
• Enjoyment and humour are mostly in the preparation. These effects are not easily produced spontaneously. You don't need to be a natural stand-up comedian to inject enjoyment and humour into a presentation or talk. It's the content that enables it, which is very definitely within your control.
• Research and studies generally indicate that in presentations you have between 4 - 7 seconds in which to make a positive impact and good opening impression, so make sure you have a good, strong, solid introduction, and rehearse it until it is 'second nature' to you and an action of  'unconscious competence' .
• Try to build your own credibility in your introduction, and create a safe comfortable environment for your audience,  which you will do quite naturally if you appear to be comfortable yourself .
• Smiling helps a lot. It will relax you and the audience. In addition to giving you a relaxed calm appearance, smiling actually releases helpful 'happy' chemicals into your nervous system, and makes you feel good.
• So does taking a few deep slow breaths to make you feel relaxed - low down from the pit of your stomach - before you take to the stage.
• Avoid starting with a joke unless you are supremely confident - jokes are high-risk things at the best of times, let alone at the start of a presentation. I was sent this excellent and simple idea for a presentation - actually used in a job interview - which will perhaps prompt similar ideas and adaptations for your own situations. At the start of the presentation the letters T, E, A, and M - fridge magnets - were given to members of the audience. At the end of the presentation, the speaker made the point that individually the letters meant little, but together they made a team This powerful use of simple props created a wonderful connection between start and finish, and supported a concept in a memorable and impactful way. (Thanks P Hodgson) N.B. There is a big difference between telling a joke and injecting enjoyment and humour (US spelling, humor) into your talk. Jokes are risky. Enjoyment and humour are safe. A joke requires quite a special skill in its delivery. Joke-telling is something of an art form. Only a few people can do it well without specific training. A joke creates pressure on the audience to laugh at a critical moment. A joke creates tension - that's why it's funny (when it works). This tension equates to an expectation in the listener, which produces a small degree of pleasure when the joke works well, but a very unhelpful awkwardness if the joke is not well-delivered or well-received. A joke also has the potential to offend, and jokes are culturally very sensitive - different people like different jokes. Even experienced comedians can 'die' on stage if their jokes and delivery are at odds with the audience type or mood. On the other hand, enjoyment and humour are much more general, they not dependent on creating tension or the expectation of a punchline. Enjoyment and humour can be injected in very many different ways - for example, a few funny quotes or examples; a bit of audience participation; an amusing prop; an amusing picture or cartoon; or an amusing story (not a joke). Another way to realise the difference between jokes and enjoyment is to consider that you are merely seeking to make people smile and be mildly amused - not to have them belly-laughing in the aisles.
• " Observant delegates among you perhaps will have noticed (refer to the error)... "
• " Welcome everyone. Who among you has noticed my deliberate mistake?... "
• " Welcome everyone. You might have noticed the experimental 'deliberate mistake' icebreaker this morning (refer to the mistake). Could you split into groups of three; analyse the situation, and prepare a two-minute presentation as to how the 'corrective-action loop' might be applied to minimise the chances of this happening again...... No, seriously... "
• Try to start on time even if some of the audience is late. Waiting too long undermines your confidence and the audience's respect for you.
• The average attention span of an average listener is apparently (according to various sources I've seen over the years) between five and ten minutes for any single unbroken subject. Younger 'Playstation' and 'texter' generations will have even less tolerance than this, so structure your content accordingly.
• Any audience will begin to wriggle and feel less comfortable in their seats after about 40 minutes of sitting listening/watching. So presentations which are longer than this time should include a reason for the audience to move a little, or ideally stand up and move about, after about 40 minutes.
• Break up the content so that no single item takes longer than a few minutes, and between each item try to inject something amusing, amazing, remarkable or spicy - a picture, a quote, a bit of audience interaction - anything to break it up and keep people attentive.
• Staying too long (ten minutes or more) on the same subject in the same mode of delivery will send people into a trance-like state, when they are not properly listening, watching or concentrating on the presentation - often called the MEGO state (My Eyes Glaze Over). So break it up, and inject diversions and variety - in terms of content and media (the different ways you can communicate to people or engage their interest). Using a variety of media and movements will maintain maximum interest. Think of it like this - the audience can be stimulated via several senses - not just audio and visual (listening and watching) - consider including content and activity which addresses the other senses too - touch certainly - taste maybe, smell maybe - anything's possible if you use your imagination. The more senses you can stimulate the more your audience will remain attentive and engaged.
• You can stimulate other things in your audience besides the usual 'senses'. You can use content and activities to stimulate feelings, emotions, memories, and even physical movement. Simply asking the audience to stand up, snap their fingers, or blink their eyes (assuming you give them a good reason for doing so) immediately stimulates physical awareness and involvement. Passing several props or samples around is also a great way to stimulate physical activity and involvement.
• Quotes are a wonderful and easy way to stimulate emotions and feelings, and of course, quotes can be used to illustrate and emphasise just about any point or concept you can imagine. Research and collect good quotations and include them in your notes. Memorise one or two if you can because this makes the delivery seem more powerful. See the  funny quotations  and  inspirational quotes  webpages for ideas and examples. Always credit the source of quotes you use. Interestingly, Bobby Kennedy once famously failed to credit George Bernard Shaw when he said that " Some men see things as they are and ask 'why?'; I dare to dream of things that never were and ask 'why not?'. ".
• Failing to attribute a quote undermines a speaker's integrity and professionalism. Conversely, giving credit to someone else is rightly seen as a positive and dignified behaviour. Having quotes and other devices is important to give your presentation depth and texture, as well as keep your audience interested... " If the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer you'll treat everything as a nail. " (Abraham Maslow)
• So don't just speak at people. Give them a variety of content, and different methods of delivery - and activities too if possible.
• Be daring and bold and have fun. Use props and pass them around if you can. The more senses you can stimulate the more fun your audience will have and the more they'll remember.
• Some trainers of public speaking warn that passing props around can cause a loss of control or chaos. This is true, and I argue that it's good. It's far better to keep people active and engaged, even if it all needs a little additional control. Better to have an audience slightly chaotic than bored to death.
• Planned chaos is actually a wonderful way to keep people involved and enjoying themselves. Clap your hands a couple of times and say calmly "Okay now - let's crack on," or something similarly confident and unphased, and you will be back in control, with the audience refreshed for another 5-10 minutes.
• Create analogies and themes, and use props to illustrate and reinforce them. For example, a bag of fresh lemons works well: they look great, they smell great, they feel great, and they're cheap, so you can give out loads and not ask for them back - all you have to do is think of an excuse to use them!
• Questions and 'hands-up' feedback
• Pictures, cartoons and video-clips
• Video-clips  and sound-clips
• Surveys and statistics
• Straw polls (a series of hands-up votes/reactions which you record and then announce results)
• Inviting a volunteer to take the stage with you (for a carefully planned reason)
• Audience participation exercises
• Asking the audience to do something physical (clapping, deep breathing, blinking, finger-snapping, shouting, and other more inventive ideas)
• Asking the audience to engage with each other (for example introductions to person in next chair)
• Funny quotations  (be careful not to offend anyone)
• Inspirational quotations
• Props, samples, physical objects (see the  visual aids ideas page )
• Examples and case-study references
• Fables  and analogies
• Prizes, awards and recognising people/achievements
• Book recommendations
• Fascinating facts (research is easy these days about virtually any subject)
• Statistics (which dramatically improve audience 'buy-in' if you're trying to persuade)
• Games and exercises and icebreakers
• Body language , and the changing tone and pitch of your voice.
• For long presentations of more than an hour or two, such as training sessions, aim to have a 'rest' break every 45-60 minutes for people to get up and stretch their legs, otherwise, you'll be losing their attention regardless of the amount of variety and diversion 'spice' you include.
• Take the pressure off yourself by not speaking all the time. Get the audience doing things, and make use of all the communications senses available.
• Interestingly the use of visual aids generally heightens retention of the spoken word - by 70% or more. The figure is demonstrably and substantially more than 70% for certain things, for example: try memorising a person's face from purely a verbal description, compared with actually seeing the face. A verbal or written description is only fractionally as memorable as actually seeing anything which has more than a basic level of complexity.

Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience

• Heard and Seen 50%
• Said and Done 90%
• So use visual aids a lot in your presentations.  Your voice is not the only or main tool at your disposal. Get visuals working fully for you, and your presentations will be more engaging, and a lot easier for you to deliver and enjoy.

Tips for Using Visual Aids

• For printed visual aids with several paragraphs of text, use serif fonts (a font is a typeface) for quicker readability.
• For computer and LCD projectors use sans serif fonts, especially if the point size (letter size) is quite small.
• Arial is a sans serif font. Times is a serif font. (A serif font has the extra little cross-lines at the ends of the strokes of the letters. Interestingly, serif fonts originated in the days of engraving, before printing, when the engraver needed a neat exit from each letter.)
• Extensive sections of text can be read more quickly in a serif font because the words have a horizontal flow, but serif fonts have a more old-fashioned traditional appearance than sans serif, and so stylistically can seem old-fashioned, which does not fit certain presentations.
• If you need to comply with a company/corporate typeface (font/letter design) you'll maybe have no choice of lettering style. If you are creating and delivering the presentation for a company or organization of any sort then ask if there is a recommended/compulsory 'house' typeface, and if so, then use it, along with corporate colour/colour schemes and branding. Marketing departments usually keep this information.
• Generally, try to use no more than two different typefaces (fonts) and no more than two size/bold/italic variants, or the text presentation becomes confused and very distracting to read quickly and easily.
• Whatever - try to select fonts and point sizes that are the best fit for your medium and purpose.
• If in doubt simply pick a well-readable serif font and use it big and bold about 20-30pt for headings, and 14 - 16 point size for the body text.
• See the  marketing and advertising  section for lots of tips and secrets about presenting written/typed/electronic/printed words.
• See also the writing tips on this website for good general guidance and tips about writing effectively, so that your audience can read, understand, and absorb what you want to communicate to them.
•  Your own written cue/prompt cards and notes  - Create your own prompts and notes to suit your purpose and situation. Cue cards are usually very effective aids, but make sure to  number them  and  tie them together, in order . In the pressure of a presentation, it is very easy to accidentally shuffle or drop your cue cards, which is then a serious nuisance and distraction for any presenter. A single  ' at-a-glance timetable sheet  is a useful aid for any presenter, especially for presentations longer than half an hour, where keeping track is more challenging. A timetable on one sheet is also useful to monitor your timing and pace.

Preparation and Creating Your Presentation

This is a sequential step-by-step process - a list of the main action points - for creating and preparing a successful and effective presentation - large or small. The process includes preparing, creating, checking, rehearsing, refining and finalising the presentation.

• Think about your audience, your aims, their expectations, the surroundings, the facilities available, and what type of presentation you are going to give (lecture style, informative, participative, etc).
• What are your aims? To inform, inspire and entertain, maybe to demonstrate and prove, and maybe to persuade.
• How do you want the audience to react?
• Thinking about these things will help you ensure that your presentation is going to achieve its purpose.
• Clearly identify your subject and your purpose to yourself, and then let the creative process take over for a while to gather all the possible ideas for the subject matter and how you could present it.
• Think about interesting ways to convey and illustrate and bring your points to life, so that your presentation is full of interesting things (think of these as 'spices') to stimulate as many senses as possible. A presentation is not restricted to spoken and visual words - you can use physical samples and props, sound and video, body movement, audience participation, games and questions, statistics, amazing facts, quotes, and lots more ideas to support your points and keep the audience engaged.
• Use  brainstorming  and 'mind-mapping' methods (mind-mapping is sketching out ideas in extensions, like the branches of a tree, from a central idea or aim). Both processes involve freely putting random ideas and connections on a piece of paper - the bigger the sheet the better - using different coloured pens will help too.
• Don't try to write the presentation in detail until you have decided on the content you need and created a rough structure from your random collected ideas and material. See the  brainstorming  process - it's very helpful and relevant for creating and writing presentations.
• When you have all your ideas on paper, organise them into subject categories. Three categories often work best. Does it flow? Is there a logical sequence that people will follow, and which makes you feel comfortable?
• Use the  'rule of three'  to structure the presentation where possible, because sets of three have a natural balance and flow. A simple approach is to have three main sections. Each section has three sub-sections. Each of these can have three sub-sections, and so on. A 30-minute presentation is unlikely to need more than three sections, with three sub-sections each. A three-day training course presentation need to have no more than four levels of three, giving 81 sub-sections in all. Simple!
• Presentations almost always take longer to deliver than you imagine.
• When you have a rough draft of your presentation you should practise it, as if you were actually in front of an audience, and check the timings.  If your timings are not right - (usually you will have too much material) - then you can now adjust the amount of content, and avoid unnecessarily refining sections that need to be cut out. Or if you are short of content, you can expand the presentation material accordingly, or take longer to explain the content you already have.
• You must create a  strong introduction  and a  strong close .
• You must  tell people what you're going to speak about  and the  purpose or aim of your presentation .
• And if you finish with a stirring quotation or a stunning statistic, you must, before this,  summarise what you have spoken about  and if appropriate,  demand action from your audience , even if it is to go away and think about what you have said.
• Essentially the structure of all good presentations is to:  " Tell'em what you're gonna tell'em. Tell'em. Then tell'em what you told'em. "  (Thanks N Toptani for suggesting that this famous quote about public speaking originated by George Bernard Shaw)
• When you have structured your presentation, it will have an opening, a middle with headed sections of subject matter, and a close, with an opportunity for questions, if relevant. This is still a somewhat flat 'single-dimensional' script.  Practice it in its rough form , which is effectively a 'read-through' rather than a fully formed presentation with all aids and equipment.
• Next, you bring it to life as a fully formed presentation - give it space and life and physicality and character - by blending in your presentation methods, aids, props, and devices, as appropriate. This entails the equipment and materials you use, case studies, examples, quotations, analogies, questions and answers, individual and syndicate exercises, interesting statistics, samples, visual and physical aids, and any other presentation aid you think will work.  This stage often requires more time than you imagine if you have to source props and materials.
• Practice your presentation in rough  full form  with all your aids and devices. Review and record the timings. They will be different compared to earlier simple read-throughs. Amend and refine the presentation accordingly. Practising at this stage is essential to build your competence and confidence - especially in handling and managing the aids and devices you plan to use - and also to rehearse the pace and timings. You'll probably be amazed at this stage to realise how much longer the presentation takes to deliver than you imagined when you were simply reading on your cards or notes.
• If your presentation entails audio-visual (AV) support and equipment provision by specialist providers then ensure you control the environment and these services. If there are audio-visual aspects happening that you don't understand then seek clarification. You must understand, manage and control these services - do not assume that providers know what you need - tell the providers what you want, and ask what you need to know.
• Ask an honest and tactful friend to listen and watch you practice. Ask for his/her comments about how you can improve, especially your body language and movement, your pace and voice, and whether everything you present and say can be easily understood. If your test-listener can't make at least half a dozen constructive suggestions then ask someone else to watch and listen and give you feedback.
• Refine your presentation, taking account of the feedback you receive, and your own judgement. Test the presentation again if there are major changes, and repeat this cycle of refinement and testing until you are satisfied.
• Produce the presentation materials and organise the equipment, and ensure you are comfortable with your method of reading from notes, cards etc.
• Practice your presentation in its refined full form. Amend and refine as necessary, and if possible have a final rehearsal in the real setting, especially if the venue/situation is strange to you.
• Take nothing for granted. Don't guess or make assumptions about anything that could influence your success. Check and double-check, and plan contingencies for anything that might go wrong.
• Plan and control the layout of the room as much as you are able. If you are a speaker at someone else's event you'll not have complete control over this, but if it's your event then take care to position yourself, your equipment and your audience and the seating plan so that it suits you and the situation. For instance, don't lay out a room theatre-style if you want people to participate in teams; use a cabaret layout instead. Use a boardroom layout (everyone around a big long table) if you want a cooperative debating approach for a group of up to 10-12 people. Consider splitting people into sub-groups if the total group size is more than 10-12 people. (See guidance on managing group sizes in the team building section.)
• Make sure, when the room/venue is prepared, that (before delegates arrive) everyone will be able to see you, and all of the visual displays (screen, whiteboard, etc).
• Make sure you understand, and if appropriate control and convey, the domestic arrangements (fire drill, catering, smoking, messages, coffee and lunch breaks etc). If you are running/starting the event, then this is your responsibility. It is also good to remind people of these arrangements when restarting after a lunch break. To build these aspects into your presentation and timings if they are required.

Delivering Presentations Successfully

• The day before your presentation  see again the notes about calming your butterflies - i.e., be prepared and rehearsed, be  confident , calm your butterflies, and overcome any fears you have.
• In the half-hour before your presentation: Relax.  If you are not relaxed then try to find a way to become so. Think about breathing slowly and deeply. Think about calming relaxing things. Smile. If despite all your preparations you remain scared, a good way to overcome your fear is just to do it. Paraphrasing the great philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.. " What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. " Remember you are not alone among presenters in having these feelings, and the audience is on your side. Remember also, the initial impact is made and audience's mood towards you is established in the first 4-7 seconds. So go for it.
• Start with your solid practised opening, and  smile .  Enjoy it.  Or look like you are enjoying it.
• Be firm, be confident and be in control; the stage is yours, and the audience is on your side.
• Introduce yourself and tell them what you're going to tell them. Tell them why you are telling them it; why it's important, and why it's you that's telling them.
• Tell the audience how long your presentation will last, and explain when in the presentation the audience is able to ask questions.
• It is generally easier to deliver and manage a presentation if you tell the audience to ask their questions at the end. For a more participative and involving presentation you can allow questions at any time, but ensure you keep firm control of your timings, and the audience.
• If your audience is more than about 30-40 people then it can become difficult to take questions during the presentation, so for large groups, and certainly, groups exceeding 100 people it's generally best to take questions at the end of the presentation.
• By the time you've done this introduction, you've established your authority, created respect and credibility, and overcome the worst of your nerves. You are probably enjoying it. If you're just giving a short presentation then by the time you've done all this you've completed a quarter of it!
• Be aware of your own  body language  and remember what advice you got from your friend on your practice run. You are the most powerful visual aid of all, so use your body movement and position well. Don't stand in front of the screen when the projector is on.
• If people talk amongst themselves just stop and look at them. Say nothing, just look. You will be amazed at the effect, and how quickly your authority increases. This silent tactic usually works with a chaotic audience too.
• If you really need to change things during the presentation then change them, and explain to the audience why you are doing it if that helps you and them.
• If you want a respite or some thinking time, asking the audience a question or involving them in an exercise takes the pressure off you, and gives you a bit of breathing space.
• Pausing is fine. A pause tends to seem like an age when you're up there presenting, but actually, the audience won't notice a pause, and will not think a pause is a mistake unless you draw attention to it. An occasional pause is perfectly fine, and very reasonably helps you to concentrate on what you're going to say next.
• Keep control. No one will question your authority when you have control, so don't give it up.
• If you don't know the answer to a question then say so and deal with it later. You have the right to defer questions until the end (on the grounds that you may well be covering it in the presentation later anyway, or just simply because you say so).
• Close positively and firmly, thank the audience, and accept plaudits graciously.

Creating presentations: Step-by-Step

This is the basic sequence of actions for creating and preparing a presentation up to the point of actually delivering the presentation to an audience:

• Define purpose
• Gather content and presentation ideas
• Structure the subject matter (sections, headings, order)
• Develop how to present it (style, elements, props, equipment)
• Prepare presentation (wording, design, materials, equipment)
• Practise and rehearsals (get feedback, refinement)
• Plan venue, control the environment
• 'Dress rehearsal' if warranted
• Relax and prepare yourself - confidence and control

And in a little more detail..

Prepare the Presentation

• What's the purpose?
• What outcomes and reactions are you seeking?

Consider the more detailed nature of:

• Subject and content, audience needs, type of presentation, equipment and venue.
• Create and gather ideas - brainstorm, mind-map, initially random, be innovative and daring.
• Materials, media, exercises, case studies, statistics, props, quotations, analogies, and participation.
• Anticipate questions, know your subject and reference points
• Decide your notes system - cue cards, sheet notes.

Create and Design the Presentation

• Plan the structure - sections, order, headings, intro/middle/close.
• Tell'em what you're gonna tell'em, tell'em, tell'em what you told'em.
• Use the ' rule of three'
• Points of interest ('spice') and activities - early impact - create a credible impression.
• Consider audience attention span and audience profile to get the language and tone right
• Build the presentation, prepare equipment, prepare materials and props, and create your prompts or notes.
• Dry-run practise timings, fall-backs/contingencies.
• Practise full presentation ('dress rehearsal'), get feedback, refine, practise and practise. Practice gives you control. Control gives you confidence. Confidence and control overcome fear.

Deliver your Presentation

• If necessary revisit your notes about how to relax. Stress can be managed, and to a small degree, it is part of the presentation experience. Butterflies are exciting and beautiful, even if they are not in perfect formation.
• You have prepared and practised, so your presentation will succeed and be enjoyable.
• The audience is on your side.
• Use a solid well-rehearsed opening, to make an immediate friendly impact.
• " Tell'em what you're gonna tell'em, tell'em, then tell'em what you told'em. "
• Use confident body language, control, firmness, and confidence, speak your audience's language, and accentuate the positive (be positive and upbeat).
• Pause when you need to and don't apologise for it - pausing is perfectly okay.
• Use audience participation where possible, be clear, calm, close powerfully and simply and gratefully, and have fun!

Related Materials

• BODY LANGUAGE THEORY, GUIDE, DE-CODER
• CLEAN LANGUAGE - DAVID GROVE QUESTIONING METHOD
• MEHRABIAN'S COMMUNICATION THEORY - VERBAL, NON-VERBAL, BODY LANGUAGE
• NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING (NLP)
• TEAM BRIEFING PROCESS
• TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS - ERIC BERNE - EARLY THEORY
• TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS - ERIC BERNE - RECENT THEORY
• TREE SWING CARTOONS (NEW VERSIONS)

Presentation Skills 3: The Rule of Three

This is one of the oldest of all the presentation techniques – known about since the time of Aristotle.

People tend to remember lists of three things. Structure your presentation around threes and it will become more memorable.

The Rule of Three – We remember three things.

The rule of three is one of the oldest in the book – Aristotle wrote about it in his book Rhetoric. Put simply it is that people tend to easily remember three things.

Remember as a kid when your mum sent you down to the shop to buy a number of things. But when you got to the shop all you could remember were three things. This is the rule of three

Odds are that people will only remember three things from your presentation

What will they be?

1. The audience are likely to remember only three things from your presentation – plan in advance what these will be.

Believe it or not, the chances are, people will only remember three things from your presentation. So before you start writing your presentation, plan what your three key messages will be. Once you have these messages, structure the main part of your presentation around these three key themes and look at how they could be better illustrated.

2. There are three parts to your presentation

The beginning, the middle and the end. Start to plan out what you will do in these three parts. The beginning is ideal for an attention grabber or for an ice breaker. The end is great to wrap things up or to end with a grand finale.

3. Use lists of three wherever you can in your presentation

Lists of three have been used from early times up to the present day. They are particularly used by politicians and advertisers who know the value of using the rule of three to sell their ideas.

Veni, Vidi, Vici (I came, I saw, I conquered) – Julius Caesar** “ Friends, Romans, Countrymen lend me your ears” – William Shakespeare “Our priorities are Education, Education, Education ” – Tony Blair A Mars a day helps you to work, rest and play – Advertising slogan Stop, look and listen – Public safety announcement

A classic example of the rule of three was Winston Churchill’s famous Blood, Sweat and Tears speech. He is widely attributed as saying I can promise you nothing but blood sweat and tears. What he actually said was “I can promise you Blood, Sweat, Toil and Tears”. Because of the rule of three we simply remember it as Blood sweat and tears.

There are lots of other examples of the rule of three on this link

4. In Presentations “Less is More”

If you have four points to get across – cut one out. They won’t remember it anyway. In presentations less really is more. No one ever complained of a presentation being too short.

Presentation Essentials

Three Presentation Essentials

• Use visual aids where you can
• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse
• The audience will only remember three messages

So there you have the presentation essentials. I suggest that you print out this little box and stick it in your work book for future reference.

** Technically the quote is – Veni (I came), Vidi (I saw), Vici (I crushed them) which is falsely tied to Gaul and Britanny Conquest by Julius Caesar, but was pronounced before the Senate after the crushing of a small revolt in what is now Turkey…

Recommended Pages

I get the point but find it slightly humorous and ironic that you give four reasons as to why people remember things in three. Why not take your own advice and keep the list to three?

great.usefull.simple

Interesting, useful

highly informative with excellent examples

Why do people tend to remember three things?

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Strengthening English language undergraduates’ presentation skills: A blackboard-mediated intervention program

Sami algouzi.

1 Associate Professor of Linguistics, Department of English, College of Languages and Translation, Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia

Ali Abbas Falah Alzubi

2 Assistant Professor of Applied Linguistics, Department of English, College of Languages and Translation, Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia

3 Associate Professor, English Department, College of Languages and Translation, Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia

Associated Data

The dataset of the paper has been deposited, here is the link 10.6084/m9.figshare.23821977 .

Studies and reports indicate that some graduates struggle to find jobs, in part because they lack the key presentation skills and competencies the labor market needs. Thus, this research investigated the effectiveness of a Blackboard-mediated intervention program in strengthening English as a foreign language (EFL) students’ presentation skills. The research followed a quasi-experimental (time series) design, delivering workshops on presentation skills and collecting data from the students (N = 30) using a set of instruments: a pre-and post-assessment checklist and semi-structured interviews. The results showed that the students’ presentation skills improved significantly post intervention. Also, the participants reported positive attitudes concerning the intervention. Drawing on these findings, recommendations and suggestions are presented.

Introduction

Presentation skills refer to the communicative abilities a person must possess to deliver engaging, informative, educational, enlightening, and attractive content, such as enthusiasm, a focus on the audience, keeping things simple, and excellent body language. Tursunoy describes oral presentations as a significant component of the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom today in various parts of the world [ 1 ]. As Evans and Morrison point out, presentations are now frequently used as assessment tools or as class exercises in all academic fields, especially in English as a second language (ESL) and EFL settings [ 2 ]. Moreover, Yang notes that the EFL context has emerged as essential for fostering oral competence in environments that are less favorable in terms of oral socialization [ 3 ].

In studies of communication, presentation skills have attracted the attention of researchers. For example, Kim [ 4 ] and Evans [ 5 ] argue that presentation skills are considered successful communicative goals. Presentation skills are widely required in today’s professional world and are essential for graduates, who need to acquire these skills to present on diverse occasions and at various events. Graduates understand the importance of presentation skills such as those highlighted by Dung, who states that the presenter needs a professional appearance, proper pronunciation, and fluency to engage the audience, and they also understand that practice can boost the oral and communicative aspects of the presentation [ 6 ]. However, they find acquiring and using these skills challenging for various reasons. In this regard, drawing on the views of learners, Osterman suggests that the development of oral skills should begin with practicing communication [ 7 ].

In this research, we argue that presentation skills are a necessary consideration with reference to the Saudi Vision 2030 and labor market needs, and competence in oral presentation should be a subject of prominence. Competence in oral presentation comprises the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to speak in public, where the goals may include informing or persuading the audience, or self-expression [ 8 ]. Oral presentation skills are considered key for employability [ 9 ], and communication, especially in the oral mode, has been identified as one of the essential skills for the 21st century. Presentation skills bring students benefits, such as lifelong learning skills. Moreover, the learning experience can help them develop appropriate skills if they are trained professionally. Presentation skills give learners an effective means of bridging the gap between language study and language use. Making presentations requires students to use all four skills in a natural, integrative way [ 10 ]. These days, university students and graduates are typically required to have the ability to make presentations in English to a public audience [ 11 ]. Oral presentation is not only part of 21st-century skills but is also required when students enter the workplace [ 12 ]. Therefore, higher education courses commonly integrate oral presentations as part of the course activities and/or learning objectives [ 13 ].

Presentation-related studies have been widely researched. Previous research has focused on the impact of oral presentation on language proficiency, speaking ability, oral communication abilities, self-confidence, attitudes, challenges, and factors of influence in learning presentation skills [ 8 , 14 – 18 ]. However, to the best of our knowledge, no research thus far has been conducted on the use of online instructional interventions to train students in how to present themselves in English. This study, undertaken at Najran University, addressed many aspects of oral presentations, such as organization, content, language, style, and delivery, as well as students’ lack of enthusiasm.

It was expected that this study would lead to a significant improvement in undergraduates’ presentation abilities, which are vital in today’s professional world and to meet labor market expectations. The rising need for graduates with effective presentation skills requires more effective, innovative, and result-oriented instruction. Better teaching and learning methodologies are needed to enhance students’ presentation skills and teachers must pay special attention to this aspect of learning. The intervention in this study highlighted crucial areas in presentation abilities that many researchers may not have consider. Therefore, this study aimed to promote undergraduates’ presentation skills, consistent with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 and labor market needs, via a Blackboard-mediated intervention program. The findings provide crucial suggestions about making presentations and advance proposals concerning the essential elements for an effective presentation.

Theoretical framework

Bandura’s social cognitive theory contends that human actions are influenced by personal, behavioral, and environmental factors [ 19 ]. According to this theory, seeing others in social interactions, one’s experiences, and outside media influences might contribute to an individual’s knowledge acquisition and behavior [ 20 ], as people acquire behaviors and cognitive techniques through watching how others behave [ 21 ]. When individuals observe activity being modelled and the consequences of that conduct, they remember the sequence of events and use this knowledge to influence future behavior [ 22 ]. In this process, the environment, behavior, and cognition all play important roles in shaping growth in reciprocal triadic interactions [ 19 , 20 ].

Thus, the foundation of social cognitive theory is a process of information acquisition or learning directly related to model observation. According to Zhou and Brown [ 20 ], three factors contribute to model observation: model characteristics, such as high status, competence, and power; observer attributes, such as talent and courage, confidence, self-esteem, and independence; and model action consequences, such as self-efficacy and self-regulation. Effective modeling provides broad norms and techniques for coping with various circumstances. This can be provided through interpersonal imitation or media sources [ 19 ].

Review of the literature

The available literature suggests an increasing focus among researchers on the importance of presentation skills and studying the challenges learners face in presenting. Some of the main challenges learners face in making presentations are background knowledge, anxiety, motivation, language, grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation [ 23 – 29 ]. This is perhaps not surprising as many studies have found that presenting is a multi-layered and challenging task. Morreale points out that presenting requires considerable preparation, for example organizing content, incorporating relevant information and ideas, and selecting the appropriate attire [ 30 ]. It is necessary for students to combat these challenges since mastering slide shows, demonstrations, lectures, or speeches can assist presenters communicate with audiences by utilizing words and images [ 31 ].

Examining the presentations of a group of TESOL graduates, Zareva showed that the students acted in a variety of identity roles: guiding the audience through the information, recounting their research and decision-making processes, drawing attention to how the information was organized, and clarifying the purpose of their presentation and the structure of their argument [ 32 ]. Finding that students had difficulties providing presentation content for audiences, Melvina and Dona Alicia argued that teachers should spend more time introducing them to the broad skills they need when giving presentations [ 33 ].

Numerous factors influence presentation skills, including the ability to speak in English, which is something students are often afraid of doing [ 34 ]. Rumiyati and Seftika observe that speaking in front of a crowd is one of the most difficult tasks for EFL students [ 35 ]. Tsang identified a significant correlation between students’ perceived competence regarding the delivery of oral presentations and their level of anxiety concerning public speaking [ 36 ]. Similarly, Waluyo and Rofiah found that students’ performance in presentations is predicted by situational and potential confidence and communication confidence [ 16 ].

Background knowledge, psychology, language and style, preparation, and the instructor are some of the key factors that influence learners’ delivery of presentations [ 37 – 41 ]. Indriani found that qualities such as eye contact, body posture, and voice were further characteristics that aided pre-service teachers’ English-speaking abilities [ 42 ]. Among these, Worawong et al. identified hand gestures were the strategy most used by students in their oral presentations [ 43 ]. Okada et al. [ 44 ] and Yano [ 45 ] showed that self-monitoring, peer evaluation, and model observation have positive effects on improving learners’ oral presentation skills.

Technology can significantly enhance the general standard of one’s presentation in various ways. However, students’ readiness to embrace such technology and focus during presentations is critical. As a basis, Donohoe observed that presenters commonly utilize PowerPoint in the modern era to transmit information or media via slides as the medium offers adaptable presentation styles [ 46 ]. However, it is important to note that the development of information technologies has paved the way for new means of making presentations. Many technologies are available, such as Prezi, Keynote, and PowerPoint, as well as a range of venues, such as blogs, Facebook, and YouTube [ 47 – 49 ]. Thus, students should be encouraged to deliver their presentations by exploring different technologies, which can lead to better oral communication skills compared to traditional presentation tools [ 50 ].

Alshobramy found that applying social learning theory increased the speaking ability of secondary school EFL students naturally by providing innovative and adaptable learning experiences [ 51 ]. Fauzi showed that a multimedia-based presentation approach assisted students in developing their speaking and presentation skills, as well as their confidence [ 52 ]. Mahdi also reported that multimedia devices had a positive impact on the development of presentation and speaking skills among students [ 8 ]. Salem reported that TED lectures enhanced business students’ oral presentation abilities and vocabulary uptake/retention levels [ 53 ]. Also, the students were more enthusiastic, motivated, and eager to produce outstanding presentations as they grew more self-assured and relaxed. Sirisrimangkorn revealed that project-based learning using presentations had significant effects on students’ speaking skills [ 54 ]. Burhanuddin claimed that the individual presentation method was effective in enhancing students’ confidence and providing them with the experience of speaking in front of a crowd [ 14 ]. The results also indicated that the task gave them more awareness and self-evaluation on how to perform good public speaking. Hida examined the effectiveness of collaborative learning in co-constructing knowledge and skills in giving oral presentations in English classrooms in Japan and found that the learners primarily acquired five benefits: noticing the gap, knowledge co-construction, overcoming weakness, behavior modeling, and psychological improvement [ 55 ]. Pham et al. conducted a study aiming at measuring English-majored students’ views of their speaking skills, especially presentation skills. The results showed that most students were not confident about their presentation skills because of fears of making mistakes in vocabulary usage and grammar, lack of fluency, and so on [ 17 ].

There are very few studies on employing ICT-mediated programs to improve the presentation skills of EFL learners. However, some studies have suggested that learners experience difficulties in terms of anxiety, learning issues, and media access and use. For example, Solmaz employed Pecha Kucha to develop EFL learners’ speaking and oral presentation skills. Thematic analysis not only highlighted the advantages of the program, such as developing speaking and presentation skills, enhancing self-confidence, and improving time management, but also drawbacks, such as increased anxiety, a steep learning curve, and format constraints [ 56 ]. Among other studies examining the integration of technology in oral presentations [ 57 – 60 ], some found that this can pose difficulties in terms of the students’ language competence. Some students believed that the time given to them was insufficient, while others considered that their poor speaking abilities were to blame for their difficulties in presenting. Students also experienced fear of speaking since they understood that virtual audiences would view recordings of their oral presentations later.

To summarize, previous studies, both with and without the integration of technology, have investigated presentations with a focus on numerous different aspects. A review of the literature suggests that existing research on strengthening EFL learners’ presentation skills is very fragmented, lacks theoretical grounding and has received little empirical attention with particular reference to implementing an intervention. This research was premised on the belief that implementing an intervention program could enhance EFL learners’ presentation skills, making them better qualified for the labor market. The study investigated how a multilayered intervention program delivered through a series of workshops on Blackboard might help EFL students become successful presenters.

The study entailed designing and implementing a Blackboard-mediated interventional program aimed at improving undergraduates’ presentation skills in terms of organization, content, communication, delivery, and enthusiasm. The study utilized Blackboard as a platform to present the intervention as many presentations, and indeed job interviews, take place online, particularly since COVID-19. Other reasons for choosing Blackboard as a platform concerned convenience for the students in terms of time, place, effort, reference, and cost. The study sought to address the following research questions:

• What impact does a Blackboard-mediated intervention program have on EFL undergraduates’ presentation skills?
• What are the participants’ views of the experience of the Blackboard-mediated intervention program and its effect on their presentation skills?

Methodology

Research design and context.

The research adopted a quasi-experimental design to achieve the study objectives. This study aimed to investigate how effectively a Blackboard-mediated intervention program would be in strengthening EFL students’ presentation skills. An assessment checklist and semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data from undergraduates at the College of Languages and Translation at Najran University in the Kingdom of the Saudi Arabia in the second semester of the academic year 2023.

Population and sample

The study population comprised undergraduates majoring in the English language and translation programs at Najran University in 2023. The study sample was based on purposive sampling and students’ voluntary participation. Those students who agreed to participate in the study completed two copies of the written informed consent form; they kept one copy and returned the other to the researchers. The Ethical Approval Committee at the Deanship of Scientific Research, Najran University granted approval to conduct the study [009773-021280-DS]. It should be noted that the researchers had no access to personal information that could identify individual participants at any time during or after data collection.

The study sample comprised two groups, 30 students in total, recruited to the study in the second semester of 2023. All the participants were Saudi, aged 22–23 years, and enrolled in the 9th and 10th levels of two courses: Contrastive Linguistics and Drama. They had been exposed to English language instruction for 11 years at school and university and all spoke Arabic as their mother tongue. They were studying EFL in a formal context and their English level should be considered upper-intermediate. Thus, they should have been able to initiate presentations, raise inquiries, and express their opinions about what they were studying in relation to the instructional material.

Study instruments

The study applied two instruments for data collection: a pre-and post-assessment checklist and semi-structured interview. The researchers designed the assessment checklist with reference to presentation assessment rubrics available online, such as one developed by Owen Williamson at the University of Texas ( https://utminers.utep.edu/omwilliamson/engl1311/Presrubric.doc ) and another developed by the Justice Institute of British Columbia ( https://www.jibc.ca/sites/default/files/library/files/Group_Presentation_Marking_Rubric.doc ). The assessment checklist included presentation skills (25 items) distributed across five main domains: organization, content, communication, delivery, and enthusiasm. Each dimension contained five items.

Organization included aspects such as defining the background and importance of the topic, stating objectives that can identify relevant questions, presenting information in a logical sequence, summarizing the major points of the presentation, and providing attendees with a “take-home” message. Content included gaining the attention of the audience, defining technical terms, including relevant material, preparedness of the content, and presenting an obvious conclusion. Communication included good language skills and pronunciation, demonstrating good grammar and choice of words, using rhythm, intonation, accent, and tone variation, effective pace of delivery, being fluent and articulate, and using no fillers (umm, like), or long pauses. Delivery included items about maintaining good eye contact with the audience, using gestures in addition to a clear and audible voice, using well-prepared informative handouts, notes, and visual aids, presenting within the assigned time limits, and answering questions professionally. Finally, enthusiasm contained items about demonstrating strong enthusiasm throughout the presentation, increasing audience understanding and knowledge of the topic, convincing the audience to recognize the validity and importance of the subject drawing on evidence, being relaxed and confident with no/minimal hesitation throughout the talk, and being in professional attire.

Before the treatment program, the participants were asked to present topics related to two subjects they were studying (Contrastive Linguistics and Drama), and their performance was assessed using the checklist. Then, they were trained in presentation skills by one of the teachers with experience in this area. After that, they were again asked to present the topics related to their subjects and assessed using the same checklist.

Semi-structured interviews were employed in which the participants were asked about their experience of learning presentation skills, their attitudes, and suggestions for further improvements. The participants were interviewed immediately after the post-assessment by another teacher who had not conducted the intervention. The interviews were estimated to last 8–10 minutes. They were conducted in an office in the Department of English and audio-recorded. The semi-structured interview questions were as follows:

• How would describe your experience of the presentation skills workshops?
• What new presentation skills did you learn in the workshops?
• How did you feel after taking the presentation skills workshops?
• What things did you like/ dislike about the presentation skills workshops?
• Do you have any suggestions for making the presentation skills workshops more fruitful? Please elaborate.

Validity and reliability

A jury of five experts checked both instruments, the assessment checklist and the interview questions, to establish content validity. The experts were specialized in English language teaching and technology-based learning and teaching and had more than 10 years of experience in teaching and assessment. The experts had the study tools and objectives to verify that the tools could produce valid data to answer the research questions. They also checked the applicability of the items in the Saudi context. Finally, they suggested working on language issues.

To establish the internal consistency of the assessment checklist, the researchers applied Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) to check the relationship between items and the checklist as a whole. The checklist was applied to assess the performance of a sample of 20 students who did not participate in the study. Table 1 shows the results of the correlation.

** Significant at p = 0.01

* Significant at p = 0.05.

As shown in Table 1 , the values of the Pearson correlation coefficients for the relation between each item and the whole scale ranged between 0.505 and 0.769 and were all significant at p = 0.01 or p = 0.05, demonstrating the validity of the checklist.

To verify the reliability of the assessment checklist, two assessors evaluated the performance of the exploratory sample (N = 20). The two assessors were faculty members in the Department of English, specializing in English language teaching and assessment. They had been teaching English for more than 15 years. The authors oriented them on the study topic, objectives, and evaluation checklist (dimensions and items). Any points they did not understand were clarified. The assessors were instructed to use a separate checklist for each student and to conduct the evaluation while the student was presenting. The reliability of the assessment checklist was calculated based on the level of agreement between the assessors (inter-rater reliability): Level of agreement/(no. of agreements + no. of disagreements) [ 13 ]. Table 2 presents the results.

Table 2 shows that the assessment checklist was reliable (87.6%). The reliability coefficient values of domains ranged between 86% and 90%.

Instructional intervention

The study drew on social cognitive theory as a theoretical foundation to create and implement a Blackboard-mediated intervention aimed at improving undergraduates’ oral presentation skills. A variety of factors influenced the selection of this theoretical framework. First and foremost, the researchers aimed to draw as much as possible from the existing literature on the procedures used in the current study to improve EFL students’ oral presentation skills. This research is aligned with Solmaz [ 56 ] in considering “the long-term character of the development process of oral presentation skills, described as central professional skills” (p.16). Moreover, the purpose of the study corresponds to Bandura’s view that social cognitive theory is particularly well adapted to explaining the evolution of complex behavior, such as oral presentation skills [ 19 ]. Based on this theory, the researchers considered three main factors that contribute to changing behavior—personal, behavioral, and environmental—in that people learn new knowledge by watching others and use it in the future to change their behaviors. In addition, the study utilized previous research, such as the work of Zareva [ 32 ], who referred to the roles TESOL graduates played when examining presentations, such as guiding the audience through the information, recounting their research and decision-making processes, drawing attention to how the information was organized, and clarifying the purpose of their presentation and the structure of their argument.

The study provided a training program on presentation skills through workshops in which the participants watched how others presented, learned from the process, and applied it in the future to change their behavior. Interventions in the educational sphere provide students with the required or desired assistance they need in the form of capabilities, competencies, skills, etc., which could not be obtained or developed during an educational program and the lack of which may adversely impact graduates’ future or career opportunities. De Grez observed that “to design an instructional intervention, we have to be clear about its objectives. We have to determine the outcomes of the intervention focusing on the acquisition and development of oral presentation skills” [ 61 , p.57]. This study aimed to design and carry out a Blackboard-mediated intervention program, conducting workshops to strengthen EFL undergraduates’ presentation skills in line with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 and labor market needs.

The program focused on enhancing the 30 participants’ knowledge of how to make their presentations effective and improving their performance. The content was divided into five workshops, which introduced the principles of presentation to EFL students and trained them how to present themselves well. The participants were told that presentations are synonymous with demonstrations, lectures, or speeches. They were also made aware that presentations are tailored to persuade, inspire, motivate, or present a new idea/concept to people termed “the audience” who are at the core of any presentation. After the orientation session on the concept, the researchers introduced themselves and the study.

The participants delivered a presentation before the intervention. Both the participants and the researchers were able to identify weaknesses in the organization, content, language, style, and delivery, as well as a lack of enthusiasm on the part of the presenters. Following the initial presentation, the participants were asked to participate in the Blackboard-mediated workshops. Each session lasted one hour, with the last 10 minutes devoted to questions and answers. The researchers also wanted the participants to learn through observation, so they shared relevant videos about the five specific areas crucial in presentations with a focus on the “do’s and don’ts.”

The research procedure consisted of three phases. In the first phase, the participants were required to give presentations and their performance was evaluated using the assessment checklist elaborated by the researchers. This identified issues with organization, content, language, communication style, delivery, and enthusiasm. The second phase comprised the series of five workshops, conducted on Blackboard by an experienced trainer, to instruct the students in how to present effectively and professionally.

The first workshop concerned the organization of presentations, highlighting the need for a clear beginning, middle, and end. The trainer pointed out that the presenter needs to organize ideas logically throughout the presentation and follow the order in a very organized fashion, striving for clear transitions between individual points, slides, and topics. Moreover, the presentation needs to be structured based on the audience and purpose. In addition, the trainer highlighted other key points, such as defining the background and importance of the topic, stating objectives that can identify relevant questions, presenting information in a logical sequence, summarizing the main points of the presentation, and providing attendees with a “take-home” message. The trainer shared videos ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bwDr7WVBwo ) on presentation organization. After watching the video clips, the participants were invited to have a discussion, followed by a question-and-answer session.

The second workshop concerned the substance of presentations in terms of the content. The trainer emphasized the need for unique and important ideas and information. The presenter must use reputable and pertinent sources and cite those sources when necessary. Information must be concise and pertinent to the audience. Again, the trainer addressed several crucial aspects related to content, including gaining the attention of the audience, defining technical terms, incorporating relevant material, preparing the content well, and presenting an obvious conclusion. The trainer shared videos related to content ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl_FJAOcFgQ ) and instructed the participants to pay close attention to considerations of significance and originality.

The third workshop sought to underscore that word choice can make aspects of the presentation clear and memorable if selected well. The trainer highlighted that language, style, and communication are significantly impacted by word choice. The session addressed denotative and connotative concepts, referring to presenting the message clearly, expressing ideas effectively, and choosing respectful and unbiased language. The trainer highlighted several key points, such as the language of presentations typically being somewhat less formal than academic writing, the need to present the main points one by one and pause at the end of each main point to give the audience time to absorb the information and take notes and using phrases to indicate moving on to a new point. In addition, one should consider several aspects under the theme of language, style, and communication, for example, using good language skills and pronunciation, demonstrating good grammar and choice of words, using rhythm, intonation, accent, tone variation, and an effective pace of delivery, being fluent and articulate, and using no fillers (umm, like), or long pauses, etc. The trainer then shared clips on communication, style, and language ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewVCnfMGnFY ), demonstrating that word choice and language use are crucial for communication.

The fourth workshop concerned delivery and addressed a range of factors, from body language and word choice to vocal variety. The trainer highlighted that a good presenter has a passion for the subject and can convey—and perhaps elicit—that emotion in the audience. The workshop stressed the need to make a connection with the audience through eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, and/or vocal tone, as well as to avoid fillers (e.g., umm) and hesitations. These all contribute to communicating the presenter’s professionalism and confidence, inviting audience engagement. In addition, the session covered providing well-prepared, informative handouts, notes, and visual aids, presenting within the assigned time limits, and answering questions professionally. The trainer then shared videos on delivery ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5c1susCPAE&t=8s ).

The last workshop concerned the need for the presenter to show enthusiasm and covered aspects such as using a wide range of gestures (especially when presenting to a large audience on stage), making eye contact with attendees, and speaking with a smile and energy. Thus, the session emphasized the role of body language and facial expressions, as well as highlighting that the presenter’s clothing should not draw attention. Linking back to previous sessions, the workshop noted the relevance of enthusiasm in conveying knowledge of the topic and convincing the audience of the validity and importance of the subject by being relaxed and confident. Again, the trainer shared videos on this aspect of presenting ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5naThX63pF0 ).

In the third phase, students were required to give a presentation and their performance was again assessed using the same checklist as previously. After the presentation, a researcher interviewed the students, asking questions related to their experience of engaging in the presentation skills workshops, their attitudes and feelings about the intervention, and their suggestions for improvement.

Data analysis

The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) v. 25 was used to analyze the data collected from the pre-and post-assessment checklist. To establish the effectiveness of the training program in enhancing the participants’ presentation skills, the study employed paired sample t-tests. The researchers conducted content analysis of the qualitative data from the semi-structured interviews, based on repeated occurrences and grouped under main themes.

The effect of the training program on students’ presentation skills

Table 3 presents the results of the impact of the intervention program on students’ presentation skills, drawing on the pre- and post-assessment for the individual domains and whole scale.

Table 3 shows significant differences at the level of 0.05 before and after the training program in favor of the post-performance (t(29) = 19.863, p > .05). This result indicates that the training program was highly effective in improving the students’ presentation skills.

Students’ reflections on the presentation skills program

Several key themes emerged from the semi-structured interviews with the students concerning their experience of the presentation skills workshops. For most of the interviewees, it was their first time presenting. They reported that the training program was a helpful, interesting, and exciting experience, and they benefited a great deal from it. It helped rid them of anxiety and fear, and they started to feel more confident. In addition, they learned that they should be well-prepared and not appear confused. Furthermore, the training program assisted them in improving their presentation skills in terms of facing the audience and delivering the topic as required. The students also reported that they benefited from the feedback from peers. The following are some of the interviewees’ responses to the first question in the interview concerning their experience of the presentation skills workshops:

• S1. “It is very interesting and helpful. It is the first time I’ve done a presentation.”
• S20. “It was a very good experience.”
• S12. “A wonderful experience that developed my speaking skills and improved my way of meeting the audience and conveying the idea to them in the required form.”
• S13. “A beautiful experience to enhance self-confidence and break the barrier of public fear.”
• S10. “I learned not to get confused during the presentation and come prepared.”

Presentation skills learned

The interviewees’ responses concerning the presentation skills they acquired through the workshops revealed that they learned to speak in front of the public with confidence, to interact with the listeners and ask questions, to raise their voices to attract attention, to pay attention to their body language and tone of voice, to talk without reference to the book, and to give and take examples from other students. Also, they learned how to explain and present without becoming stressed, to present without inappropriate interruption, and to be fluent and accurate. They broke the barrier of fear and stress and improved their self-confidence. The following are some excerpts from the interviewees’ answers:

• S3. “Speaking skills, looking around the listeners, asking questions for them to interact with, and raising the voice to attract attention.”
• S11. “The eye contact and the hand signals, and the importance of preparing for the presentation.”
• S13. “Fluency and accuracy in speaking and interacting with the public.”
• S16. “Facing the audience, increasing self-confidence, and exploring skills about communicating information in its simplest form.”
• S19. “Speaking skills without confusion, the skill of explaining and communicating information.”

Feelings about the experience of engaging in the workshops

The students also described their feelings after taking the presentation skills workshops. They were excited and felt positive about the experience. They were very happy to be trained in presentation skills and to achieve something significant. They broke the barrier and the tension and were proud of what they had achieved. They gained a high level of confidence and morale. These aspects are evidenced in the following excerpts:

• S2. “Awesome and broke the stress barrier.”
• S3. “I feel a sense of accomplishment after I took this step for the first time. Great feeling and development of diction skills and help later.”
• S6. “Nice and I felt the sense of teaching.”
• S7. “It’s a nice feeling and I see myself developing in speaking.”
• S13. “Feeling excited and happy to gain the skill of recitation.”
• S18. “I feel that I have gained a high level of confidence and morale.”

Likes and dislikes

Students reflected on the things they liked or disliked about the presentation skills workshops. They liked the interaction with their peers, strengthening and refining their speaking skills, the seriousness of the sessions, meeting with others, skills development, reviewing errors, the organization of the workshop, enthusiasm, fun, facing the public, and peer support. They also liked the idea of using technology, such as laptops and data presentations. On the negative side, two students were rather tense and confused, which they reported led to some errors during their presentations. The following excerpts provide evidential support for the emergent themes:

• S3. “The things that I liked is that strengthening and refining diction skills. The things I didn’t like were the tension just before the presentation.”
• S7. “Everything I liked and most specially, it increased my self-confidence by speaking.”
• S11. “The things I like is the experience and some confidence make me would like to do it again and thing I do not like is during the presentation I got confused and I said something wrong.”
• S18. “I liked during my presentation the interaction of my student friends.”
• S19. “I liked that it was enthusiastic and fun, and the interaction between classmates.”

Suggestions for improving the presentation skills workshops

The students were asked for suggestions to make the presentation skills workshops more fruitful. They recommended repeating the workshops because of the benefits they provided. Also, some students suggested including presentations as part of their assessment in various subjects. These points are illustrated in the following excerpts:

• S5. “More of these shows to develop students’ skills.”
• S12. “More of these workshops because it is of great benefit to the student.”
• S15. “We hope that the distinguished doctors include this participation in all subjects and integrate it into monthly grades.”
• S17. “I hope this beautiful event continues.”
• S19. “I suggest that this offer be weekly in order to benefit more.”

This research investigated the impact of a training program mediated by the Blackboard platform on improving EFL students’ presentation skills. Based on the results, the students who engaged in the intervention attained significant improvements in their scores for their presentation skills post-treatment compared to pre-treatment in all five domains: organization, content, communication, delivery, and enthusiasm. This indicates the effectiveness of the intervention.

Several factors may have contributed to this result, such as the integration of the Blackboard platform, enhanced motivation, reduced anxiety, stress, and tension, and the students’ recognition of the need to improve their speaking and presentation skills. The integration of Blackboard contributed to the effectiveness of the program as it is user-friendly, free, and accessible to users, regardless of place and time. Moreover, the training sessions were recorded and the students could refer to them at any time. In addition, the students were motivated to participate and engage due to their need to improve their presentation skills, as evidenced in the interviews. The analysis of the interviewees’ responses revealed that they found the intervention program a very good means of refining their presentation skills. They enjoyed the experience and reported it assisted them in facing their fear of speaking in front of the public and improving their body language, speaking skills, and self-confidence. In addition, they learned to interact with the audience and attract attention.

The results of this research are consistent with previous studies. Similar to this intervention, research has found that presentation qualities like eye contact, body posture, and voice aid English-speaking abilities [ 42 ], and project-based learning using presentation can significantly affect students’ speaking skills [ 55 ], with students’ oral presentation skills improving significantly after instruction due to enhanced confidence and the experience of speaking in front of a crowd [ 14 ]. As in this study, previous research has reported participants favoring a multimedia design [ 15 ], which improves students’ confidence [ 52 ], and also collaborative learning, as it enables the co-construction of knowledge and skills [ 56 ]. Such courses can enhance students’ oral presentation abilities and vocabulary uptake/retention levels [ 54 ], as well as making them more enthusiastic, motivated, and eager to produce outstanding presentations as they grow more self-assured and relaxed. In addition, these results are consistent with Brooks [ 61 ], who showed that oral presentation allows learners to use their second language to communicate with others naturally. De Grez [ 62 ] also suggested that students are highly motivated to learn how to present. In terms of the use of technology, this study employed Blackboard to facilitate deliver of the intervention program, which may have helped improve students’ performance [ 15 ]. This result accords with previous studies that used technology to improve students’ speaking and presentation skills, employing a multimedia approach [ 51 – 57 ].

The results of this study also support the claim of social cognitive theory that learners require exposure and practice to enhance their acquisition of skills that will help them in their future careers. In this research, the participants observed how others (trainer and peers) behaved, stored this knowledge, and used it to change their behavior when presenting post-intervention. Thus, learners can refine their behavior based on observation and experience. The training program allowed the participants room for exposure and practice in presenting themselves properly. They learned how to organize their presentations, engage the audience, and deliver content effectively, as well as to present with enthusiasm.

According to Bandura [ 63 ], “man’s capacity to learn by observation enables him to acquire large, integrated units of behavior by example without having to build up the pattern gradually by tedious trial and error” (p. 2). Alshobramy argues that the application of social learning theory can naturally increase speaking ability by providing innovative and adaptable learning experiences [ 52 ]. Hence, consistent with theory, this study supports the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030 and the labor market needs of skilled graduates in enabling them to design and deliver effective presentations.

This research focused on enhancing undergraduates’ (life-long) presentation skills through a Blackboard-mediated intervention program. In contrast to prior research that employed ICT-mediated programs to develop presentation skills and found EFL learners experienced difficulties in terms of anxiety, learning issues, language competence, and media access [ 55 , 57 – 60 ], the results of this study showed that the learners’ levels of fear, learning problems, and access issues decreased during the intervention. Also, the program proved highly effective in improving the EFL participants’ presentation skills, and their attitudes and feedback were positive. Therefore, the study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by presenting evidence of the value of utilizing technology, specifically Blackboard, in a planned program to improve students’ presentation skills, which are in great demand in the labor market.

Students who master English will have an added advantage if they possess presentation skills and their job opportunities will be greater. Accordingly, this study argues the need to include presentation skills as part of students’ course assessment. In addition, technology can play a role in enhancing students’ presentation skills; they can utilize technology to record themselves and to review their mistakes, and thus improve their performance.

This research has certain limitations, most notably the participants’ gender; all the participants were male due to the gender-based segregation in Saudi higher education. Moreover, the relatively small number of participants means the findings are not generalizable. In this regard, similar studies could be undertaken in different contexts employing the same interventional program and tools—or similar—and enable the comparison of results. In Saudi Arabia, given the effectiveness of the intervention in this study, it is recommended that stakeholders conduct more workshops on presentation skills, as they support the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030 and address the needs of the labor market. Further research and pedagogical practice could consider a range of methods, such as peer and self-assessment, to measure students’ acquisition of presentation skills. Finally, more research is needed to focus on comparing students’ competence and performance in presentation skills.

Funding Statement

Yes, this work was financed by the Deputy for Research and Innovation- Ministry of Education, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through a grant (NU/IFC/02/002). The funder had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, the decision to publish, or the preparation of the manuscript.

Data Availability

Countway Practical Presentation Skills

Presentation Slides

Story Telling

Presentation Software

Body Language

• Showtime! (Tips when "on stage")
• Upcoming Classes & Registration

On this page you will find many of the tips and common advice that we cover within our Practical Presentation Skills Workshop.

If you are hoping to attend a workshop in the future, please check the schedule of upcoming classes, and reserve your spot. Space does fill up each week, so please register early!

Creating slides to accompany your presentation can be a great way to provide complimentary visual representation of your topic. Slides are used to fill in the gaps while you tell the story.

Start your presentation with a brief introduction- who you are and what you are going to talk about. 

Think about your presentation as a story with an organized beginning (why this topic), middle (how you did the research) and end (your summary findings and how it may be applicable or inform future research). You can provide a brief outline in the introduction so the audience may follow along. 

Keep it simple with a few key concepts, examples and ideas.

Make sure your audience knows the key takeaway points you wish to get across.

A good way to practice this is to try and condense your presentation into an elevator pitch- what do you want the audience to walk away know? 

Show your enthusiasm!

If you don’t think it is interesting- why should your audience?

Some Good Alternatives to PowerPoint:

• Google Slides
• Keynote (Mac)  
• Prezi  
• Zoho Show  
• PowToon  
• CustomShow  
• Slidebean  
• Haiku Deck  
• Visme  
• Emaze  
• and more…  

Your body language speaks volumes to how confident you are on the topic, how you are feeling up on stage and how receptive you are to your audience. Confident body language, such as smiling, maintaining eye contact, and persuasive gesturing all serve to engage your audience.

• Make eye contact with those in the audience that are paying attention and ignore the rest!
• Speak slower than what you would normally, take a moment to smile at your audience, and project your voice. Don’t rush, what you have to say is important!
• Don’t’ forget to breathe. Deep breaths and positive visualization can helps slow that pounding heart.
• Work on making pauses where you can catch your breath, take a sip of water, stand up straight, and continue at your practiced pace.
• Sweaty palms and pre-presentation jitters are no fun. Harness that nervous energy and turn it into enthusiasm! Exercising earlier in the day can help release endorphins and help relieve anxiety.
• Feeling shaky? Practicing confident body language is one way to boost your pre-presentation jitters. When your body is physically demonstrating confidence, your mind will follow suit. Standing or walking a bit will help you calm those butterflies before you go on stage.
• Don’t be afraid to move around and use the physical space you have available but keep your voice projected towards your audience.
• Practice, practice, practice! Get to the next Practical Presentation Skills workshop in Countway Library http://bit.ly/countwaypresent and practice your talk in front of a supportive and friendly group!

• Excessive bullet points
• Reading your slides instead of telling your story
• Avoid excessive transitions and gimmick
• Numerous charts (especially all on the same slide)
• Lack of enthusiasm and engagement from you
• Too much information and data dump
• Clutter and busy design
• Lack of design consistency 

Now you are on stage!

When delivering the talk, watch out for these bad habits:

•  Avoiding eye-contact
• Slouching or bad posture
• Crossed arms
• Non-purposeful movement
• Not projecting your voice
• Speaking away from the microphone
• Speaking with your back to the audience (often happens when reading slides)
• Next: Upcoming Classes & Registration >>
• Last Updated: Jun 4, 2024 12:35 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/presentation

Check 50+ Abstract Business Concepts Visualized by Icons

7 Sections for Effective Presentation Training Slides

• February 17, 2018
• Learning & Education presentations , PowerPoint templates for download

Last Updated on June 3, 2024 by Peter Z

Are you delivering a public speaking or presentation skills training? Find some inspiration for your slides here.

Explore our Business Performance PPT Reports category on the website for more resources to boost your presentation impact.

In this article I suggest how you can prepare engaging PowerPoint visuals covering presentation training topics, specifically:

• How to illustrate presentation structure and content types on a slide
• Visualizing speaker and listener types
• Presenting various meeting room setups
• How to show hints for preparing speech and presentation itself
• Closing the presentation training with a recap and summary slide

Whether you are a professional communication trainer or a beginner, I believe you can find some handy examples.

Note: All slide examples are from the Presentation Skills Training PPT Toolbox . Click the pictures to see details.

We’re talking a lot here about presentation content, right visualizations, showing concepts… Let’s get back tot he roots and recall the very basics of high-quality presentation and how it should look like.

Words are the most powerful drug used by mankind. Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling was right that words are a very powerful tool, however, if used and delivered effectively. Let’s break down some theories into short sections.

#1: Illustrating Presentation Structure by Drawing

In my presentation experience, I see usually those 3 most popular kinds of structures: classical 3-part, monotonous and ‘Hollywood-movie’ style. When you explain such structures, I suggest you draw a simple diagram like the one above. Either on a flipchart or if you want to have materials prepared before, then make a slide with those speech flow diagrams.

You can either show them all together on one slide for comparison or put each on a separate slide. This way you will get attention and focus on one presentation type at a time.

For discovering more tips for structuring presentations I recommend checking Nancy Duarte’s blog series:  Structure Your Presentation Like a Story and her book Resonate.

4MAT – My Favorite Presentation Structure

Out of various speech structures, I like the most the 4MAT concept. It is pretty simple and works for me.

I suggest that when you create a presentation, ask yourself those four questions. Those are questions listeners have in their heads when they listen to you.

Using the 4MAT framework helps me to see things from the viewpoint of my audience and be sure listeners will get their ideas right.

#2: Explore Presentations by Content

It’s obvious the presentation content defines the presentation type. However, it’s good to remind yourself what’s the goal of the presentation – to inspire or to entertain only? Do you want to persuade your audience of your idea or only to inform, to give a report?

Some examples:

• For inspiring presentations: Talks on TED.com are the best examples. Or check one of Elon Musk’s speeches on the Mars Mission .  Politicians use this presentation to type a lot
• Informative presentations are usually used when you do a project summary report or yearly business review. Unfortunately, lots of school lectures fall into this category, even though the teachers should work on moving towards an inspiring segment with a bit of entertainment to keep kids attention.
• For persuasive presentations just think of the last sales or marketing presentation you experienced.
• For entertainment – check out any stand-up comedy talks, for example, this (being a father I really appreciate that later talk).
• A mixture of entertainment and information is e.g. famous John Oliver show

You have to make sure that your speech is relevant to the audience you’re speaking to.

#3: Analyze the Speaker Types

When teaching about properly preparing a talk, you need to consider also different speaker types classification. I put here four kinds of presenters: a typical talkative salesman style, an analyst type who likes to go into details (sometimes too much), a monotonous teacher style (that would need a point of wake up) and an involving storyteller. However, you can think of other examples based on your experience.

Depending on the particular speaker type, you can use its strong sides to build the presentation differently and also support it with proper visuals. For instance, for a talkative salesman, the agenda slides can provide a structure to follow. On the other hand, a too much detailed analyst on lengthy teacher talk can benefit from having a strong visual section slides that will wake up your audience.

#4: Analyze the Listener Groups

Knowing the speaker type is one thing. However, even more, important is to examine the audience carefully to reach them best.

Every presenter should ask first “Who are my listeners”? Do they prefer a formal or informal way of communication? Are they feelers or thinkers (see MBTI types of personality )? Will the audience be active or rather passive during the talk?

When doing a presentation training, you should address this key question. And what is the better way than to illustrate it e.g. by a set of icons?

In my slides, I added there also a hand drawn chart where you can position the major listeners’ types. Then you can place and move around the central circle to show various audience cases on a knowledge and involvement scale.

In a training, you can include a similar chart (or apply those presentation training diagram slides ) for determining the audience type.

#5: Room set up – the importance of the presentation environment

After talking about the presentation audience and speaker types, a good presenter should think also about the place where the talk will take place. Choosing a suitable environment is an important factor for the effective delivery of the speech.

I distinguish here five common kinds of room setups: classroom, multiple groups environment, interactive roundtable, big theater and sitting in a circle. Each one suits a different purpose. Some of these you need to arrange before, of course, you will know if you speak at a big conference that there will likely be a theater-like room. However, sometimes even a small change of sitting arrangements can provide a totally different atmosphere for a speech.

• Classroom setup assumes rather one-directional communication from teacher to students.
• Roundtable or sitting in a circle encourages discussion and underlines equality of all participants.
• Having clusters of multiple groups is great if you want to have several teams working on some group work.

#6: Presenting Hints for Speech Preparation

If you want to add a list of things to remember before making a presentation, I suggest you try to illustrate each point with some image, as I did above. This creates a better mnemonic association for each point and people will remember the hints longer. Even better, replace the bullet points with a vivid diagram along with keeping the icons.

#7: Presenting Summary of the Training

At the end of the training, remember to repeat the main message once again. Present the main conclusion, and give your audience something to think about. You can write it down on a slide clearly, without too many distractions. Or write it by hand on a board or flipchart.

Resources for Presentation Training

Besides the links I shared above I recommend those further reading and resources

• Toastmasters International public speaking clubs all over the world
• Books: Slide:ology Nancy Duarte and Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds
• Our PowerPoint Training templates for various soft-skills training, see details below.
• Feedback Training Presentation Hints 
• Motivation Training Presentation Template & Ideas

So if you’re having training on how to create and deliver a presentation, you can reuse slides from our collection in your projects. Or just get inspiration from my slides and create them yourself.

If you decide to go for our hand-drawn style diagrams, you will be able to easily edit all content, adapt the colors to your brand, and add the whole slides or particular charts to your training presentation.

For more inspiration, subscribe to our YouTube channel:

Graphics resource: Presentation skills training toolbox

You can also check the presentation template we’ve designed with illustrations of types of speakers or presentation structures:

Presentation Skills Training Toolbox

If you like such scribble style, see the complete All Scribble Symbols Bundle , with over 250 handwritten hand-drawn symbols and shapes.

About the author: Peter Zvirinsky is a slide design trainer and the founder of infoDiagram. He is helping presenters, trainers and various business managers to communicate their ideas in clear visual way usually in form of PowerPoint slides. Peter loves changing text information into simple diagrams and he wants to inspire also others to use this visualization process in everyday life. Reach out to Peter on LinkedIn or via his slide design & training website.

Chief Diagram Designer, infoDiagram co-founder

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How To Develop Effective Presentation Skills

Presentations are an essential component of business communication . They are the means of pitching a service or product, revealing findings, or presenting an idea. Taking time to learn and apply the secrets of effective presentation skills gives you the best chance of raising the quality of your presentations to the exceptional. Learn how to become highly effective at writing professional business cases with our business writing courses as well.

This guide outlines the components of presentation skills and how you can learn to deliver messages superbly. From essential planning to developing content, to ending a presentation, here are a set of rules to ensure that you get significant advantage from your presentation skills set.

Number one tip

Confidence and control, effective presentation skills, logistics – how to prepare for a presentation, infographic - do’s & don’ts of presenting, number one tip.

Without doubt, the number one ingredient for a great presentation, is content. Without great content, you cannot produce a great presentation. Quite simply, content is king.

Content also gives you confidence to cope with presentation nerves. Consequently, content is where you need to start. Clarify your objectives and work out the material you need to achieve them.

So, here is what you need to do to deliver the best presentation possible.

Clarify your objectives

You need to be clear about what you want to achieve. Do you want audience opinion on whether to proceed with something? Are you seeking approval to spend money? Are you seeking audience views? Whatever your objectives, they need to be crystal clear, and your presentation needs to be designed – step by step – to achieve them. 

Produce content

Divide your presentation into a beginning, a middle, and an end. The audience needs to be clear why they should listen to you from your very first sentence. Ensure that you make a strong start, and make it benefit related. People buy benefits whether of a service, product or an idea.

Slides should be used as signposts

Cluttered slides distract and get in the way of the message. Slides should be signposts and nothing more. They are not for information – that is your job as the presenter.

Work out your key messages

Each part of your presentation must have a theme to support your objectives. Ensure that your messages are simple to understand and to remember.

Produce an audience-inspiring first sentence

The purpose of your first sentence is to sell your second sentence and so on. Ensure that your first sentence is the most interesting, dramatic and inspiring thing you can say about your topic at that time. Then detail the benefits your audience will receive by listening to you and hearing your proposition.

Summarise with an audience-inspiring last sentence

The end of your presentation should refer to your objectives at the beginning. Summarise your proposition – back it up with credibility statements – reaffirm the benefits and conclude with whatever is appropriate to meet those objectives.

Know your set up – where you will be standing and where your audience will be sitting

Familiarisation with the venue is an obvious help – it is not always possible, but when it is, take advantage.

Engage with your audience

Check their reaction to what you are saying so that you know whether to elaborate, slow down or move on.

Focus on your key messages

Make sure that you get your messages across. Simplicity leads to clarity.

Don’t turn your back to the audience to refer to your slides

Amateur presenters often turn their backs to look at slides. Refer to slides by all means but always face forward and always look at the audience.

Given your content excellence, you have nothing to fear. Be confident and fearless – smile, engage with your audience and deliver.

Back To Contents

Confidence and control comes from presentation content, preparation and practice. Like learning a language or a sport, or driving a car, the better your theory and the more practice you take, the better your ability – and in this case the better your capability of how to give a good presentation.

Work out probable audience questions, and prepare complete answers. If you need to know facts and figures, have them to hand. Ask yourself questions throughout each stage of your presentation that the audience might ask. Try Why, Who, When, Where and Why. A narrative which delivers complete information instead of begging questions will give your presentation an air of justifiable professionalism.

Getting attention

A successful presentation or presenter engages with their audience through interesting content applicable to audience needs.

To connect with your audience, you need to start a presentation with an impactful set of words. Your beginning needs to grab attention, attract, and motivate your audience to pay attention to what comes next.

You could start a presentation by showing an image, giving a statistic, asking a question, or by delivering a notable quote. Whatever you show, say, or deliver, ensure it connects to your theme and to your objectives.

Communicating your message

The aim of a presentation is to get your message to resonate with the audience. Great presentation skills and delivering your message effectively is based on content. There is no substitute for great content however good your presentation style.

Concentrate on your core message and keep it simple. Depending on presentation styles, you can learn how to give a great presentation by using a combination of words, voice and body language. All play a vital role in communicating messages.

The Do's of Effective Presentations

Giving a presentation is about presenting content, and the success of a presentation is about how well you sell your content to your audience. If you’re new at delivering presentations, then there are a couple of key do’s you should apply to achieve the most effective presentation techniques.

Practice makes perfect

As well as increasing confidence and helping to calm initial nerves, undertake your own presentation training by practicing beforehand.  

Learn how to give a good presentation by running through your slides or notes numerous times and checking your timing.

Introduce yourself

Let your audience know who you are, why you qualified to talk about the subject, and what they will learn by listening to you.

Eye contact

Get your audience engaged – smile and make eye contact.

Use handouts and slides. If you want people to view a chart – it’s easier to read as a handout rather than from a screen. It also helps keep your audience more engaged with your presentation if they have something to do.

Ask questions

Invite your audience to ask questions to help them get involved and to give you feedback. Of course, you may wish to leave that invitation until the end of your presentation.

The Don'ts of Effective Presentations

To ensure that you give a good presentation in terms of delivery, avoid:

Speaking too fast

Slow down your speed of delivery – speaking too fast means people won’t be able to catch everything you are saying.

Reading out loud

People can read a sentence about 4 times more quickly than someone can read the same sentence aloud. Do not read from your slides. In any case, remember slides should be signposts for your audience and nothing more.

Saying 'um'

Practice your answers so that you won’t be caught out. If you want time to think, compliment the questioner on the quality of their good question.

Focus instead.

Logistics - How To Prepare For A Presentation

Whether it’s learning how to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for a job interview or how to make a business presentation:

• Have your slides on a backup USB stick and email yourself a copy.
• Check the room you will be presenting in.
• Find out as much as you can about your audience.
• Dress appropriately for your audience - if in doubt always dress up.
• Print handouts and have them with you.

Infographic - Do's & Don'ts of Presenting

Take a look at some of the Do’s and Don’ts of presenting with the below infographic, created by Walkerstone.com , and channel your nerves to positive effect. The infographic outlines in a clear step-by-step design the do’s of presenting and the don’ts of presenting, some statistics around communicating your message, keeping the attention of your audience, as well as some useful considerations to remember for your presentation.

Use this infographic as a preparation checklist for your presentation and you’ll feel more confident and prepared, come across as a professional speaker which hopefully will result in a successful outcome. If you like what you see, feel free to share the infographic on your own site (crediting Walkerstone.com) and help spread these useful tips for presenting…

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60 Effective PowerPoint Presentation Tips & Tricks (Giant List)

Here's a PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks guide that takes you through how to make a good PowerPoint presentation.

The best PowerPoint presentations shouldn’t be remembered. Instead, they should fall into the background to support you and the message you’re trying to get across.

Unlike good PowerPoint presentations , bad PowerPoint presentations are a distraction. You may remember them, but not in a good way.

You’ve seen them before. They might have millions of lines of text. Or a disjointed flow to the slides. Even worse, some slides feature ugly photos and poor design that detract from the message you’re trying to get across. That can even hurt your credibility as a professional or speaker.

This article will take you from finding your initial topic to learning how to make a great PowerPoint presentation. Our guide covers everything in between so that you learn how to present a PowerPoint like a pro.

These Microsoft PowerPoint presentation tips and guidelines are organized into sections. So cut straight to the advice you need and come back when you’re ready for the next steps.

Guide to Making Great Presentations (Free eBook Download)

Also, download our Free eBook: The Complete Guide to Making Great Presentations . It’s the deepest resource for learning effective presentation skills for a PPT.

This eBook covers the complete presentation process. It takes the PowerPoint tips and tricks you learn in this article further. Learn how to write your presentation, design it like a pro, and prepare it to present powerfully. It’s another great source for presentation design tips.

Master PowerPoint (Free Course): 15 Essential Tips

This article is full of helpful tips so you can build a powerful presentation. You can also find more PowerPoint tips in this video lesson:

To learn even more about how to make a PowerPoint look good, review the huge list of tips below.

What Makes a PowerPoint Presentation Effective?

Knowing how to use PowerPoint and work within it quickly is helpful. But more important is making a good presentation that hits all your goals. A great PowerPoint presentation is:

• Prepared to Win . Research, plan, and prepare your presentation professionally. It helps you deliver an effective message to your target audience.
• Designed Correctly . Your visual points should stand out without overwhelming your audience. A good PowerPoint visual shouldn’t complicate your message.
• Practiced to Perfection . Rehearse your timing and delivery so that your points land as practiced with a live audience.
• Delivered With Poise . Present with a relaxed inner calm and confident outward projection. Give your audience warmth, excitement, and energy.
• Free From Mistakes . Avoid typos, cheesy clip art, and mistakes like reading directly from your slides.

Consider this your all-inclusive guide to how to make a good presentation. We’ll look at preparing your presentation and explore how to design it in PowerPoint. Plus, we’ll cover how to practice and nail your delivery successfully come presentation time.

We’ll also address what not to do in these tips for PowerPoint presentations—so you can sidestep any big mistakes. Now let’s dig into these tips for effective PowerPoint presentations.

Killer Presentation Preparation Tips to Get Started Right

Before even opening PowerPoint, start by addressing these things. These Microsoft PowerPoint tips and tricks will ensure that you’re prepared for your presentation:

1. Know Your Stuff

Your presentation isn’t about your slides alone. It’s about the message you want to get across. Before filling in stats, facts and figures, think about the narrative that’ll be discussed, why, and in what order.

2. Write It Out

Start in a Word or Google doc, and storyboard or script the entire presentation. This will give you an idea of how the information presented will flow and how viewers will see it in sequence. Learn the complete writing process .

3. Highlight What’s Most Important

A presentation covers the most crucial pieces only. Whatever you’ve been working on that led to this—a paper, a work project, a new product design—doesn’t need to be shared in its entirety. Pick key points and put the rest in an “Appendix” to refer to during the Q&A session at the end.

4. Know Your Audience

How you talk to a room full of medical professionals should be different from the way you address a room full of young entrepreneurs. Everything, in fact, is different: your topic selection, the language you use, the examples you give to illustrate points. The little bits of humor you include should be tailored specifically with your target audience in mind.

Understand your audience’s needs to create a successful PowerPoint presentation. Customize your content to meet their specific requirements.

5. Rehearse! (Yes, Already)

It’s never too early to get used to the rhythm of your presentation and take note of points you want to emphasize. While saying it out loud, you’ll start to develop a “feel” for the material. You’ll notice that some things work well, while others don’t and might need to be worked around.

6. Rewrite After You Rehearse

As you’re rehearsing your presentation, you’re bound to stumble over sections that don’t quite flow naturally. Instead of reworking your delivery, it might be time to consider the content and rewrite the areas that served as stumbling blocks.

“Editing is hard. ‘It’s good enough,’ is a phrase wannabes use. Leaders take editing seriously.” – Anthony Trendl

The most important part of creating a great presentation is the writing stage. The second most important stage is rewriting.

7. Share With a Friend

If the stakes are high for your presentation, it’s never too early to get feedback from those that you trust. Here’s an article that helps you collaborate as a team on a PowerPoint presentation. Get PowerPoint design tips from those that you trust when you collaborate.

Simple Tips to Design Your PowerPoint Presentation Better

Second only to you (the information you bring and how you present it) is your PowerPoint slides. If not designed well, a PowerPoint can be disengaging or distracting (regardless of the content quality). Here are some presentation design tips to make sure this doesn’t happen to you:

8. Keep Your Slides Simple

This is one of the most important PowerPoint presentation tips to follow when designing your slides. Keep in mind that less is more (effective.) A cluttered slide is distracting. It causes confusion for an audience: Which part of the slide should I focus on? Should I read the slide or pay attention to the presenter?

A simple, visually appealing slide will engage your audience, keeping them on track with your main points. Here’s an example of a simple slide that serves its purpose perfectly:

Minimalist slide templates like Nook can help you resist the urge to clutter your slides.

9. Limit Words on Your Slides

Piggybacking on the last point, less is more effective. If possible, avoid bullets altogether. Otherwise cut them to just a few simple words. The audience should be listening, not reading.

10. Use High-Quality Photos and Graphics

One of the most important tips for quality PowerPoint presentations is to use high-quality photos and graphics.

Earlier in this tutorial, you saw Envato Elements, an all-you-can-download service with PPT tips inside of templates. Those pre-built designs are a beginner’s best friend. They’re even better when paired with Elements’ unlimited library of stock photos .

People are more likely to take you seriously if your presentation is visually appealing. Users view attractive design as more usable. Similarly, they’ll view a more attractive PowerPoint as more effective.

11. Use Accurate and Relevant Charts and Graphs

Charts and graphs can also be distracting if they’re not used right. Make sure your information design is simple and clean so that the audience doesn’t spend the entire time trying to decipher what your X axis says. Learn more about PPT data presentation .

12. Use High-Quality, Fresh Templates

Have you seen the old PowerPoint template that looks like worn paper and uses ink splashes? Yeah, so has your audience. Templates can be distracting if they’re too basic or if the design feels dated. You need one with great design options.

Costs are always a concern. But when you use Envato Elements, you’ve got everything you need to create a great PowerPoint presentation . That’s thanks to the incredible all-you-can-download subscription package.

The best PowerPoint tips and tricks can hardly compare to the value of using a template while building your presentation.

On Envato Elements, there are thousands of PowerPoint design templates that are ready to use. Instead of designing a presentation from scratch, start with a template! Just add your specifics to the placeholders.

Templates like Galaxi are impressively designed and waiting for your slide specifics.

The best PowerPoint design tips save you time. And there’s no tip more powerful than this one: use a pre-built template . It helps you master how to present a PowerPoint without spending all your time in the app.

13. Choose Appropriate Fonts

Fonts are an important part of engaging your audience. Fonts and typography choices have a subconscious effect on viewers. They can characterize your company’s presentation and brand either positively or negatively. Make sure that you’re choosing fonts that are professional and modern.

14. Choose Color Well

Like font choice, colors cause specific subconscious reactions from viewers. Choosing an outdated color combination for your presentation will render it ineffective.

Below is an example of the Popsicle PowerPoint template , which has a modern presentation color choice:

The Popsicle PowerPoint template highlights how harmonized color palettes can create beautiful slides.

15. Clean + Simple Formatting Makes All the Difference!

We’ve got a full tutorial on how to make a good presentation slide . Give it a read through and review the accompanying video. Just remember, less is more. The focus is you and your message , not your slides.

16. Make Sure All Objects Are Aligned

A simple way to create a well-designed presentation is to make sure all items on a slide are intentionally aligned. To do this, hold down Shift and select all the objects you want to include. Then choose Arrange in the options bar and apply Alignment Type .

17. Limit Punctuation

This isn’t the place for exclamation points. Emphasize your points (while speaking). Don’t enlist punctuation to do this for you. (Leave these at home!!!)

18. Avoid Over-Formatting Your Points

This PowerPoint presentation tip is simple. There’s no need to have every word of every bullet point capitalized, or to have all your bullet points in title case. If possible, drop bullets altogether. Again, the simpler, the better!

Limit your text formatting, including reducing the use of bullets, underline, and other effects. Compare the before example on the left to the revised version on the right.

19. Combine Information With Graphics in PowerPoint

One of the most powerful presentation skills for PPT is using infographics. With the right type of visuals, slides come to life and reduce the text in favor of graphics.

Infographics help combine information with graphics. It’s easier to explain complex ideas when you use visual formats that are intuitive.

Practice Presentation Tips: Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse!

Delivery is probably more important than the actual content. Here’s how to become more aware of your own unique ticks, and how to present like a polished pro:

20. I’ll Say It Again, Rehearse!

Just do it. Again and again. Experiment with pauses, gestures, and body language. Practice around one hour for every minute of your speech.

21. Practice With a Timer

Consistency is key to an effective PowerPoint presentation. The timing should be similar (ideally the same) each time you rehearse. This one will especially pay off when it’s time to present in front of your audience.

22. Slow It Down

Many of the best speakers today intentionally speak slowly. You’ll have the chance to emphasize, appear more thoughtful, and make your information easier to digest.

23. Pause More Often

Like the prior tip, pausing more often allows your main points to be emphasized and gives time for information to sink in. You need to let key points breathe a little before rushing into the next section.

24. Record Yourself

Use your phone’s voice recorder. Assess and critique yourself. Consider:

• Are your pauses too short or too long?
• Are you speaking slowly enough? Too slow?
• When you’re nervous, does your voice get high like the mice in Cinderella?

It’s always weird to hear your own voice recorded; don’t stress it. Use this as a time to adjust.

25. Choose Three Focal Points in the Room

If you stare at the same spot (or even creepier, the same person) the entire time, your presentation will be ineffective (and awkward.) People will be distracted by you, wondering what you’re staring at.

Try this: pick three points in the room (typically: left, center, right). Take time to direct your delivery toward each physical focal point in the room. Also, focus on the center when making your primary points.

26. Vary Your Sentence Length

This makes you sound more interesting, and it’s easier for your audience to follow. Think short and punchy. Or go long and complex for dramatic effect.

27. Modulate!

Don’t speak in monotone for your whole presentation. Be conscious of raising and lowering your voice tone. Otherwise, people will tune you out, and you’ll come across like the teacher in Charlie Brown.

28. Practice in Front of a Mirror

What you look like is as important as how you sound. Pretend you’re having a normal conversation, and allow your hands to move with your speech to emphasize your points. Just don’t get carried away! (I’m thinking Brene Brown or President Obama , not your Aunt Jamie after a few gin and tonics.)

29. Use “Present Mode” When Rehearsing

When you finally are ready to hit the Present button in PowerPoint, make sure you use the Present Mode option. This allows you (and only you) to view extra notes about each slide—just in case you forget something!

30. Practice With New Audiences

If possible, try doing a few real live test runs as a webinar or even at a local Toastmasters organization to get some feedback from a live audience.

31. Engage the Audience by Asking Questions

There’s no reason that a presentation should be one-sided. Why not invert the format and ask your audience a question?

To learn how to create a slide that kicks off a Q&A, use this article . These PowerPoint design tips help you create an engaging and exciting discussion.

Helpful Tips to Step Up and Deliver Come Presentation Time

When the actual day arrives, there are only a few last PowerPoint presentation tips and guidelines to keep in mind:

32. Take a Deep Breath

Deep breathing is proven to relieve stress. It’s simple, and it’ll help you remain calm and in the moment, even up to the last minute before starting.

33. Lighten Up Your Mood

Tell yourself a joke or watch a funny video clip. Do this before the presentation, of course. Research concludes that happy people are more productive. More productive is more focused and able to perform better.

34. Remind Yourself to Take It Slow

When we’re stressed or nervous (or both), we tend to speak faster. Consciously, take yet another deep breath and remind yourself to take it slow!

35. Read the Room

Every presentation room has a temperature. It’s your job as a speaker to gauge it and tailor your presentation to it.

Here’s a great example. Layoffs are coming at a company, and you’re asked to speak to an audience. Even if the audience isn’t personally affected by the actions, you’ve got to consider the morale of the workforce.

Skilled speakers have a knack for reading the energy of the room and adjusting their presentation on the fly.

The last thing that group will want to hear is how strong the economy is and why the company is the best place to work. That doesn’t mean that you’ve got to align to their uncertainty, but don’t go too far against the grain while presenting.

Robert Kennedy III is a master of bringing energy and aligning a speech to the audience. Here’s his advice for adjusting:

“It can be hard to wake up a “dead” crowd but go for it. Most of all, don’t take their energy personally. Focus on serving them with every bit of your fiber then leave empty.”

36. Fake It ‘Til You Make It!

Go forward with confidence. If you act confident, you’ll start to feel more confident. Move slowly with grace, speak clearly, smile, wear something nice. You’ll appear confident to all attendees (no matter how you feel internally).

PowerPoint Presentation Tips and Tricks to Help Avoid Mistakes (What Not to Do)

Most importantly, focus on what you can do to make your presentation better. There are a few important things not to do that we’ve got to address. Here are a handful of PowerPoint presentation tips and tricks to help you avoid missteps.

37. Stop With the Sound Effects

Sound effects are distracting and outdated. In most cases, avoid them. Add audio or music to your presentation to inject interest or highlight an important point, but it’s something to take extra care with. If you insert audio, then make sure your use really connects with your audience and has a fresh approach. Otherwise, it’s best to leave it out.

38. Don’t Use Flashy Slide Transitions

Again, this is distracting and outdated. Use transitions and subtle animations in your PowerPoint presentation. But you need to take care and do it right .

39. Beware of Clip Art

This PowerPoint presentation tip shouldn’t even have to be said. But please, please don’t use clip art. Use professional graphics instead.

40. Don’t Be Afraid to Be Afraid

The fear of public speaking is a real one. Many beginners think that if they’re feeling nervous that a presentation won’t go well or succeed. That might lead them to cancel the presentation.

Here’s a tip from expert Sandra Zimmer, who leads The Self-Expression Center on conquering your fears before you take the stage:

“Get out of your head and into your body. I do this through a grounding exercise that really works to calm nerves and bring you present in the moment.”

If you think that public speaking fears aren’t normal, you might never give your award-winning presentation. So don’t be afraid to be afraid, and acknowledge it’s part of the process!

41. Don’t Read Directly During Your PowerPoint Presentation

If you spend your entire presentation looking at the screen or your note cards, you’re sure to lose your audience’s attention. They’ll disengage from what you’re saying, and your presentation will fall flat.

Reading from your paper or screen also makes it look like you’re not prepared. Many people do it, but no one should. As a general rule, only present something you know well and have, at least mostly, memorized the main points of.

42. Don’t Miss Out on PowerPoint Customizations

Many new PowerPoint users often make significant mistakes when using Envato Elements designs.

The best way to see how to make a good presentation PPT is to start with designs from others. That means using a template, but that doesn’t mean you can’t customize them!

Don’t forget that PowerPoint templates are infinitely customizable. Think of them as guides with built-in presentation design tips.

To see more presentation tips that show you what not to do, make sure to check out our guide .

Work in PowerPoint More Effectively (Tips & Tricks to Level Up Your PPT Skills)

These PowerPoint tips will help you get the most out of the application to level up your next presentation. Let’s dive in.

43. Use the Visual Guides

When you’re designing your next PowerPoint presentation, it helps to create a sense of visual rhythm. Slides that have objects aligned and centered are more likely to resonate with an audience.

44. Use a Few Animations (Tastefully)

Animations in effective PowerPoint presentations are a slippery slope. We’ve all sat through presentations where there were so many objects in motion that it was easy to lose focus on the key ideas in the presentation.

But that’s why animations get an unfairly bad reputation. Use animations to create motion and hold an audience’s attention. Use them sparingly and on key elements on your slide, and you’ll capture that attention properly.

45. Stage Key Content With Animations

You just learned that animations should avoid being distracting. But there’s an important principle to using animations properly. It’s called staging content.

Staging content means that the content appears step by step. There’s nothing worse than overwhelming an audience with all your content at once. But when you stage content, bring it on step by step.

Take it from presentation pro Suzannah Baum :

“If you’re sharing a slide with lots of different points on it, using the animation to reveal those points one at a time is a way to keep the presenter’s content flowing smoothly.”

For more animation presentation tips and tricks, follow our guide .

46. Add a Video to Your PowerPoint

When you’re sharing a big idea in your presentation, it helps to share your perspective from a few different angles. Adding a video to supplement your content can do just that. Luckily, it’s easy to add and embed a YouTube video in your next PowerPoint presentation.

47. Add Charts & Graphs

Charts and graphs can help you tell stories with data. It’s easy for an audience to zone out when you throw a big data table or set of statistics at them.

instead, convert those to charts and graphs. Try out our tutorial to learn how to edit those graphs.

48. Build Your Own Infographics With SmartArt

Earlier in this tutorial, we gave you one of my favorite PowerPoint design tips: use infographic templates.

Here’s another. One of my favorite PowerPoint features is SmartArt, which allows you to build infographics right inside the app.

You don’t have to use another graphic design app like Photoshop or Illustrator to add visuals. Instead, try out SmartArt to help you build graphics that are easy to update.

49. Use Presenter View

Remember that when you use the PowerPoint, you’ re the presentation. The slides are just there to reinforce what you’ve got to say and support your speaking points.

That’s why I always recommend using Presenter view. More often than not, you’re going to have several displays. Presenter view shows your content on your screen, while your presentation is displayed on another screen.

50. Track Your PowerPoint Changes

One of my favorite PowerPoint design tips is to collaborate. Those who know you best will suggest compelling changes that are sure to help you succeed.

As you start collaborating on your presentation, it helps to keep track of proposed and included PowerPoint changes. Use this article to track changes made by others.

10 More Advanced PowerPoint Tips & Tricks

Really need to wow an audience with a good PowerPoint presentation? Give these tips a try to make an unforgettable impression:

51. Engage With an Interactive Quiz

A good PowerPoint presentation gets your audience involved. One of the best PowerPoint tricks is to do that with a quiz. By engaging audiences, a quiz makes your slides memorable.

By adding trivia, you’ll see how to present a PowerPoint in a way that people will love. Channel your inner game-show host today. MIDTEST is a  good PowerPoint presentation  with quiz slides.

52. Illustrate With Custom Image Masks

One of the top PowerPoint tips is to illustrate your slides. But you can go beyond simple, rectangular images on each slide.

The Burte template is full of  PowerPoint tricks , including custom image masks. Image masks shape photos into unique works of art. And thanks to premium templates, you can style photos just like this. Masks overlay your photos onto geometric shapes, instantly elevating your style.

53. Print Handouts With Extra Notes

Wonder how to give a good presentation PPT that audiences will remember? Give them a piece of it to take home.

PowerPoint makes it easy to print handouts with room for notes on the page. This way, audiences can keep copies of your slides, along with their own notes. This is the perfect way to ensure everyone engages with and retains your content.

54. Make Bulk Edits With Master Slides

When you think about how to present a PowerPoint, consider your branding. That means keeping your logo front and center in the eyes of an audience. But if you’re working with a lengthy slide deck, this could seem daunting.

That’s where master slides come in. They’re common in premium layouts, and they’re a leading example of presentation skills for PPT. Master slides let you make bulk edits fast.

55. Shrink File Sizes for Sharing

Many of the top presentation tips involve making your slides more accessible. Often, that involves sharing them with audiences online.

You’ll often find that email clients and cloud services limit the size of files that you share. This can be a problem with large PPT slide decks. But there are a few quick steps you can take to reduce PPT file size. Cut graphics, scale down photos, and more.

56. Map Processes With Flowcharts

As you consider how to do a good PowerPoint presentation, think of ease of understanding. After all, you’re trying to explain something to your audience.

The  Flowcharts in Infographics  template seamlessly illustrates ideas and processes. A flowchart maps out a process in a visual way. Instead of resorting to endless narration, try a quick illustration like this. It saves you time and effort, and your audience is sure to thank you.

57. Use Brand-Specific Colors

Using presentation skills for PPT helps form an association between your message and branding. There’s no better way to do that than with your brand colors.

PowerPoint makes it easy to change color themes, adding your brand colors and logo to each slide. This is one of the top PowerPoint tricks for marketing presentations.

58. Build Social Media Posts in PPT

A good PowerPoint presentation doesn’t have to be shared through a projector. Use the app and templates to build amazing illustrations to use anywhere.

A template like Soffee helps you learn how to present a PowerPoint easily with a pre-built design.

Try using PowerPoint to create social media posts. It helps you engage with your audience, with no need to design custom layouts from scratch.

59. Be Industry-Specific

One of the top presentation tips in 2024 is to be industry-specific. That means avoiding generic layouts and choosing something more customized.

This offers two key advantages. First, you save time by having layouts built for you. Second, you gain design inspiration for your specific topic. Themed templates are truly the best of both worlds.

The Medical and Health template is a good PowerPoint presentation with a set theme.

60. Design for Online (Virtual) Sharing

Last but not least in our list of PowerPoint tips comes virtual presenting. More and more often, slides will be shared with online audiences around the globe.

Why not design your slides for that very purpose? And then learn how to share flawlessly with a global team? It’s one of the top presentation tips for 2024. Embrace it today.

More Great PowerPoint Tutorial Resources

We’ve built a resource for Microsoft PowerPoint that you’re sure to want to try. It includes countless PowerPoint tips and tricks. It’s called How to Use PowerPoint (Ultimate Tutorial Guide) and has all the PowerPoint design tips you need.

Discover More Top PowerPoint Template Designs From Envato Elements for 2024

You’ve just seen our favorite powerful PowerPoint presentation tips and guidelines to help you improve your speaking. We’ve also mentioned Envato Elements, an incredible all-you-can-download source for top PowerPoint designs .

Here are five of the best PowerPoint templates that you can use to create your best presentation yet:

1. Galaxi PowerPoint Template

Blast off to success with the help of this PowerPoint template! Think of the pre-built slide designs as pro PowerPoint design tips. They’re built by professional graphic designers. All the popular and modern slide styles that are perfect for your next presentation. Use Galaxi’s five styles and 30 designs to create a great presentation.

2. Masmax PowerPoint Template

We selected templates for this article that match the PowerPoint tips and tricks provided. Masmax fits the bill perfectly across its 234 unique slide designs. These slide designs are sure to align with the latest in design expectations.

3. STYLE Multipurpose PowerPoint Template V50

Style is subjective, but we can all agree that this template is stunning! The light and airy slide designs are built with fashion-focused designs in mind. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not perfect for most presentations. When learning to present a PowerPoint, remember that templates can be customized to suit your purpose.

4. Peachme Creative PowerPoint Template

Peachme has image-focused slides with splashy designs. The slides are colorful and perfect for a modern presentation. Don’t worry about remembering all the PowerPoint design tips because they’re included in the pre-built slides. Use Peachme’s designs for your presentation today.

5. Buizi Office Building Rent PowerPoint Template

Buizi markets itself as a real estate focused template. It’s ideal for that purpose because of the minimal, image-focused slide designs. But that also makes it a perfect choice for presentations in many fields.

We’ve just scratched the surface of PowerPoint design tips with these five options. Here are many more, bundled inside of the best roundups on Envato Tuts+:

How to Build a Good PowerPoint Presentation Quickly (In 2024)

You’ve already seen effective presentation skills PPT techniques. But you may be wondering exactly how to do a good PowerPoint presentation. It only takes a few clicks. Let’s learn how in just five steps.

For this mini-tutorial, we’ll use the Enjoy PowerPoint Template from Envato Elements. You’ll see that it’s a beautiful template that helps you learn how to present a PowerPoint by giving you every object and layout you need.

Let’s get started:

1. Choose Your Slides

As you can see, a template like Enjoy has dozens of unique slides inside. The key to how to give a good presentation PPT is to choose only the slides that you need.

One of the best PowerPoint tricks is to start by selecting slides you wish to use from your template.

In PowerPoint, scroll through the sidebar on the left to view different slide layouts. Right-click and choose Delete to remove unwanted designs. Plus, you can click and drag slide thumbnails to reorder them in the deck.

2. Add Text

Consider how to do a good PowerPoint presentation without investing a ton of time. That’s where premium templates come in.

One of our top presentation tips when working with a PPT is to lean on the pre-built text boxes for your content.

To add custom text, simply click and select the contents of any text box on your slide. Then, type in your own words. Repeat as needed throughout your slide deck.

3. Customize Fonts

With text selected, it’s easy to customize fonts on each slide. Find the Font section on PowerPoint’s Home tab. From there, you’ve got a variety of dropdown options.

Another of our top tips for presentation tricks is to use a custom font setting in your template.

Click to change the font, font size, and more. You can also use the buttons on the left to add bolds, italics, and more.

Need more custom font styles? As an Envato Elements subscriber, you’ve got instant access to thousands of custom fonts . Use them in your presentation with ease.

4. Insert Images

Slides like this one contain an image placeholder. That’s another advantage found only with premium templates. These make adding images a breeze.

Add images to your PPTX template for more visually interesting slides.

To get started, find an image file stored on your computer. Then, drag and drop it over the placeholder. PowerPoint will import it, sized and scaled for a perfect fit.

5. Change Colors

One of the top effective presentation skills is changing shape colors. This helps you control the look and feel of each slide.

With a shape selected, find the Shape Format tab on PowerPoint’s ribbon. Then, click on the Shape Fill dropdown. You’ll see a color chooser menu appear. Click on any thumbnail to apply it to the shape or browse through the Gradient and Texture options.

Start Putting These PowerPoint Presentation Tips & Tricks Into Use Today!

Learning to write, design, and present a PowerPoint presentation is an invaluable skill, no matter where you use it. If you’re a good communicator of important messages, you’ll never go hungry.

Luckily, improving PowerPoint presentations isn’t as hard as it seems. Follow these tips for PowerPoint presentations to design and deliver with greater confidence.

Remember: Less is more (effective) . Use PowerPoint presentation templates for better design and more effective visual impact. And you can customize a PPT template quickly , with the right workflow.

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